Broken Bead (GHOST AU!! Berdly/Kris)

by Cxto

Summary:

Snowgrave spoilers!!
Berdly? Yeah he’s frozen chicken, so he haunts Kris!!

Notes:

Lmk if yall want me to continue this!!

Chapter 1: Shudder

“Noelle… Cast Snowgrave”

That pang in their chest. God, that bird. Kris wants to clip it’s wings so bad; to shove it into that cage.

“Fine, you wanna see what happens so bad? Watch what happens when I cast a spell I don’t know.”

Noelle’s eyes lull back into her skull and a snowfall creeps over the dusk of neon lights in the alley. Berdly’s eyes flick towards Kris as their eyes gaze back at his. A longing behind their otherwise empty, red eyes shivers. They scan each other’s eyes for a moment before the snow grows between them.

“Why?” Rings through Kris’ head.

Shooting up in bed, they fling themself off of their mattress. They shove their hand through their chest.

Shudder

A still beating heart rests in their hands. A wound opens and closes with a squirt of human blood. Their shivering red eyes scan over the soul as they throw it aside with haste. The dented birdcage closes behind itself as the soul inside remains still. Kris kneels, grasping at their hair with the gentleness of petting a fawn. A fawn? A deer? Yeah… Noelle. Why did that happen?
Why was that allowed to happen? Why, in the name of the Deltarune, did the soul take such lengths as to kill all the darkners, everything with a pulse that just so happened to be alive, Berdly? Of all people, Berdly?

Shudder

Surely he had to be alive. His vitals were still running in the hospital. His forehead was cold.

Kris glared at the pulsing heart in the cage. It egged them on and it teased. They pushed themself off of the carpet. The trophies on the dusty shelves gleamed from the moon light in the windowsill. A gust of wind flutters through the curtain of the window.

Shudder

Kris quietly shut the front door and entered the purple streets of the night. The sidewalks are gently illuminated by a yellow light. The grass compliments the light by swooshing quietly along the road. Kris slowly walks with an echo through the streets of Hometown. Static fills their head as they slog messily across the street.

Click, clack, click, clack…

The iron gate rattles to their right. A happy holiday melody chirps from the other side, only to distort with a loud ringing and a high pitched frequency. Kris clenches their ears as they continue down the street. A white building illuminated by a red text reading “Hospital” on both sides. A their mouth upturns into a gentle smirk. They release a content hum with a chilly fog rising into the night.

Shudder

They stumble through the automatic doors to find a sterile and rather pleasant waiting room with a sleeping secretary. The person at the desk drools onto what looks to be a Newspaper. With a blurred picture of a girl with a melted bold text. A sense of relief washes over Kris as they find no one else is there to stop them. The yellow stripe on their green shirt appears poisonous under this clean lighting. A children’s toy with different colored beads sits bolted in the corner, with the blue bead broken and stuffed aside into the corner of the light wood. They proceed through the double doors where the tile pattern splits off revealing two doors. They step forward, and with a smile, open the door to a steadily beeping heart monitor and a steady breath. Berdly. Kris sighs as they pull up a plastic chair from the side of the room. The space heater whirs at an annoyingly slow pace. Kris notices the dial on the heater is only at a mid level, so they gently adjust the knob to a higher setting. The air only heats the left side of their body, but the rest should be angled just enough to warm up the comatose bird that lies in front of them. Next, they stand up and feel the lukewarm water bottle resting on the blue fluff just above Berdly’s crooked black framed glasses. Now this wasn’t acceptable. They grab the bottle and take it to one of the two sinks. Kris turns the handle labeled with a red ring and flicks their hand through the stream of water before they flinch due to the heat. Kris places the bottle under the water and hums a gentle church tune before pulling the bottle away and screwing the cap back on.

They turn on their heel and allow gravity to bring them forward. Towards the still breathing Berdly. They brush their free hand through the fluff of his head and around the curve of his face. They rest the bottle on his head before reaching for his glasses. Kris holds the lenses up to the light before bringing them down to their mouth. They huff two times on one lense before swapping to the other. They reach down and stretch the green fabric of their shirt. They look down, assuring that their thumb doesn’t graze the clear and unscathed surface of the glasses lense. Their hair traces down the sides of their jaw before covering their face; the nape of their neck exposed for only a few seconds as they vigorously cleanse the cloudy film. They wonder what it would be like to have worn such cloudy glasses? Would they appear snowy, perhaps?

Shudder

A cold presence shifts over Kris’ neck causing a silent yelp to squeeze from their throat. A weight sets on their shoulders as they now rush to put Berdly’s glasses back onto his head. They shift the glasses arms around his head. Berdly appears at peace with a gentle smile starting to fade into his face. Kris fluffs Berdly’s pillow. Not even a get well card in sight. It seems like Berdly has had no visitors since he lost consciousness; not even a parent.

Kris? Of all people, Kris?

Kris’ hand finds its way to Berdly’s wing as they gently squeeze his arm.
Kris stands up and takes the liberty of pulling the chair back to the left wall of the room. They pull an envelope from their pocket full of two cards and junk. The letter is sealed with a star sticker found from the leftover junk in Asriel’s nightstand drawer. Kris places the letter on the chair with haste before shuffling out of the room.

The entirety of the walk home, Kris felt a chilly aura floating around their head. Kris looks back up to the sky with the moon reminding themself of the birdcage back at home. Toriel wouldn’t approve of Kris sneaking out like this. They knew it, but for their actions, they thought that whatever was to come of Toriel from sneaking out wouldn’t amount to the sins they had committed. They shut their room door silently behind them allowing the room to glow blue with the night sky. They reach into the birdcage, and with a grimace, they reach in and grab the pulsing mass with their hands. It’s so tangible.

Shudder

They grasp the red light and merge it into their core. They wince and hyperventilate before being dragged back to bed by that same force. They pull the covers over themself again and a cold wisp whispers by their ear from the window. They relax into the gray bed, seeming more at peace then before. That same drift of wind pushes their hair out of their eye before dissipating into the darkness.

“Kris! If you’re going to sneak out, at least cover your tracks! The front door is still unlocked and you know how I feel about that,” Toriel taps her foot disappointedly before uncrossing her arms and opening the curtains, “You need to get more sunshine outside of school.”

Kris flips the comforter off of their body. They flinch at the sudden sunlight coming through the closed window.

Shudder

Chapter 2: A weight

Summary:

Thank you for your support!! I really appreciate it!!

Tl;dr Kris figures out this is NOT a hallucination!!

Hometown was different in the daylight without the abyss staring back. Kris remained stationary in the back seat of the family car as Toriel zooms knowingly through the barren street, letting the auburn leaves dance and tumble over the car. They all fell flat behind just to be sent further back from the exhaust. Kris counted the numbered presets on the wooden dashboard. “1” was always static that would fade out eventually after 30 seconds, “2” was Praise music and scripture readings for the Deltarune (that button was faded off), “3” was rock music, or “filth” that Toriel did not want Kris’ innocent ears to hear. “4”, however, was almost like “1”. It played static, but for a full duration of time. On a rare occasion that “4” was pressed, it would cry out in a gentle vaporized noise. There was a potential that it possibly played music in the past for the button was already worn down ever so slightly, but the only sound that could ever be distinct from the fourth preset now is an unidentifiable voice that occasionally loops with the static.

“Kris… Hello?… Kris?”

A gust of cold air shoots at Kris like a blizzard. In their right ear, an uncanny resemblance of Berdly reaches out through the sound waves. The static contorts itself.

“Kris.. Is it true?”

Kris’ panicked eyes glance around the car. A slight weight grows on the right side of the grey bucket seats where a barren seat remained, but with an indent of what only another person could make while actively sitting. Their breath turns into icy condensation as icy dewdrops form on the empty seat.

“Kris?…”

They jolt, causing them to sit up almost instantaneously. Toriel looks into the rear view mirror with worry.

“Kris, I know you didn’t do anything bad last night, but if you can’t handle the lost sleep, maybe you shouldn’t go out so late?”

Kris nods, observing the right side of the seat to find that the ice had vanished.

“So Kris, is it true that your classmate had been hospitalized?” Kris remains silent, still trying to register what happened as Toriel pulls into the singular parking stall, “Oh, sorry to pry.. I didn’t know if you knew him. I had just heard from the church-“

Kris had ripped off the seatbelt and escaped the car before any more inquiries came. They rushed down the hall and into Alphys’ room where the door shut, cutting into the silence of the awkward room.

“Oh… Uhm!! Kris… you’re late.. again,” Alphys stutters almost each word as she seems to ponder whether to say something.

Kris studies the room, avoiding the eye contact of Susie and Noelle who are now sitting by each other. A new empty seat had opened behind their usual spot.

“So… Kris… Susie has offered to work with Noelle after Berdly… erm…” Alphys scratches her head, “You can work with them in a group of three if you want-“

Susie cuts in, “Kris. I think it would be better if you didn’t.”

Noelle stutters, “Y-yeah!… I.. erm… I can help… with whatever you want.. I just don’t think that we need 3 people!” Noelle awkwardly laughs, “We don’t want you to have nothing to do..”

Kris reaches for their abdomen and stares down with disdain. That still beating heart. Why?

“Krisp!! Cher up!! Tem is sur that Krisp can complet da projec!!” Temmie extends it’s white appendage out to pet Kris with an almost scribbled on smile.

Kris nods and walks straight to their desk with whispering faces acknowledging them. Susie and Noelle look almost disappointed, but they get to work. Kris’ red irises look back at an empty seat behind them. A frown begins to grow on Alphys’ face, but she looks away from Kris who is now zoning out and back to her lesson plans.

“Kris.. this has to be why you’re only a C+ student!” Berdly Laughs wandering around Kris, “Maybe Noelle and I should have taken you into our group out of Pity.”

Feathers weren’t supposed to weigh so much. They were known for being light. Why did they only just now feel so heavy? Kris peeks up from their arms and find’s that they’re shrouded in a familiar sky blue. A transparent wing snakes it’s way around their shoulders.

“Well, Kris? It seems my player 2 disconnected… It appears we have to be partners!” Berdly laughs in a distorted manner.

Were they hallucinating?

“Kris.. I haven’t lost my place in the classroom yet, right?”

Kris shoves their hands over their ears and shakes their head. They kick their desk forward into Susie’s new seat.

“KRIS?! What the hell!” Susie bares her teeth, causing Noelle to flinch and Alphys to panic.

“Susie!! Please watch your language… or uh… don’t… And Kris… please stay after class-“

Kris stands up immediately, and scurries out of the door, completely ignoring Alphys.

“Or… don’t..” Alphys frowns and looks down sadly at her desk.

The door to the classroom slams shut as Kris’ steps echo through the hallway.

“Kris, I’m pretty sure you shouldn’t be skipping class like this,” Berdly scoffs.

Kris turns around. Through the golden light breaking through the windows on the front of the school, a ghastly appearance of Berdly floats in front of Alphys’ classroom.

“I can’t really say anything bad about you, Kris. You did clean my glasses… so I’ll do you the favor of being your project partner,” Berdly smirks at Kris, holding out a clear gradient wing for them to shake as if it’s a deal of a lifetime.

So it was real.

Notes:

Sorry if this was too short!! I will be putting more Berdly into the next chapter!!

Chapter 3: Limitless Acrobatics

Summary:

This one is finally Berdly centric!!
Tl;dr Berdly still cares about school even while dead :P

Kris races themself down the sidewalk of the hometown trying to hold their nerves together with hopes and a dream. They had manipulated their childhood friend into killing Berdly. Berdly was gone; irrelevant to the plot. But if that was truly the case, why is there now an anomaly standing, no, floating directly behind them in a chase?

“Kris! Could you show at least a bit of patience? I can’t keep up!”

Kris stops in their track, clenches their fists and looks back swiftly before muttering under their breath, “You aren’t real… you can not be real.”

Berdly stops hovering towards Kris, and then starts back up again. Berdly traces Kris’ path, trying to make sense as to where they would leave school to go to. He picks up his pace and floats over Kris, flipping upside down in a fluid position. He has a slight annoyed look on his face as Kris doesn’t say anything else. Kris looks up at him, wondering what on earth could cause such a spiritual discrepancy.

“Are you not even going to say anything about my epic flip?” Berdly waves his arms as Kris continues steady on the sidewalk.

There wasn’t much distance left before the Hospital, so Kris has resorted to watching the leaves pass by. Berdly, on the other hand, is floating through leaves that are flying through the sky with him. His eyes are filled with amusement as the leaves pass through his clear body. Once the leaves move fully through his body, a blue, sparkly mist releases and swirls through the air.

“Kris, are you going to the hospital to study with me? How… nice for a C+ student like you. Thanks, I suppose,” Berdly flips through the air and back to the sidewalk outside of the hospital. He attempts to mimic walking like a normal person, but gives up and resorts to hovering above the pavement.

Kris, still tense and stoic as ever, enters the lobby of the hospital. That cold yet sterile environment. Kris seems unphased by the multitude of other people around the lobby. They seem fixated on one thing, and one thing only: Berdly.

The two enter the hospital room to the far right behind the initial double door. Kris smiles at the fluffy tufts of feathers rising and falling in order with the breaths of Berdly’s body. Everything remained mostly the same as it was when Kris visited the night before.

“Ah, Kris, I wanna say, thank you for assisting with my care last night,” Berdly floats over his own body, “This hospital is not fit for someone like me.”

Kris stares at Berdly’s ghost for a second. Berdly stares back, wishing he new how to answer their questions.

“I’m just as confused as you are,” he floats in front of Kris, “I wish I had the answers, too.”

Kris looks at the floor and back up to Berdly. Berdly reaches his hand out and grabs for Kris’ hand expecting it to fall through, but instead, it landed. Kris looks back up, a wide eyed expression causing their eyes to glow what seemed a brighter crimson than before. Berdly stared back with a surprised, yet happy smile.

“Sorry, I thought it would pass through-“ Berdly’s words are cut short by Kris grasping his hand and bringing it in front of them both before cupping it fully with their other hand.

“I’m happy to see you again..” Kris mumbles just loud enough for Berdly to perceive it.

Berdly searches for anything else to look at around the room. Kris notices immediately that his smart guy act had dropped just for a second before his face went back to an expected smug look. A white aura formed around Berdly. Kris’ hands drop from his as they watch Berdly float up a couple inches.

“So, Kris, will you let me be your project partner?”

Kris looks at Berdly, questioning if the choice would be left up to that pulsing entity of red light that rests inside them.

The heart stays silent. Kris has a choice. Their choice.

“…Sure..”

Berdly seems overjoyed with their choice and performs a figure eight around the hospital room.

“Okay, Kris! Just don’t make me do all of the work..” Berdly lets out a laugh.

He was blissfully unaware of almost everything. How could someone be so casual about everything with their own killer? Let alone the person who manipulated someone into killing them. It was mind boggling for Kris. He was cold dead in the dark world, and comatose in the light world. Did he know what happened? Is he just playing dumb to cope with everything? He continues on so normally despite losing his ability to live life. If his body is in that hospital bed, how is he floating around the room going on about the project and his concepts like a college professor? Maybe this is why Kris remains a C+ student.

“-And if we choose to write about the main character’s loss of autonomy due to the narrator, we can-“ Berdly pauses his rant for a moment, “Kris, sorry if you got lost for a moment, I forgot that I have to slow down a bit for you.”

Something about him saying that made Kris think that he has a lack of awareness for the connotation of what he says. He said something so degrading, yet for some reason it was so kind in the way he said it. He clearly had the best intentions for it, so why didn’t it land that why? Kris hadn’t ever had many proper interactions with him before.

Kris nods and walks over to the hospital bed where Berdly’s body rests. They place their hand on his forehead and the water bottle. It’s ice cold again. Kris grabs the water bottle and takes it to the sink adjacent to the one they had used the night before. Berdly floats behind them, watching their movements closely. As they fill up the water bottle, the edge of their sleeve grows darker with water. They screw the cap back on and carry it back to the bed where they rest it on Berdly’s head. His glasses fog up slightly and a relaxed smile makes its way onto his beak.

“Gamers always respawn. I’ll be back to school in no time,” Berdly, who now has a faint yellow aura around his body, poses like Superman under the fluorescent lights of the room.

Kris smiles as they look back at the envelope still sitting on the chair. The chair remains untouched from the night before, as did everything in the room. Has no one come to visit him for the past few days?

“I wonder what could possibly be in that envelope,” Berdly chuckles, “I can only mess with a few objects. Although, you seem like the only person who can see me and feel my presence. All the others just think I’m an air conditioner gone haywire.” Berdly rolls his eyes, “My parents haven’t shown up, either.”

Kris notices a shift in Berdly’s gaze before he awkwardly laughs. The lights flicker slightly before Kris receives a call on their phone. “Mom” slides across the screen. They slide the green button and put the phone up to their ear.

“Kris! Where the heck are you!” Toriel scolds, “Alphys said that you had walked out of the classroom after having an episode. I have been waiting outside of the school for thirty minutes! I am going to drive home without you, and I expect to see you in ten minutes or less.”

The phone hangs up as Kris bites their lip nervously. They had forgotten to head back to the school so their mom could at least take them home.

“Kris, sounds like you need to get home,” Berdly teases, “At least you can tell her you were doing school work!”

Kris giggles along with Berdly, lightening up a little bit. Berdly swirls around them, over them, through the ground, and back in front of them.

“You promise to come back tomorrow?” Berdly raises an eyebrow expecting an answer.

Kris is left the choice once again.

“I promise.” Kris holds out their hand as if to shake on a deal.

Berdly’s aura shines a gentle pink as he shakes their hand excitedly.

“Kris, my library card should be in the left pocket of my shorts,” he’s still holding onto their hand, “You can grab it and check out the needed book for the project.”

Kris nods as Berdly glances down to their warm hand. He swiftly lets go. Kris watches as he makes himself evaporate into glitter like particles that remind them of the first snowfall of the year. They approach the hospital bed again and flip up the blanket to grab the card library card. It’s cold along with the rest of Berdly’s body. The card has a picture of Berdly smiling and his full name printed next to it. The only flaw on the card was that his last name was faded and scratched off. The rest of the card was left untouched, but most importantly, he was smiling happily in the photo. Kris pocketed the card before hurrying out of the room.

Kris sped out of the room and let the doors close behind them. The sound of a door opening and a thud could be heard. Kris, while in a hurry to leave, ran into the worst person possible in this moment. Noelle. She was visiting her sickly father. The two had collided into each other.

Noelle looks up in confusion, but it quickly changed to a look of horror, “K-Kris? What are you doing here?” A bead of sweat rolls down Noelle’s face as she gulps audibly, “I-I didn’t expect to see you here.”

Kris brushes themself off and looks down at Noelle with a look of sorrow.

“Sorry…”

They reach to help Noelle up, only for Noelle to flinch. This was enough for them.

“I-It’s okay!! I’m strong enough, I’m sure I can take care of myself now-“

Before Noelle could let out another word, Kris was gone through the doors.

Before Kris could come up with an excuse, they were at the front door of their house with a warm and welcoming scent of butterscotch cinnamon pie. The smell felt like the gentle strum of an acoustic guitar. Kris knew they were home.

“Kris? Are you home?” Toriel looks up from her book, placing it down on ‘Chariel’, “I was worried sick about you.”
Toriel stands up and walks over to Kris, wrapping them in a hug that felt as if it were a blanket.
“Kris, you scared me and Ms. Alphys,” Toriel pulls away and cups Kris’ face, “I’m sorry I snapped at you over the phone. We can talk about this tomorrow when it isn’t late. Please take a shower and go to bed. I’ll have fresh pie saved for you in the morning. I love you, Kris.”

Kris looks at Toriel, “I love you too, mom.”

Toriel looks content with how she handled everything. Kris shuffles to their room. They are tired. They can make it to tomorrow without a shower. They start down the hall following Toriel who enters her own room. Kris opens their door and steps in. They sloppily walk over to their greyscale half of the room. They pull the library card out of their pocket and stare at it before hugging it close. They slump onto the bed without even trying to cover themself with bedding. The cold only grows colder as they fade out of consciousness.

Toriel opens the door to Kris’ room, “I forgot to say, please remember to take out the-“ Toriel looks at Kris who is soundly sleeping on their bed, cuddling into the sheets and tucked cozily under the covers. She smiles and backs out of the room, closing the door on the way.

Notes:

Thank you for your support!! I’m excited to continue this !!

Chapter 4: In His Eyes, He Can Fly

Summary:

Sorta a flashback chapter to the day before everything :P

“Oh, Berdly… You showed up earlier than expected!” Noelle giggles as Carol opens the front door for Berdly.

“Glad to see you again, Berdly,” Carol closes the door behind him letting him walk into the house, “Please keep the door open when you guys are upstairs. Please try not to make too much noise.”

Noelle returns the smile to Carol, “Will do, mom, thanks for letting him come over.” Berdly nods and waits for Carol to return to the kitchen.

“M’lady, what would you like to do?” Berdly smirks and waits for Noelle’s response.

“Uhm… We could play Super Smashing Fighters?” Noelle seems to tense up slightly with the awkward nickname given to her.

“My dearest Noelle, of course!” Berdly chuckles to himself as Noelle awkwardly brushes his “advance” off. The weird nicknames fell fault to her people pleasing in her mind. Always people pleasing, and never once saying no to him. Another part of her wondered if he had no awareness of those around him; if he could see thinks exclusively from him perspective. She shakes her head. ‘I’m always overthinking’ is what she thinks.

Noelle and Berdly orderly walk up the stairs and into the room on the corridor. They leave the door open per Carol’s request. Berdly barrels into the pink couch sitting across from the giant platinum screen TV.

“Noelle, you collect all of these old consoles. You need to get a CRT so that you can play old games on old gear,” Berdly lays with his head facing the ceiling.

Noelle nods and crouches down to plug in the console to play Super Smashing Fighters. She boots the system, plugs in the cartridge, and reaches for a controller.

“Would you like to be player one or player two?” Noelle turns her head to the side to look at Berdly.

“I think you know that I’d like to be player one,” Berdly laughs at his own comment. How does he live like this?

Noelle nods, “O-Of course,” she mutters, “Just let me-“

“Noelle?” Berdly sits up to see Noelle holding a controller with a mangled and severed wire.

“Oh crud! This was so expensive!” Noelle sets the now useless controller on the TV stand, “Those stupid rats!”

Berdly sighs, “I guess we can’t play today.”

“It’s okay! We can take turns playing!”

“Noelle, what’s the point of playing if I have to go against a brain dead NPC?” he rolls his eyes, “I need to go against someone with my level of intelligence!”

Noelle cocks her head, “Really? You don’t want to play?”

“I don’t want to play by myself if there’s someone else who wants to also play,” Berdly’s mood changes for a second, “I’m gonna feel lonely if I’m not able to play with someone else.”

Noelle seems confused for a second before she returns to normal, “O-okay, so what would you want to do?”

Berdly returns, “I suppose we could talk to each other normally?”

Noelle looks back at him with confusion, “What about?”

“We could talk about our classmates,” Berdly looks off to the side and thinks for a moment, “Y’know, our opinions on them.”

Noelle is definitely puzzled about this. Why would Berdly of all people want to discuss his peers? Let alone his peers that he views down upon? Something had to have been going on. Berdly was never the type to show social interest. The only excuse was if he was in class or volunteering.

“Okay, I’ll start, uhm… Jockington is surprisingly not all that stuck up. He sure seems like he would be, but compared to Snowy, he’s a decent person,” Noelle finds her way to the couch where she sits on the floor in front of it.

“Jockington? PFFT- He only reads sports books!” Berdly rolls his eyes, “And Snowy, he barely grazes the comedy section! One time he checked out a raunchy comedy book and his mother brought him to my desk to have him return it!”

“Hah! Really?” Noelle seems to cheer up, “Monster Kid is a crazed fanatic for Undyne!”

“I’ve seen their collection of those badges from Police Appreciation day throughout all of the school years,” Berdly adds, “I’m quite impressed, even if they are only the 7th smartest student in the class.”

“Susie is pretty cool as well, she has a cool sense of style, and my dad likes her. I mean, have you seen her she’s so-“

“Susie?! You’re speaking so highly of Susie?” Berdly squawked out.

“Y-yeah,” Noelle blushes, “I-I like her- I THINK SHE’S COOL! That’s all..”

“Noelle, why?” Berdly steadily stares at Noelle perplexed, “I can’t even be offended. Just why?”

Noelle’s eyes widen, “Oh! I uh,” she jogs some thoughts before speaking again, “Don’t you have one person that you really like, like a lot?”

Berdly clearly doesn’t know what Noelle means. He seems like someone hypnotized him or put him onto a roller coaster with how his head spun around. His eyes were pinwheeling similar to how a curser will turn rainbow and spin. He couldn’t get his mind past the sudden jump in conversation. ‘Like, Like’ is used for romantic purposes when someone likes someone else, right? But Noelle couldn’t possibly have romantic feelings for Susie, right? She obviously liked him because they have been a duo for so long! It was meant to be them, the smart boy and the second smartest girl.

Noelle seemed to have noticed him go cross eyed for some time, “You know, when you see someone, your stomach does backflips, your face blushes, and you can’t make eye contact!”

Berdly nodded. So that’s what you’re supposed to feel when you have a crush on someone else? How could this relate to Berdly? He has never thought once about it. Maybe he has? If this is pertaining to Susie and Noelle, maybe Noelle is just intimidated by the big scary Susie. Susie who unjustifiably shoves people into lockers, cusses loudly, and calls them freaks. Only one person is specifically called a freak. Kris. The same Kris who will send a knife like glare into someone’s eyes for saying something in the wrong tone, the same Kris whose grades fall behind from sleeping so soundly in class, and the same Kris who will talk so quiet yet powerful at the same time.

“Berdly? Berdly, are you okay?” Noelle giggles, “H-Hello? Earth to Nerdly!” Berdly snaps out of his trance, “Wow! You’re blushing Berdly,” Noelle giggles, “You had to have been thinking of someone.”

Berdly pushes up his now fogged up glasses before abruptly standing up, “It appears I have to clock into my shift at the Librarby.”

Noelle hollers to the now skedaddling Berdly, “I’ll see you tomorrow! Remember we’re going to the Librarby after school tomorrow!”

Berdly has left the house and is speeding down the street to the Librarby. The area is still bright out, and the golden leaves have started raining from the sky. He still doesn’t have a date to the annual festival, and as the smartest student of the entire class, that’s embarrassing. His glasses had cleared themselves of fog and he is now able to focus on the roads ahead. If life was as easy as his games made it seem, he would be thriving.

Notes:

Once again, thank you all!!!

Chapter 5: Playing With a Magic that is Black

Summary:

Just a continuation!! I promise it’s actually building up!!

Susie stands impatiently by the closet. The sun is only now starting to dawn outside of the school. She hadn’t even bothered checking in with Alphys. Kris enters through the front door.

“Hey, dumbass, I was waiting for you,” Susie uncrosses her arms and approaches Kris with a harsh placement of her hand on their shoulder, “I’m sure Ralsei has been wanting to see us. Let’s go.”

Kris nods. They haven’t been in the building yet that magnetic pull brings them down to the pitch black of the central dark fountain.

They land on the purple ground with a silent thud. Both of their outfits had transformed and Ralsei has started over to the entrance.

“Ah, Kris, Susie! Hello!” Ralsei waves as Susie shoots up instantaneously.

“Ralsei! Hey, haven’t seen you in a good day or so,” Susie playfully punches Ralsei in his arm causing him to flinch.

Kris follows Susie shortly after checking their surroundings for a brief moment. There were hardly any darkners form the cyber world. Susie and Ralsei continue to talk, with Ralsei growing increasingly nervous with each loud noise that Susie pushes at him. Kris covers the left side of their chest plate and clenches deeply. That one object in the way between them and their one and only burden.

“GO AHEAD AND [Scream] INTO THE [Receiver].
THE [Voice] RUNS OUT EVENTUALLY.”

Shudder.

The whirring of a bike can be heard as a small presence launches himself towards Susie.

“Lancer!”

“Susie! The badass! You came back!”

Susie picks lancer up and spins him around. Ralsei sheepishly takes this as a moment to approach Kris.

“Hello, Kris. Sorry about that,” he smiles into the shadows that fade over Kris’ face, “Kris, you should come with me to the Castle. There are a few new editions that I’ve made.”

Kris obliges and follows Ralsei down the newly paved path to the castle. There are few new building revolving around the cyber city. It’s rather notable that the area is barren.

“Kris, I don’t really know what happened, but we haven’t exactly had many new darkners.”

That burning, aching parasite in their chest. It’s eating away at them. It’s that chilling guilt that runs down every vertebrate’s spine when a horrid act has been committed. It’s an atrocity what they’ve done, but it wasn’t them. They swear by it.

Kris continues to the castle with Ralsei singing a gentle lullaby under his breath. Kris starts up the stairs and past the book of recruits. They look past it with shame. There are little to no check marks in the book of different species of Darkners. They had lives beyond the thick film of ice.

Shudder

“Kris, would you like to proceed upstairs?”

Shudder

Something is off with Kris, and Ralsei can tell.

“Kris, we don’t have to,” Ralsei walks in a circle around Kris before he places his hand on the metal shoulder guard, “I taught Susie a simple healing spell, so I think I could teach you a bit about magic.”

Kris turns their head towards him. They nod and pull away from Ralsei’s hand. Ralsei smiles.

“Kris, I’m not sure how it will work for you, but I know a way to contact power farther than the dark world.”

Kris pauses their breathing. Ralsei had to have known.

“Beyond the light world and the dark worlds, there is a space where the people beyond wind up when their time comes to exit the prophecy,” Ralsei’s hands follow along the starry ceiling of the castle as his eyes looked beyond what was truly there, “By exiting the prophecy, I mean they perish. Darkners and lightners.”

Kris’ eyes gaze at the twilight of the purple torches. The heat waves of the flames radiate to the front of Kris’ blue face.

“Are you even able to follow this? Pfft-! Kris. Kris, Kris, Kris. You need to study more,” a constrast to the warmth of the torches reach out to Kris’ face. A cold touch grasps their face, “Where are we, anyways? Shouldn’t you be in class, Kris? You mischievous dummy.”

Ralsei quits talking and pulls his hands back behind him, “To summarize it, Kris, I’m sure you can find a good book on occult, or another medium such as a ouija board to communicate with that realm. I know you have slight knowledge of channeling magic, so this may come as easy to you.”

Ralsei smiles at Kris as Kris looks back.

“Kris!” Susie marches into the castle out of breath with lancer piggybacking on her shoulders, “Kris, we have to head back.”

Kris nods their head in agreement. It was a simple gesture, but with Susie, it was some complete discussion.

“I understand,” Ralsei tugs at his scarf, “Well then, I will see you two later..” Ralsei waves solemnly as lancer rushes to Queen’s newly placed bedroom.

Susie and Kris return to the entrance and the tunnel of light carries them home.

“Kris, I wanted to see if… Alright, I’ll cut the crap. Kris, you’re going to have a sleepover with me and Noelle,” Susie laughs and nudges Kris, “We were going to see if you would let it be at your house.”

Kris visually eases the tension from their shoulders. They give up the choice to the entity for a moment before giving Susie a confident thumbs up. Maybe, just maybe they could repair things between themself and Noelle. Maybe Noelle will forgive them.

Susie’s arm pumps up in the air with a content ‘yes’, “Heck yeah, Kris! See ya tomorrow!” Susie speeds out of the school building leaving Kris to the setting sun in the empty building.

“Kris! The school day is finished already! My shift would be over by now, so it should be open. It is Friday, after all,” Berdly floats up from under the tiled flooring.

Kris smiles warmly at Berdly and the ghastly appearance smiles back. Berdly’s aura glows a sunflower yellow.

“I have another book in mind.. I was wondering if you could help me find it..” Kris turns around to follow the fluid movements.

“Ah, this is a first! My favorite C+ student is reading something other than an assigned book!” Berdly’s aura fades into a blue, “What are you looking for dragon hunters? Pixie Hollow? A guide to drawing dragons?” Berdly playfully jabs at Kris. Kris rolls their eyes and shuts the school door behind them.

Berdly continues his explanation as the two reach the Library.

Notes:

Thanks for being patient!! I promise a longer chapter will come out soon. Thanks for reading <33!!