Chapter 1: PROLOGUE: WITH YOU IN THE DARK
Chapter Text
CAN YOU FEEL YOUR NEW LIFE BEGINNING?
LIFE IN A PLACE WHERE YOU CAN HONE YOUR GREATEST SKILLS, AN ENVIRONMENT WHERE YOU CAN IMPROVE DAY BY DAY
SOON, YOU SHALL ECLIPSE THE MASTERS OF OLD, AND INSPIRE MILLIONS WITH YOUR TALENT.
…
CAN YOU FEEL
YOUR
NEW
LIFE
BEGINNING-
“Kris!” The antlered girl awoke her friend, who was currently passed out cold at a desk. They shot up suddenly, and nearly fell over in the chair they were sleeping in as they woke up.
“W-Wuh?” Kris mumbled as they slowly removed themself from the chair with a groan. “Ugh, my head…”
“Okay, you’re awake, phew,” The deer girl breathed a sigh of relief as Kris looked around the room, it was a classroom. Specifically one built for late highschoolers if they had to guess, desks all around them and their friend and an unused whiteboard…
“Noelle, where the hell are we?” Kris asked as the last bits of wooziness seemingly went away.
“I-I’m not really sure,” Noelle mumbled. “A classroom, apparently,”
“Huh, weird coincidence…” Kris mumbled back. “We were heading off to-”
“Hope’s Peak Academy. Oh my god, we were!” Noelle yelped. “It was gonna be our first day, d-do you think this is it?”
“Okay so, last I checked schools generally don’t kidnap their students,” Kris said with a chuckle.
Noelle laughed. “Fahaha, Hope’s Peak is special though. Don’t you remember?”
The human shrugged. “I guess, I guess… so uh, what do you want to do?”
Noelle looked around for a moment, then clucked her tongue. “We should probably explore, you think Dess is here?”
“She is meant to be in the same class as us,” Kris mumbled. “We should try to find her,”
“Yeah!” Noelle said, pumping her fists. “Let’s start exploring this… kinda creepy school…”
“What, are you scared?” Kris chuckled as they led the woman out of the room and into a hallway connected to four doors, labelled ‘CLASSROOM A-D’. “It’s just a school, Noelle,”
“Hopefully…” Noelle mumbled as she peeked her head into Classroom B, which was the exact same as A, she and Kris then moved towards Classroom C, which was designed to be used by younger kids judging by the crayons and large box of toys neatly organised in the corner of the room.
“Oh, C stands for Child!” Noelle said with a smile of realisation, her head still through the door. “That’s pretty clever, fahaha, don’t you think Kris?” The reindeer asked as she turned around, but there was no Kris to be found. “Kris? Wh-Where are you?”
Noelle fully removed herself from the children’s classroom, looking around the hallway. Everywhere but behind the opened door-
“RAH!”
“EEP!” Noelle jumped a solid few feet in the air as she let out a high pitched squeak. “Kris! Why did you do that?”
“I thought it’d be funny,” Kris let out a small chuckle. “And it was,”
Noelle let out a sigh, then let out a small giggle. “Fahaha, you’re the worst, Kris,”
“I know~” Kris said all fruity as the two slowly opened the door to Classroom D, looking into the dark and cobweb laden classroom, and of the person leaning against the wall in the corner of the room…
A purple scaled reptilian with thick, messy hair that covered her eyes. She was wearing baggy, somewhat dirty looking and torn clothes as she glared into the distance, and then at the duo that had entered her domain.
“H-Hi!” Noelle blushed as she energetically waved at the dinosaur monster, who simply continued to stare at her. “I’m Noelle! The Ultimate Manager, this is Kris, the Ultimate Pianist!” She said, motioning towards the human.
“Why’d you introduce our talents too?” Kris asked, raising their eyebrow.
“I-I think it’s good to know!” Noelle whispered harshly to the human. She then turned back to the Reptile. “What’s uh… wh-what’s your name, by the way?” She said as she walked up to the woman and extended her hand.
The utterly massive monster looked down at the hand, and elected to lightly tap it with her finger. “Susie,”
“That’s a nice name!” Noelle said cheerfully, nodding.
“Yeah, for someone so scary,” Kris chuckled as Susie gave them a glare before returning to glaring at the wall.
“Shouldn’t you be going now?” She grumbled out, flashing the duo a look.
“O-Oh ah um… I-I suppose…” Noelle mumbled.
“Then go…” She looked away. “Or I’ll bite your face off,”
“We should listen to her,” Kris nodded as they grabbed Noelle by the wrist, the Deer showing a small pout as she was lead out of the abandoned classroom.
“Well, that was weird,” Kris shrugged.
“A-And scary, hehe…” Noelle giggled to herself, Kris flashed her a very knowing smirk, which caused the deer’s face to scrunch up in offence. “Wh-What’s that face for!?”
“You know what,” The human continued to smirk as they walked down the hall, soon getting to an intersection as the fuming deer continued to follow closely behind.
There was a choice of places bordering the four way intersection: A door labelled “MUSIC STUDIO,” one labelled “CAFETERIA” and one labelled “INFIRMARY”
“A music room?” Noelle said as she walked up to and inspected the sign. “Dess would definitely be in there, wouldn’t she?”
“You’d know, you manage her band,” Kris shrugged as Noelle opened the door into the room: well stocked with guitars hanging on the walls, a drum set, other assorted instruments in a nearby box and even a grand piano in the corner. Most importantly of all, was-
“DESS!” Noelle cheered as she ran towards her sister, enveloping her in a tight hug, face firmly in the green flannel jacket she was wearing.
“Jeez, I’m happy to see you too, Elly,” Dess chuckled as Noelle slowly removed herself from the hug. “Kris, not even a hello?”
“You were busy with Noelle,” Kris shrugged. “Do you know how we got here?”
Dess shrugged as she got up from the bench she was sitting on. “Not in the slightest, I assume you don’t either?” She was met with nods of agreement. “Well, that’s shit,”
“Hmm…” Noelle put a finger to her chin. “Well, maybe some more exploring could help us figure something out?” The doe suggested. “I mean, it wouldn’t hurt to try, right?”
“Eh, I’m up for it,” Dess shrugged.
“It’s what I was already doing, but Dess is here now,” Kris nodded.
“I sure am! Lead the way, Krismas,” Dess and Noelle both chuckled as Kris let out a sigh, then led her and Noelle out of the music room…
“A cafeteria,” Dess acknowledged as she looked at the sign on the door. “Guess I am a bit hungry,”
“I’m not,” Kris said.
Dess rolled her eyes and smirked. “No one was asking you, dude,” She said, opening the door into the cafeteria, wooded, completely spotless and decorated almost like homey cafe with wooden furniture and a chalkboard menu on one of the walls…
No one was in the cafeteria, however the gentle hum of a microwave could be heard from the kitchen, encouraging Kris and co. to walk into the relatively small, clean tiled room.
“There’s other people here?” Was the question they were greeted with as they entered, the orange cat man wearing a bright fast food uniform who said it was looking down at Kris in confusion.
“Why wouldn’t there be?” Another cat, this one physically larger with white fur, black hair with a purple streak in it and a waitress’ uniform.
“Yeah, we’re the only 2 adults that I know are here. We’re supposed to be smarter than the kids, dummy,” Dess crossed her arms with a sense of faux disappointment. “Be smarted than kids, now!”
“Ah, yes ma’am!” The orange cat saluted Dess, even though she was the exact same age as him.
“We’re not kids, we’re 17,” Noelle pouted, crossing her arms as well, Kris nodded in agreement.
“You sound like a bunch of kids to me,” The orange cat chuckled, he then looked at Kris. “C’mon, little buddy it’s a joke. What’s your name?”
“Kris,” Kris said blankly.
“Schweet, I’m-”
“Wait,” The white cat suddenly, yet quietly interjected, her tone still completely flat. “Are you that Pizzapants guy my sister talks about?”
“How do you know about that!?” Pizzapants yelped, nearly falling onto the microwave he was leaning against.
Dess snickered. “Pizzapants?”
“Pizzapants, Fahaha, Pizzapants!” Noelle giggled.
The orange get let out a groan. “Goddammit, I can never win, can I?”
“Sometimes life is like that, Pizzapants,” Kris added.
“Stop- god-” He groaned. “Listen, I am a very important part of ICE-E’s P”E”ZZA, they’d be kaput without me,”
“I mean, you’re wearing their uniform outside of work,” Dess shrugged.
“We were told to wear something related to our talent, I’m the Ultimate Mascot for god’s sake!” Pizzapants shouted, exasperated. “Clearly you two didn’t get the memo,”
“Wasn’t enforced,” Kris shrugged. “I think you just wore a fast food uniform to school, must really love being a wage slave, huh?”
The cat man let out another, even more frustrated groan.
“Fahaha, Kris, don’t be mean,” Noelle warned, even as she kept laughing.
“Ugh, I just can’t win!” The man left the kitchen, forgetting to take the pizza he was heating up out of the microwave.
“Well, that was funny…” The cat woman in the room mumbled, seemingly bored with the entire encounter. “I’m Catti by the way, Ultimate Waitress,”
“We can kinda tell,” Kris nodded.
“I didn’t know the dress code here wouldn’t be enforced…” Catti stated. “I’d be wearing actual clothes if I did,”
“I um… actually am following the dress code too,” Noelle added. “Faha, this is just what I wear normally though,”
“You… dress like a manager all the time?” Catti mumbled. Noelle was wearing the red and green checkered sweater she pretty much always wore…
“It is a little manager-ey,” Kris added.
“It is not!” Dess flicked Kris on the back of their ear.
“Um, I’m not offended by her saying that,” Noelle mumbled out. “We should uh… finish exploring this school,”
“Have fun with that, I guess…” Catti mumbled.
“I just realised I forgot to actually eat anything,” Dess said as she moved the party towards the Infirmary.
“How?” Kris chuckled.
“People forget things sometimes,” Noelle argued. “I mean, you used to forget entire semesters,”
“Because I slept through them, duh,” Kris said.
Noelle chuckled as the group of three entered the Infirmary. “Fahaha, of course you’d be proud of that!”
The infirmary was a sterile, well lit white with cutesy posters covering the wall talking about being sick or injured. There was a white-furred goat monster wearing a green cloak and cute pink scarf seemingly treating the minor knee injury of a short, rotund monster wearing a blue hood over his head.
“Ohoho, thanks to the healing powers of this precious ball of fluff. Dark Jack Lancer will be able to waddle again in no time flat!” The round boy.
“Umm, thanks?” The goat boy turned his head. “All I did was put a band-aid on your knee-”
“Oh my, oh my, it appears you have more patients!” Dark Jack Lancer said energetically. “And boy, do they ever look hurt. I can sense that the soft cream of the party has a stomach ulcer!”
“Wha?” Dess turned her head in confusion.
“I- are you talking about me?” Noelle asked.
“Do you see any other soft creams about? Hohoho!” Lancer chuckled as he jumped from the medical bed he was sitting on. “And I am the master of judging small creams, as I am Lancer. The Ultimate Prince of the Darklands!”
“Very roundabout way to introduce yourself,” Kris mumbled.
“Oh, I’ve heard of the Darklands before. It’s home to some very unique monsters!” Noelle said with a nod.
“Indeed, I-I’m from there as a matter of fact. It was a shock to see my prince here,” The goat mumbled.
“Really? Cause you look kinda like someone we know,” Dess said. “What’s your name?”
“Oh, well I’m Ralsei, the Ultimate Healer,” Ralsei said with a polite bow. “If you ever get injured, let me know! I can have you healed up in no time at all,”
“Oh, neat,” Dess nodded. “Nice to meet’cha, Ralsei,”
“You too!” Ralsei said with a firm nod… as the trio exited the Infirmary, Kris noticed Ralsei staring into the back of their head out of the corner of their eye… probably nothing to worry about.
“You noticed it too, right?” Dess asked Kris and Noelle as the trio walked north through the halls of the school, towards two doors: one labelled “GYMNASIUM” and the other labelled “STORAGE/DISPOSAL”
“Notice what?” Kris asked back.
“That Ralsei guy looks just like Azzy!” Dess said, exasperated. “How are you not noticing that? He’s your brother!”
“Ralsei’s horns are pink,” Kris started. “His eyes are also pink, Azzy’s are red. He wears glasses, Azzy doesn’t-”
“Okay, jeez I get it-”
“Azzy has blonde hair, Ralsei doesn’t-” Noelle was interrupted by her sister letting out a long winded groan.
“Ughhhh… you two are the worst,” Dess said as she walked towards the door to the Gym… then completely failed to open it, the door rattling as she shook it. “Oh, goddammit,”
“Womp womp,” Kris said outloud as they lead their party into the storage room, surprisingly not that big, yet stocked with pretty much everything: from school supplies, gym supplies, and even spare instruments sitting pretty in their cases.
“Woah woah, hello there. I did not expect to see, you!” The snake monster wearing a backwards blue cap, blue sheath and sunglasses said, a goofy smile on his face. He bounced around erratically in place as he spoke. “I thought I, was alone in this here workout ready room!”
“I mean you were until we came in,” Kris shrugged. “What’s your name?”
“I am Jockington!” The snake proudly declared, using the end of his trail to point to his chest confidently. “The Ultimate Soccer Player, life is a big ballgame, and I am the master of, the ball!”
“Oh hey, I’ve heard of you before!” Noelle said as she turned to Dess. “Remember, Dess? Dad would talk about him during soccer season,”
“Oh yeah, yeah he would,” Dess nodded. “It’s like, the one soccer related thing that didn’t upset him, heh,”
“I am known, to please all with my. Ball skills!” Jockington said with a joyous laugh. “However, I must practice my skills in this tiny room, by myself. Have a good time doing, whatever you were doing before!”
“Yeah, we were gonna head out anyway,” Kris said as they left the room.
“Have a good day, Jockington!” Noelle said, waving to the snake on her way out.
“Every day is good for Jockington, in the great ballgame of life!” Jockington said with a wide smile.
The group of three walked back down through the intersection, going west this time, they eventually came across a door labelled “LIBARBY” in the middle of the hallway… dust quickly assaulted their noses as they entered the large, organised auditorium of shelves, after a bit of coughing they spotted two other monsters: A snowy looking bird wearing a pink bowtie, and an armless yellow kid with spikes coming out the back of his head wearing an orange raincoat and golden cross necklace.
“Oh hey, sick, new people!” The yellow monster said. “Yo, what’s up guys?”
“What do we have here? Two monsters and an adopted human?” The snow bird joked. “Are they spayed?”
Kris shrugged. “Unfortunately, I’m not,”
“Unfortunately? Fahaha,” Noelle giggled.
“How are you guys not-” Dess was interrupted by a brief fit of coughing. “Dying in here, it’s so dusty and shit!”
The yellow one shrugged despite not having any arms, they were currently keeping a religious looking textbook well balanced between their spines. “Guess I just got used to it, I dunno, dude,”
“Well, clearly you’re dust immune or something… whoever who are…” Dess said. “What’s your name?”
“Ehhh… it’s kinda embarrassing, just call me MK!” MK said with a nod. “The Ultimate Missionary,”
Noelle turned her head curiously. “Oh, you’re religious?”
“He wasn’t talking about the position, was he?” The bird laughed, Dess and MK laughed at the joke too.
“Hehe, obviously yeah. I go from city to city, country to country spreading the good word of God, and all that jazz,” MK said
“Weirdly chill for a Missionary,” Kris added. “All the ones who came to my town were uh… kinda loud, and-”
“Forceful? Yeah, I get that, dude,” MK chuckled. “I’m not gonna force my beliefs on anyone, don’t worry. I will try to spread the good word whenever I can though, y’know?”
“That’s noble I guess,” Noelle shrugged, smiling at the yellow boy.
“What about you, bird guy?” Dess asked the bird.
“I’m glad you asked, tall deer girl. I’m Snowy, the Ultimate Comedian,” Snowy said proudly, using one of his wings to point to his chest. “My jokes can be… ice cold… that wasn’t funny at all,”
“Eh, they can’t all be winners,” Dess shrugged. “Your other jokes were funny, though,”
“At least you and MK like them,” Snowy said with a smug smile, then he grimaced. “That bluebird in the computer lab when into a whole essay about humour… even though he laughed!”
“There’s a computer lab in here?” Kris asked. “I could play Minecrap on that!”
“Fahaha, that’s what you’re focused on?” Noelle giggled as Kris bolted towards the door to the computer lab. “Ah, Kris!”
“Goddammit,” Dess groaned as she and her sister chased after the human, nearly breaking down the door of the computer lab as they tried to enter the mostly blue-ish grey room lined with well… computers on desks throughout…
“Ohoho, two ladies and a human approach the gaming den of this warrior of vast intellect!?” The bluebird that Snowy mentioned said, his voice nasally as he pointed to himself proudly, he was standing in front of a PC playing a paused fighting game against CPUs. Probably Super Smashing Fighters. “What do you two want, can’t you see I’m busy?”
“We were just exploring,” Noelle mumbled.
“Yeah, chill out dude,” Dess put her hands on her hips and glared at the nerdy looking bird, who smugly glared at her back.
“I was simply trying to enjoy what little time I don’t spend being the smartest within my class,” The bird’s smirk grew wider, somehow. “For I am Berdly, the Ultimate Student!”
“Yeah, we can tell, Nerdly,” Dess snickered.
“Dess, don’t be mean,” Noelle sighed, even though she did chuckle a bit.
“Ah, yes, a fellow intellectual walks amongst your ranks!” Berdly said as he stared down Noelle. “I am pleased to have someone of near intellect to my own!”
“Fahaha, um… thanks?” Noelle chuckled.
“You are quite welcome!” Berdly let out a snooty laugh, then returned to playing his game.
“Welp, that guy’s weird,” Dess said as she left the Computer Lab, and then the Librarby Kris nodded in agreement and followed her alongside Noelle.
“He doesn’t seem all that bad,” Noelle shrugged. “Just uh… a little…”
“Annoying?” Dess raised an eyebrow at her sister. “That’s like, the worst thing a person can be sometimes,”
“Eh, there’s worse,” Kris shrugged as the three walked through the halls of the school. “Like hitting me over the head with a wiffle bat,”
“That was once!” Dess argued. “And you were being a jerk to Noelle,”
“Yeah!” Noelle said, as if she was the goon to Dess’ mob boss.
“You just gotta learn to handle my pranks,” Kris smirked as they walked further into the hallway, eventually reading a large, elevator door positioned at a bend in the hallway, another human was standing in front of it. A woman with a blue and pink sweater, and hair eerily similar to Kris’
“Oh, uh hi you three!” The woman said with a smile, her eyes looking half lidded as she looked away from the elevator door. “I didn’t think anyone else was all that interested in this elevator,”
“I mean it’s the only thing nearby,” Dess shrugged and smirked.
Kris narrowed their eyes at the girl. “Weird to see another human around here…”
“Heh, yeah,” The girl giggled. “I should probably introduce myself, right? I’m Frisk, Ultimate Peacemaker,”
“Oh, you’re a hall monitor,” Kris chuckled, before being firmly jabbed in the side by Dess.
“Nice to meet’cha, Frisk. Do you know anything about anything?” The deer asked.
“Wha?” Frisk turned her head, confused.
Noelle sighed. “What she means is ‘do you know how we got here?’”
“Oh, uh… nope!” Frisk shrugged. “I woke up outside of this elevator and uh… just kinda waited for someone to show up,”
“Welp, that sounds super interesting, but we should get going,” Kris said as they walked past the other human dismissively. “Let’s go, Noelle, Dess,”
“Uhhh, okay I guess?” Noelle mumbled. “Bye Frisk!”
“See ya around!” Dess smiled, then glared down at Kris as the group of three continued down the hall.
“Kris, what the hell was that!?” Dess whisper yelled at the human.
“I’m not good around other humans,” Kris shrugged. “You know that,”
“I didn’t know you were that bad!” Dess grumbled. “She… seems nice, be nice,”
Kris let out a long sigh of annoyance. “Fiiiiine,”
“There, now, back to walking,” Dess said as she lead the group past a series of three bathrooms, and then towards another bend in the hallway to a series of doors, each with a picture of the faces of everyone they had met so far alongside three others…
“Huh… this is uh…” Dess trailed off.
“They look like dorm rooms,” Noelle nodded. “Maybe they’re-”
“They ARE Dorm Rooms!” Noelle let out a screech as a cat/dog girl thing wearing a blue shirt and a backwards cap peaked her head out of the door with a picture of her face on it. “HOI, I’m Temmie! I am Ultimate Businesswoman because of muh supah successful TEM FLAKES!!!!!”
“Oh yeah I’ve seen you before,” Dess said, pointing lightly at the cat, then turned her head to Noelle. “Mom used to get real pissed when we even suggested eating Tem Flakes, too much sugar apparently,”
“Your Mom sounds very mean!” Temmie sniffled. “But don worry, the Cafeteria have enough Tem Flakes for all of us!!”
“Oh sick, I can get another cavity!” Kris said with a beaming smile on their face.
“Is like my Mommy Temmie always said, happy customers get the cavities!” Tem proudly declared before she slinked back into her room.
“Welp, that was weird,” Dess shrugged as she continued down the hall, prompting Noelle and Kris to continue following her as she opened a door into the Foyer of the school, a grand room with opulent, shiny railing, hallways leading to every other corner of the school and a grand door at one end with one of those fancy door knockers rich people got… Dess instantly ran over and tried to pull it open, but…
“Ughhhh, grrgghhh, fuccckkkk!” Dess huffed and puffed as she failed to make it budge even a little. “Christ, that thing’s stuck stuck,”
“Maybe we should ask it nicely?” Kris suggested, earning an annoyed look from the deer that was following them.
“You trying to open the door?” A purple, tentacled monster dressed in a red flannel jacket and a backwards baseball cap asked, she was holding a skateboard under her arm and was standing next to a girl made of green fire dressed in a school uniform. “Cause like, I tried everything and nothing worked,”
“Has your friend tried burning it down yet?” Dess asked.
“Hm? Oh no, I’m not made of fire. I’m just on fire,” The fire woman corrected. “B-But I get the confusion, my name is literally Fuku Fire, haha,”
“Oh hey, I think I’ve… vaguely heard about you. Apparently you make really, really good White Russians,” Dess said with a smile.
“Oh, I make all kinds of drinks. I am the Ultimate Bartender after all,” Fuku smiled and gave a small bow.
“Ah, you apparently give out your name at work,” Dess nodded.
“Terrible idea, really,” Kris shrugged. “Who’s the other girl?”
“Oh sweet it’s my turn!” The tentacled monster gave a big smile. “Sup dudes? I’m Skatherine, Ultimate Skater. Call me ‘Skate’ for short, though,”
“Nice to meet you, Skate!” Noelle said with a smile “Um… I think skateboarding is really cool? I dunno what to say, fahaha,”
“I can tell,” Skate chuckled back, she then walked towards some of the railing with her skateboard in hand. “Anyways, you guys wanna see me do some cool shit?”
“Of course!” Fuku said with a nod.
Dess shrugged. “Better than running around this school, show it off!”
“Alright alright alright alright!” Skate said as she positioned her skateboard on the railing. “Three, two, on-”
DING DONG BING BONG
The school bell suddenly went off, making everyone look around in confusion. Suddenly everyone began to notice the screens in each and every room of the school, all of which now had a smiling mouth imprinted onto them.
“Now this, this is gonna be a real WINNER, could all of you come to the Gymnasium pronto?” The voice said, seemingly speaking from the TV.
“Wh-Who was that!?” Noelle yelped out.
“TV’s haunted,” Kris declared simply.
“Or, it’s just whoever put us here trying to mess with us,” Dess shrugged.
“Should we go to the Gym?” Fuku asked as Skate dejectedly but her skateboard back under her arm.
“I mean, what else is there to do?” Skate shrugged as she began to walk down the long hallway to the Gym.
“Fair enough,” Dess nodded as she led the rest of the group down the hallway too, nothing much of note happened. Though, Kris swore they felt the presence of someone outside of the group watching over them, someone shifting in the corner of their eye… they decide to ignore it as they enter the Gymnasium.
The Gym was gargantuan, with all kinds of workout equipment sitting on racks, a large basketball court in the middle and even a stage at the end, which would presumably be for staff to make announcements. It seemed that everyone had gotten to the Gym before them, and was currently standing around
“Late, late, late. Whoever brought us here is late!” Berdly complained.
“Life is a ballgame, you cannot be late to kick, the ball in the game!” Jockington declared, bending his body around energetically.
“He’s right or whatever…” Catti shrugged. “Seems a bit pointless to call us here if no one’s going to show up,”
“Maybe this just apart of orientation?” Noelle suggested with a shrug. “I-I mean it’s the only thing I can think of,”
“Did you get kidnapped for orientation at your last school too?” Snowy let out a grating laugh as Dess gave the bird a disgruntled glare.
“Let’s try to calm down, everyone, I’m sure they’re just a bit late,” Ralsei said with a smile. “I’m sure all of this will be explained in time,”
“Hohoho, will they make us fight for the title of Ultimate Ultimate?” Lancer said with a joyous laugh.
“They wouldn’t- that’s stupid, right?” Fuku Fire asked.
Skate put a hand to her chin and mumbled absentmindedly. “Who do ya think would go first?”
“I say we start with Frisk,” Kris added, smirking at the other human.
“Huh? What did I do?” Frisk yelped.
MK looked around the room, both concerned and confused. “Guys, nothing’s even happening right now. Why are we fighting?”
“Sometimes you just gotta get it out, little buddy,” Pizzapants mumbled. “Just to feel somethin’, anything,”
“Dude, what?” MK turned to the man, even more confused than he was before.
“Can we all chill the fuck out?” Dess said, waving her hands slowly for emphasis.
“Yeah, you’re SCARING Tem!” The cat-dog thing mumbled out. “And Tem HATE being scared, being scared not cute at all!”
“You’re being scared of nothing,” Catti mumbled. “Then again, what we don’t know is scarier than what we know, or whatever,”
“That was… a philosophy!” Jockington declared proudly.
Catti smiled just a touch, then returned to her usual neutral face as she shrugged. “Sure, whatever,”
“If nothing’s gonna happen, then why are we even here?” Susie grumbled out, she then let out a grumbled sigh as she walked towards the door. “This has been a huge fucking waste of my time-”
Susie suddenly let out a gasp as she was pushed to the floor by a figure that seemingly came out of nowhere, standing in front of the exit to the gym. A figure clad in pitch black armour wielding a gnarly looking sword that was equally dark in its colourisation.
“I didn’t know we had another person,” Frisk mumbled as The Knight stood blankly, arms crossed.
Ralsei cleared his throat. “Hello, who are you?” The goat boy asked, smile on his face as the Knight continued to stare blankly at the crowd.
“Yeah, seriously, who the hell are you!?” Susie struck a menacing pose as she glared back. “…You better speak up, or I’m gonna-”
“Now now, my most wondrous students, there’s no need to attack my associate!” The voice of a showman called out from the roof, the same the crowd had heard call them to the Gym. “Not when there’s GAMES to be had, LESSONS to be learned!”
“So, you finally show up, huh?” Berdly said, nudging his glasses up smugly, then crossing his arms. “Hmmph, even the Delinquent amongst us got here before you!”
“Say that again, Nugget Boy?” Susie asked, face still furious.
“N-Nothing!” Berdly yelped, Susie nodded then turned to the roof.
“You better tell us what your deal is, or-”
“I was getting to that part!” The man in the roof chuckled as he fell to the ground, landing gracefully.
He was freakishly tall and big, dwarfing the people in the Gym by a wide margin, he was wearing a suit with one side being white and one half being black, and most notable of all he had a large, CRT TV for a head. The Knight soon moved to his side, silent and stoic.
“Hello, hello, hello!” The man greeted as he bowed rapidly. “Welcome one and all to a one of a kind kinda GAME!”
Frisk quirked an eyebrow. “A game?”
Berdly scoffed. “As an alpha gamer, this game is most boring to me!”
“He’s annoying, but he has a point,” Dess shrugged. “This doesn’t really feel like a game,”
“Tem think waiting fun sometimes!” Temmie said. “And games are fun! Yaya!”
Tenna laughed. “That’s because it hasn’t started yet, Deer Girl!”
Dess sighed. “Never call me that again,”
“Well hurry up then!” Skate complained. “Like, you’ve kept us waiting. Why don’t you spit it out?”
“Yeah, spit it out!” Susie added, glaring at the TV headed man. “Whoever the hell you are?”
“Me? Well I’m your host and PRINCIPAL Mr. Tenna!” He waved his arms excitedly.
“Y-You’re our principal?” Noelle mumbled. “That doesn’t sound right?”
“WHAT!? But who else would it be? I’m the only man with a TV for a head qualified enough to do this!” Tenna chuckled, a studio laugh track laughed with him. “To the run GAMES where you students are our wonderful, talented, beautiful CONTESTANTS!”
Kris sighed. “Can you just get to it already?”
“Ah… well uhm… I guess I should tell you why you’re-”
CRASH
“Not so fast evil TV guy!” The crowd turned around, shocked to see that two monsters had burst into the room, a tall, female blue bird wearing a comfortable looking blue shirt, and a fox monster with flowing, ginger hair wearing a simple, yet elegant white and pink dress.
“This has gone on for long enough,” The fox said as she peeled her eyes at the TV man. “Let these children go, now!”
“How many more people are coming in!?” Dess shouted.
“You make a point, DEER GIRL, and how many more of them are gonna interrupt my show!?” Tenna shouted as he jumped down to be at the level of the two women, he then blew an overly loud air horn in their faces. “SHOO, SHOO, OUTTA HERE!”
The bird woman covered her ears and winced, the Fox-
BANG
A chunk of the TV guys head was blown clean off from the bullet the Fox fired at him, calm rage in her eyes. Wiring bursting from the missing part of Tenna’s head.
Noelle let out an ear piercing shriek as it happened, everyone stared at the scene before them in shock and awe, barely able to think or act besides panicking.
“Wh-What the-” Skate yelled. “Hell’s going on!?”
“S-Stay calm, try to stay calm everyone!” Frisk shouted out.
“Fuck that, I want answers now!” Pizzapants yelled out.
The fox aimed the gun at Tenna, looking at him intensely as Martlet spoke for the two “We’ll explain soon, but you’re all in grave danger! You need to follow-”
SWOON
A slice to the chest sent the bird falling to the ground, bleeding profusely and unmoving as she hit her head with a loud thud.
“MARTLET-”
SWOON
The knight hit the Fox too, though she didn’t fall the slash to her chest was visible and bleeding.
“O-Oh no!” Ralsei yelled as he bolted towards the fox, grabbing her side to hold her up as her eyes slowly began to close, Frisk ran over to help keep her held up too.
“W-Why is this-” Kris mumbled as he looked at Tenna and the Knight. “What’s going on?”
“Thank you my d-d-d-d-dear Knight!” Tenna said, his voice glitching as the wires coming out of his head sparked, the Knight nodded. “J-J-Just stopping anyone from interrupting-”
“Just tell us what the game is already!” Susie yelled.
“I-It’s a KILLING GAME!” Tenna announced proudly. “That’s all!”
The panicking crowd went dead silent, all staring at the Tv headed man, his smile now laced with malice and sickness.
“Th-That’s all? That’s a joke right!?” Berdly yelped, breaking the silence with his squawking.
“Not a funny one…” Snowy grumbled.
Frisk motioned towards the body of the other Bluebird. “I don’t think it’s a joke, it’s a-”
“Wh-Wh-Why on Earth would I be joking? I’ll explain the rules in a jiffy!” Tenna chuckled. “I-In order to return to your HOMES, you’ll have to kill someone else BESIDES me and my associate-”
“So, all I need to do to go home is to kill someone I barely know,”
“Of course, the rules will be outlined on those fancy schmancy Tenna-Tablets I shoved into your pockets!” Tenna pointed at Susie as she spoke.
“S-Susie, what are you doing?” Ralsei mumbled as Ceroba continued to groan, starting daggers at the knight as she barely hung on by a thread.
Susie gave a wide, toothy grin as she stared down Ceroba. “Getting out of here,”
She pulled a knife from her pocket and lurched towards the fox… and within a split second, and without any input from themselves: Kris jumped forward, taking the knife straight to their side…
Pain seared throughout the wound, the last thing they caught before they passed out was the terrified face of Susie, and the shocked expressions of the rest of the people in the Gym excluding their host…
…
PROLOGUE COMPLETE
YOU GOT THE: HPA BADGE
16/16
Chapter 2: Chapter 1: The Snowgrave, Day 1
Chapter Text
Are they-
Are they-
Oh god, please-
They’re-
They’re awake-
Are you-
“They’re awake!”
Kris groaned from the aching pain in their side as they slowly opened their eyes to the crowd surrounding them: Noelle, Dess, Ralsei and MK.
“Oh dude, we thought you’d be asleep for longer,” MK said, Kris barely able to acknowledge it due to the remnants of pain still remaining in their side.
“Oh thank god…” Noelle mumbled, smiling. “Do you feel alright, K-Kris?” Kris didn’t respond.
“They got stabbed, what do you think?” Dess grumbled.
Noelle looked downwards dejectedly. “Right…”
“It’s uh… fine, really. I’m just glad Ralsei could heal them,” Dess said, scratching the back of her head. “Thanks for that, by the way,”
“Ah, it’s really no problem,” Ralsei nodded formally. “It’s my duty to make sure you’re all okay, besides, Kris wasn’t as injured as-”
Kris looked to their side, the ringing in their ears drowning out whatever Ralsei was saying as they looked at the Fox woman laying comatose to their left. Clearly not dead, but in no good state either. They wondered why they jumped in front of her so suddenly, why they chose to protect someone they hadn’t ever seen before…
…
“Hope she wakes up soon,” Kris grumbled out, causing the audience they had amassed around themselves to look at the human.
“Oh hey, you can speak,” Dess smiled. “I dunno why I’m surprised, you just got hit in the side…”
“Yeah, that hurt,” Kris said as they began to drag themselves out of the hospital bed, Noelle joining in to help them to their feet, the Tenna-Tablet fell out of their pocket and onto the bed.
“Oh dude, you should probably keep that,” MK said. “Tenna doesn’t want them to be broken,”
“When did that get in my pocket?” Kris said to themselves as they picked it up.
“I guess when we got taken here,” Dess shrugged. “It’s got like… rules and shit in it,”
“You should probably read them,” Ralsei said.
“T-Tenna did say that the punishment for breaking them was… well…” Noelle mumbled as she motioned towards Ceroba’s comatose state.
“Good enough,” Kris shrugged as they turned on the tablet and scrolled through it, soon reaching the section that held the rules.
MR. ANT TENNA’S TV-TASTIC KILLING GAME RULES:
RULE #1: Students must live within Hope’s Peak Academy for the Foreseeable Future
RULE #2: The only way to leave Hope’s Peak Academy is to murder a fellow student and get away with it
RULE #3: Once a murder takes place, all students must attend the ensuing Class Trial, where they will choose who they think the murderer is
RULE #4: If they vote correctly, only the murderer will be punished and everyone else will continue to live within Hope’s Peak Academy
RULE #5: If they vote incorrectly, everyone besides the murderer will be punished, and the killer will be allowed to leave Hope’s Peak Academy
RULE #6: No harm is to come to Mr. (Ant) Tenna again at any point, under any circumstances.
RULE #7: “Nighttime” is between 10:00 PM and 8:00 AM, the Gymnasium is OFF LIMITS during this time.
RULE #8: Do not under any circumstances destroy your Tenna-Tablets™
RULE #9: The “Body Discovery Announcement” will play when three or more students discover a body
RULE #10: More rules may be added at Mr. (Ant) Tenna’s discretion
---
Kris stared down at the tablet, stonefaced. “They’re… serious about this, huh?”
“S-Seems like it,” Noelle mumbled.
“I’m sure no one’s going to hurt anyone here!” Ralsei assured with a smile. “As long as we work together, I’m sure we can make our way out of here,”
“Yeah, we should talk about that during breakfast!” MK said. “I mean, everyone’s in the Cafeteria for it,”
“Oh yeah, you missed breakfast, Kris,” Dess added.
“Well, I was passed out, kinda hard to eat when I can’t do anything,” Kris said as they continued to scroll through the Tablet, eventually finding a map of the school…
“Guess we didn’t fully explore the school before the announcement,” Kris said. “And there’s a 2nd floor, apparently,”
“Yeah, apparently,” Dess rolled her eyes. “There’s a big wall in front of the stairs, apparently they’re still renovating it. You think they’d finish building the school before kidnapping us, but noooo…”
“Fahaha, that’s what you’re complaining about?” Noelle asked, causing her sister to let out a small chuckle.
“Also never saw the Laundromat,” Kris added. “And the Spa, but I never really liked those anyway…”
“You don’t need to worry about Laundry, Kris, I’ve already had everyone give me their clothes to wash!” Ralsei said with a smile on his fluffy face. “Dess got me your clothes already,”
“You never locked your door,” Dess shrugged.
“Well that’s, nice of you,” Kris nodded at the goat boy, completely ignoring Dess.
“Where’s my credit?” Dess complained as she stretched, then prepared to leave the Infirmary. “I’m gonna head back to Breakfast,”
“You should come too, Kris!” Ralsei said as he prepared to leave alongside MK and Noelle.
“I have not eaten since I got here, so yeah that’d be a good idea,” Kris added. “See ya there,”
“Bye Kris!” Noelle said with a buck toothed grin as Kris was left alone in the Infirmary… instead of leaving, however. The human elected to stare over the unconscious body of the fox.
The fox they had jumped to protect, the fox they knew nothing about. The fox that was apparently trying to save them if the woman she came with had been telling the truth…
Why?
Kris couldn’t move their body, only look down at the fox in confusion and sorrow… eventually they found the will to leave the Infirmary…
---
“Jeez Kris, what took you so long?” Dess chuckled as the human walked into the full Cafeteria, taking a seat at a table with Dess, Noelle and Ralsei sitting at it. “Thought you were just gonna skip breakfast or something,”
“Oh Kris, I didn’t think you’d wake up so soon!” Berdly said.
“They were well… stabbed pretty hard…” Fuku mumbled, scratching the back of her head.
“Speaking of, where’s Dino-Girl?” Skate asked from her seat next to Fuku Fire.
“Would you show up to breakfast with the human you stabbed?” Snowy snickered. “Do any of us even wanna see her?”
“D-Don’t be mean…” Noelle grumbled under her breath.
“She’s real scary, which is real cool to a bad guy Prince like me!” Lancer said as he pointed to his round frame.
“I wouldn’t really call you a bad guy, Lancer,” Ralsei shook his head. “None of us are bad people here, I think Susie was just a bit… you know… desperate, and uh…”
“Ralsei, Ralsei, Ralsei,” Dess shook her head at the man sitting across from her. “Just say what you’re gonna say, dude,”
“Um… right!” Ralsei yelped. “I think we should give her a second chance,”
“Fucken’ really?” Pizzapants said as he let out an irritating, shrill laugh. “I mean c’mon, she stabbed someone. I know damn well I’m keepin’ my distance,”
“Shut up…” Catti rolled her eyes as she clicked and clacked at her Tenna-Tablet, Pizzapants squinted at her in disbelief, but soon went back to grumbling. “He is right, though. Besides, it’s not like we’ve asked Kris for their opinion on this,”
“That’s right, Catti!” Jockington declared from his seat next to her. “Kris, what did you think about, getting stabbed?”
“That’s haha… a little direct dude,” MK chuckled nervously.
“No, no it’s fine…” Kris mumbled into the conversation entirely about them. They shot a quick glance at Noelle, who was at their side and was looking dejected at the floor. “I don’t… really think I hate Susie, I mean it was an accident,” Kris shrugged.
“She was trying to kill that Fox Girl, who was already dying!” Berdly added. “Ah, such a dilemma we find ourselves in!”
“What dilemma, what the hell are you talking about?” Dell let out a groan of frustration. “Kris got stabbed by Susie, Kris forgives Susie, that’s the end of it!”
“Y-Yeah!” Noelle yelped out.
Frisk nodded in agreement. “Besides, I don’t think we’ll be seeing Susie very often. I think we scared her of-”
Suddenly, the door slammed open. The only person previously absent from breakfast walking in… Susie.
“I thought you’d all be gone by now…” Susie grumbled as she trudged her way to a lonely seat in the corner of the cafeteria.
The cafeteria remained silent for awhile, but eventually returned to its usual level of idle conversation, even as a still silent Noelle stared at the Reptillian Girl blankly, her nose flashing an ever so slight tint of red.
“I-I’m…” Noelle mumbled. “I should talk to her!”
“Should you? She seems a little… y’know…” Dess motioned uncomfortably towards the brooding Susie. “I know you’ve got a crush on her, or whatever, but-”
“I-I might… I just think she needs someone to talk to,” Noelle said with a breath.
“That’s right, I think we should both talk to her!” Ralsei said with a joyful nod. “Besides, I need to let her know to give me her dirty clothes…”
Noelle sighed, then mumbled under her breath. “Great, you’re coming too…”
“Have fun with that,” Kris said as they got up from their seat. “I’m gonna go skulk around the Unused Classroom,”
“I’ll come with,” Dess said. “Be safe around Susie, if she does shit let me know,”
“I will, I will,” Noelle nodded, looking a bit frustrated. “Bye Dess, bye Kris!”
Ralsei too waved goodbye to the duo as they left the Cafeteria alongside a couple others who had began to leave as Noelle and Ralsei made their way to Susie’s corner of the Cafeteria…
“The hell do you two want?” Susie grumbled, picking at her tray of…
“(Is that chalk?)” Noelle mumbled under her breath, before shaking her head. “W-We just wanted to uh… talk to you! Yeah!”
“We’re here to make sure that you’re doing okay, Susie,” Ralsei added with a formal nod. “Yesterday was… stressful for all of us,”
“No shit…” Susie grumbled under her breath as her face scrunched up in anger. “What do you really want?”
“W-We just said, um… do you…(Say something, c’mon Noelle, say something!)” Noelle thought desperately of a topic to bring up that didn’t clearly make Susie angry. “D-Do you always eat chalk?”
Susie stared at the deer girl in confusion, before looking down at her tray. “Yeah, it’s got a nice texture… used to eat a lot more of it back home,”
“I don’t want to come off as rude, but… shouldn’t you be eating real food?” Ralsei slowly shrugged his shoulders.
“Heh, nah,” Susie smirked. “Been eating this my whole life, and I’ve been fine,”
“Ah, that’s fair… I suppose. If you ever want me to make you something though, let me know!” Ralsei gave Susie a big, fluffy smile even as Noelle gave him a brief glare.
“I-I can also cook… stuff…” Noelle added hastily.
“Good for you, I guess,” Susie squinted her eyes at Noelle, causing the deer to let out a small yelp as her cheeks and rose flushed red.
---
“Kris, what the hell are you doing?” Dess said with a snicker as she stood under the vent in the musty, unused classroom. The human in question was hiding behind the classroom’s opened door, a devious smirk on their face.
“Waiting for Berdly or that Cat Guy to show up,” Kris snickered back, whispering as to not give themselves away. “Help me out?”
Dess nodded and snickered as she leaned against the wall, playing up the edgy punk rocker vibe for literally no reason.
They waited, and waited in utter silence as-
“What on Earth are you doing in that classroom?” Berdly asked Dess, adjusting his glasses in confusion. “I didn’t see you as one to study, especially since we have nothing to study!”
“I’m just hanging out here, what are you doing?” Dess asked.
Berdly began to slowly make his way into the classroom. “Well, I was simply making my way to the Laundromat, I prefer to clean my own clothes, it establishes the discipline a PROPER student like myself needs to-”
“RAH!”
Berdly let out a squawk as Kris jumped out at him, slamming directly into the wall behind him as he bolted backwards.
“Ow, not funny Kris!” Berdly squinted at the human as Dess laughed loudly. “And stop laughing, December!”
“I’m sorry- I’m sor- (how the hell did you guess my full name?)” Dess deadpanned, shook her head, then went back to laughing. “I-It’s just I didn’t expect you to slam into the wall like that!”
Berdly dusted himself off as he stood up. “You two will pay for this, you know!”
“Sure,” Kris rolled their eyes. “It was a prank, dude, I’m sorry,”
“You better be!” Berdly grumbled.
“How are we gonna pay anyway?” Dess shrugged as she went back to leaning on the wall behind her. “You believe in divine intervention or someth-”
CLANG
“OW! Motherfucker!” Dess yelled as the grate of the vent above her hit her right on the top of the head.
“Hahaha!” Berdly let out a laugh. “Now you know how it feels,”
“Shit, ow… that is the dumbest coincidence ever,” Dess groaned as she clutched her head.
Kris walked forward, holding their hand out. “You good, Dess?”
“Yeah, I’m fine,” Dess groaned as she got up. “How the hell did the grate fall off?” She said as she looked up at the incredibly large vent.
“I dunno…” Kris shrugged as they looked at the vent alongside. “You wanna boost me up to it?”
Dess shrugged as she made the boosting position under the vent
“Of course you’d want to crawl around in a dusty air vent,” Berdly crossed his wings over his chest.
“I like being in small spaces, it’s fun,” Kris declared as they were boosted up to the Vent, crawling inside like the tunnel rat they were and loudly clanging their way through the ventilation system…
“Let us know what you find in there…!” Dess shouted out, nearly impossible to hear as Kris made their way through the metal vents, letting out small coughs as the dust made its way into their lungs.
As Kris crawled through, they elected to keep a mental note of where the vents lead, in case they wanted to scare Noelle or something.
The Unused Classroom’s Vent lead to the hallway that lead to the Gymnasium, and had another path that lead to the Gymnasium itself… Kris crawled into the Gymnasium, stepping down a rack of sport’s equipment as they left the vent…
Kris made their way to the cramped Storage Closet soon after, finding yet another jackpot… another vent they found another vent to crawl inside.
Using a rack of electric guitars this time, they climbed their way to the brand spanking new vent, now used to the dust circling through. They quickly crawled through, making note of how this vent had paths that lead to the Librarby and the Computer Lab respectively…
There no more vents beyond this point, none that Kris could get to quickly, anyway, so they looked to the floor dejectedly and slumped their way out of the Librarby, through the halls of the school and finally back to the Unused Classroom…
“Holy shit, you actually did it,” Dess let out a small chuckle as a dust covered Kris walked into the unused classroom.
Berdly sneezed. “You didn’t even bother to dust yourself off, as expected from a lazy Protozoa such as yourself!” The bird crossed his arms as he finally left the unused classroom. “I hope to NOT see you around, Krismas!”
“Holy shit, he guessed my name too,” Kris mumbled.
“It’s like he has a talent other than being annoying,” Dess snickered.
Kris chuckled back. “Nah, couldn’t be,”
“THE FUCK DID YOU SAY TO ME!?”
Dess and Kris both jumped up as they heard the yelling coming from the hallway.
“Guess Stabby got mad at someone,” Dess shrugged as she began to walk into the hallway to watch the scene. “Let’s make sure no one dies,”
“It’s not gonna be that bad…” Kris mumbled as they were lead into the hallway, watching the scene unfold before them.
Susie tightly holding Lancer up by his shirt, making direct, enraged eye contact with the short, round boy as Frisk was desperately trying to get between them. Berdly watched the scene too, just as stunned as Dess and Kris were.
“Oh, I was just trying to be intimidating like you!” Lancer said with a genuine smile. “Ho ho ho!”
“Hey Susie, Susie, calm down!” Frisk said, trying to be encouraging even as their words fell on deaf ears. “I-I’m sure Lancer didn’t mean it!”
“I knew she’d snap eventually…” Berdly grumbled.
“You’re not doing a good job, you just look pathetic!” Susie let out a deep, mocking laugh. “With that laugh? You’re not scaring anyone,”
“Wow, I’m learning so much!” Lancer said cheerily, Susie’s face curled into a more confused, yet still frustrated expression.
“Uh… yeah you are!?”
“So, work on the evil laugh…” Lancer mumbled, then let out a squeakier, yet more threatening laugh than his usual ho ho ho. “Is that good Susie?”
“Uhhh… yeah I guess it was a bit scarier?” Susie shrugged as she dropped the bouncy boy on the ground, the boy landed with a cartoon splat noise.
“H-Hey, I heard yelling!” Ralsei said as he ran down the halls, stopping in front of the people already standing. “What’ going on?”
“Uh…” Frisk mumbled as she looked around, eyes locking onto Susie and Lancer, the former staring at the latter in bewildered confusion instead of anger. “I actually don’t know, but they’re not fighting anymore! That’s good!” Frisk nodded with a smile.
“Yep, Susie gave me tips on how to be scarier, thanks Susie!” Lancer giggled.
“No problem, Lancer,” Susie let out a husky laugh. “Let’s go scare that orange guy,”
“Oh yes, he’s super scared of you!” Lancer proudly declared as he waddled his way down the halls, Susie walking closely behind him.
…
“Huh, guess she made a friend,” Dess chuckled as she and Kris walked forward.
“Shock of the century…” Berdly let out a snooty laugh as he too walked off. “I will be taking my genius elsewhere!”
“Whatever you say buddy…” Dess grumbled under her breath, shaking her head as the bird left.
“Oh, hi Kris, Dess!” Ralsei smiled.
“How long have you two been there?” Frisk asked.
Kris grumbled. “None of your business-”
“We got here when Susie started yelling,” Dess shrugged.
“Oh, sorry about that by the way…” Frisk scratched the back of her head nervously. “I should’ve tried to break it up earlier,”
“I mean… neither of them seem particularly hurt. I’d say you did good,” Dess gave a reassuring smile. “Even if Stabby nearly did beat up that Lancer kid,”
“You uh… probably shouldn’t call her that,” Ralsei shook his fluffy head. “But yeah, they seem to be happy!”
“For now, I’ll try to make sure they don’t get into any trouble,” Frisk said with a nod as she left for the hall…
…
The rest of the day wasn’t particularly eventful, and eventually day turned to night. Kris decided to head to their room…
It was a pretty standard room, comfortable, but not particularly unique with a bed tucked into a corner, a bedside table, a desk and a door leading to the bathroom. There was also a large mirror in the corner of the room… Kris looked at their reflection.
The same as usual, red eyes with bags under them and messy hair cut into a bob… which for some reason now had a hair standing up like an antenna, weird…
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK
Kris didn’t jump, as the knocking at their door was incredibly gentle.
“Hello Kris, um… did you wanna give me your laundry?” Ralsei asked from the other side of the door. “I wish to help everyone out with it,”
“Coming!” Kris called out as they opened their closet to see the exact same clothing they were currently wearing copied and pasted, weird…
Every day at this school was going to be just as weird, huh?
Kris handed the clothes to Ralsei who was carrying a basket filled with everyone else’s clothes. They sent him off with a wave, and soon fell facefirst onto their bed…
Chapter 3: Chapter 1: The Snowgrave, Day 2
Chapter Text
DING DONG BING BONG
Instead of a traditional alarm, Kris was awoken by the sound of the announcement bell ringing, and the TV in their room flashing on…
“Hello hello students, it’s now a beautiful CRISP 8:00 AM morning! Get some breakfast to start the new day right!” Tenna, who’s head had apparently healed from getting shot earlier was sitting in a comfortable, fancy looking chair as he gave the announcement.
Kris let out a groan as they crawled their way out of bed, moving to the bathroom to actually get ready for the day… a rarity for the human…
They spent most of it trying to brush their hair, but this single hair just wouldn’t stop standing up like an antenna, stupid thing was…
Kris let out a groan of defeat, giving up as they decided to trudge down the halls to the Cafeteria for breakfast, taking their usual seat at the table with Noelle, Ralsei and Dess.
“Hi Kris!” Ralsei said with a kindly smile.
“The hell’s going on with your hair?” Dess said, snickering behind her hand. “You forget to brush it this morning?”
“Fahaha, Dess, that’s mean,” Noelle said with a small giggle.
Kris let out a sigh. “I was hoping you wouldn’t notice that, this one hair just won’t… go down!” Kris grumbled as they tried to push down the rogue strand of hair.
“You haven’t cared about your hair looking like ass before, what’s changed?” Dess snickered some more.
Ralsei shook his head and sighed, before giving Kris another big smile. “I think it looks good, Kris!”
“Well, at least someone isn’t a total dick here,” Kris said, then glared at Dess with a hatred surpassed by nothing else.
“Oh c’mon Kris, you have an antenna coming out of your head,” Dess rolled her eyes, leaning on the table. “It’s funny is al-”
CRASH
The idle chatter of the Cafeteria stopped dead in its tracks as the large figure broke through the roof and crashed to the floor, Tenna then instantly stood up, straightened his tie and looked around the bewildered room of students as the Knight soon flew into the room, taking its place at Tenna’s side.
“Well well, that got everyone’s attention, didn’t it?” The TV Headed Man said with a wide smile. “Which is good, I have a special ANNOUNCEMENT for the whole cohort to hear! Does anyone wanna guess what it is?”
Silence…
Tenna cleared his throat nervously. “A-Anyone? Anyone at all…”
Still silence, Susie and Dess visibly glared at the TV Headed Man and his associate. The Knight eventually jabbed Tenna in the side to get him to continue.
“Right, well. Today’s announcement is our very first motive for you all, you lot are a resilient bunch, taking awhile to get your hands DIRTY!”
“Motive?” Frisk mumbled to herself.
“What do you mean by that?” Catti hissed.
“Oh, the moment I’m gonna announce it you start talking over me, kids these days amirite?” Tenna chuckled to his associate, who silently nodded in response. “Anyhow, starting from now. If you bunch don’t get killing soon, I’ll start turning the heat of this school down, down to negative a hundred degrees if I gotta!”
Everyone stared down the TV, the room in a mix of confusion and fear as Tenna made his announcement, a motive to force everyone to kill came as a surprise even considering the situation they found themselves in, Kris found themselves turning to their side to look at Ralsei, then at Dess, then at Noelle… could any of them…
“Now that’s the reaction I was looking for: despair, chaos, all the fun of the KILLING GAME!” Tenna laughed. “Now, with that. I’ll leave you kids to your business, get killing soon!”
Tenna stomped his way out of the Cafeteria, the Knight floating closely behind. Leaving all of us in despair filled silence, pondering if anyone would do it, if anyone would take the plunge and-
“Nothing’s gonna happen,”
Everyone in the Cafeteria turned to look at Dess, a confident, determined smirk firmly planted on her face as she spoke. “None of us are going to kill eachother, I can promise that. It’s gonna take more than some temperature tomfuckery to get at us,”
“I agree!” Frisk gave an enthusiastic thumbs up in agreement. “If we all work together I’m sure we’ll be more than able to just… avoid this whole Killing Game!” The human added, determination sparking in her eyes.
“We should keep meeting here!” Ralsei added. “To make sure we can always discuss how we can cooperate,”
“The guy who cleans my clothes has a point,” Snowy snorted as Ralsei’s furred face flushed pink.
“Dude, we should totally ask that fox chick to help us once she wakes up!” Skate added, slamming a tentacle on the desk.
Fuku Fire nodded. “I agree, but uh… maybe calm down a bit?”
“Hehe, sorry!”
“She did try to help us escape…” Catti mumbled as she tapped away at her Tenna-Tablet. “So that’s worth something, maybe…”
“I think if we- lift her up and down like the weights I use to train my- lower body. We could have her out of that coma in no time!” Jockington declared proudly, slithering around his seat next to Catti.
“That is… not how that works, but I like the enthusiasm?” Dess shrugged with a smile that soon curved into another smug smirk as she looked over at the only other adult in the room, Pizzapants. “Hey PP, maybe you could be our mascot,”
“Even when we’re working together I still can’t win,” Pizzapants let out a groan. “…Do I at least get to pick the costume?”
“I-I could make you one!” Ralsei said with a smile. “I’ll try to find time between watching over our guest in the Infirmary and-”
“Okay, don’t break a bone making me a mascot suit, little buddy,” Pizzapants chuckled. “I don’t even like my job anyway…”
“O-Oh okay…” Ralsei looked downward.
“Oh, speaking of watching over the Comatose Woman, why don’t I do it today?” Frisk suggested. “Y’know, while you’re doing laundry and all that,”
“That’d be very nice of you, Frisk!” Ralsei nodded joyously. “Speaking of, I should get to washing now! Goodbye everyone!”
“See ya around Ral,” Dess waved goodbye as Ralsei left alongside a few others, the rest of the Cafeteria generally waved him out.
As Ralsei left, Kris felt Dess jab them in the side as Noelle stood up from her seat as well. “Kris, you should help him clean,”
“Huh, why?” Kris looked up at the deer lady.
“Um… because it’d be a nice thing to do?” Noelle shrugged nervously. “I don’t want poor Ralsei to work himself too hard,”
“Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…” Kris let out a long, dramatic groan. “Fine, I’ll help the fluffy boy clean and stuff,”
“Great, have fun Kris!” Dess said with a smile as the human left alongside Noelle, who gave them a small pat on the back.
“Fahaha, why are you pouting, Kris? You do your own laundry by now, right?” Noelle chuckled as the duo walked through the halls.
Kris sighed dramatically, throwing their head back. “Just because I’ve done it before doesn’t make it less annoying,”
“Fahaha, I suppose that’s… fair?”
…
Soon enough, the duo reached the up until now unexplored Laundromat, a bare, yet long and clean room lined wall to wall with washing machines and dryers… which is probably what they should have expected from a Laundromat. Berdly, Ralsei and surprisingly enough, Temmie were all in the room, carrying and in the case of Temmie just kinda standing around baskets of clothes.
“HOI! Krissy and Noelle!” Temmie bounced up and down, waving feverishly at the duo.
“Oh, hello you two!” Ralsei smiled, nearly dropping the clothes from the mild shock of seeing people come into the Laundromat.
Berdly pushed up his glasses smugly. “Has Kris decided to finally be responsible for something and do their own laundry?” The bird laughed smugly.
“Tem also do her laundry, YAYA!” Temmie cheered, despite the fact that no one had asked.
“Um… yes?” Noelle answered Berdly with a nervous chuckle and a shrug. “Both of us have, actually. Dess did kinda uh… pressure Kris into helping Ralsei,”
“Dude!” Kris sighed, sounding 100% genuinely hurt by Noelle calling them out.
“Oh, Kris. You don’t have to help me if you don’t want to. Trust me, I can handle all of this myself-”
“No, no it’s fine. I uh… actually wanna help?” Kris shrugged, they actually didn’t want to help at all, but they felt… compelled to for whatever reason.
“Oh! Well, let me know if you ever need to take a break. I can always do it for you!” Ralsei beamed a smile.
Kris shrugged as they walked towards the baskets of clothes, situated next to a sewing kit that seemingly belonged to Ralsei. “Whatever…”
“It’s a shocker to see some maturity out of you, Kris!” Berdly said smugly as he grabbed a basket of what Kris assumed were Skate’s clothes, judging by the fact that it was a pile of the exact same school uniform. Kris’ eyes glazed over to a pile of white button up shirts, and a devious smirk spread across the human’s face as Noelle went to help Berdly.
Berdly turned to the deer as the two both carried a basket of clothes to a nearby washing machine. “Did you put Kris up to this?”
“Ah, no. It was actually my sister,” Noelle said.
“Really? I expected that one of intelligence such as ourselves would have been the better influence on them,” Berdly turned his head and puffed out his cheeks.
“I mean Dess is pretty smart!” Noelle argued. “Just uh… a little lazy I suppose? I do manage her band for her, after all,”
“Ah, a job worth the talent of the Ultimate Manager. You’ve done something impressive with your smarts!” Berdly let out a sneery laugh
“Fahaha, I suppose so. You’re the Ultimate Student, right? What do you do?” Noelle asked, a warm smile on her face.
“Ah well- I uh…” Berdly trailed off as he absentmindedly loaded clothes into a washing machine, Noelle doing the same. “I- am going to go into a great University! Or at least I was…” The bird grumbled out.
“Oh, more school?” Noelle turned her head curiously. “That sounds… not super interesting, s-sorry,”
“On the contrary, my superior smarts will allow me to get very far ahead in life!” Berdly declared proudly as he walked over to the baskets of clothes, grabbing the already clean basket filled with his shirts. “Oh, it appears someone cleaned these for me. How nice, you don’t mind if I change in here, right?”
“Not at all,” Noelle shrugged.
“Do what’cha want,” Kris said from one of the washing machines on the other side of the Laundromat, an odd smirk on their face.
“Tem get head stuck in machine, so Tem not see anyway!” Tem said as Ralsei tried to pull the cat-dog thing’s upper half out of the washing machine.
“I-I don’t even know how you did that…” Ralsei mumbled.
“Great, because all this cleaning has got me sweating up a storm,” Berdly let out a sigh of relief as he took off his old shirt and put his new one on. “Ah, the feeling of freshly washed- WHAT THE!?”
Ralsei and Temmie both fell to the floor as the former finally got the latter unstuck from the washing machine, allowing both to see Berdly, with the lower part of his shirt cut turning it into a crop top.
“WOAH! You’re looking so COOT Berdy!” Temmie giggled as she stood up instantly.
“Wh-WHO DID THIS TO MY SHIRTS!?” Berdly squawked as he scrambled through the entire basket worth of shirts, finding that they had all been cut.
“Look on the bright side, dude, it suits you,” Kris said with a small chuckle.
Noelle let out a chuckle as she turned around. “Fahaha, what’s doing on?” Berdly-”
“KRIS cut all of my shirts in half!” Berdly yelled, pointing a wing shaking with rage at the human.
Kris shrugged. “You’ve got no proof,”
“You were the only person who could’ve done this!” Berdly accused. “You PROTOZON!”
“Also Tem saw them do it, but didn’t say anything!” Temmie said with a wide, brainless smile on her face.
Ralsei let out a pained groan as he slowly lifted himself up from the floor. “Um, I think you look good, Berdly! You shouldn’t feel so down!”
“I do not feel down, I feel enraged that Kris would ruin my clothes!” Berdly stomped as the human suddenly bust out laughing. “That PROTOZON!”
“K-Kris!” Noelle attempted to scold inbetween her own fits of laughter. “Fahaha, I-I’m sorry Berdly, they do stuff like this sometimes,”
“If anyone sees me like this I’ll- I’ll-”
“Hey nerds,” Dess said as she peeked her head through the Laundromat’s door, Skate peeking her head out as well.
“Pfft! Dude, what did you do to your shirt?” Skate let out a snicker at the blushing bluebird, now glaring at Kris with the rage of a thousand gamers. “You coulda just like… asked Ralsei to knit you a crop top or something, I dunno,”
“I’m willing to knit for any of you!” Ralsei said, flashing his usual kind smile.
Berdly let out a grunt of frustration. “That’s not-”
“Alright, alright shuddup,” Dess interrupted. “I’m holding a huge karaoke party concert thing in the music studio, and… I’m gonna need you guys to help me set up tomorrow,”
“I’d be up for it!” Noelle nodded with a smile.
“Count me out, I have… better things to do in the morning,” Berdly crossed his arms.
“Oh, I could make food for it!” Ralsei nodded. “Maybe I could get Fuku to help with that too,”
“Oh, that’d be sick!” Skate cheered.
“YAYA! Tem could bring TEM FLAKES, so that everyone have TEM FLAKES!” Temmie waved her hands around as she yelped in excitement.
“Well, if everyone else here is helping I might as well,” Kris shrugged. “I am not immune to peer pressure,”
“You would have to be peer pressured into being helpful, yeah,” Dess snickered. “Well, alright. Everyone except for the guy who was too embarrassed to ask Ralsei to just make a crop top for him come to the music studio first thing tomorrow. Invite everyone you know,”
“I’m not even going to bother anymore…” Berdly grumbled, crossing his arms and pouting as he left the room.
“Oh, I should invite Susie!” Noelle said with a beaming smile.
Dess scratched the back of her head nervously. “Ah, uh… yeah sure, if you want. Anyway, I’m thinking I’ll hold it about 9 PM ish? Somewhere around nighttime, for funsies,”
“Fair enough. Speaking nighttime, I should head back to the Infirmary soon,” Ralsei said as he left the Laundromat. “Goodbye everyone! I will see you tomorrow!”
“See ya Rals,” Dess said. “I should prolly go too, have fun in here!” With that, the deer woman left the Laundromat alongside Skate.
…
“Why did you do that, anyway?” Noelle asked.
“Hm?”
“The… crop top thing, why did you do that?” Noelle had a dopey smile on her face from thinking about it.
Kris shrugged. “It was funny, hope Berdly didn’t take it too hard,”
“Hopefully…” Noelle mumbled. “Hey uh… does it feel colder in here, or-”
“Huh, it is…” Kris said as they wrapped their arms around their body for warmth. “Shit, Tenna wasn’t lying about the motive, was he?”
“N-No, he wasn’t…” Noelle let a dejected sigh escape her lips. “It’s… getting a bit late, I should head to bed,”
“Yeah, g’night Noelle,”
“Goodnight Kris!” Noelle said with a wave as she walked back to her room, Kris did the same…
…
It was really cold, now that Kris properly felt the chill hitting their body. Lightly shivering as they fell into their bed, actually deciding to put on the blanket to sleep…
Chapter 4: Chapter 1: The Snowgrave, Day 3
Chapter Text
DING DONG BING BONG
“Good morning students, it is now 8:00 AM. Looks like today’s gonna be another TV-TASTIC day here at HOPE’S PEAK ACADEMY!”
Kris groaned their way out of bed as the morning announcement ended, a cold chill running through their body as they threw of the blankets, it wasn’t unbearably freezing, but it wasn’t warm either… not exactly a great thing to wake up to… Kris soon left their room and headed to breakfast.
“Hello Kris, seems like you’re the last one here again!” Ralsei said with a smile. “Not that that’s a bad thing, of course!”
“Eh, they’re always pretty late,” Dess said from her spot next to Ralsei, she was at a table with who Kris assumed were the people who were going to set up the party alongside her and Kris: Temmie, Noelle, Skate and… Frisk. Kris decided to take a seat next to Noelle.
“So, you guys all know why I brought you here, right?” Dess asked, waving her hands around in excitement.
“Yeah, you’re planning a party in the music studio, right?” Frisk answered, everyone else gave general mumbles or nods of agreement alongside her.
“Alright, sick, sick!” Dess flopped into a more comfortable position, resting her spine and arms on the back of the seat. “I’m thinking… Ralsei and Frisk should be in charge of food, and drinks and all that jazz, and the rest of us do ‘moving shit’ setup,”
“Well, I could bake some yummy cakes for everyone!” Ralsei nodded.
“I’m not bad at cooking, and… admittedly I’m not very strong, so I probably should help with making food,” Frisk added, a smile on her sleepy looking face.
“Okay cool, Noelle. Didja invite everyone the night before?” Dess pointed at her sister.
Noelle nodded energetically. “Of course, Temmie helped me too!”
“Yaya, Noelle help us invite SUZ even though she VERY MEAN and deny!” The cat dog thing nodded energetically until Frisk tapped her on the head to get her to stop.
“Oh, sick everyone already knows!” Skate gave a toothy grin, then turned to face Frisk and Ralsei. “I’ll get Fuku to help with catering then, trust me, she’ll love it! I’ll meet up with you guys after!”
“Sounds good, we should be done by six or whatever,” Dess shrugged as she lead her group out of the Cafteria, Kris letting out a relieved breath as they left with her.
As they entered, Dess leaned against a jukebox with two microphones sticking out of it. The machine was labelled “KARAOKE MASTER, 1997” “Okay, I’m gonna need two people to bring in some folding tables from the storage room, I’ll get all the musical shit set up,”
“Ooo, Tem an ELLY can bring in da tables. YAYA!” Temmie cheered.
“Right, I-I’ll try my best!” Noelle smiled and nodded as she left alongside Temmie, leaving Kris as the only person with nothing to do.
“Well well well, picked last for something once again, huh Kris?” Dess chuckled. “Help me set this Karaoke thing up, or uh… practice Piano or something,”
“Wow, such kindness from my best friend,” Kris rolled their eyes as their eyes glazed over to the grand piano in the corner of the room. “I might practice, though…”
“Well do it then, it’s like… the thing you’re best at,” Dess jabbed the human in the arm as they went back to setting up the Karaoke Machine. “Who knows, it might help me set this- damn thing up, ugh…” Dess grumbled as she fidgeted with the settings of it.
Kris let out a small chuckle as they sat at the piano, preparing their fingers with a satisfying crack as they began to tap the keys. Playing a soothing, calming song familiar to them and the people they know. Dess nodded her head, relaxed as she continued to mess with the settings of the Machine, time passing quicker as music filled the room…
…
“Woah, dude. That’s like really pretty,” Skate chuckled as she gently laid down a couple bottles on one of a few food-stacked folding tables that had been brought in already by Temmie and Noelle… Kris’ piano seemed to have attracted an audience.
“It super coot! Tem love things that are super coot!” Temmie cheered and clapped her paws together. “Yaya! Yaya!”
Dess suddenly let out a snort as she raised her eyebrow at her friend. “Kris, was that the lullaby I used to sing to Noelle when she’d be too scared to go to sleep?”
“D-Dess!” Noelle yelped, a blush creeping on her face that coincided with her nose glowing bright red.
“Yup!” Kris said with a firm, confident nod.
“Das ADORABLE!” Temmie cheered, jumping up and down in excitement.
“I’m just teasing, Elly,” Dess chuckled as she patted her sister on the shoulder. “Looks like you got most of the tables in, that’s good,”
“Yeah, it wasn’t too bad with both of us. Temmie is… surprisingly strong,” Noelle said as she looked over at the joyous little thing.
“Tem do lots of things with money, money will let Tem go to best colleg evar!”
“Sure, once we’re out,” Dess chuckled. “And Skate, did you get Fuku to make beer for this party?”
“Ah, uh… maybe?” Skate scratched the back of her head nervously. “I-I mean we’re all pretty close to 18…”
“I-I haven’t drank yet…” Noelle mumbled.
“Underage drinking? Now, as the oldest and wisest person here-”
“You’re only 2 years older than us!” Kris called out.
Dess cleared her throat loudly. “As the oldest and wisest person here, I say… fucken’ do it, man. I drank when I was 17 and I turned out fine,”
“Woop wooop!” Skate let out a cheer. “You’re the best, man,”
“Tem no think this is the goodest idea… but Tem too busy thinking about having fun to care!”
“Yeah, we’re gonna have a lot of fun, everyone is,” Dess said. “What time is it, by the way?”
Noelle checked the silver watch on her wrist. “A-About sixish?”
“Perfect!” Dess cheered. “Okay, gather everyone you can. Get outta here! Unless you want a headstart at eating or something,”
“Temmie want headstart eating!” The cat dog thing held her hand up as she stared intensly at a plate of strawberry frosted cupcakes.
Dess shrugged. “Fair enough, everyone except Temmie get outta here, get people!”
And so, everybody except Temmie and Dess soon burst out from the Music Studio, quickly bringing everyone to the party. Everybody except for Susie…
6:00 PM
“Haha, dude it was cool of you to set this up, Dess,” MK chuckled as he looked up at the antlered girl who was leaning against the table, holding a red cup of beer in her hand.
“This party even came with underage drinking, that makes everything better!” Snowy chuckled as he took a sip of the beer in the cup nestled in his wing. “Alcohol keeps ya warm, y’know?”
“Eh, thank Skate for that, it wasn’t my idea,” Dess shrugged. “I should probably thank her, it’s made this party a lot more interesting, heh,”
“I personally think it’s not something a genius such as myself should partake in!” Berdly crossed his wings and complained from the end of the table, even though no one had asked him to. “Alcohol spoils the brain… not that you protozoans would understand that,” Berdly said, a smug smirk forming on his face.
Dess rolled her eyes, Snowy looked the other bird in the face and smirked himself. “Lay off it, wouldja? We oughta start calling you Nerdly,” Snowy mocked.
“Hmmph!” Berdly turned his head haughtily. “I will not let myself be baited into rage!”
“He’s not doing a great job,” Snowy whispered to MK, who simply shrugged as best as he could in response.
Somewhere else in the large, but not huge room. Skate had a small audience surrounding herself as she shouted drunkenly into the microphone of the Karaoke Machine, slurring out a 2000s era pop song.
“Fahaha, wow, she’s really getting into it, huh?” Noelle laughed, standing next to Fuku and Catti.
“At least she’s having fun…” Catti tapped at the screen of her Tenna-Tablet.
“We should all be, having fun at this party!” Jockington twisted around the racks on the walls. “I know, I am!”
“I mean, it’s an excuse to hang out, isn’t it?” Fuku Fire let out a small giggle, then turned back around to face Skate on the stage. “You should sing Free Bird next! Free Bird!”
“You’re fuggen’ RIGHT Fuku!” Skate drunkenly cheered, blushing as she pointed at the Bartender, then began to wave her arms around. “I’m gon’ do it, guys, guys watch. I’m gon’ do it!”
7:00 PM
“Eugh, what is that horrendous drivel!?” Berdly complained, covering his ears with his wings as Skate screamed her way through Free Bird, including mouthing out the guitar portion.
“I think it’s pretty good,” Kris shrugged as they took a bite of some pie that Ralsei had made for the party.
“Are you lacking ears alongside intelligence?” Berdly huffed. “Typical for you, Kris!”
Kris smirked. “Are you still mad about the crop top thing?”
“YOU MADE ME LOOK LIKE A FOOL!” Berdly pointed accusingly at the human. “And for that, one of these days, you will pay!”
“That is-” Kris got a cold shiver suddenly, causing them to grumble before they returned to their usual silly disposition. “Not the greatest thing to say in our current situation,”
“Shut up!” Berdly grumbled as he stomped his way somewhere else, Kris giggling as he did so.
Ralsei gently placed his hand on the door, staring through the window as he prepared to leave… until-
“Hey, Leaving so soon?” Frisk asked, placing a gentle hand on the goat’s shoulder, causing him to jump a little. “You helped set up this party, you should stay!”
“Oh, I’d love to Frisk, but… well, I need to make sure that the fox woman is doing well,” Ralsei said, turning around to face the human. “As a healer, it’s my job to reduce any burdens she might be feeling,”
“That’s… understandable, I suppose,” Frisk nodded. “Are you sure you don’t want to take some food with you?”
“I-I’m sure there’ll be some left over,” Ralsei gave a halfhearted smile as he walked through the door, Frisk watching him walk right towards the Infirmary through the window.
“Hopefully…” Frisk mumbled to herself, then sighed as she walked back towards the centre of the party.
Noelle walked up to her sister, gently tapping on her shoulder. “H-Hey Dess, you should play something!” The girl asked as her sister turned around. “Oh, uh- do you wanna play something?”
“Oh, what me? But I’m just so- of course I wanna play something, I’ll get Skate off the karaoke machine…”
The older deer soon grabbed an electric guitar off the wall, then sauntered up to the machine and ever so gently nudged Skate off, the tentacled girl stumbling off and looking behind her, a somewhat offended look on her face before she realised who nudged her off.
“Ohhhh shit! Guys, Dess is gonna play us a song and shit!” Skate pointed giddily at the deer.
Dess smirked as a crowd began to form around her. “Alright, alright. Don’t rush perfection, I’ll start us off with something popular,” Dess let out a chuckle as she began to strum on the guitar while using a mic stand to keep the microphone level with her mouth.
8:00 PM
“WHEN THE DEMON HEART IS CRYING”
“AND THE BLOOD IS GUSHING BRIGHT”
“RAISE UP YOUR BAT FOR THE BURNING FIGHT”
“WHEN YOUR HOPE IS SLOWLY DYING”
“AND YOUR FUTURE’S LOST ITS RIGHTS”
“RAISE UP YOUR BAT AND FACE THE FRIGHT”
“LET’S KNOCK ‘EM DEAD INTO THE KNIGHT”
Noelle clapped along to the beat of the song, looking doe eyed at the stage, Kris stood next to her. Looking contend, but in a more neutral, less fangirly way than the antlered girl.
“WOO WOO YEAH! YOU’RE THE FUGGEN’ MAN DESS!” Skate cheered as she leaned against Fuku, the flames that made up her head flashing pink for a moment.
“Maybe I should’ve held back on the alcohol…” Fuku mused as Skate leaned further into her.
“Ooo, the music makes by hood covered ears tingle!” Lancer giggled. “But alas, the toothpaste boy isn’t here to see this, and to bake me another cake!”
“Um, I mean you could always ask him,” Frisk shrugged as she looked down at the rotund boy. “He left for the Infirmary,”
“Did he? He did? Of course he did, he’s truly a healer that knows only one bound, the Infirmary!” Lancer declared proudly. “Tally-ho, the human girl!” He then waddled his way out of the music studio, moving straight for the Infirmary.
“Uh, bye Lancer!” Frisk waved as he left.
“COME FOLLOW ME INTO THE DARK”
“WITH YOUR HEART AS THE ARK”
“WHICH SHALL SHINE THE WAY”
“BECAUSE I’M WITH YOU IN THE DARK”
“WITH YOUR HEART AS MY MARK”
“WHICH SHALL GUIDE YOU THE WAY”
“THROUGH THE WAVES”
“COME FOLLOW ME INTO THE DARK”
“WITH YOUR HEART AS THE ARK”
“WHICH SHALL SHINE THE WAY”
“BECAUSE I’M WITH YOU IN THE DARK”
“WITH YOUR HEART AS MY MARK”
“WHICH SHALL GUIDE YOU THE WAY”
“THROUGH THE WAVES”
“WHEN THE DEMON HEART IS CRYING”
“AND THE BLOOD IS GUSHING BRIGHT”
“RAISE UP YOUR BAT FOR THE BURNING FIGHT”
“WHEN YOUR HOPE IS SLOWLY DYING”
“AND YOUR FUTURE’S LOST ITS RIGHTS”
“RAISE UP YOUR BAT AND FACE THE FRIGHT”
“LET’S KNOCK ‘EM DEAD INTO THE KNIGHT”
Dess let out an exhausted breath after the next couple times she had finished playing the song, the audience she had gathered being encapsulated the whole time…
“That was, exhilarating my friend!” Jockington cheered as he twisted around the air. “However an athlete like me, must be on top of his sleeping game. I will be leaving now!”
“See ya around Jockington!” Dess waved goodbye with a smile as the snake slithered his way out of the Infirmary. “Now, anyone else wanna-”
“CAN I GET AN AUTOGRAPH!?” Pizzapants suddenly shouted as he ran up to Dess, a pen and paper firmly clutched in his hands.
“Uh… sure,” Dess mumbled as she signed the paper. “Have fun with that!”
“YES! Now I can get blackout wasted in peace!” Pizzapants ran over to the corner, grabbing an entire bottle of beer off of a table as he went.
Catti sighed. “I’ll check up on him, liked the music Dess…”
“Thanks…” Dess mumbled, then let out a small laugh.
“You doing a service for us Catti!” Temmie cheered.
“Hey Pizzapants, uh… how’s getting wasted?” Catti asked as she crouched down to be at Pizzapants’ level as he sat on the ground, leaning against a wall.
“Oh, it’s going great emo catgirl. This is like a Blood Crushers concert except I’m freezing my ass off!” The man grumbled.
“I’m goth not- nevermind… you also listen to Blood Crushers?” Catti said as she sat next to the man.
“Oh of course little buddy, it’s in right now!” Pizzapants declared. “And also the lead guitarist for it is standing right there,” The orange cat said as he motioned towards Dess frantically. “a-and like damn she’s the same age as me, y-y’know what I’m saying?”
Catti shrugged. “Barely, you’re not making much sense,”
“Hey, at least you’re listening. From one service worker to another, you gotta know how good that feels, right little buddy?” Pizzapants looked up at Catti wistfully, yet also with the usual tiredness he had in his eyes.
“Yeah, I still wish I had more clothes than this uniform,” Catti grumbled as she pulled at the collar of her shirt. “It just barely fits me,”
“Hey, that’s something that I’m doing better with. Another point for Pizzapants!” The mascot grumbled.
BZZZ
The Tenna-Tablet in Catti’s pocket suddenly buzzed. She pulled it out, tapped on it a little and then returned it to her pocket. “I gotta go,”
Pizzapants shrugged. “See ya around Catti,”
Catti nodded, then left the Music Studio.
9:00 PM
At this point in the party, Snowdrake had walked up the stage and began to say whatever jokes came to the Bird’s mind.
“Oh man, this takes me back to a story my dad used to tell me. He assisted this skeleton detective guy once, and every time he solved something, he’d say ‘no bones about it’, and every time he said it his boss got angrier and angrier,” Snowdrake chuckled as he told the story, standing on the Karaoke Machine. “One time, they were looking for a body for a murder that happened. Routine thing, y’know? And they open a closet and another skeleton jumps out and attacks his boss, and my dad goes ‘Well, looks like there were bones about this one!’ And they were both so mad they just stopped fightin, took himself straight to jail so he didn’t have to hear it again!”
People laughed throughout the room, loudest of all was Temmie, who nearly fell into Noelle.
“Ah, be careful Temmie!” Noelle sighed.
“Tem sorry, joke was just really funny!” Temmie laughed, then paused for a bit. “Why you not laughing, Elly?”
“Oh, w-well. It’s a little stupid, but… I’m kinda bummed out that Susie didn’t show up,” Noelle sighed wistfully. “I mean, I-I didn’t really expect her to want to come, I just thought that… I dunno maybe she’d wanna- um…” Noelle face flushed a light pink as she spoke.
“Really? Tem would go anywhere if Noelle ask her!” The cat dog thing proudly declared.
“H-Huh!?” Noelle yelped, jumping back a bit from shock. “I-I mean, the sentiment is appreciated, but wh-why?”
“Well, you’re super duper coot! Just like Tem, and Tem love coot things!” Temmie beamed at the antlered girl, her nose glowed red in response.
“A-Ah thanks, that… makes me feel a bit better, actually,” Noelle giggled.
“You welcome, bye!” Temmie said as she began to leave the room.
“Oh, you’re leaving?” Noelle asked.
“I have a supah cool business thingy to go to, bye bye!” Temmie cheered and waved as she left.
“Oh, have fun with that!” Noelle cheered back as she waved Temmie out the door.
10:00 PM
“Attention my dear students, it’s now 10:00 PM. Nighttime, Gymnasium's off limits!” Tenna declared over the speakers, though we ignored him.
“Hey, h-hey Dess, Dess!” Skate called out to the deer as she leaned on Fuku’s shoulder. “Play- play another song, it’s been too long, that shit was fire dude!”
Fuku giggled from her side. “It was nice, made this feel like a real concert,”
“Hmmm…” Dess held a hand to her chin, her other arm was holding her guitar. She then reached towards a cup of soda on the table. “Sure, a couple more songs couldn’t hurt- oh shit!”
The guitar suddenly slipped out of her hands, falling to the floor and causing a string to snap with an ear grating twang. “Ah, son of a bitch!”
“H-Hey Dess, I heard something break, what-” Noelle looked down at the guitar alongside Kris. “Oh crap!”
Kris gritted their teeth. “That’s really bad, uh… do you want us to get a replacement from the Storage Room or-”
“Nah, nah. I can fix it,” Dess picked up the guitar off of the ground. “I’ll be back in a bit, there’s a guitar fixing kit in my room!” And with that, the deer left the Music Studio.
“Wait, how does she have that in her room. Did she ask for it?” Berdly said, quirking an eyebrow in confusion.
“Oh uh, everyone got an item related to their talent in their room,” Noelle explained. “I got an abacus, for example,”
“Oh…” Berdly mumbled. “Well, that is good to know. I’m sure this mystery item will assist greatly in my studies!”
“I swear that’s all ya talk about, little buddy, you gotta branch out!” Pizzapants declared from his spot on the floor. “Party, invest in Crypto, watch all your money go down the toilet forcin’ you to work a fast food job! C’mon!”
“I am not taking advice from a vagrant such as yourself!” Berdly crossed his wings and huffed.
“Vagrants have given me some of the best advice I’ve heard!” Snowdrake declared from his stage. “It’s all about never ending up like them, but it’s still good advice! Heheh!”
Idle conversation continued throughout the Music Studio, Kris was leaning against a table, drinking a soda and waiting for Dess to come back.
And they waited, and waited, and waited until…
10:25 PM
“Hey uh… Dess is, haha- taking a while, huh?” MK chuckled nervously as he looked around the room.
“Now that you mention it… twenty five minutes feels like a long time to fix a string,” Frisk put her hand to her chin, then let out a cold shiver.
“Sh-Should we go looking for her?” Noelle asked.
“Probably… should prolly be one of you two, though…” Skate mumbled as she pointed her finger between Noelle and Kris. “You guys know her and stuff…”
“Or you could both go,” Fuku added.
“Sounds good…” Kris mumbled as they walked away from their spot at the table. “Let’s go Noelle,”
“Y-Yeah, see you guys soon!” Noelle said with a nervous wave as she trailed behind Kris…
…
The walk through the hallway to the Foyer was silent, mainly because Kris and Noelle were quite tired, but also because any conversation would naturally lead to them talking about why Dess hadn’t come back…
She couldn’t have been… y’know, right?
They soon reached the deer woman’s door, Kris gently placed a hand on it and hesitated, hesitated…
“K-Kris? C’mon, open it already,” Noelle chuckled nervously.
“I-I’m gonna, I don’t know why I’m… hesitating-”
“WAH!” Noelle let out a screech as the door opened on it’s own, revealing Dess holding a now fixed guitar. The older deer also let out a small gasp.
“What the hell are you two doing?” Dess chuckled.
“You were taking awhile, so we went to check up on you,” Noelle explained. “Um, sorry-”
“It’s fine, it’s fine. Guitar stringing just took a bit longer than it should’ve,” Dess shrugged, then let out a small yawn. “Should probably head back to the party,”
“Yeah,” Kris nodded as Dess and Noelle followed behind them.
“Oh hey dudes,” MK said as they passed the trio in the hall. “Looks like you found Dess, haha,”
“Yeah, thankfully!” Noelle said with a smile. “Are you leaving the party?”
“Well duh, haha, I gotta head to bed,” MK said. “Berdly also left, he went the other direction,”
“Fair enough,” Dess shrugged as she led her crowd of two back into the Music Studio, going her separate ways with MK.
The party didn’t last much longer, barely even made it to 11:30. Everyone was tired enough that they decided to just head to their dorms, walking in a large, sluggish crowd…
…
Kris slammed themselves onto their bed, then tightly wrapped themselves in their blanket to stave off the cold…
Chapter 5: Chapter 1: The Snowgrave, Day 4
Chapter Text
DING DONG BING BONG
“Good morning students, it is now 8:00 AM meaning that it’s another BEAUTIFUL day here at Hope’s Peak Academy!” Tenna laughed as he finished the morning announcement.
Kris felt sweat cover their body as they tore the covers off of their bed, getting out of their room to head to breakfast with more energy than they had had in the last few days…
They walked down the hallways leading to the cafeteria, opened the door to the cafeteria and took a seat next to their usual friend group: Dess, Noelle and Ralsei.
“Hello Kris, did you have a good night?” Ralsei said with a smile.
“Yeah, the rooms are pretty good,” Kris shrugged. “How’d you sleep, man?”
“Oh uh, okay? I sleep in the Infirmary so…” Ralsei trailed off.
“Dude, why?” Dess questioned, gesturing towards the boy.
“Well, I need to watch over our guest, right? It’s better if I sleep in the Infirmary so I can always keep tabs on her,” Ralsei mumbled out.
“I-I mean I could take on the shift if you want,” Noelle requested.
“Ah, it’s really fine!” Ralsei said with a smile and a nod. “It’s my job to reduce any burdens anyone is feeling, okay?”
“A-Ah um, alright…” Noelle mumbled. “Still, if you ever-”
CRASH
“Hello one and all!” Tenna shouted as he landed smack dab in the middle of the Cafeteria. “Oh, what a wonderful day for an extra special BONUS MORNING ANNOUNCEMENT!”
“A what- what are you doing here?” Frisk asked.
“Yeah, we’re not killing anyone!” Skate shouted.
“You sure, cause I’m looking around this room aaaand…” Tenna trailed off as he made a theatrical motion of putting his hand sideways on the top of his screen and looking around. “I can’t find our funny, silly, kindly ULTIMATE BUSINESSWOMAN anywhere!” Tenna declared with a shrug. He then energetically pointed at his audience of students. “Where do YOU think she is?”
The entire cafeteria fell silent, everyone looking around to see that Temmie was nowhere to be found.
“I-It’s not like her to just skip breakfast…” Frisk mumbled under her breath.
“Maybe she, didn’t sleep super well so she’s- taking a little nap,” Jocking said with a firm nod.
“Best case scenario…” Catti shrugged. “Anyone else noticed how warm it is now?”
“A-Ah, now that you say so, it is… not cold anymore…” Berdly grumbled to himself.
“Agh, son of a bitch…” Pizzapants grumbled to himself.
“Warmer, warmer, warmer!” Tenna cheered. “You’re getting warmer, literally,” A canned laugh track could be heard coming from the walls.
“I-I’m sure she’s fine, she has to be, right?” Ralsei mumbled to himself, panic clear in his shaky voice.
“Tenna, just cut the bullshit already,” Dess’ words cut through the tension in the room. “Clearly you have something to tell us, just spit it out,”
“Ah, well uh… I mean, RIGHT ON THE MONEY Dess!” Tenna cheered. “I want all of you in the Gymnasium pronto, I got something to show ya!” The TV Headed man dashed his way out of the Cafeteria, leaving everyone in a brief stunned silence.
“Welp, we should get going,” Dess declared as she got up from her seat. “C’mon, it can’t be that bad,”
Everyone soon began to follow the guitarist out of the room, walking in silence through the halls of the school… at Kris’ side, Noelle whispered something that only the two of them could here.
“H-Hopefully…”
They were soon at the door, hesitant to open it because they knew what was going to be on the other side… eventually, they got the nerve and slowly opened the Gymnasium’s large doors to let everyone inside…
and what they saw would be etched into their minds for as long as they lived…
Kris’ eyes glazed down as they looked upon the terrifying sight before them. Temmie, who had been missing since the morning laid face down on the floor, still and lifeless beneath the Gym’s vent. The back of their head dented and bleeding, blood pooling onto her shirt and the floor around with a small trail leading to a blood stained weight next to Temmie’s head.
She laid there lifeless, murdered by someone who she had likely considered a friend…
DING DONG BING BONG
“Attention students, a body has been discovered. Head to the Gymnasium pronto!”
DEADLY LIFE, BEGIN:
STUDENTS REMANING 15/16
Great1 on Chapter 1 Fri 01 Aug 2025 06:28PM UTC
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Slays_The_Crusader on Chapter 1 Sat 02 Aug 2025 03:30AM UTC
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ep1ceva on Chapter 1 Sat 23 Aug 2025 03:30AM UTC
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Slays_The_Crusader on Chapter 1 Sat 23 Aug 2025 05:01AM UTC
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Kitty (Guest) on Chapter 4 Sun 07 Sep 2025 01:17AM UTC
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Slays_The_Crusader on Chapter 4 Sun 07 Sep 2025 03:30AM UTC
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Kitty (Guest) on Chapter 5 Tue 09 Sep 2025 02:28PM UTC
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Slays_The_Crusader on Chapter 5 Tue 09 Sep 2025 02:30PM UTC
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