Chapter Text
Story idea that I am not at all talented enough to execute well.
(Potential deltarune fanfic?) (Is this angsty as fuck? Absolutely lol. Do I care? Nope, who doesn’t love a good little bit of angst every now and then)
Protagonist wanders off from group to go do something (group follows from distance as every other time they’ve wandered off alone they’ve nearly died) Protagonist enters into a wide and long grand hallway (sorta like the final corridor from undertale), everything in it is shrouded in darkness except somehow the protagonist is still perfectly lit and a large grand mirror in the centre of this room. large pillars line it’s sides and the gaps between them are filled with ornate bars, the pillars and bars seem to stretch on forever into the endless dark that makes up the ceiling of this room (protagonist friends will be on the other side of the bars watching from a distance)
The mirror is magical (it looks very ornate and is held in place my marble pillars? idkf just something that looks ancient and over the top) and is able to speak (it has a voice that is incredibly booming and commanding yet sounds like it’s speaking through a throat filled with broken glass) it speaks to the protagonist knowing everything about them and forcing them to confront themselves (story is heavily themed around self hatred)
( If deltarune fanfic) the mirror will speak directly to the SOUL first saying “No, I am speaking with Kris. Not you, I see you.” Upon uttering those words slowly red strings attached to Kris descending from the endless ceiling become visible, it is clear that these strings are not being held as tightly as they could be as they hang slightly slack. Mirror will say something along the lines of “I will be speaking to Kris and Kris alone” suddenly the strings from the ceiling go completely limp and fall to the ground, Kris staggers for a second and takes a deep shaky breath as they are suddenly given back full control of their body with the soul still in them. (Also insert some commentary from friends on other side of the bars that both Kris and the mirror are oblivious too, will be full fun gang plus Noelle) Mirror will beckon Kris to come forth and confront themselves, Kris will refuse thinking something along the lines of “I do not want to look at myself” the mirror will respond to their thoughts saying something like “Bold to assume I cannot hear or see what is inside your mind” suddenly Kris’s like of thought is repeated out loud echoing across the great hall, any and all thoughts they have from here on are also repeated aloud in this room.
The mirror will continue to speak of Kris’s past and their thoughts and feelings from an incredibly judgemental viewpoint. Dialogue examples
“You were never afraid of Susie were you? You let her bully you as it gave you a constant reminder of how little you feel you deserve, you used her just like you would a knife against your skin.”
“You abandoned Noelle when she needed someone to care for and comfort her because you feel what happened was your fault, you pushed everyone away because you don’t deserve to be loved”
“You want for nothing more than to tear that puppeteer out of your chest and kneel before your friends begging for their judgement. A small part of you hopes they’ll forgive you but what you really want is for them to beat you and hurt you and hate you. Maybe even kill you and finally to forget you"
(Also have dialogue about them being a liar/ traitor something about the promise they were forced into with the roaring knight) While the mirror speaks trying to lure Kris into looking into it it summons shadow monsters (maybe duplicates of Kris?) to attack Kris, they also speak about Kris’s past. (friends on outside of arena will be trying to get in but will still be listening to everything, maybe have one try to call out but they can’t be heard) The fight continues as Kris’s own hateful thoughts echo through the arena, the mirror and shadows keep judging Kris, finally Kris says something along the lines of “Enough, stop this” or something like that while on the verge of a breakdown. The mirror will respond “THEN COME FORTH AND FACE YOURSELF!” The shadow creatures and faint cloud that appeared around them will disappear as kris walks towards the mirror and looks in at it The self hatred filled thoughts that echo through the arena will grow louder and greater in number
Examples:
Freak
Traitor
Unworthy
I want to be forgotten
It’s all my fault
I’ll never be able to be “me” again
Yadda yadda, typical self hatred stuff. Kris now trembling and with tears beginning to fall will bring up their fist and will punch the mirror, making a large crack in it. Mirror will respond to this in a pained yet still commanding tone Will say something like “Can you not bear to look at yourself?” Or some other judgmental dialogue. Kris will punch the mirror a second time with greater force shattering it, before going to one of the sides of the great mirror and sliding down on their back until they’re sitting on the floor leant against it and sitting next to all the broken glass In its dying words the mirror will say “Take solace in the fact that no matter what you do there will be no one that hates you more than you do.” Or something like that (Friends on other sides of the pillars who still can’t find a way into the hall watch in stunned silence at all this information being revealed to them)
Filled with emotional anguish and pain they can’t do anything about and their thoughts still echoing through this room Kris will do the only thing they know how to handle this pain. They take off one of their gauntlets. With their still gauntleted hand they pick up a large piece of glass and begin to slice into their arm (Friends try to call out but still cannot be heard over Kris’s own thoughts plus the distance) As Kris puts more and more slices into their arm the number and intensity of the thoughts begin to dissipate as they begin to feel more and more numb but. The look off into the dark with a 1000 yard stare but it’s still not enough.
A very disturbing thought suddenly appears and of course echoes through this great hall (Something along the lines of “cut higher”) They raise the glass up to their throat preparing to be free of it all for good. Their friends call out different things all in unison loud enough to barely be heard by Kris making them drop the glass and look around startled. They cannot see their friends nor could make out properly what the different voice was that called to them. They talk to themselves aloud “I should get back to the others” they look down at their arm disdainfully as they realise they have no real way of hiding the scars they just made. They pull a bandage out of their inventory and wrap up their arm. They think of an excuse they’ll make and how it doesn’t matter if they don’t tend to the wound properly as next time they get into a fight they’ll make sure they get hit so that Ralsei, Susie or Noelle will use a healing spell on them taking care of their hidden wound As they get up to leave another thought enters their mind and echoes through the room calling themselves an ass for using their friends like that, as they proceed out the way they came they feel the control they have over their own body begin to slip as they look at the red strings that were following along the floor behind them. The strings slowly ascend into the air again, still being held loosely before turning invisible once more. Kris’s posture straightens and an empty expression takes their face again as the puppeteer retakes control and leaves the room.
Kris friends stand their shocked (maybe write them having a conversation trying to come to terms with what just happened) They leave and go to meet up with Kris planning to confront them in some way about what they just saw.
Additional ideas and other possibilities:
Maybe have mirror also be judgemental about and mock some of Kris’s more positive thoughts or perhaps some of Kris’s “dirtier” thoughts?
Defo have Mirror be incredibly mocking and judgmental after all it is reflecting how Kris feels about themselves
Make sure it brings up Kris’s very poor mental health in some way and have it mock them for being suicidal and also call them a bad person because of their intrusive thoughts
Maybe have Berdly be present too with rest of fun gang?
Defo have the mirror say something related to how Kris blames themselves for dess’s disappearance. Example:
“Lost where the forest would grow the children followed the pointed tail, and because of you the girl was lost to the forest that would grow.”
Something like that Mirror will also point out the flaws and hypocrisy in Kris’s reasons for hating themselves and also in their loyalty to their promise. (Maybe not actually I kinda want the mirror to be a complete dick as it’s personality is supposed to be Kris’s self hatred cranked up to 11)
Conversation with the mirror becoming more and more focused on their self hatred and their thoughts about many different things whirling around them and being acted out by some of the shadows should start slow and gradually Beginning point:
“There is much I know about you Kris. I know your past, I know your secrets, I know the things that fill your heart with guilt and shame, I know the things you secretly desire and what you silently yearn for.
(Mirror begins monologuing jumping from topic to topic with Kris occasionally trying to talk back only to be silenced by a retort from the mirror, their many thoughts that are being played out loud in this dark room suddenly becoming louder for a second to interrupt them or defending themselves from the shadow duplicates or being distracted by them acting out some of their intrusive thoughts or stuff inside their head)
End point of conversation
(Mirror speaks with a voice filled with spite and scathing pity, basically completely mocking Kris and trying to egg them on so that they give in and look into the mirror or so that they give up and get dragged towards the mirror to look into it by the shadow duplicates or whatever they are. Examples:
“AND WHAT WILL YOU DO THEN? WHEN SUSIE FINDS OUT HER FIRST EVER FRIEND IS LITTLE MORE THAN A MERE PUPPET? ARE YOU SO PATHETIC THAT YOU’LL TRY AND BEG FOR FORGIVENESS YOU DON’T DESERVE?”
“FOR HOW LONG WILL YOU CONTINUE TO LIE TO THE FRIENDS YOU DON’T DESERVE?”
(Incredibly deep cut from the mirror referencing one of Kris’ suicide attempts because I mean come on are you really gonna look at the incredibly mentally unwell teenager and tell me they haven't tried it?) “YOU’RE A PATHETIC COWARD! NOT BRAVE ENOUGH TO GO THROUGH WITH IT, NOT EVEN GOOD ENOUGH TO DIE!”
The setting: A dark world set in the festival this specific area starts from a hall of mirrors. Kris goes in alone and navigates their way through to this grand hall where the Great Mirror sits. The fun gang follow Kris through the mirror maze by going through a different door that leads to a maintenance area behind the mirrors (mirrors can be seen through from the side they’re on forget the name of what that is specifically) they only find the door because of Noelle, when asked how she knows that she’ll mention some story about how Kris snuck back into this area when they were younger to mess with Noelle by banging on a mirror she was standing too close to. (while following kris from other side of mirror maze have them just observe how strangely they act around mirrors, maybe even have Kris break some of them?)
Back to more additional ideas to maybe expand on:
When the fun gang manage to find Kris again there is a bit of awkward silence, as Kris goes to say something to explain where they were they are interrupted by Susie, Noelle and Ralsei all casting a healing spell on them. Kris is at first a bit confused before coming to the conclusion that they must have seen the bandage and decided to quickly heal them, Kris goes to make some excuse about how they got hurt instead of telling the truth before being interrupted by Noelle with her saying something along the lines of “How long have you felt like this?” (Maybe something less vague and confrontational Idfk) AND NOW WE GET OUR AWESOME HURT/COMFORT MOMENT YIPPEE!
(Maybe Ralsei will do the “Close your eyes and think about something nice” thing to get the soul to leave for a moment, in this story the soul is on the pacifist route/ nice guy route so complies with little hesitation or maybe just have Kris be so overwhelmed with emotion that the soul can’t really influence any of their actions not that it would really want to)
What is the motive of “The Great Mirror”?
It wants to make people confront themselves, to be able to fully take in the full measure of themselves and to be able to accept who they are. “Healing can only begin when you embrace and accept yourself fully for what you are. Be proud of your strengths, be accepting of your shortcomings and flaws” or some other wise self help guru shit like that (Mirror says this when Kris finally looks at themselves, this healing is short lived as Kris’ overwhelming self loathing fully kicks in and kris begins to break the mirror as they cannot handle confronting themself)
The mirror doesn’t have a complete personality of it’s own as it’ll take the most prominent feeling one has for themselves and make It’s personality that cranked up to 11, in Kris’ case this is self hatred and loathing. Unlike fights with other darkness where they run away when damaged, the mirror is literally just a sentient mirror rooted into the ground, it cannot move and when Kris smashes it they full on kill it.
How does Kris learn about the great mirror? Idfk maybe it’s sorta like with ramb and the backroom game and they’re told to go check it out. After all the soul is a most curious puppeteer.
Anyways this is all the vague ideas I had, I may return to add a chapter of trying to bring it to life but I doubt it as I don't really have the talent for it, anyways to whoever does decide they're bored enough to do something with this have fun.