Work Text:
As Kris felt their feet move away from their mother, she spoke.
"...huh? Kris? Oh, you need to wash your hands too?" Their mom asked, looking pleasantly surprised at them going to do it before being told. "Then, I suppose I shall teach Susie for now. Susie and I will start getting ready to make the pie!"
Susie looked startled. "Uhhh, we will?" Wait--!"
Before she could continue, Kris' mom walked into the kitchen. Susie looked at Kris like she thought their mom was crazy before following her.
Kris felt their own feet move suddenly - not by their own violation, mind you, but by the word of whoever was moving their body and forcing foreign sounds out of their mouth - and they ended up in the bathroom, right where they should be. Their left hand - the one with their best friend's watch on it - suddenly landed on the counter of the sink, and they swore they heard words echoing in their head.
It's the bathroom sink. Will you run the tap?
Suddenly, both of Kris' hands darted out and turned the tap handles as far as they could go, making the water gush out of the faucet.
It started to run, the words in their head echoed. It's making a lot of noise.
The entity controlling Kris didn't make them move at all, and they felt an idea rise to them. That entity had really fucked things up today, and Kris didn't know how to punish it - at the end of the day, it's not like they could reach into the world of extradimensional entities and start scolding the one that was controlling them like a puppet on a string - but they could fix it. They could force that entity out of their body for a few minutes and right its wrongs. After all, the tap was really loud. Loud enough that their mom and Susie couldn't hear them.
After a moment of working up the will (ripping out their SOUL - what that thing controlled them with - hurt like a bitch; they'd trade that pain for their freedom any day, but it still took a shit ton of strength to be able to do that to themselves), Kris dropped to their knees. They felt the entity begin struggling, trying to force them to get up and walk around and, most importantly, not remove its power over them, but they still reached out their hand... and then shoved it into their chest, reaching for the SOUL inside of them.
They coughed violently (but they still weren't half as loud as the gushing faucet) as they searched for the SOUL, which seemed to squirm around as the entity struggled. Kris hoped that it felt as much pain as they did during this process, like some sort of payback for forcing them to have to resort to this. Finally, they gripped onto the SOUL and ripped their hand out as fast as they could.
Kris' entire body instantly went cold, trying to work against them as the SOUL struggled to return to what normally would've been its rightful place inside of them, if it hadn't tortured their best friend and tried to kill their friend-slash-whatever-the-fuck-Berdly-thought-their-relationship-was. Kris fought against the pain surging through them, and instead shakily (not purposefully) reached out their free arm to open the cabinet under the sink. As fast as they could, they threw the SOUL - the entity that ruined their life - inside and slammed the door shut.
Kris then stood up, their legs bending shakily underneath them, and slowly walked over to the window, each step heavy and painful. The sound of the faucet echoed inside their pounding head, along with the muted thud of the SOUL trying to open the cabinet door, and the colors of the bathroom almost seemed to dim. It felt like their limbs were slowly turning to dust, even though they'd learned years ago that humans like them bled (though, if they were supposed to bleed, why didn't they when they ripped themselves free of the SOUL? Wouldn't that normally be a bleeding situation?). They found that they had to repeat the purpose of this over and over again to keep them from turning back around before they even left the house.
Freedom, as always. And now, helping my friends and righting that bitch ass puppet master's wrongs. Freedom, helping friends, righting wrongs. Freedom, helping friends, righting wrongs.
Kris opened the window with a flick of their wrist and slowly pushed themselves onto the windowsill, quickly unintentionally going limp and falling harshly onto the ground below. Their going-numb body - which already had steady pain rolling through it, mind you - felt like it had snapped into a thousand pieces, like how a mirror shatters when a kid (who doesn't look like the rest of their family, doesn't look how they're supposed to, doesn't look normal) punches it.
Kris let out a pained cry before they could stop themselves. They worried for only a moment that the monsters inside might hear, but then they realized that they could still hear the faucet, even outside, and that their mom kept all of the other windows closed anyway. They laid there for a moment, still in pain, before they forced themselves off the ground and began trudging southwards. They repeated the purpose of this over and over in their mind once again.
Freedom, helping friends, righting wrongs. Freedom, helping friends, righting wrongs. Freedom, helping friends, righting wrongs. Freedom, helping friends, righting wrongs.
After what felt like uncountable hours of gasping pain, freezing cold (which was probably burning hot compared to whatever cold Berdly was feeling, they reminded themselves bitterly), and stumbling around half-blind, Kris had finally made it to the Librarby. All of the lights were off, but when Kris turned the doorknob and put their full weight against the door, it was clear that it wasn't locked by the way it swung open. Kris narrowly avoided falling hard against the floor, just barely managing to push their legs under their pitching upper body and catch themselves.
Kris felt their body shudder and spasm from the cold, though the Librarby was usually warm. Maybe this was what humans felt when their bodies began to die, the unbearable cold that seemed to come from the empty spot in Kris' chest. Despite this, they forced themselves forward, one foot in front of the other, until they could fall against the door to the computer lab.
Berdly hadn't moved at all. He still sat there, shrouded in the darkness of the night, collapsed against the table with his left wing in front of him, not awake. Not dead, Kris told themselves from their spot on the floor (they hadn't managed to push their legs under them this time). Not dead.
Freedom, helping friends, righting wrongs. Freedom, helping friends. Helping Berdly. Go help Berdly.
Kris couldn't help the choked off cry that escaped them as they struggled to lift their own weight off the ground. After about a minute, though, they finally got to their knees. After another five, they were on their feet and leaning against the wall as they made their way around the table and towards Berdly.
"Wake up," Kris murmured from against the cabinet with the backup devices. There was a dull hurt as they forced the words out of their mouth, but at least the words were their own. "Wake up," Kris repeated when Berdly didn't respond. Their words were slightly too loud, like they weren't used to talking. It really did feel like they weren't.
Finally, with an abundance of strength and willpower, Kris pushed themselves off the cabinet and onto the table, slowly making their way to Berdly. They laid a hand on his left wing, the one on the table (he felt cold, but was that because of that accursed spell or because Kris was cold enough that anything they touched was freezing?), and shook it as hard as their unsteady body would allow them to. Berdly didn't wake up. Kris bent down until they were level with Berdly's auricular - his bird-ear.
"Wake up!" Kris repeated once more, as loud as they could manage, though it felt like their lungs were actively shriveling. Panicking just a bit, they cried out, "Berdly! Wake--" Kris suddenly, unwillingly, started coughing, and they turned so that it wasn't into Berdly's auricular, even if he was de-- asleep.
The coughing made Kris' sides convulse violently, and it hurt. It hurt so bad that Kris was almost willing to try and summon the entity-in-disguise-as-their-SOUL back into their body just to make the overwhelming pain go away. But their mind repeated the purpose of this all, effectively betraying them.
Freedom, helping friends, righting wrongs. Freedom. Helping friends. Righting wrongs. Helping friends. Helping Berdly. Helping Berdly, helping Berdly, helping Berdly.
Once the horrible coughing finally stopped, Kris propped themselves back up - when had they fallen down? - and swung their right arm around Berdly, digging until his right wing was over their arm. They then hefted Berdly's other wing over their shoulder and (slowly, for their own sake) took a step back, taking all of Berdly's weight.
Kris let out an involuntary wheeze as they struggled to heft up the crushing weight of their disturbingly limp friend (birds weren't supposed to be heavy... just how weak was Kris getting?), but still somehow managed to take a few steps forward with him before they had to lean against the wall to steady themselves.
The two of them continued on like that through the Librarby - Kris taking a few steps, leaning against something, few steps, lean, and so on - but things got complicated once Kris pushed the entrance door open. There weren't many things to lean on outside, after all.
To push themselves forward, Kris thought, Freedom, helping friends... gosh, I'm exhausted... and so on.
Kris pushed forward, step by painful step, driven only by the pressing need to help Berdly because, in the end, it really was their fault that he was like this, even if it was the SOUL that had forced Noelle to cast the spell. If they hadn't let it possess them, none of this would've happened, after all. Finally, they ended up at the hospital.
Kris forced themselves to straighten up and fix their face into a normal expression. The hospital was open at all times, run primarily by the incredibly determined Red Big Mouth, and they couldn't have the receptionist-slash-nurse-slash-doctor focusing on them instead of Berdly, who arguably needed a thousand times more help than they did.
"Hello?" Red Big Mouth called out as the hospital doors slowly opened. "Who's there?" And, as Kris finally managed to push themselves and Berdly in, "Oh, goodness gracious! Kris, what in the world happened?"
Kris tried to speak, but their lungs failed them. Instead, they settled for trying to fingerspell with their shaky left hand (the one with Noelle's watch - right, they had more to do after this). F-O-U-N-D L-I-B-R-A-R-B-Y, they signed, hoping Red Big Mouth could tell what they meant.
"You found Berdly in the Librarby?" Red Big Mouth interpreted. Kris nodded vehemently, and the receptionist-slash-nurse-slash-doctor came out from behind the reception desk and took Berdly away from them. "Alright. I'll do my best to take care of him, and he'll have even more help in the morning when the other doctors come in."
Kris nodded and took a deep breath, both mentally and physically preparing themselves for the next journey they had to undergo.
"Kris, wait," Red Big Mouth said as they had begun to walk out. Kris turned back around, trying their very hardest to not show that the room was spinning in a thousand different directions and speeds all at once. "I have some questions I'm required to ask you."
Kris tried very hard not to scream at the top of their lungs.
"What were you doing in the Librarby so late?" Red Big Mouth asked. Kris shrugged because there was no nonincriminating answer. "Do you have any idea what got him like this?" Kris shrugged for the same reason. "How can I contact Berdly's guardian?" Kris shrugged because they genuinely didn't know the answer. "Are you two friends? Would you like me to contact you as well?" Kris shrugged. They weren't sure why (maybe it was the emptiness that appeared in their gut over the question of if they and Berdly were friends. They weren't very sure what they were supposed to be, nowadays). "How about--"
"Please." Kris had forced the word out of their mouth before they even knew they had a plan to. "Stop."
Red Big Mouth's expression seemed to fall into sympathy. "Of course. I'm sorry, Kris, you must be so overwhelmed right now. Thank you for bringing Berdly in. Make sure to go home right away, okay? And stay safe out there."
Kris nodded. Then, fighting against their crushing lungs, they spoke. "Take care... of him. When.... he wakes, tell... tell him I'm... I'm..."
As Kris ran out of breath, they put their right hand into a fist and ran it clockwise over their heart. Sorry, they signed.
Red Big Mouth looked as if a thousand new questions had arisen, but mercifully, none of them were asked. "I will."
Kris then turned and stumbled out of the hospital, no longer even trying to hide their pain as they leaned against the door until it fell open beneath their weight and they could push their way out.
Freedom... helping friends... righting wrongs...
Kris forced their way northwards, stumbling across the road, shivering like a madman, repeating those same five words over and over until they pushed through their way into the forest. They walked, leaning on just about every tree, until they finally found the gap in the Holiday's gate that had been there since they were young. They pushed their way through and kept on until they saw the Holiday Manor.
Immediately, they caught sight of a figure on the porch. Part of them thought it was Mayor Holiday and began panicking, which was very exhausting, but the other, still-sane part of them saw Noelle for who she was and forced their feet onwards, towards the porch.
Helping friends. Righting wrongs.
Once they were there, they reached out and wrapped their hand around Noelle's wrist. Noelle froze as they did - not froze as in got covered in ice, thankfully, but as in she stiffened. She was scared. Scared of them.
"Sorry for taking your watch, Noelle," Kris spoke, their lungs remarkably cooperative this time. Probably just because they were mumbling, but remarkable, nonetheless.
Noelle turned to face them then, a surprised smile on her face. Seeing her smile at the sight of them, Kris felt unbearably guilty. They'd hurt her so much; how was she kind enough to still smile like that at them? The guilt hurt Kris more than the absence of the SOUL, and they had to lean on the porch's railing and grab onto it with both hands to keep from falling over.
"It was all a stupid prank," Kris continued, feeling another shiver wrack their body as their legs tried to give out below them. They vainly hoped she didn't notice.
Kris let go of the porch railing with their right hand, which instantly began to violently shake, and took off Noelle's watch as they continued speaking. "Berdly is going to get better."
Finally, Kris reached out and, as gently as possible, grabbed Noelle's hand and clasped her watch back onto its rightful place. Their hands shook as they did, and they almost slipped off of the railing, but it was worth it. Noelle watched their every moment with a dazed expression, and she started sniffling once her watch was back on.
Kris didn't let go of Noelle's hand right away, and it was a good thing they didn't, because as they looked down at her hand, they saw something. There, on her ring finger, a thorn was lodged in her fur, a thin trickle of dust falling from it.
Trying to stop the shaking of their hands, Kris pulled the thorn out. Noelle immediately fixated on the dust-covered thorn, staring at it like it had killed her best friend. Maybe it had.
As Kris gazed at their friend, something occurred to them. Something that could very easily make things go even more wrong. Something that could come back and stab the thorn right back into Noelle's fur. Something that Kris would have to allow, no matter what it did, because they were virtually powerless to stop it.
"Noelle," Kris gasped. After another second of staring at the thorn, Noelle met their eyes. "When you... when..." Oh, how great, their lungs hated them again. "When you see me again, don't..."
Noelle knew sign language, right? Yeah. Of course she did. Kris knew that - why did they forget? Were they forgetting now? As much as it hurt Kris to admit, they needed the SOUL. They needed that entity to move them around like a helpless puppet, because without it, they were losing themselves. They were dying.
Kris put their right hand into a thumbs up, brought it to their chin, and then shot it out. Then put both of their hands into 'h's and tapped their fingers together. Lastly, they put up one finger and moved it quickly between the two of them to reference the situation at hand. DON'T MENTION THIS. They hoped their hands were steady enough that Noelle could tell what they meant.
"Don't... don't mention this?" Noelle voiced their signs.
Kris nodded, then propped themselves back up on the rail with their left arm as they began to slip down. Pushing through it, they fingerspelled with their right hand - a lone pinky up, and then a thumb between their index and middle fingers. I-T. Done with that, they put their right hand straight, all fingers together, brought it to their head, and shot it out. They then put down their ring and pinky fingers and put their thumb to their ear, scrunching their other two fingers. WILL HEAR.
"Don't mention this. It will hear," Noelle translated fully, then scrunched up her face, confused. "What will hear?"
Kris wanted to shake their head and sign that they wouldn't explain, but a shiver caused their body to spasm, and they had to grip onto the railing with all of their might as to not fall.
"Kris!" Noelle gasped, and she darted forward, clearly meaning to help them up.
Kris held out a hand to stop her, though that effectively caused them to fall down in a heap. Noelle just stood there, helpless. It took Kris a good five minutes, at the least, to push their way back up, but they still managed. Again, Kris put a thumbs-up under their chin and brought it out. Then they did another thumbs-up and pushed them both to the side. DON'T FOLLOW.
"Don't follow," Noelle translated, sounding incredibly worried and just a little bit terrified.
With that, Kris stumbled off of the porch, disappeared into the forest, and made their way home.
Finally, after what felt like it should've been weeks, Kris reached their hand up and onto the windowsill. It hurt, it hurt so bad, but still, they managed to pull themselves up and back into the bathroom, pushing themselves as far forward as possible. The faucet was still running, once more becoming an echoing inside their head. Buried below the noise, the SOUL still tried to open the cabinet door. Kris knelt on the ground for a moment, trying to recover and reorient themselves, before they pushed their way up and trudged over towards the sink, each step a conscious effort.
Kris reached up and turned the tap handles, silencing the faucet at last, then knelt down. They felt so overwhelmed. This pain would finally be gone - their limbs would thaw, and their body would stop trying to work against them - but so would their freedom. So might everything they did tonight. The puppet master might just walk out the door, head to the hospital, and kill Berdly anyway. It might just force Kris to skip on over to Holiday Manor and shove a pile of thorns into Noelle's skin. It would have full control over them.
No.
No, it wouldn't. As long as Kris had any control over their thoughts, it wouldn't. It wouldn't do this again. They'd fight back, somehow. If need be, they'd throw it into a box and kill both it and them so that their friends would be safe.
Smiling a bit at this (however morbid that was), Kris bent their heads towards the cabinet.
"I hope..." They rasped, just quiet enough that their mother and Susie shouldn't hear. "I hope you learned from this. Don't... don't fuck this up again."
Then they opened the cabinet under the sink and let the SOUL fly its way back into their body. Kris let out a gasp of... well, wasn't that complicated? The feeling of the SOUL going back into their body physically hurt about as much as ripping it out, and it mentally hurt to know that their freedom flew out the window as it did. But it made that pain go away. They were so unbelievably relieved by such a bad thing.
Kris sat there as the warmth flooded back into their body, as the room stopped spinning - gosh, they hadn't even realized it was until it wasn't - and as their head stopped pounding. Slowly, though, they heard a whirring begin echoing in their ears, like the sound of Asriel's laptop whenever he'd boot it up after a while.
Wasn't that a horrible thought? That the entity might just be some teenager on a laptop? That Kris letting it take control of them was just it returning to the game? That it found genuine entertainment in ruining their life and hurting their friends?
Suddenly, Kris stood up. Their feet moved without them, leading them to spin in circles, and they knew that these light, easy movements were only that way because it wasn't them moving. It was just that entity, that hopefully-not-just-a-teenager, puppeteering them, dangling them by the strings so that they'd spin in circles.
Kris watched as they walked out of the bathroom. Everything was normal. Their mother and Susie hadn't even thought that Kris might've just risked their life for an ounce of freedom and the opportunity to possibly be able to help their friends, one of which might not ever get to know about it. Nope, this was just a normal night for them.
Susie turned to them with a smile on her face. "Hey, Kris. Hurry up next time."