Chapter 1: The closet
Chapter Text
Kris stood in front of the closet, Susie next to them, giving off her usual aura of danger, side eyeing them from time to time. There was something wrong with the doors. Somehow it almost seemed to give off this strange dark energy that made Kris’ hair stand.
“What are you waiting for? Let’s go.”
Susie scowled and walked up to the metal doors which she violently opened, everything darkened and the doorframe was filled with pure darkness that seemed to almost suck light from its surroundings.
“That’s-”
Monster girl stuttered a bit, for a moment visibly scared but then her usual bravado returned.
“Kris, you… have to go first.”
Human audibly gulped and stepped back.
That wasn't a normal closet.
There was something deeply wrong about it. Especially since Kris could hear something akin to music coming off from the inside. But before they managed to inquire about it Susie pushed them forwards.
“If you don’t want to go, then we’ll both enter at the same time. After all, how dangerous can a closet be?”
Kris didn’t like this reasoning at all. It was obvious that it wasn’t a normal closet so why should they even enter it? But Susie could get hurt if they let her go alone, and someone being hurt because they were unable to protect them is one thing that they would never allow. So they follow the purple girl into the darkness.
“See? Nothing happened, we just have to find the light switch.”
Susie laughed walking deeper into the room. How strange, it was so dark that Kris couldn’t see walls, furniture or anything but some paper scattered on the ground. As they were going deeper into, surprisingly spacious closet they decided to pick up one of the papers.
It was a bunch of crude drawings of…Susie with some words written under each one.
But before human managed to get to deciphering, dino monster called out from the darkness in front of them.
“Kris, stop lagging behind and look for that damned switch, I can’t find it anywhere.”
With one last look at the open doors behind them, they went deeper into the dark. This closet was extremely big, at this point it had to be at least twice of the size of their classroom. But at least they managed to find Susie who continued to move her hands in different directions trying to feel out anything. She was quiet for a moment, but then she turned to Kris.
“Hey, Kris I- I don’t think this closet has any walls. Let's go back and tell Alphys to get chalk herself.”
It was a fantastic idea that Kris wholeheartedly agreed with, they were getting really bad vibes from this place, almost like something urging them forwards, into the dark. Following really little light that entered the ‘closet’ they managed to almost get to the exit.
But then the doors violently shut with a loud crash.
Susie who now was visibly upset started hitting the doors in hopes of breaking out.
“Hey! Let us out!”
She screamed as she banged against the metal surface with such strength that the room seemingly shook.
Wait. Kris’ red eyes widened in realisation, the room was shaking. They looked down at the papers scattered on the floor, ones that now violently shook.
“Susie.”
“WHAT?”
She roared but instantly closed her mouth as she realised that even after she stopped assaulting the doors, the vibrations didn’t die down.
“Oh no.”
Pair started slowly backing away from the floor that now started falling down, but failed to escape as suddenly they both lost their footing and fell into an apparently very big hole.
Kris looked up, were those white dots on the ceiling…stars?
But those quickly disappeared leaving them and still screaming Susie in complete darkness.
Dying in the school closet with a class bully, what an unusual way to die.
At least, just like Susie said to them once. Maybe it was better to just disappear, and let their mother finally be happy with the life she really wanted. Once they died Asriel would be her only child again. Perfect at everything, beloved by everyone, literal antithesis to Kris.
To their surprise the teen actually woke up, somewhere.
The place was desolate, the sky was dark and Kris themselves ended up on some kind of pathway made of stone with an unhealthy looking tint of blue. From time to time in walls that they sometimes came across were holes leaking some dark substance.
They swallowed once again and slowly stood up checking if they weren’t badly hurt by the fall.
It looked like everything was fine so they decided to proceed further down the pathway they ended up on, maybe they would find something.
Further down appeared runes carved into the stones. Ones that looked like eyes. Other than that there were those strange wiggling things that made sound as human passed by them. How strange.
As they walked they came across a stone sign, they leaned in to read.
“In this land, only eyes blinded by darkness can see the way…”
They backed away and saw three eye-runes, just like those they saw before under them however another thing was drawn. Under each eye were three circles, some empty others fully black. And even further down were three holes filled with this black substance, but something was glinting inside.
It was a puzzle, one that Kris had to solve before proceeding.
Human steeled themselves as they reached into the hole, feeling how disgusting substance covers their hand. But at the end they managed to feel out a switch that they pulled. One of rune-eyes turned fully black and started oozing the same thing that now covered their hand.
“Oh Angel, let me do it only one more time.”
Kris prayed and reached out to another hole.
Once all eyes turned black a bridge manifested over the ravine, connecting to the rest of the path. Quietly, Kris hoped that they would never ever have to touch that dark substance ever again.
Some time later, having no idea how much, they couldn’t check their phone since it didn’t work for whatever reason. Each time they even tried turning it on, it just started making creepy noises. And Kris had already enough creepy stuff for at least the rest of their life.
Next area wasn’t too different from things that Kris saw before, but something did catch their attention.
Those white wiggling nodes were making different noises as they passed.
Human turned just in time to see three white projectiles flying directly at them. Instinctively they stepped back just to realise that their heel was dangling over the vertical slope that led all the way to the darkness below.
“Angel damn it!”
Kris screamed as one of the projectiles grazed their head, leaving behind a bleeding cut. Now fully sure that those things definitely would kill them, human launched for a safe looking crack in the stone. Taking two more hits before finally arriving at safety.
“Gah.”
Kris groaned as they proceeded to look over their wounds. They weren’t too bad, but one at their cheek was bleeding. There had to be something they could use as temporary bandage.
To their surprise the answer came in the form of new clothes that they now had. Knight’s armor and pink cape wrapped around their right shoulder. It could be useful, especially the cape.
Kris ripped off small fragment of it and wrapped around their head in a way that would cover the cut, great. Now they didn’t need to worry about blood loss
Now back to the task of figuring out where the hell they even ended up. And as much as dangerous it was, moving forward was their only option. There was also Susie who had to end up in here, and quietly Kris hoped that nothing really bad happened to her. But in contrast to them, Susie was strong and capable, she would definitely find her footing in this place.
The next area was much calmer, it had those piles of something that seemed to breathe but when Kris poked it, it dissipated into the air. After some time only one pile remained, they touched it and a familiar figure of shocked Susie greeted them.
“Stop, or I’ll- wait, Kris? You are alright?”
Her look changed. Now she looked like a barbarian from video games that Kris used to play with Asriel when he was still at home. She wore a dark shelfless vest and purple pants contracting with dark boots, her hair on the other side took a brighter shade. She also had an enormous battle axe directed at human in front of her.
She was so cool.
“It’s me.”
Kris replied, making soothing gestures with their hands. They did not want that ax stuck in their skull.
“Oh. Good. I thought you were something else, we have to figure out a way back, from here…wherever ‘here’ is/”
She took her axe back.
“Anyways, since YOU were the one who got us into this mess, YOU get us out.”
With that monster walked behind Kris, waiting for them to move.
Now with Susie at their side they felt safer.
“Let's go then.”
They walked but apparently too slow for Susie as she quickly ran past them mumbling something about turtle speed. Kris followed her in directions.
Monster stood at the foot of a massive pillar, as Kris walked they could see massive columns sticking out of the sea of darkness below, some of them looked like they were broken in half by some beast of destruction.
“Hey Kris! Check that out, there is someone on the top, and they seem to be waving at us?”
Two projectiles formed, ones that looked like spades.
“Susie, you must-”
Bullets shot, Kris managed to push the monster out of the way but they ended up taking a hit.They staggered a bit but an unlucky step on sticking out stone was what sealed their fate.
Human fell down vertically into the darkness.
It was going to be the end.
Kris tried to land in optimal opposition to not end up as a pancake.
However after falling for some time they stopped caring.
And maybe this caused them to fall directly onto their legs as if they were standing.
They no longer had legs.
For a split second they felt piercing pain in their legs and then there were pulsating waves of pain.
It was almost hilarious, they even couldn’t die, but had to spend their last moments in horrible pain similar to one of being ripped apart.
“Damn it.”
Human scowled as they tried to turn into position that would allow them to at least stop some of the ache, besides laying in pool of one’s blood and thorn muscle, bone and skin.
Sleep.
They were tired.
Red eyes slowly close.
Last thing that Kris registered was sound of someone calling out their name.
Chapter 2: The return
Summary:
Kris surprisingly wakes up and learns lots of new things. One of which is the fact that they have powers now.
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
“When do you think they are going to wake up?”
One voice asked.
“Dunno, Soul said that soon, but I’m not sure about that.”
Another replied.
[Kids, stop poking them, they need rest.]
Third tuned in, this one more weary and bit older but still most likely teen.
“Do we have to?”
The first voice inquired.
“Frisk, Chara. I know that you want to get to know your sibling but for now they need rest and a lot of it.”
Two disappointed ‘awwws’ sounded out but it seemed that kids decided to listen and departed somewhere.
Kris slowly opened their eyes just to see a very pale child without any facial features. Its grey hair fell freely onto shoulders and the only thing that human could recognise were two red dots that replaced eyes.
“What are you?”
Kris asked, confused by the fact that somehow they were alive while having their legs practically crushed.
More surprising was the fact that now, their legs were somehow back in one piece and they could move and feel their lower part.
What kind of miracle was that?
[Oh. You are awake, good to know that Boss put you back together so well]
The child mused, walking up to the bed with a silver plate in its hands.
[We hope Frisk and Chara didn't wake you up. They were just very excited to see you.]
“You didn't answer my question.”
Kris muttered. Obviously they were distrustful of that creature, even though it seemingly saved their life.
[Hm. Call Us Soul, or Angel, We don’t particularly care]
Came the reply.
Human tilted their head and looked at ‘Soul’ . Their movements were also mechanical, like a puppet led by invisible strings but other than that it seemed to have no intention to hurt Kris, so human decided to trust them, at least until they got their footing in this world.
“Well, I’m Kris.”
Human introduced themselves, relaxing a bit. Child nodded approvingly.
[We know. We were waiting for a very long time to lead you to this place]
What?
Kris blinked. They wanted to lead them here? For what reasons?
“Why?”
Human inquired, wanting to get as much information as they possibly could.
[To let you meet your real family of course]
Soul said like it was the most normal thing ever.
While yes Kris knew that Dreemurrs are not their biological family. Coming to that conclusion after they saw no hints of horns ever growing on their head. It was a painful realisation that made the disconnection between them and their adoptive family so much more obvious.
After all, Dreemurrs loved them and Kris had no way of showing this care back. They weren't as smart as Asriel, they weren't as respected as Toriel and they weren't as liked as Asgore.
They just were imperfect human in a family full of perfect monsters.
No one ever spoke how they ended up in Dreemurr’s care. It was one of those subjects that could cause an argument between Toriel and Asgore and Kris never wanted to cause arguments, especially since the pair argued more often than not.
Ultimately that led to a divorce with Asriel and Kris staying with Toriel.
And then Asriel went to university and everything fell apart, even though everybody pretended it didn't, including Kris themselves.
“My biological family?”
Human was honestly scared of how this would turn out.
After all they remembered Dreemurrs as their only family ever, so they were either given up willingly as a toddler or something happened. On the other side they were also curious.
[So. I can be your sibling, please don’t ever tell Boss that I told you that one, since he doesn't know it yet.]
“You mean that this ‘boss’ of yours is also your dad?”
[Ehh. It’s complicated.]
Child awkwardly waved it off before continuing.
[Let me fetch Frisk and Chara, your younger siblings]
Kris nodded as Soul walked out of the room.
So apparently they had siblings besides Asriel… what a strange feeling it was.
Human took off the blanket, their legs looked as always safe for few black scars that appeared near joints.
It looked like someone really did put them back together. How did they do that? Most likely by magic because there was no fucking way that anyone could savage them in any diffrent way.
As they waited another thought emerged. What happened to Susie? She was out of the way of projectiles so she had to be fine.
“Krisss!”
A young child, not older than nine ran through the doors and jumped at bed, landing on top of Kris' chest, pushing the air out of their lungs.
“Look at them Char. They are yellow like me and have red eyes like you.”
It observed with something akin to wonder twinkling in their starry eyes.
Human on bed groaned but finally looked at the newcomer.
It was another human with short, brown hair, black eyes with pupils shaped like stars and skin that had a very unnatural shade of yellow, just like them.
“Hello. I’m Frisk and there in the doorframe stands Chara.”
A kid stood in the entrance. They looked similar to Frisk. Brown hair and similar facial features but their eyes were red and skin was unnaturally pale.
“Greetings.”
They bowed, not moving from the entrance.
[Hm. Boss really made you bunch look like siblings hm?]
Soul also appeared, now gently pushing Chara into the room.
“How was your first death? Did it hurt?”
Chara suddenly asked, tilting their head in curiosity, Frisk looked at them for a bit but ultimately turned back to Kris with a face that just screamed: ‘Please tell us.’
Huh?
They didn’t die, they were here in one piece, why were those children asking such morbid questions? One look at Soul only led them further into the confusion, since pupped-child just shook its head in disappointment.
[Sorry about them. They are just curious, that’s all]
“Yeah. For example, my first death was being burned alive.”
Frisk chimed in only making Kris more worried.
[Ekhm. Chara, Kris, we told you that you can’t ask people how they died, it’s not very nice]
This seemed to finally douse the enthusiasm of both kids, with Frisk even making a strange, very in-human apologetic chirp. What was worse was the fact that a human laying on bed was able to somehow recognise it as awkward, sorry.
Yellow human jumped out of the bed, their energy suddenly returning.
“You’ll tell us when you feel like it then.”
And with that two kids departed, leaving Kris only in Soul’s companion.
“What was that about?”
They asked.
Angel awkwardly scratched the back of their head, seemingly looking away.
[Look, since you are kid of… someone VERY unusual, you get some of their weirdness. Like for example imploding at death and having your body reassemble itself.”
“WHAT?”
Kris quickly moved their head closer to Soul’ eyes wide in shock. They were going to implode and just… assemble themselves back? It sounded almost outlandish.
[We mean, since Boss removed blocker you should regain most of your abilities.]
“WHAT BLOCKER?”
[The one that kept us from finding you. Boss got REALLY pissed when he realised that you were taken.]
Soul explained but in a way that allowed them to evade most of the details Kris could be interested in.
“Rigght, so when I’m going to meet my parents?”
Human pressed further, visibly causing even more awkwardness from the child beside their bed.
[Ahh. That…has to wait since they are kind of… busy…right now… but you’ll meet them eventually… after you get used to things.]
“What things?”
[Eeeh. Your dad is… VERY particular individual that… you may have problems with perceiving … And he decided he would prefer to evade accidentally… overwriting your whole existence.]
“. . .”
[. . .]
[You took that implication with surprising calmness]
Soul observed, most likely used to much more energetic reactions like screaming, praying, crying and stuff like that.
Kris just sighed.
“My parents are divorced, my best friend’s sister disappeared because of me, I have no social life and now I end up in a different reality. I suppose I just got used up to stuff like that happening.”
[. . . You know you are right. But now We suppose We should explain how your new powers work in detail.]
Kris nodded and prepared to listen, after all there shouldn’t be that much things to go over.
***
It was a mistake.
Soul spent at least a few hours counting what powers Kris could develop, only comfort was the fact that they most likely wouldn’t develop all of them. From those Soul also pointed out those that human already were developing. Some of which include conditional immortality, ability to hear music of the world and ability to form bullets just like those that caused Kris to fall down the ravine.
Luckily Soul decided to teach them some basic things like forming things called SAVE points that allowed them to come back to that moment in time after death and some bullets that took the form of music notes.
Kris focused and reached out their arm. Over their open palm two notes appeared.
“Like that?”
They asked.
[You’re good at this. We suppose you have a talent for forming bullets… Chara and Frisk just… throw knifes a lot of knifes]
Human felt… happy. The praise was something they didn’t get often but when they did they felt nice, really nice. But did they really deserve that? After all they only managed to make two notes and a very small star that barely gave off any light.
[Anyways. We no longer can keep this temporary domain up. When it shatters you, Chara and Frisk will manifest with you in the Dark World. Your objective will be closing the impure dark fountain, a massive geyser of darkness that threatens to destroy balance and kickstart the apocalypse.]
“Wait what?”
[Nothing helps with bonding like survival… At least it worked for Us and the Boss so it should work with you bunch too. We’ll join too so don’t worry. Good luck]
“Wai-”
The world fell apart in a single moment.
Then Kris opened their eyes. They were in some kind of field with pink grass and trees. Next to them lay Chara and Frisk. And on their chest sat a tiny creature. A red heart with white wings and halo.
[Teleportation worked! Welcome to the field of hopes and dreams.]
Soul announced as it suddenly launched into the air floating even without flapping their tiny wings.
“You. Please for the love of Angel do warn me before you pull off something like that.”
[Ohh. You’re right. You aren’t used to teleporting around are you? Worry not, as your birth power settles in it won’t be a problem any longer.]
Somehow that sentence felt very imposing.
“Okay. But why did you get Chara and Frisk with us? Isn’t this dangerous?”
[As Frisk mentioned before, those two died MANY times, besides, family needs time to bond doesn’t it?]
Human shook their head, it looked like this bunch had a very different definition of what dangerous was. No wonder they were immortal after all but Kris was still a bit scared of death, in the end, it was the pain they feared the most.
“Hey look, there is something hanging on the tree, can you get its?”
Chara suddenly spoke up gesturing to vaguely star-shaped shapes sticking out between pink leafs.
Kris nodded and walked up to the tree, there were three starry things hanging low enough for them to reach. Deciding to be a safe human turned to the Soul.
“Are those edible?”
[Those are Dark Candies, you can eat them safely, We assure you of that]
Assured Kris took a bite themselves, those things did taste like marshmallows with addition of a bit of chocolate.
“Come here.”
They called out to Chara and Fries and gave each one a star.
Seeing that Soul just continued to float around them, looking Kris decided to rip off a bit of their own candy and handed it to the tiny creature.
“Here, have it.”
Red heart didn’t reply, nor did it take it but its light was slightly strengthened. Then after a moment of silence they finally spoke.
[You should eat it Kris. We can’t taste things anyways. At least you can enjoy it.]
It explained.
This was.... sad. For something that powerful Soul couldn’t even enjoy a candy properly. Kris thought a bit of an answer before dropping a small piece directly before Soul. The heart produced a red string that wrapped around it and kept it in the air.
“What about this? You eat it and we’ll tell you how it tastes.”
Frisk and Chara nodded approvingly moving closer. Soul didn’t speak but after a short while the candy piece started disappearing.
“Imagine a chocolate, dark and sweet, making you happy.”
Chara started, before biting into their own candy.
“And it’s mixed with fluffy clouds that melt on your tongue.”
Frisk added.
“It makes you feel satisfied.”
Kris finished.
Soul floated up and down in a nod.
[We understand better now. Thank you.]
After that snack the four managed to find a small cave under one of the trees where all of them could sleep. To keep warm three humans hugged together with Soul patrolling the area for any danger.
As Kris fell asleep on uncomfortable ground their thoughts wandered to Susie.
What happened to her?
They hoped that she was still alright and that they would meet up once again. Since Kris had feeling that this bad girl persona wasn’t true Susie, and they wanted to meet the real her.
Their eyes closed and they drifted off to sleep with two smaller bodies snuggling up to them.
It was warm enough to let them survive till they rested enough.
Notes:
Another chapter. Frisk, Chara and Kris interacting, some fluff since the next chapter is going to be following Susie. And oh boy she does not have a good time and neither does Lancer. Also Kris learns a bit about their real family.
And it is kind of obvious who their ‘real’ parent is.Thanks for hits, kudos and comments.
Chapter 3: The monster
Summary:
Susie has really bad time, makes friends and learns new things.
Lancer has very bad time but it gradually gets better.Ralsei is no longer alone.
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Susie was scared, and she hated herself for it.
Only the strong survived in the world and those who couldn't keep up perished.
Diono learnt it the hard way.
And now Kris pushed her away from the projectiles before they fell off the ledge.
Why would they do such a thing, especially for her - their bully?
The creature that first attacked them was also visibly shocked, but it ran away before Susie did anything. She should have pursued it but checking on Kris was much more important.
There was nothing but darkness far down the slope but once the monster concentrated she could hear an echo of thud and pained groan. That had to mean that Kris was still alive somewhere down there.
“Hang in there Kris I’m going to get help…somehow.”
She yelled out into the darkness and then sprinted further down the path. Eventually there had to be someone friendly enough to help Kris.
After walking for Angel-knows how long she came across a slide that led down. Using it turned out to be not only fun, a great way to relax after seeing her companion fall but also revealed a hidden path that led somewhere.
It turned out that there was an entire kingdom here with houses, shops and even a castle. Everything was a mixture between blue and black with the addition of glowing mushrooms. It was the most beautiful place Susie had ever seen.
Who could have guessed that such a nice place existed beneath the school?
“Hello?! Is anybody here?”
Monster screamed out but nobody replied.
“Damn it. Why is nobody around when you need them?”
She asked aloud frustrated.
Huh?”
Another voice sounded, it came from the courtyard. Susie quickly made her way there.
A figure stood at the entrance to the castle looking at the rune carved over the gate. They wore a cape with a hoodie that fully covered their body.
“A lightner?”
It asked, confused.
Without losing a second monster ran up to them and gripped their shoulders.
“My friend fell down and they need help.”
“They fell? Where?”
Person asked with worry.
“That… there were stones and it looked like a mountain with darkness below.”
“Oh. I’m sorry but your friend is most likely… dead.”
They replied while taking off the hood. It turned out that it was a goat-like creature with a green hat, and pink scarf.
“What? But I hear them groaning!”
“That could be just a hallucination. The area that you are most likely talking about is known as echoing peaks. It used to be a lush area but after ancient cataclysm it became barren like you’ve described.”
A moment of silence before they continued.
“I'm the prince of this fallen kingdom but even I know not to go to that place. Darkness there is so strong that it causes hallucinations and oftentimes leads to birth of… things.”
“That means that we have to go back faster to get Kris.”
Susie muttered, starting to lead goat outside the courtyard.
“Or that whatever you heard was just a hallucination. May I know your name, Lightner?”
Goat asked before quickly adding.
“I’m Ralsei and as I said before I'm the prince of this place.”
Susie mentally groaned, she felt really bad about just standing here and talking while Kris needed her but she decided to share her name. Since that place where they fell was dangerous then it would be better to actually know how to approach saving them.
“Susie. Ralsei… Kris really needs help. They saved me from something attacking us, they lost their footing and fell.”
“Susie…was your friend a human?”
“Yes they were.”
This answer seemed to give Ralesi some hope.
“Then there is a chance that they are alive. Listen, there is a legend in this land that one day three heroes will arrive at this castle, a human, a monster and a prince from the dark, meaning me.”
Goat started.
“If your friend is a human then you two might be heroes from this legend and I know that no matter what it will be fulfilled.”
Susie blinked, shocked.
“Me and Kris are some heroes? That has to be a joke.”
Ralsei smiled comfortingly and then proceeded to explain the rest of the legend. It turned out that the massive geyser coming out of the castle was called the GRAND fountain, one of two ever existing. Those kept balance of light and dark worlds but recently a third fountain appeared, much more unstable and chaotic. One that threatened the order of things. If that order were to shatter an event called by Ralsei ‘The Roaring’ would commerce.
The world would be covered by unyielding darkness.
Mindless creatures of pure destruction known as titans would rise.
Darkners the inhabitants of dark worlds like this one would turn to stone.
Lightners, the inhabitants of the light world, would be left alone to fend for themselves. Ultimately to succumb to insanity, dying miserably.
“Wow, that would… suck… I think…everybody dying… The world losing its colour…”
“What you saw in echoing peaks is the work of just a single titan.”
Ralsei admitted.
“Oh…. That’s … sad.”
Susie replied not really knowing what to say….
“So you mean that we have to first seal that third fountain before coming to look for Kris?”
“Yes. Making sure that a titan will never be born is our top priority.”
“I see. Just… promise me that after everything we’ll look for Kris.”
Ralsei smiled and put his paw on her shoulder.
“We will. I promise. But first I need to teach you how things work here, come, I’ve got a training dummy just for that.”
“Do I have to do that? I think I’m pretty good at fighting actually.”
Susie inquired, she really, REALLY wasn’t into training anything so she hoped that maybe Ralsei could show mercy and let her scot free but it turned out that her hopes were all for naught.
“I’m sorry Susie but you have to learn how to ACT and SPARE darkners that might attack us on the way to the fountain.”
“Why would I need to spare anyone if they are attacking us when I can just beat them up?”
Ralsei shook his head suddenly filled with energy to argue.
“No. No. No. We can’t attack people like that. We HAVE to be nice.”
“Or?”
“Or you might find the results unfavorable."
Goat muttered, sounding almost sad. Seeing how this affected the darkner monster decided that it would be better to just listen to Ralsei. Seeing Kris fall really did affect her didn’t it?
“If you say so.”
She groaned.
“But don’t expect me to be good at talking.”
“Let’s go then.”
…
It was much funnier than Susie had honestly anticipated.
Ralsei stood beside her explaining how everything worked. That everyone had one turn to do something before the enemy gets their turn, how ACTing makes enemies more friendly and in some cases it could even give her buffs.
ACTing itself was also very fun. She could dance, tell jokes, dress up as much as she wanted to make the ACT effective and even when she messed something up Ralsei was there to cheer her on.
“I suppose I got the hang on it.”
Susie admitted as she finished acting on the dummy.
“You were great at this. I didn’t expect a monster like you to learn how to ACT this fast. Usually it should take much longer.”
“You mean that I’m talented at this?”
Monster asked, shocked. It would be the first time…ever when someone said that she was good at something, usually everybody just gave up on her from the get-go.
“Yes. I think you really have a gift.”
Susie grinned widely. Maybe ending up in this closet wasn’t really the worst thing that happened, but she would only admit that once she found Kris safe and sound.
“We must go through the Great doors that lead to the other Dark World, lets go.”
Ralsei started leading the way towards enormous doors engraved with golden symbols similar to those that Susie saw at the castle.
“Hey, what does this symbol mean? I’ve seen it slapped pretty much everywhere at this point.”
“Oh, that’s
, it’s connected to the legend I’ve told you before. But really nobody knows what it means. Some say it speaks about Angel and us the heroes. Others say that this rune is almost as old as the world itself and it might be speaking about something else.”
Goat explained while mushing giant doors open for them to pass through.
“That’s interesting. Can you tell me more as we walk?”
“Of course”
“Wait!”
Another voice rang out, this one squeakier like it belonged to a child. Pair turned to see another darkner, one that Susue could recognise by the silhouette.
“YOU!”
She roared as she lunged at darkner with murderous intent. It was a creature that attacked them back at Echoing Peaks and caused Kris to fall. Darkner didn’t move, just gasped when the monster lifted them up and started shaking them violently.
“Susie! Stop, you are going to hurt them?!”
Ralsay muttered but seeing that it had little to no effect on Susie they cast a spell that made Susie sleepy.
“You- This bastard hurt Kris-”
Monster growled but let go of the darkner.
“I’m sorry.”
They suddenly spoke up, not even trying to get up.
“I didn’t think that they’d fall.”
“THEN WHY DID YOU ATTACK US?!”
Susie screamed but she was too sleepy to actually manage to attack them.
“I- I- wanted to be like my dad a bad guy but- but- I saw how your friend helped you and fell and how scared and angry you were. And I realised that being a bad guy wasn’t cool at all.”
They cried out, shaking violently, dino scowled but relented her verbal attack at the kid.
This time Ralsei spoke up.
“Excuse me, can you tell me your name and who your dad is?”
Child took a breath in and then started explaining.
“I’m Lancer and my d-dad is a king, there used to be four kings but then a KNIGHT appeared and trapped others in jail. And then spoke to dad… and he became a bad guy, yelling all the time not listening to anybody.”
“Oh dear, Lancer, please you need to calm down, I think I might know why your dad turned into a bad guy.”
Goat said, before casting a spell to heal darkner after Susie roughed them up.
“H-huh?”
“Your father lives next to the Dark Fountain doesn’t he?”
“Yes, he does… but how does that connect?”
“Right how?”
Susie chimed in after shaking off the spell and calming down a bit.
“You see, GRAND fountains are only ones because they are made respectively of pure light and pure darkness.”
Ralsei clarified before continuing.
“Everyone can make a fountain in fact but no one can make a GRAND one, geysers would be made of impure dark, one that might affect those closest to it, messing up their minds and turning them into fountain slaves.”
“Dad is getting hurt?”
Lancer asked, worried while Susie shook her head.
Of course being too close to an impure fountain would start messing up with someone's head since it was just darkness.
“So we now have to seal the fountain not only to help Kris but also to stop it from brainwashing people?”
Monster inquired.
“Pretty much.”
Ralsei scratched the back of his head with awkwardness.
“I want to help!”
Lancer chimed in.
Susie wanted to protest at first but after a moment of thought she decided to not say anything. If kid wanted to help, let him, who knew what would happen if they just let them wander off into apparently dangerous area.
“Welcome to the team Lancer.”
Ralsei chucked and turned back to the great door.
“Remember, once we pass these doors we will have to find somewhere to camp.”
“Eh cannot we just stay here and rest? Your castle feels pretty safe in my opinion.”
Monster inquired. The goat just shook his head.
“The darkness of the GRAND fountain is getting destabilised by the presence of another one, something might emerge just as we would be resting and in such case I wouldn’t be able to protect us.”
“Ah. I see.”
Susie nodded, that did make sense.
“Anyways we should get going.”
With that Ralsei opened the doors and let Lancer and Susie through it first before walking through and subsequently closing it after them,
On the other side was a massive field with pink grass and threes with black trunks. Everything looked so cool to Susie, almost mythical.
”It’s so cool-”
Monster mused as she took every single detail of the area, it was kind of in similar colours to her current clothes.
“The trees that you see have very strong roots.”
Lancer suddenly spoke up.
“I can… dig us a place to stay if you want.”
Susie tilted her head.
“And I can help you with that then.”
She replied.
“But which tree should we choose?”
“The biggest one of course.”
Lancer laughed and ran to one of the bigger trees before starting to dig and surprisingly he was really good at it.
“Hey! Wait for me!”
Susie yelled before running off after them, leaving chuckling Ralsei behind.
Just after ten minutes the base in this area was finished. It was a small burrow, entrance to which was hidden by some bushes that Ralsei collected. Its walls were practically padded with the roots of the tree giving it an almost roomy feeling. The ground was uncomfortable, as the ground obviously was but thanks to the goat companion who also brought grass and leaves as bedding it was almost comfortable.
“Hey, so there is something to eat here?”
Susie asked, curling up in the burrow besides snoring Lancer who did most of the digging work even though she tried her best to keep up.
“I’ve found some candies but it might not be enough. After we rest I’ll try to find something more to eat.”
Ralsei said, taking out three dark, star-shaped things, handing two to Susie and starting to eat one himself.
For a moment Susie debated if she should eat both treats but ultimately decided to give one to Lancer, they deserved it after good work.
“Hey… Ralsei got us food.”
She poked sleeping darkner who slowly stirred from sleep.
“Food?”
They asked before looking at the candy and instantly saddening.
“Sorry but I can’t eat those. Dad forbade me.”
Susie blinked but still dropped one into Lancer’s hands.
“We don’t have anything else and… you know you have to eat, I think, one shouldn’t be bad.”
“If you say so.”
Lancer murmured but now they were visibly happier.
They finished candies and laid down in soft bedding for rest.
“Ahh. I’m sleepy.”
Susie groaned as her eyes started to involuntarily close. The stress from everything is finally catching up to her.
As she dozed off she quietly prayed. She wasn’t religious but Kris needed help and maybe the Angel would listen.
“Please, keep Kris safe.”
And with that she fell asleep next to Lancer and Ralsei who continued to watch them.
Notes:
So another chapter is here, this time following Susie. Some angst, fluff and worldbuilding starts.
If you see any mistakes please correct me.Headcanon of the chapter:
To keep balance there are two GRAND fountains, one in Light World, one in Dark World.Spoiler for next chapter:
Bugs, lots of them + slightly feral Soul.
Chapter Text
“Kris? Kris? You have to wake up, a bug is in the area.”
Chara shook the older human, trying to wake them up. With visible annoyance Kris opened their red eyes to look into the pale face of one of kids they now travelled with.
“A bug?”
They inquired, curious. Was it one of the inhabitants of this world? If yes then why Chara looked so scared, and where were Frisk and Soul?
“Ah you don’t know. Allow me to explain it to you.”
Chara proceeded to explain the type of monster born from unstable darkness, they were extremely aggressive and oftentimes could stalk their prey for days if not years.
“It must have seen you fall and followed to try and eat you.”
They deduced, hand resting on the chin.
“Should we escape then?”
Kris asked, definitely worried that they were going to become bug food.
“No need, Frisk and Soul are dealing with-”
“Hi Kris.”
At that moment Frisk walked into the burrow carrying some more of those candies from before, they were smiling from ear to ear.
“We’ve got some food.”
“What about Soul?”
Chara asked, confused.
“Weren’t you supposed to help them deal with the bug?”
“Oh, I wanted but they sent me back to get some food.”
“That idiot.”
Chara murmured while taking one of the candies and biting into it with displeasure.
“They may not feel pain but that’s no excuse to throw themselves at everything that comes their way.”
“Wait! You mean that Soul not only can’t taste things but they also can’t feel pain?”
Kris spoke up, also taking one of the candies, they honestly were pretty hungry and since it looked that those things weren't the most filling they had to eat a lot of them to satisfy the ache in their belly.
“Yeah, pretty much..”
Frisk was the one to answer, their smile disappearing.
“At times they get… really desperate to feel something.”
Awkward silence descended upon them all. The three focusing solely on eating their meal.
“That sucks.”
Kris finally admitted, after finishing the candy.
“Is there any way to help them?”
“...”
Both Chara and Frisk looked down, evading their eyes.
“Soul seems to know something but they refuse to talk about it.”
Chara finally said.
“We guessed that there is a way but they refuse to follow it for whatever reason.”
Frisk explained.
Kris just sighed, thinking hard. What could be so important that the Soul would give up on their ability to feel anything? Not important, they finally came to the conclusion. Since it was the only reason why they didn’t get back their feelings Kris just had to convince them to overcome it.
“I see. Anyways, what do you think about this place?”
Kris finally asked, changing the subject of the conversation to something more lighthearted.
Frisk was first one to speak up.
“It’s nice, I’d say, but I’ve seen far more impressive places like Waterfall.”
“Huh?”
“You know, that was an underground water area with lakes, blue, glowing mushrooms, waterfalls and beautiful flora like echo flowers ohhh. And don’t forget that the stones overhead looked like actual stars, it was honestly the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen.”
They smiled, dozing off already.
Then Chara laughed and they in turn started talking about an area with lots of lava and machinery. Just where those kids saw places like that?
“And you Kris? Tell us something about yourself.”
Frisk urged.
Teen thought a bit about the request, they really weren’t anybody special, their home life was shit and they had no friends but there was one thing that they could tell.
“I can play piano.”
They admitted and saw how both kids got a sudden boost of energy.
“Oh. That’s so cool, have you ever tried your hand at composing?”
Frisk asked, sideeyeing Chara who already started blushing, and hiding their face in their hands.
“Uh, no? I’ve never got a piano for long enough to actually try and compose something… what about them?”
Kris asked, gesturing at Chara who turned almost completely red on face.
“Ohh~ They wrote a lullaby for their adoptive brother. He liked it so much that he requested to have two music boxes made with this exact melody.”
Frisk explained with a chuckle as human beside them started shaking them.
“I- I- didn’t know he would like it. I- I- ARGH. You promised to not tell this to anybody.”
Chara scowled, still having their cheeks tinted red.
“Oh. Congratulations then.”
Kris murmured, amused by antics of two kids besides them. Maybe they also could try their hand at composing stuff.
Something creaked, all three turned their heads to the entrance, something moved right outside.
“Kris. Get ready.”
Chara murmured, already summoning a red knife with Frisk taking out one too but a much more worn one.
Kris swallowed and reached out, sword manifesting in his palm out of nowhere.
A thing started crawling through. It had two enormous antennas touching the ground, feeling out its way, later came a bigger part of its body, black head made up of dark material that glistened in the air, connected to a segmented body with many legs, so many legs scratching the ground.
“Hey it looks that that one bug wasn’t the only one that followed Kris.”
Frisk murmured, reading themselves to attack.
Enormous centipede crawled some more into the burrow, curling onto itself to fit more of its body inside.
Kris swallowed audibly that thing was disgusting, dark with white luminescent dots.
If it was up to them, they would gladly just stab its head repeatedly until it died but for some reason Chara and Frisk just held their defensive position.
Suddenly the creature let out a bloodcurdling scream that sounded awfully like someone’s dying scream and lounged at the trio. Kris slashed its head but their sword didn’t even scratch chitinous plating, fighting only agitated thing further as it tried to ram into Fris who managed to jump away, closer to the entrance filled bug’s body.
Only then Kris realised that the centipede took its time blocking the escape route.
Oh no.
“What should we do?”
Kris called out and panicked.
Chara slashed at the creatures and evaded attack from one of its many limbs.
“Survive until Soul helps us.”
Okay that was bad.
The centipede twisted its body and started to assault Kris with its antennae, one of which touched their arm.
“ARGH”
Pain seared through their arm as Kris let go of the sword in their hands. It looked that there was some sort of paralyzing substance covering that thing.
“Kris!”
Two kids yelled spontaneously as the centipede somehow sensed that now Kris was the weakest one of the group and focused solely on them. But before it managed to bite them, it was violently yanked back so strong that it’s full body was dragged back, opening the exit.
“Get up, we need to get away.”
Chara muttered, letting Kris to lean on them with their healthy hand. Frisk ran up to them and also helped up. Together kids led the teen outside just to see the whole picture of the creature. The centipede was at least the size of Kris’ house judging by the looks alone, its plating glistening and bioluminescent dots erratically twinkled.
Besides it floated Soul in its more humanoid form. Child continuously assaulted the bug with red strings and sharp teeth that it apparently had alike.
Suddenly they proceeded to rip out the thing's legs, causing it to wail in anger mixed with pain.
Seeing that it now started moving erratically, Soul used the moment to lounge at its head and smashed it into the ground.
One.
Twice.
Three times.
Before simply breaking through the plating and biting between things head and first segment of its body with such strength that they managed to bite right through.
Centipede twothed few more times before it went completely numb. Kris blinked surprised.
Soul still had their teeth deep in the creature's body making sounds between starting jet engine and soft clicking.
[01001111 01110101 01110010 01110011]
Teen had no idea but deep inside they had the feeling that they were saying something.
“Soul?”
Frisk started, slowly sneaking forwards.
The child only let out an angry growl, without letting go of the prey.
“It’s dead, you can let go.”
Frisk tried, coming slightly closer but that only caused Soul to bite harder. Chara sighed.
“Why are they like that?”
Kris asked Chara realising that it wasn't the first time this had happened. Child beside them just rolled their eyes.
“They are emotionless, you dummy, the basic way they deal with any threat is just smiting it off the face of the Earth."
“You mean that even in most arguments they can?”
“Don’t worry about that.”
Chara cut them off before they managed to finish the sentence.
“Soul learned that there are things in the world that are… really fragile… as long as they won’t deem you a threat to survival you will be fine.”
Kris nodded in reply thinking hard about everything that Chara said. It made little sense since the Soul was immortal, why would they fear death? A dark thought made its way to their head.
What if Soul wasn’t always this powerful?
CRUNCH
“Oh no-”
Chara muttered as they reached out to cover Kris’ eyes.
“What are you doing?”
The teen inquired, confused.
“Making sure that food stays in your stomach.”
And with that they knocked Kris out somehow.
Damn those kids really were stronger than they appeared to be at first glance.
***
[Wake up Kris]
Teen slowly opened their eyes to see Soul looming over them, their dot-eyes giving off strong red light.
“What did you do with that bug?”
Kris asked looking around, they were in a burrow similar to one from before but much bigger and padded with some grass.
[Terminated it.]
It was said in a tone that that made human’s skin crawl. Really seeing Soul raging so badly while keeping their deadpan expression was something.
“I see… Anyways, where is Chara and Frisk?”
Realising that mentioning bug any further would only lead to irritating Soul further, they decided to change the subject.
[They went out to check out our surroundings and pinpoint where the dark fountain was.]
Right. There was a ticking clock to the literal apocalypse in the form of a geyser of darkness. Kris forgot about that.
“Ah. Yes… Uh… I also wanted to ask if you know what’s happening with Susie since you have all those powers…”
They quietly hoped that she didn't come across anything dangerous since they separated.
[Conveniently she is in the fields too, accompanied by two darkners.]
“Can we look for her? I mean… she most likely thinks I’m dead and I don’t want to worry her.”
[Oh. No no. She believes that you are still alive but hurt. She wanted to come back for you but her new friend convinced her to seal the fountain first.]
“Susie cares?”
Kris asked dumbfounded. They knew that purple girl had many secrets, they could see through her bullying a soul just like theirs but they didn’t expect her to worry for them so openly.
[A lot. She almost murdered Lancer over you.]
“Who’s Lancer?”
[A darkner that caused your fall by accident.]
Soul replied, keeping their usually stoic face.
Susie cared for Kris.
That thought caused a small blush to appear on their cheeks.
Susie who took fate into her own hands cared.
They awkwardly chuckled, earning themselves a tilt of head from Soul.
[We see that you really want to meet up with her. Since it will be safer to travel in bigger numbers we will try to locate them first before going for the fountain]
The puppet-like child decided and turned on their heel to exit the burrow. Kris however just put their face in their hands and groaned. Dear Angel, they just couldn’t keep their crush hidden at all could they?
But there was another thing that crawled into their mind. The paralysis from their arm was gone somehow.
“Hey. Also how did you heal me? That paralyzing substance was pretty strong.”
They inquired from pure curiosity
Soul stopped in their tracks and turned.
[We ripped off your arm and let it regrow.]
And with that they walked out leaving Kris with their mouth wide open.
That made sense… in some sick way. After all, since Kris’ body could apparently rebuild itself Soul would see ripping off their arm as the best way to heal them.
Just how Kris would explain it all to Toriel? First they disappear for Angel knows how long and then just comes back with two other humans and Soul, whatever they were. Teen yawned softly.
They had to think about that later, after everything but for now they were tired. It looked like this whole regeneration power tired them out a lot.
Once again they started dozing off while their thoughts churned.
Why did Soul react so badly to the bug?
They questioned but soon fell asleep unaware that a small fluffy dog stood at the entrance to the burrow, watching them closely.
“How curious.”
A voice rang out from everywhere and nowhere at all.
“Maybe just maybe… with some additional meddling ending of this tale won’t be a tragedy.”
Notes:
Another chapter, now I'm going back to playing games. As usual thanks for all kudos, hits and comments. I just write what comes to my mind so it might make little to no sense but it's nice way to relax after school.
Headcanon:
Chara was one who thought of 'His theme'. Asriel just took it as his theme. + Kris always had crush on Susie.
Lunacy_101 on Chapter 2 Wed 10 Sep 2025 04:58PM UTC
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