Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“End of the line, sir. You gotta get off.”

Asriel blinked awake, and looked at the monster before him through half-lid eyes - “... Alright, hold on second.”

Asriel got up from the rigid bus seat he was splayed on. Now standing at his full height, he towered over the fish monster that was the bus driver. He stretched his arms and legs for a while, feeling and appreciating every crack he felt along his back. He gave the bus driver a look as they slowly walked back to the driver’s seat, and reached into a compartment atop his own seat to grab his luggage. Once he had his suitcase in hand, he dragged it lazily until he was next to the door of the bus. He mumbled a word of thanks, nodded slightly to the bus driver - they didn’t return the nod - and stepped out.

He rubbed his eyes when the sunlight hit him head on. The sun was still up but getting lower, and even this much light was almost too much. His vision was blurry, his mouth tasted strange, his back and arms hurt - that seat was not the most comfortable - but he was awake. At least.

And thankfully he hadn’t dreamt.

Had the first ride to college been that long, too? He didn’t try to remember.

The sound of the bus’ engine starting back up shook him from his stupor, and he began the slow walk back into Hometown. Into home. Such as it was.

A gentle breeze shook the treeline beside the road. Asriel didn’t know what season it was. Or day, even. He'd stopped paying attention some time ago. It was a small miracle he’d even remembered to come back on time - or mostly on time. Days had blended into weeks, into months. And yet, he could feel the passage of each second on his shoulders.

Asriel dragged his feet through the sidewalk, eyeing the approaching buildings. He tried to shake off his dizziness vigorously, but it only made him see stars for a moment. He stopped for a second to consider. What was he even trying to do here? He didn’t have much of a plan yet, so he simply resigned himself to wander around for a while. Without purpose. A step, and then another, the first already forgotten after the second. He preferred not to think where they’d inevitably end up leading him. Anywhere but-

“YO!? AZZY!?”

A strident voice echoed through his skull. Azzy, Azzy, Azzy. Yes, that’d been his name.

He turned around, face to face with an orange cat monster, face contorted in a way that anyone who’d not seen him before would be concerned by. Pizzapants was not his name, but it was what everyone called him anyway. He was wearing a uniform - ICE-E’s, judging by the hideous mascot on the chest. At least he seemed to be occupying himself. The monster’s eyes bulged out once more, accompanying his sonorous voice - “IS THAT YOU AZZY!?”

Asriel forced a smile that tried and failed to clear away the fog in his mind. This was “Azzy”, of course. What remained of him - “‘Sup Pizzapants.” - he gently tapped him on the shoulder - ”I see you’ve been moving up in the world.” - he pointed to Pizzapant’s “Assistant Manager” pin on his chest, which thankfully obscured a great part of the ICE-E’s mascot.

“You know it buddy! Your ol’ pal here has the whole town eating out of his hand!” - he smiled way too wide - “Literally! They don’t give us boxes to deliver food sometimes…” - his expression shifted into a somber one, and once again to a manic grin - “BUT ENOUGH ABOUT ME! I barely recognized my old buddy! I like what you’ve done with your, um, hair?”

Like what? Let it grow without much care? - “Thanks.” - Asriel nodded and smiled. He knew Pizzapants enough to know he would probably take his silence as a sign to start rambling about something or other, and he could not bear that right now. He anticipated this and struck first - “Hey man, sorry, but I’m having a terrible headache right now, so I’m probably gonna go… home I think.” - yeah. Perhaps home would be a good place to start - “Just… do you know what day it is?”

“Azzy buddy, is that a trick question?” - the goat monster didn’t answer. Only stared - “Well, if you gotta know, it’s Sunday, and tomorrow’s the festival! And your ol’ pal has invited a special someone to go with him…”

“I’m glad to hear that.” -  Asriel dragged his luggage forward, pulling away from the oncoming conversation - “I’m gonna see if I can get some sleep, alright? We’ll catch up with each other tomorrow.” - Asriel waved, and the orange monster waved back.

Sunday. Maybe mom would be out of the house. She used to have choir practice that day, and knowing both her and this town, he was almost certain nothing had changed. As he pondered this, he felt a drop of water fall on his head. Another soon followed, until he could see small wet spots appear on the ground before him. A storm had snuck on him, but he paid it no mind. The rain actually felt… kinda nice. Cold.

He closed in on the Dreemurr residence, as familiar buildings passed him by. The hospital, the library, the apartment blocks in the distance, his dad’s flower shop on the end of town… He’d need some time to catch up, but later. He could barely carry himself right now as he was. Tomorrow might be better. Easier. It probably wouldn’t.

I will never be able to truly return home.

…

His old house had not changed a bit. The same paint, fading on the same spots. The same car, the same air freshener tied to the mirror - a small christmas tree. The same door, still with some cracks from when he fell into it when playing tag as a kid. This was expected, but… he felt… oddly sad. It was as if time had chosen to avoid this place entirely. As if, if he were to reach out his hand and turn the doorknob, he’d turn back time. He’d be a kid again, playing in front of the old and beat up TV with his family and exploring imaginary worlds. He’d undo the worst years of his life. He’d be able to try again. Live more. Do different. Do better. Keep his promises.

Before he realized, he’d turned the doorknob, and was inside his old home. There were no kids running around, no cards or drawings strewn across the floor. No music channels playing on the TV way past their bedtime. No laughter.

Only his mother. He could not see her, but heard soft clinking coming from the kitchen - “Sorry dears, I shall be right there! Let me finish this up first.”

Asriel considered the possibility of turning around and leaving. A part of him felt like he was intruding on sacred ground, desecrating it with his presence. A strange miasma clung to him and permeated through his home, seeping into his memories. Tainting them. And what of his poor mother? Could he bear to look her in the eye? To tell her…?

“So sorry Kris, you know how messy baking can be.” - Asriel’s mom approached the living room, a steaming pie on a plate between her hands. Her eyes were closed behind her reading glasses, and she smiled warmly. He still could turn back. Run away again.

Toriel’s eyes opened, and Asriel’s world slowed to a crawl. In a second, he could see it. First, it was fear. She’d been expecting someone else - Kris, she’d mentioned. And another - perhaps they’d made up with Noelle after all this time. None were the man that stood before her. A ghost from the past. One that should’ve stayed there.

Then, there was confusion. Her eyes moved, ever so slightly, scanning him from head to toe. If not Kris, then… who was this stranger in her house? A shadow. Someone who she’d called, perhaps another time, another life, her son.

And last, surprise. For what felt like hours, her mom’s eyes widened, as if to take in more of him. More of what he’d become. He still considered the option to turn back, even after the damage was done. I should have never come.

CRASH .

The plate fell to the floor, sending porcelain shards and chunks of pastry everywhere.

“... A… Asriel? Is that really you?” - her mother’s voice trembled.

Asriel smiled with what little strength he still had - “... Hi mom.” - I’m sorry mom.

Toriel rushed towards him, arms outstretched, and pulled him into a big hug. She was… warm. A long time ago, he’d not been a head taller than her, and he’d not heard her softly cry into his chest, while murmuring. But this was now, for better and for worse. He lowered his head, and wrapped her arms around her, if only for a moment. He patted her back. You don’t deserve this. I don’t deserve you.

His mother pulled back, tears still in her eyes - “Oh my sweet sweet Asriel. I missed you so much.”

Asriel sat at the table while his mother threw what remained of the plate into the garbage can. A clock on the wall ticked softly, and a fan whirred near the kitchen, breaking the quiet of his childhood home.

“Don’t worry about that, dear. Here.” - Toriel placed a cup of warm chocolate in front of him - “Careful, it’s still very warm.”

“Thanks mom.”

They both stood in silence for a few precious seconds. Asriel took a sip of the chocolate. It was indeed very warm - scalding - so he recoiled back. But it was still very sweet. He hadn’t realized how thirsty he was until now.

“Goodness Asriel, you gave me quite the scare!” - his mom said - “I- We thought you’d be coming by tomorrow!”

Asriel lowered his cup - “Yeah, I guess I got a bit ahead of myself, didn’t I, haha!” - I had nowhere else to go - “To be fair, I thought you’d be at choir practice. If that’s still a thing…”

“Oh, of course it is son! Someone’s gotta keep the Dreemurrr name in the minds of the churchgoers.” - his mom chuckled - “It’s just that with the coming rain, we decided it’d be best to cancel today.”

Another break. Another sip. Still hot.

Asriel struggled to talk. He struggled to speak to his own mother.

“How have… things been around here?” - he asked, looking off to the side. The TV’s antenna was broken.

“Well, you know. This year’s class has fewer students than the one before it. Seems people are moving out of town.“ - she took a generous sip from her cup. Asriel considered the possibility of his mother being fireproof - “But, there've been some newcomers too! A nice young man and his brother moved into the house next to the convenience store. You should say hi another time, they are very nice.” - Asriel made a note and filed into his insurmountable pile of to-do’s. He had no intention nor will to meet new people right now - “Kris has made some new friends, too!” - Huh.

“And how's the choir?” - anything to fill the silence.

“It’s… good.” - Asriel noticed a shift in her mother’s voice. He braced himself - “It could be nice if you came by one day now that you're here. I miss hearing you sing.” - Toriel smiled at him.

Asriel smiled - “Yes, maybe I should.” - I miss my own singing too.

Both stood in silence. The clock ticked along. The fan whirred.

Asriel knew what was coming. He was powerless to stop it.

“... How was college?” - a wave crashed into him.

Asriel felt his lungs empty as a shock ran through him. He gasped for air, quietly enough for his mother not to hear. College. Yes, he'd been away for a time in college. When college had been on his mind, it'd been… alright. Something to do, a new purpose to drive him forward. A flock to gather around and take shelter in. Until it’d been lost. At first, he ignored it, basked in the city lights to blind himself from the truth. But little by little, he had no choice but to see the inevitable had caught up to him. He'd refused it even then, looking for anything to fill the void that opened within him. But it was never enough. He saw everything, blood and all, slip between his fingers. Alone once again. A failure. Deep he plunged, head first into the depths below.

He tried thinking the trembling in his voice was not noticeable - “It's alright, you know? Some stress here and there but nothing I can't handle.” - I’ve been out of college for around six months.

“I see.” - Toriel tightened her grip on her cup - “Did you… make any friends there?”

Asriel tried to breathe, taking care it didn't sound laborious - “A few.” - I’ve driven them all away.

“...”

“...”

Tick tock tick tock . Every second an eternity, every breath never deep enough.

“I barely recognized you, son.” - Asriel figured this'd happen. His mom was not a fan of technology, so he'd not been able to send her any photos of his new life. Not that he'd wanted to. Besides his sudden growth spurt, both his hair and horns had grown considerably. He'd also developed some dark lines on the fur along his cheeks, ending up not resembling neither his mom nor his dad into adulthood. Once upon a time, he'd accented these with some makeup, but that time felt so distant it may not have happened at all.

“You've lost a lot of weight.” - Toriel reached over, placing her hand on his. I'm sorry mom. Please don't do this - “Are you alright? Have you been eating well?”

I can't eat unless I force myself. I can't get up most days. I can't speak. I can't think. I no longer draw or sing or do anything. I can no longer muster the strength to. I'm afraid of dreaming. I'm afraid of thinking. I'm so scared mom. I'm so scared. I don't know what else I'll lose. Please help me. Please guide me. Please don't worry about me. Please hate me, yell at me. Please do anything. Anything that'll fill the void. Please make it stop. Please make it stop, before I try it myself. I can't do it any more. I know I will. I'm so sorry I'm so sorry I don't-

“Yes mom. Food over there is just kinda bad compared to here. I'm alright, ok?” - Asriel gave a very practiced smile and instinctively tugged at his sleeves.

Toriel looked at her son. Through him. As much as he loved her, Asriel knew she had not been the best at reading people throughout her life. So what looked like a knowing stare, recollection in her eyes… It hurt. It hurt much more than any blade would. And it was hurting her, too. That was the worst part.

Please don’t worry mom. Please, I could not bear it. Not after all I’ve already done.

Asriel rubbed his eyes - “Sorry, the drive here really did a number on me. Is it okay if I take a shower?” - Asriel added before he could find anything else in his mother's eyes.

“Yes, of course dear.”

“Thanks mom.” - Asriel got up and grabbed his suitcase, dragging it over to the bathroom. On the way, he placed a barely shaky hand on his mother’s shoulder - “Love you mom.”

“Love you too, Asriel.”

Asriel locked the bathroom door behind him, and turned on the shower. Just loud enough, he hoped. He faced the now open toilet, clutching his stomach, and hurled, as quietly as he could. His throat burned, but he felt something akin to relief spread through his chest when the deed was done. He wiped his snout with a shaky hand and looked to the shower.

Instead of getting in just yet, he sat on the toilet, and listened to the outside for a bit. His mother didn't seem to have heard. She moved between the table and the sink, bringing with her the soft clinking of cutlery and plates at first, but later simply pacing through the room, her heavy footsteps accompanying the monotony of the wall clock. Asriel heard her stop a few times. Listening in, he figured. As he was doing.

“Asriel, is everything alright in there?”

Asriel realized he probably should not waste this much water - “Hmm? Yeah, just having trouble finding something to change into after.”

“I can bring you something from your room if you'd like?”

“Don't worry mom. I don't know if it would fit anyway, unless you want to repeat the time Kris was at the Christmas dinner and-”

“My goodness Asriel, please don't remind me of that !” - his mother laughed. Good - “I suppose you are right. Hope you've got stuff other than old jackets and shirts in that luggage of yours.”

“What makes you say that?” - Asriel could feel his mother's eyes roll through the door. A degree of normalcy seemed to return, for now.

He turned to the running shower.

Asriel took off his pants and underwear, throwing them aside next to his luggage. He remembered the pack of cigarettes and the lighter he'd held in his pocket, and made sure to fish them out before grouping the dirty laundry together - no need to disappoint his mother any further. He rummaged through his suitcase, trying to find any clothes that were in any sort of presentable state. Torn shirts, well worn pants…. Much to his mother's dismay, the best thing he could find was an old tracksuit with its matching jacket, and a shirt that had not yet been too worn out (not by his standards, at least). He set those aside, on top of the now closed and flushed toilet.

Now came the hard part.

Asriel grimaced as he gripped his shirt. He tightened his grip on the fabric, scrunching it on his fists. As his hands trembled, he let go, quickly turning to the door. Still locked. He couldn't hear his mother anymore - she'd probably settled down on Chairiel with a book as she was wont to do.

Asriel slowly pulled up his shirt, revealing what had been a toned abdomen before… well, everything. He raised his shirt, his white fur slowly brushing against the worn fabric. He fit his head through the neckline. Then a curved horn. And then another. Almost done. He used his hands to pull himself free of one of the shirt's sleeves, sucking air through his teeth as he did so. He shook the last sleeve off, leaving the shirt to drop into the bathroom's floor.

Asriel made the mistake of seeing himself in the mirror. The pride of the Dreemurrs, laid bare in all his squalid glory. How things had changed. He could still remember the last time he’d gotten a trophy in track. The whole family had been cheering from the sidelines as he’d sped past every other monster in his class. Dad had lifted him up in the air after the race, still sweating, while his mother sobbed despite this not being his first big win - far from it. They’d gone to QC’s after, as was tradition. And after all he'd gone and shown-... Better not to remember any more.

As he traced a line across his chest, he thought. If anyone could see him now… no one would have guessed he’d been the same kid.

Rotting, decaying… Unkind. Deserved.

Asriel stepped away from the mirror and stopped his hand before it led him to remember anything else.

Asriel stepped into the shower. Steam already covered the entirety of the room, and a small amount of water lay at the bottom of the tub due to the white fur stuck to the drain, preventing it from doing its job properly. The water was exceedingly warm - most likely Kris’ doing - and made Asriel recoil when he touched for the first time. A few short contacts eased him into the shower's stream, where he remained, mostly immobile, for a time.

Asriel stood still, the water wetting his fur and making it heavier, closer to his body. It had not been an easy day, not in the slightest -  in fact, he was still fearing the worst - but at that moment, while he trailed his hand from his shoulders down his arms, the heat wrapping his body, he felt… almost serene. Perhaps it was lightheadedness, a combination of his recently emptied stomach and the suffocating vapours of the hot water, but for a moment his mind was clear. There was no noise, no whispers. No painful stings, and his heart beat as it should. Only the sound of running water splashing against his fur.

He turned the shower’s knob, and the water stopped. He was plunged into silence, the last drops of the showerhead falling into the now considerable pool of murky water at his feet. The drops echoed, bouncing from the porcelain, to the walls, and back into his skull. Using all his might, he got out of the tub, leaving behind some of his fur to contribute to the drain problem. He dried off, leaving his hair in an even worse state than he came in with - if that was even possible. He carefully put on his shirt, taking care with the sleeves, then got into his track pants and jacket. There it was again, the mirror above the sink. He preferred not to wipe away the steam, but opened it to find an almost pristine and only once be used can of ICE-E’s Super Special Pizza Flavored Deodorant for Boys™. He decided against it, just as he’d done many years ago. That thing was probably a health hazard by now.

Then, he heard the front door open.

“...dude, do you mind if I crash here again?” - a voice he didn’t recognize.

“Kris, Susie!” - a book closing, a goat monster getting up from an old chair.

Asriel froze, and instinctively looked to the window. His mind raced through the options, as he felt the noise come back into his head. This was a stupid idea . He’d expected to meet Kris, of course, he thought he’d be prepared for it. The days before deciding to come, he’d replayed the conversation in his head. Imagined every outcome, whether he wanted to or not. He thought he had it figured out, but he was wrong. Oh so wrong. I left them here, on their own. I left when everyone else had. I…

A force beyond him compelled him to turn the doorknob. One way or another. Judgement.

Before him was a curious scene. His mother had got up from her chair, and was greeting two people by the front door. One was a monster he’d never seen: a purple lizard, almost a full head taller than the human next to them, sporting well worn clothes. She was loudly laughing while Toriel recounted something he couldn’t quite catch. The other was Kris. Or someone very similar.

Kris looked dead ahead, their eyes focusing on their mother. They’d grown quite a bit since last they’d seen them - ran in the family, he supposed - but were still sporting the same striped shirts as they’d done all their life. What had changed was the way they stood. Worsened, perhaps, would be the word. While Kris had been more neutral than most people their whole life, when they were with friends or family they let their true weird selves shine through.

But here they were. Still. Motionless. The others talked around them. Their eyes seemed unfocused. Until they locked onto him. Asriel had forgotten how red they were. Crimson. Piercing. Accusatory. Why did you leave me, Asriel?

“Oh, yes Kris! Look who it is!” - Toriel smiled wide, pointing to her son.

“Hey buddy!” - Asriel waved to his sibling.

[ Greet him      ❤️ Do not ]

The human’s eyes moved over to Asriel. They scanned him, up and down, but no words escaped their lips. Asriel had seen their expression before, and it was one he’d hoped they would never need to repeat. One he’d promised them to keep them from ever repeating, when they came out of that room. They looked like they wanted to say something, but just… didn’t.

“…”

Silence.

Asriel was cut down. He fell, and the world started spinning. Fog came back to him, clouded his vision, crawled through his mouth and nose into his lungs. He choked on nothingness. His ears rang from within, white noise becoming so loud it hurt to think. But he was not free of thought, far from it. Sharp, venomous things erupted from within his mind, breaching the endless noise as great sea monsters of old did. Many thoughts they were, but were united with singular, definitive meaning as one.

Angel. What have I done?

“Dude, okay, you win. They’re totally different. You don’t have to take it so seriously!” - the girl’s voice broke through the fog. Asriel came back to the Dreemurr living room, knees only slightly buckled and in a bit of a shock. The light hurt. The purple dinosaur flashed an obnoxiously bright smile, as Toriel stifled a laugh.

“Asriel, this is Susie, Kris’ new friend.” - his mother said.

“Uh… hey! Nice to meet ya!” - the dinosaur walked up close, Kris following closely in their wake. Asriel extended a hand that had stopped shaking from the shock. She shook it vigorously, and Asriel thought she might just dislocate his arm.

“Kris’ new friend?” - Kris had never been good at making friends. Sure, people had become Kris’ friends, but they were certainly not one to seek them out themselves. And, after what had happened with Noelle, he’d been worried. But knowing this stranger - she certainly was not around when he left - had become Kris’ friend… it gave him a bit of hope. Especially now that I could not give it to them - “Really glad to meet you. Asriel, as you already know.”

“Alright everyone! I was going to make pie, but I accidentally dropped it.” - Asriel saw Susie’s heart drop in kind - “So I hope you’re fine with leftover pancakes!” - Asriel saw Susie’s heart rise once again. Admirable.

…

The dinner proceeded… strangely. Asriel poked and prodded at his pancakes. He tried his best to force some bites down his throat, while watching the others. Toriel seemed to be watching over the two children - teens rather - occasionally shooting Asriel a glance and a smile he’d try his best to reciprocate. On the other hand Susie constantly spoke, mouth full or empty, to and about Kris. Who, on their own, did… nothing. They sat beside the table, not even bothering to entertain the thought of eating, and just stared blankly ahead, their only sign of life being their red pupils moving to and from those who spoke at the table. And their mother… didn’t notice? Didn’t care? How long had Kris been like this?

Of course. Since I left.

When they talked on the phone or through the internet, everything seemed fine, but… I should’ve known better.

…

“Phew, thanks for the food Ms Dreemurr!”

“Always a pleasure. And you can call me Toriel, sweetheart!” - Toriel reached over to take Susie's thoroughly cleaned plate.

“Um, okay M- I mean, Toriel!” - the girl flashed another toothy smile - “Uh… I was actually wondering if I could stay the night here again, if it's okay?”

“Of course, Susie! You can stay at…” - Toriel stopped herself, furrowing her brow, as if she'd forgotten and remembered the arrival of her son in just a few seconds - “Oh dear… maybe it's best if-”

Asriel perked up, speaking for the first time since he sat down to eat - “She can sleep in my room, no problem on my end.” - Asriel got up, picking up his plate and getting it to the sink - “The bed would be too small for me now anyway. I'll just take the sofa if it's free.” - he started running the dirty plates through some water.

“Are you sure, Asriel?” - Toriel asked.

“Yeah mom! It's not the first time I've slept on a sofa.” - Toriel raised an eyebrow, and Susie snickered. He pointed to the girl - “Careful with the computer though! I may end up needing it down the line.”

“Sure! Thanks!” - the purple dinosaur practically lifted Kris to their feet - “Let's go.”

Asriel continued doing the dishes with his back to the table, turning away his mother when she offered to take over. She'd done more than enough. She always did. As he fruitlessly tried to scrub the remains of previous pastries that had become caked onto the cutlery, he felt a strange presence behind his back. He hesitated to turn his head around.

Kris.

Susie was following shortly behind.

“Hey Kris.” - Asriel greeted their brother once again, hoping the shame in his voice did not come through as he avoided looking into their vibrant red eyes. Asriel still felt bad of course, but was very much glad Kris had made more friends. Hopefully, they’d been fine on their own after all, and didn’t need him anymore. That would be for the best . Go on without me Kris. It’ll be better for you.

[ College      ❤️ Shelter      Ralsei ]

“Shelter…” - the human mumbled, Asriel hearing their voice for the first time since he’d arrived.

“H-Huh…? What was that Kris I could barely-”

Asriel felt something bump into his back, as two thin arms wrapped around him with surprising force, drawing the breath from his lungs. He looked down and saw striped sleeves around his waist. Locked in place, he set down a sponge in the sink and turned his body around, letting the arms stay mostly where they’d been.

“... Kris?”

Kris was silent once again, but he now could see their eyes. They were brimming with tears, which contrasted starkly with their motionless, barely expressive face. Asriel saw, in the glint of their eyes, the Kris they knew, even if only for a fleeting second - “Oh, Kris…” - Asriel leaned down. Kris hadn’t grown enough that he couldn’t still rest his head on theirs when hugging them. He patted his sibling’s back, while he felt soft sobbing coming from his chest - “I missed you so much.” - Asriel wanted to cry, but he could not. I hope I can make it up for you, someday.

And as soon as the moment started, it was done. Kris withdrew, hands returning to their side and an indifferent expression on their face. The only proof of the hug having ever happened being the stain on Asriel’s worn shirt. He stepped to his sibling, ruffling their hair - “Alright, you two go to sleep now, okay? Tomorrow’s the festival, so we’ll have plenty of time to catch up!”

Susie nodded, and was followed by Kris towards the stairs. They waved to Asriel, who waved back, and ran up fast towards the kids’ room. He could have sworn he heard Susie say something. “You’re very huggy with them both”, or something like that.

“They might not have said it, but they really missed you, too.” - Asriel was startled by his mother's words, coming from behind him. She was wearing a nightcap, and held her reading glasses and her book in one hand. Asriel could’ve sworn she’d read the same one throughout his entire childhood - “We all did. I’m so happy you’re back.”

“I am too, mom.” - I want to be, but…

Toriel smiled - “I’m gonna go to sleep now. Do not stay up until late, you hear me? Tomorrow, we’re all going to go to the festival, as a family.”

“Alriiight, fine.” - Asriel’s mom shot him a glance - “Good night, mom.”

As Toriel slowly went upstairs, Asriel took some of the blankets that were tucked away under the TV stand and chucked them on the sofa. Truthfully, he was exhausted, both physically and mentally, and could not wait for the day to be over. He didn’t bother changing - not that he’d have much to change into - and simply turned off the light and laid down on the sofa.

…

…

…

Tick tock tick tock tick tock . The clock ticked along with each passing second. Asriel tossed and turned. He could hear peaceful snoring coming from his mother’s room, and not-so-hushed whispers coming from the kids’ room. His eyes felt heavy, his arms were tired. But his heart was pounding fast. A rhythm he knew too well.

I’m avoiding it. I’ve been doing so since I arrived. No, since I left…

I…

I shouldn't lie to myself. I won’t even look in that direction…

I’m afraid. It hurts.

I came all this way, after all this time. And I’m not even gonna go.

I am! I.. will…

When? Just going to wait, until I no longer feel?

I… don’t know. I’m so alone. I’m so afraid…

Ah, so I’d rather let HER fade away, just like that. Wipe my hands and walk away.

No, no! I would never-

Asriel clutched his head, trying to keep the noise away. No snoring, no whispers, no ticking clock. Only harsh noise, voices yelling in discordant unison. Voices, all throughout his life. Calling out a single name.

THEN. GET. UP. NOW.

Kris came down the stairs slowly, making sure they would not wake neither their mom nor their friend. It’d taken a lot of conversation to tire Susie out, especially after the events of today, but she’d finally dropped, snoring louder than they’d ever heard someone snore. And with Susie out of the picture, they’d been free to rid themselves of that horrid thing , at least for a time. They were not going to let it ruin anything else today.

As Kris reached the landing, they made their way to the sofa, only to find it empty, overturned blankets instead of any sleeping monster.

It was empty.

Where was their brother?

… And who was that shadow on the other side of the front of the door?

Chapter Text

Asriel walked through the main road, being bathed in pallid moonlight. He didn’t know how long he’d fought with his own thoughts on the sofa, but didn’t much care for it at the moment. His mind was as resolute as it could be, the only noise within it now a familiar drone that had accompanied some of the most important moments of his life. He would have followed it, whether he wanted or not. He knew it was where he’d end up, inevitably. The kindest place he figured he’d end up, at least.

Asriel took out the pack of cigarettes he’d stashed into his new clothes and pulled one into his lips. After putting it back into his jacket, he took out his lighter. There was a sticker on it, a small star. One she’d placed there a long time ago. Golden star for the golden boy, she’d teased him, as she liked to do. The golden boy who was disobeying his parents by smoking with her. He flipped the lighter’s lid and felt the warmth on his face as he lit his cigarette, and then he breathed in.

She she she HER. Every word, every time, made him wince. Made him suck air through his teeth, as he felt the pain of thousands of diminute, freezing nails digging into his flesh. The oldest of the Holidays. The rowdy, delinquent girl. The shame of the mayor and the pride of all else who knew her. Kris’ archnemesis. Noelle’s big sis.

His best friend. His girlfriend. His guiding starlight. His everything.

His heart sank. Asriel exhaled the smoke, and watched it float upwards, craning his head as he slowed his pace. His destination. Maybe it’d be too much. Maybe it’d be the end, after everything. Too many memories there. But then again, he could not look anywhere around him without having her flicker into view, if only for a second. The road, where they’d chased each other countless times as kids. The forest, their special place, where they could be alone; where they'd shared their first kiss, and many after. The library, where he’d had to drag her to force her to study - she’d been mad after, but later had thanked him for his perseverance. The church, where she’d attended just for his performance. Even the sky, the same one where they'd gazed at the stars on many summer nights. Asriel was a monument, a monument to every moment he’d shared with her. Every fragment, every memory, became a part of him, became him. Made him whole. Or they had made him whole, once upon a time. Now there was a yawning void at the center of it all, unable to hold anything together, and everything fell tumbling down once again. Pieces crashed and shattered, sending splinters deep within him with every impact. But he could never pull them out. They staunched the flow. They were the last thing keeping him standing. A dangling sword.

And how did I repay her?

Asriel came back to himself next to the shelter, his cigarette turned to ash halfway. He exhaled another mouthful of smoke with a coarse cough, and hacked something onto the ground. Perhaps it was time to lay off the smokes for a time - he’d never ended up getting that talk from his mother, and did not particularly care to right now. But he knew himself better than to think he was gonna quit just like that.

Asriel looked to the shelter, still emitting the same droning sound it had for the entirety of his life. Had it not been about two years since last he’d heard it, he could’ve sworn it had changed pitch. What he did know for certain was different was one of the doors. A panel on it had rotted or rusted enough to give way, revealing a surprisingly intricate keypad on it.

Asriel approached and instinctively knocked on the door, as if expecting a response other than the hollow echo from within - “What the hell is this…?” - he examined the keypad. It had a simple input - numbers 0 to 9 - but also had three glowing symbols at the top. A Delta Rune, a small shield - no, a police badge - and also, a large pine tree with some ornaments. Asriel decided not to mess with it much. He’d never personally been into the shelter - in fact he didn’t know anyone who had. As far as he was aware, access to it was restricted to the mayor if anything, and he’d never known her to care about anything other than whatever went on at the town hall. Although he would be lying had he said he wasn't curious about what machine inside could have been making all that noise throughout his life, carrying on even now.

Asriel stepped away from the metal doors and turned around, giving the panel a last look and shrugging. He wasn't here for the shelter. He walked into the treeline, following the steps of his younger self through the shadows produced by the canopy. The same roots stuck out, the same branches got in the way. This had not changed, at least.

Asriel reached a small clearing, just a few minutes away from the shelter. The weeds had grown wild in the absence of footsteps, leaving what had been a firepit in the past completely obscured by nature.

On the edge of the clearing was a tree, similar to the others that surrounded it, but with a brand carved on its bark. It was faded, and some animal had left incisions around it, but it was still readable: Dess + Azzy 4 Ever.

“Hello Dess. I came back.”

Below the inscription lay a small metal box, lid open and buried between the grass. Neither time nor weather had been kind to its contents, leaving dark stains and splinters where before had laid photographs and small mementos. Asriel knelt down to take a closer look, but found most of it unsalvageable, save a couple of pictures whose color mostly remained intact: both of them posing in that very clearing after the School Dance, and a candid photo of the Dreemurr and Holiday kids in the middle of a particularly intense match of Smashing Fighters.

Asriel felt… nothing.

He didn't know what he expected. Perhaps he'd be raptured upon reaching the site, taken to where he deserved. Maybe he'd simply keel over, left to rot in a place no one visited anymore. Or maybe he hoped she'd be there waiting for him, to forgive or punish him as she saw fit. He'd taken either of these choices. He'd taken anything.

But there was no catharsis. Nothing. Asriel couldn't feel his own heartbeat, but he knew it was there. His fingers went numb, even as he gripped his shirt with great force. Only silence.

“...”

If he could have chosen one place to have changed, of all of those here…

Asriel reached down, and sat next to the tree. He leaned next to the metal box, giving its contents one last look before shutting the lid. The cigarette in his hand was no longer lit, so he stuffed it into his pocket - he'd rather not further litter the site.

“... Fuck.” - Asriel said after a few long moments of silence, leaning his head back into the tree - “I mean, one promise out of two isn't bad, right?” - he tried to smile in vain. He dug in his pockets and took out his lighter. He flipped the lid on and off, flicking the wheel and watching the flame sputter to life and then die.

“I wish it'd been me.” - the flame rose and sank once again - “I wish you could have stayed. You'd have gone on to do great things here. Anywhere." - click. Spark. Flame. Lid - “Look at me. I went on, and proceeded to fuck it up royally.” - she was still out there. She had to be - “I hope you're doing good wherever you are.”

Dreaming and hoping instead of doing and living. Is that not just my life's story?

Asriel slammed his fist on the ground. Tears, but no relief. No sound accompanied them. He figured everything had caught up to him just now. He lowered his head in shame, and smiled. He’d always been slow on the uptake. She’d teased him relentlessly about it - “Every dream, every memory I have, is of you. It makes me sick. I think about joining you every day.”

Asriel got up slowly, his heart feeling heavier than ever. I should do it. I should not fail this time - “... but Kris would never let me hear the end of it if I did.” - I should join her. I should- “And I guess someone's gotta keep your memory straight. The memory of what we did here. Of what we sang. What we talked about. The parts of you, of us, only we know.”

It was quiet in the clearing. The wet grass had stained his pants and jacket. It smelled nice after the rain.

“I'll see you later, Dess. It was nice to talk again after so long.”

Asriel left the clearing behind, without looking back. Regret clung to him as always, but a part of him felt lighter. It'd been a while since he'd given in and thought about her fully as she'd been. As Dess Holiday, as she'd preferred to be called. Her voice, her face, the way she'd talked. The memories would hurt him every time, but in the end, he yearned for them. If nothing else, it’s what he owed to her. And for a second, they had drowned out all the noise in his head.

Speaking of noise, there was one missing. He realized the silence of the clearing extended well beyond its borders.

When Asriel reached the shelter. He saw the door wide open. No noise came from within.

“H- huh?”

He could not see past the threshold.

“... Hello?”

Asriel fell, surrounded by blackness, alone in the dark. His head spun as he tried to orient himself, but no matter where he looked or where he tried to move, everything remained the same: dark, black as pitch.

Asriel decided to let go. He was unsure of where he'd ended up, and was resigned to whatever the world had planned for him. Maybe he'd been lucky and this truly had been an end, a rapture, closure.

Then he stopped falling.

Asriel shuddered. It was cold.

He was laying down it seemed, so he slowly rose to his feet. He felt strange, as if he was floating, yet his feet could feel the ground - or what should be it, since the sheer blackness made it impossible to tell where he was even looking.

Asriel cried out - “Hello…? Where am I?”

There was no response.

It was so cold. Asriel could see his own breath leaving his mouth.

He waited. He figured, wherever he was, that his eyes would eventually adapt to the darkness. He let an eternity pass him by, as he shivered in the cold of the depths. Until, finally, he started to see changes. He started to see movement, patterns like static repeating, varying between various shades of black, which eventually turned into more complex shapes in different muted colors dancing around his vision. First, in the edges of his field of view, and then wherever he looked. There was life in the dark now. Not enough to change the atmosphere of the place, but enough to distinguish something else. Something that remained pure black amongst the noise.

There was something in there with him.

Backed against the changing background was a tall figure. Hard to see at first, Asriel began to piece together its parts slowly as it began to grow. To approach him. It glided, motionless, towards him. But Asriel did not look away. He did not run. He simply stood still.

The thing was tall, about a head taller than him. Asriel saw thin limbs, sprouting from an almost equally squalid frame - so it was someone, not something. Its arms ended in fierce clawed hands, a strange hole on their palms. As it approached, Asriel began to see a faint light, coming from this mysterious stranger's head. It was a thin line, curved and resembling a wide smile. He could distinguish no other features on the creature, until it was right in front of him.

On its head there was a pair of familiar antlers.

Asriel sighed, disappointed, yet couldn't help but smile.

It was a dream, after all.

“Howdy Dess.”

Asriel was afraid of dreaming for a singular reason. Every time he dreamt, he did so about Dess. Every rude awakening, every scream in the dead of night, every time he woke up covered in sweat. Without fail, it'd been her. As it was at that moment.

Most of them were memories of his past with her, at least to begin with. They'd start like he remembered them: their families, friends, or just the both of them alone, sharing a moment that would stay with them forever. Until there was a chill in the air. Asriel would pay it no mind, until he started to notice things were… different than he remembered. There had been no children crying at Kris' 10th birthday party. It was not snowing when Dess first convinced Asriel to sneak out. Dress’ shirt had not been stained with blood the last time he'd seen her. Then, in a gasp of air, she was gone. Sometimes she left with everyone else in the memory, leaving Asriel in the midst of voices and sounds that belonged to ghosts. Sometimes she left everyone else there, speaking to the air, laughing with no one in particular. And in all of them, Asriel ran. He ran where he could, chased the wind. Screamed her name. And woke up.

A small number of them were more abstract, however. A dark forest, always a forest. He'd wander it, scared, until he found her - or someone like her. Sometimes she was different, monstruous, but something about her always was always unmistakable. And in these ones, she'd be the one to scream. She'd grab him and plead for help, she'd yell his name to his face and wail, she'd curse him and his family… She'd tear him apart. And then Asriel would wake up.

This was one of those times, he thought.

“Here I am.”

The figure tilted its head, the slit of light seeming to deform to conform to its new position.

“I apologize for making you wait. I had a long streak of sleepless nights and dreamless sleep.” - Asriel wasn't sure he could qualify it as good or bad. He looked at the figure once more, and simply spread his arms, a melancholic smile on his face.

He’d once resented himself for having these dreams. The memories of her were twisted, corrupted and faded, a disservice to the wonderful person she’d been, the wonderful time they’d shared. But over time, he’d learned to live with them. Not out of acceptance, but necessity. As he grew older, he grasped at smoke, his mind struggling to recall the finer details of her - the wrinkles on her face, a tone she’d once used on her voice, the way she'd held his hand after a particularly long night - he feared but knew he was beginning to forget. And he hated himself all the more for it.

But these dreams… As warped as they were, they always felt more real. Tangible. Her. The parts of her his own mind dredged up that he himself could no longer. Before they were plunged back down into the brackish waters.

The pain of holding on could never be enough.

Dess closed in on Asriel. She raised one of her arms, a menacing hand approaching his face. He closed his eyes, bracing for a tear and an awakening that never came.

Instead, he felt something like ice on his cheek. The sensation moved to his chin, while small icy pinpricks that he could only assume where Dess’ fingers littered his neck and face. He dared open his eyes, and found Dess' head closer, her hand cupping his chin. Caressing it softly.

There’d be a trick to this, of course. Suddenly, she’d vanish, or worse. But for the moment… he dared to let himself be comforted. 

He placed his hand on Dess’ and closed his eyes once more. It was cold. Gentle.

“Ha… Ha… I don’t want to let go…”

A small vibration moved through the air. Asriel opened his eyes, seeing Dess closer than before. The slit of light on her head was gone, replaced instead by a glowing spotlight. And from her emanated a sound. It was a low hum, almost imperceptible.

Asriel closed in on Dess’ chest, wrapping his arm around her. She was so cold. But he could hear it. The hum changed tone, vibration and pitch. He needed only an instant to recognize it.

“Ha… I don’t remember ever hearing you sing it… like this.”

He knew the words. So he accompanied her.

Come follow me into the dark

With your heart as the ark

Which shall shine you the way

Because I'm with you in the dark

With your hеart as my mark

Which shall guide you the way, through the wavеs

He looked up to Dess, observing the darkness that gave her form. Perhaps he dared to dream, just this once. He dared to savour this until the morning came, and he awoke, sore and wet on the floor of the forest where he had inevitably fallen unconscious. Just a few more minutes of remembering her voice, her touch, as warped as they were. Maybe it would be alright, in the end. He smiled as their embrace continued. Asriel could not feel most of his body anymore, he only felt cold. A cold and gentle embrace, lulling him into a deep sleep. A dream within a dream. If this was how it needed to end, he was more than happy to let go.

“I loved you. I love you. I always will.”

Then, suddenly, a strident sound broke the pair’s song.

Laughter, louder than anything he’d ever heard. Loud and everywhere, all around him, as if the very darkness found his pathetic yearning laughable. Dess withdrew, shoving back Asriel and leaving scratches where her fingers had traced his skin. Lights came on, blinding him. A hideous yellow and an eye-scalding pink flashed and burned into his irises for the second he was able to keep his eyes open. He recoiled in pain, until he felt a cold hand on him once again.

“Dess?”

She grabbed him by the chest, and pushed, roaring and making her voice stand against the infernal cacophony of laughter. Asriel felt the wind rushing past him, as her figure eventually disappeared into the static, along with the coloured lights. Dess’ roar slowly faded into the blackness. But the laughter never did. It continued, as Asriel fell - no, ascended. Flew without aim until he felt his back loudly hit solid ground again.

…

Asriel opened his eyes.

He was in front of the shelter. Its door was closed and from within emanated a low drone.

Asriel sat up and looked around. His chest and head ached as he raised himself to his feet.

Sleepwalking was new to him, but it was the only explanation he could figure out. He wondered when he’d fallen asleep, and where. Maybe he’d never made it to the clearing, and had just drifted off when walking to the shelter. The strange panel was still there, so any time after that seemed probable enough. He’d probably just fallen into the door, hit his head and tumbled back. Funny that it’d been enough time to dream though.

This dream…. It had been nicer. It’d ended like he expected, of course - they always did - but for a moment… for a moment everything had felt alright. As if he had found her again. Asriel caught his own thoughts and chuckled darkly. If only it were that easy.

Asriel didn't know for how long he’d been out. He decided to make haste back home. It was the day of the festival, after all.

Asriel tried to wipe the wet grass and dirt from his jacket as he walked home. He’d been running back his dream on the walk back - something he never did, for obvious reasons. But he decided to think about this one for a while. He remembered the song very well. Raise Up Your Bat, she’d called it in the end, after many iterations of the name. It was one of the first ones she’d ever written fully by herself, and it was one she’d love to whip out whenever possible (with his singing if she could manage, of course). The lyrics still went through his mind. Come follow me into the dark, With your heart as the ark, Which shall shine you the way. An invitation. She’d always been the one to take initiative first on every-

Asriel froze, his train of thought derailed, as he turned the doorknob and opened the door to his childhood home. Something waited within, eyes aglow and blade in hand. Another dark figure. Except this one had a different name.

And was up past their bedtime.

“K-Kris?” - Asriel whispered, closing the door slowly behind him - “What are you doing up right now? And what are you doing with that thing out?” - Asriel pointed to Kris' hand, which brandished a knife. They’d had the same knife for most of their life, which was a small miracle with their tendency to misplace things. Their mother had almost had a heart attack when she found out they carried it around everywhere, but seeing as there was no realistic way of stopping the human when something really got into their head - and the knife had really gotten into it - she relented. It’s not like they’d ever harmed another with it, anyway.

“I didn’t know it was you!” - Asriel’s eyes widened, both in surprise of hearing more of his sibling’s voice and to adjust better to the non-moonlit darkness of his home. He shushed his sibling, pointing to the upper floors - “Sorry. I just saw someone standing outside and was worried. …There’s been someone going around slashing people’s tires.” - Kris tucked away their knife. Asriel had never figured out where they’d always put it - “Where were you?”

Asriel paused for a second. He didn't need to worry Kris with his own problems, least of all right now - “I was going on a walk. Figured it'd be better now since tomorrow the town'll be packed.” - Asriel headed to the sofa - “You should go to sleep Kris, we can talk tomorrow.”

“... We can't.”

Asriel turned around to face his sibling - “What do you mean?”

Kris looked away - “... I'm sorry about today. About not greeting you properly.” - Asriel noticed Kris’ voice quiver slightly - “... sorry.”

“Oh, Kris…” - Asriel wrapped his arm around his younger sibling's shoulders, pulling them into the sofa - “You don't need to apologize about anything. I've known you long enough to not get bothered by stuff like that, alright?” - Asriel ruffled his sibling's hair, and they smiled. Asriel was glad to see Kris be more like themselves again. It was selfish of me to be sad about that. In fact… - “... In fact, I should be the one apologizing to you. For taking so long to come back.”

Kris looked away for a second, and then back to their brother - “It's just… sometimes I can't be myself.”

Asriel looked at Kris, perplexed - “What do you mean?” - Don't tell me…

Kris crossed their arms - “Sometimes… I want to say things, and do things. But I just… can't. I have to stay there, and do something else.  Something that's better, I suppose.” - Asriel heard their sibling's stomach rumble - “Sometimes I can't even eat…”

Recollection. Recognition. Panic.

Angel, not you Kris. Anyone but you.

How could I have done this to you…

Asriel grabbed his sibling's shoulders and looked into their eyes, sunken as they were - “Kris! Kris, you gotta listen to me alright?” - Kris nodded, clearly taken aback by their brother's sudden change In demeanor - “Listen I… even after everything, I still love you very much, you understand?” - Kris' eyes held confusion instead of sadness now - “Look, what I mean to say is that, if there's anything that bothers you or makes you sad, ANYTHING at all, you know you can speak to me, right?” - Kris looked away. Asriel looked to the stairs, soft snoring still coming from the rooms above - "Is it that girl? I swear-”

Kris shook off their brother's hands - “No! Susie is my friend, even if she looks scary sometimes! She's actually improved my sleep…” - Asriel decided not to ponder his sibling's logic. He'd fought (and lost) that battle many times over the years.

Asriel looked at Kris. They were sitting on the sofa, and had grabbed their knees. They looked to the ground and stifled a cough. Asriel had scarcely seen them this way before, and it was never on a time either of them yearned for. Asriel knew their sibling was not one to share most of what they felt, willingly at least. Two peas in a pod, he supposed. I messed up, I pushed them. What was I-

“I understand how you feel.” - he said.

Kris looked over.

“Can you keep a secret?” - Asriel asked Kris, in a voice his sibling had not heard in a long, long time. Both Dremurrs had shared an unbreakable bond for years, forged just when Kris had been adopted. Asriel had not left their side for weeks, and had been a key part in their introduction to everyone else in town. He'd proudly defended their human sibling, even at the cost of his own dignity. Asriel truly felt like Kris was one of the few people he could just… be around. One of the only who remained. Despite all their teasing and pranking and sometimes their indifference, they'd always rely on each other. It had only been the last few years that they'd been more… apart. And Asriel was willing to bring those faded links together with his own bloodied hands if he had to. For them.

“Yes.”

“Alright, so you better not tell anyone about this.” - Kris nodded, intrigued. Asriel took a deep breath and spoke - “I left college a long time ago-”

“What!?” - Kris’ whisper-yelling barely contained any whispering, but thankfully it hadn't seemed to wake the sleeping girls above.

“Kris.” - Kris calmed down, and nodded - “I left college because I just couldn't… take it. I was alright at first; everything was new and people were very different in very interesting ways! I learned a lot, probably the least from my actual courses.” - Asriel chuckled - “But, over time… everything started to lose its luster. I stopped caring about learning, everything was familiar once again, and I started to see people the same. Eventually, I just started to retreat to myself. To my memories.” - Asriel held his breath for a second - “I missed Christmas with mom, dad and everyone. I missed the church juice. I missed the shitty department store. I missed the rustle of the trees while walking home.” - Stop. This is wrong. - “I missed when I was younger. When Mr Boom’s assignments were the only things I’d need to worry about. When we could go to the festival and ride for free. When I could draw and sing and still enjoyed it.” - SHUT UP. I’m only making it worse - “I missed mom and dad, when they’d still talk to each other. I missed Noelle, when she was still half your height. I missed you Kris. I missed you smiling and being a menace and making me laugh.”

Asriel was too late. Suddenly, it came, like a tempest.

“I missed Dess. I miss her so much.”

Asriel felt the words cut his throat as they went out, blood gushing out with them. He regretted them almost immediately. Who am I trying to fool here? What gives me the right?

But it was beyond stopping now. For better or for much worse.

“I began to have bad thoughts. I began to be unkind to myself, pushing through them to put up a front for everyone else that I'm not sure I could ever tear down. And it doesn’t work, Kris. It never does…” - Asriel gathered all his strength to smile at his sibling - “Your brother is a fucking failure, Kris. And he doesn’t want you to follow in his steps, okay? So please-”

Kris tackled their brother onto the sofa, and held him there for a moment. Asriel looked down, seeing the human looking up at them - “... You’re not a failure, Asriel.”

Asriel couldn’t help but tear up once again. Here he was, trying to help Kris, only to burden them with more and be comforted in their stead - “But I am, Kris.” - He lifted his head and looked to the ceiling in utter shame, placing a hand on his sibling’s head - “Look at me. Trying to help you but only making it about myself.”

“... It’s okay not to smile.”

Asriel looked down. Kris looked like they were shivering.

“I miss them too. I miss Dess.”

The two of them remained embraced for a time. Silent. The kind of silence they’d shared many times throughout their lives. Kris had messed up, and Asriel knew they were sorry but couldn’t find the words to say it, so he simply sat next to them, offering a shoulder to lean on. Asriel had a difficult competition coming up, and he had trouble sleeping, so Kris crawled next to their bed and laid there. They had each other.

“You’re very bony now. It kinda hurts to hug you.” - Kris broke the silence.

Asriel chuckled. I don’t need to burden you with anything else today. I’ve done enough for a lifetime - “Yeah, I know.” - Asriel pushed himself up, their sibling sliding onto the sofa - “Look, what I wanted to say with all of this… You’re not alone. I want to help you, do anything I can for you.” - It’s the least I owe you - “I just want you to know that now, I’m here for you, for anything. Always. Even if you don’t want to tell me what bothers you.” - Please take my advice. I have no use for it - “You could never be a burden. Never you.”

“I know. Thank you.” - Asriel knew his sibling would not tell him what troubled them. It was simply not in their nature - again, two peas in a pod. But this acknowledgement, at least, gave him some respite - “Sorry if tomorrow I’m less talkative, or say weird stuff.”

“I would never hold it against you. You're my weirdo, like always.” - Kris chuckled, their laughter seeming to drive away the darkness that surrounded them - “Now, you should go to sleep. Tomorrow’s gonna be a good day.”

“Okaaaaay…” - Kris got up from the sofa and stepped towards the stairs. They wobbled a bit and stumbled, causing Asriel to rise up from the couch, but they kept on walking - “Goodnight big bro.”

“Goodnight Kris. And thank you.” - Asriel replied. Kris smiled and nodded before going up the stairs silently. Asriel did not have much energy left to think over what had just happened.

He felt like he’d made a mistake, just made it worse by speaking without thinking, as always; but at the same time, he’d seen a glint in Kris’ eye, a glint of understanding. He could never force them to confide in him - that had never worked - but he was hopeful that what he’d told them, like what they’d told him, helped them both realize they still had each other’s backs, even after all this time.

Asriel fell asleep before he realized, splayed out on the couch.

He did not dream again.

Chapter Text

Asriel thought he heard voices coming from around him. He tried and failed to open his eyes at first, but was successful after the voices grew louder and more numerous. When he finally opened his eyes, he found his mother, Kris and Susie all around him, already dressed and seemingly ready to go out.

“Oh!” - Toriel covered her mouth in surprise - "Apologies Asriel, we didn't mean to wake you up.” - Toriel furrowed her brow - “I did tell you about staying up late… but it looked like you could use the sleep.”

Asriel groggily turned on the sofa. They'd thankfully kept the curtains of the living room closed, but the little light that seeped through was enough to make his head hurt. He tried his best to project his voice outwards, but what came out was little more than a sore-throated whisper - “... What time is it?” - he wondered how much of the night he had actually spent sleeping.

“Well dear, it's gonna be 10.”

Asriel groaned. Yeah, the Festival - “... Shit.”

“Young man! Language!” - Toriel recoiled back, as if the mere word burned her ears. She looked to Susie, who was snickering next to Kris. The purple lizard badly concealed her laughter and put on a not-so-straight face.

“Sorry… Give me a minute and I'll be out with you.” - Asriel began pulling himself upwards.

“But Asriel, what about breakfast? I made some waffles for you.”

“Those were… for him?” - Susie nervously asked while Toriel slowly looked at her.

Asriel chuckled. He didn't feel hungry anyway - “I'll pick up something at the Festival.” - he set the blanket he'd been under aside and sat on the sofa. Then, with a groan of effort, he rose to his considerable height as the three of them looked at him. He was wearing the same clothes as yesterday, now wrinkled by his tossing and turning, and with some visible grass stains where his body had hit the ground on his nightly escapade. His mother made a face, but he tried to ignore it - not like he had anything else presentable to change into. He stretched, cracking his back loudly, and rubbed his face. Some parts of his cheek stung, under his fur. Must've been the door - “Let's go.”

Toriel sighed - “Alright everyone, let's walk to the Festival.”

Right. Everyone.

Asriel noticed Kris besides Susie, almost motionless in their usual striped sweater. Susie followed Toriel out of the house, and Kris waited for Asriel to follow suit. Before crossing into the blindingly sunny street, Asriel placed a hand on his sibling's shoulder.

“Hey Kris.” - there was no response. Kris looked at him motionless, the only signs of life the warmth Asriel felt on his palm and the slight movements of Kris’ irises behind their bangs. I'm here, buddy - “Let's have a good day today.”

[ I like the festival     ❤️ The festival sucks ]

“The festival sucks.” - Kris replied, thick disgust dripping from every single word. They looked at Asriel, their face contorted in a hideous expression for a second before fading back into a monotonous stare.

Asriel smiled at their sibling and lightly squeezed their shoulder - “Come on Kris, I’m sure it won’t be that bad!” - their expression didn’t change from a neutral one. It’ll be alright, Kris.

Once the four of them were out of the door, they decided to make their way down the street to the festival. The sun was shining bright - too bright for Asriel, who had to cover his eyes - and there were birds singing in the air. It was the perfect weather to enjoy a homemade treat and ride on a very outdated attraction. At least, that was what Asriel hoped. He didn't really look forward to any of that. Instead, he wanted to be there for his family, for his friends, and for Kris. He knew today would bring many new hard questions, but if he'd been able to mostly handle himself yesterday he'd be alright now.

As they walked through the streets, Asriel attempted to spark up a conversation - “So… Susie?” - the girl turned her head to look at him - “Did you invite anyone to come with you? Or are you and Kris…?”

“H-Huh? I mean…” - Asriel was worried he'd struck a nerve, as the girl looked around as if she'd been caught doing something bad - “I'm gonna go with Noelle!” - she blurted out with some difficulty.

Noelle. The name hung in the air for a while. He suddenly felt a pang of uncertainty about his decision to accompany them.

“Oh… that's nice.” - Asriel decided to not dwell on it too much, and turned to Kris - “What about you, Kris? Did you ask anyone?” - Asriel's first choice would've been their new friend, with his second being Noelle, so he was genuinely curious as to whom they'd asked, if anyone.

[ Ralsei     Nobody     ❤️ Berdly ]

“BERDLY!” - Kris yelled suddenly, startling the other three in the group and drawing the attention of nearby monsters, who gave them a glance before turning back around. Toriel made a gesture with her hand to tell Kris to calm down - “Berdly…” - they repeated, as if defeated. Susie somberly placed a hand on their shoulder.

Asriel could barely put a face to that name. Berdly? He gave it some thought, and suddenly remembered a classmate of Kris: a blue bird monster who wore glasses. He’d talked a few times to Kris about videogames, and even to Asriel himself, but he didn’t seem much more than an acquaintance to his sibling. Asriel was glad they’d gotten closer since then though. Maybe? He wasn’t sure how to take his sibling’s expression.

And as if conjured into existence, the very same monster appeared in front of them, followed by another.

“My sweet dear Kris, your knight in gamer RGB light armour has arrived!” - the bird monster adjusted their glasses in a pose that Asriel assumed looked cool from some angle other than the one he was looking at it from. Once the boy left the pose, he looked towards him, and a look of surprise appeared on his face - “Oh sweet mother of SCIENCE! Is that the legendary rarity Asriel Dreemurr?” - Berdly approached him and offered a hand - “From one intellectual to another, I salute you!” - Asriel shook the boy’s hand, unsure of how to feel about the whole thing.

“A-Azzy?”

A softer voice called to him from behind Berdly. A deer monster approached him. She’s gotten so tall.

“... Hey Elly.” - Noelle practically tackled him out of Berdly’s grasp, knocking the air out of his lungs. She quickly let go of him, and looked at him with her huge brown eyes. She was still the same Elly, but at the same time, she… - “... You’ve gotten very tall.”

“You too, fahaha!” - Noelle’s nose seemed to light up a bit. Yep, still the same old Elly.

“It’s good to see you, Noelle.” - Toriel waved to the girl, who waved back. She then turned to Berdly - “Berdly, correct? I’m sure you and Kris will have a great time together.” - the boy readjusted his glasses, somehow managing to make them shine - “Well everyone, are you ready to go?” - the teens cheered, and the group got moving.

The six of them approached the stalls that had been set up along the main road. Asriel noticed there were quite a few more of them than he remembered, and not only with food; some even had small games where one could win prizes. In the distance, a small ferris wheel loomed, near a grassy knoll that was the perfect spot for a picnic. It seemed the town had been spared the bouncy castle this year.

Asriel walked behind the teens and beside his mother. He saw Berdly speak at Kris, while they maintained a perfectly deadpan expression. Susie pointed to every stall with glee while Noelle next to her seemed lost in thought.

“Dude! They got candy apples?” - Susie rushed to a stall where a blue rabbit monster was handing out the sweet treats. She looked to the side and then back to the group, somewhat flustered - “... uuuh… Does anyone have money on them?”

Before his mother could speak up, Asriel took out his wallet and looked to the group - “Alright, who wants one?” - all the teens raised one finger with the exception of Susie, who raised three. Asriel chuckled and handed some cash to the vendor. Once he got the sweet prizes, he handed them to their rightful owners, his hands jittering a bit. Right, I should probably eat something too. He paid for another one for himself and took a few bites. It’ll have to do.

“Fahaha! Are you really gonna eat all three?” - Noelle asked, Susie already dislocating her jaw around the three apples.

“... Do you want one?” - Susie offered one of the apples to Noelle, who suddenly looked stunned, like she’d been asked for her hand in marriage - “... Okay, well if you don’t I’ll eat them myself!” - Susie comped down, ending both the apples and Noelle stupor in a quick bite.

Toriel chuckled at the scene. Berdly pointed to a stall nearby, dragging Kris along to prove his skills to them in a classic game of whack-a-mole. Noelle and Susie talked as the latter chomped down on the sticks that belonged to the candy apples, before taking off in the direction of a nearby ring toss game. Asriel stood with his mother, watching the teens run around. Remembering.

“Hey mom.” - Toriel’s ear perked up, her gaze snatched away from the kids in front of her - “Do you remember when Noelle and Kris went on the ferris wheel, and Kris shook the cabin to give her a scare?”

“Well son, you’ll have to be more specific.” - Toriel scoffed - “I can remember at least four separate times that happened.” - she shook her head.

Asriel laughed, and looked as the kids moved through the stalls. Kris had taken Berdly’s place in the game, and was currently beating his score at a blitzing speed as their hand appeared to move on its own. Susie had gotten bored of tossing rings, just as Noelle had earned the grand prize of a small coupon booklet.

“This brings back so many memories.” - Asriel looked to the distance as his mother spoke. If only you knew - “It’s been a while since we've been together like this. Since everything felt… so normal.” - Toriel looked at him, and he flashed a weak smile. I would not say normal. Neither all together.

“Tori! How unexpected! I didnt-” - A booming voice came from behind them.

“... Asriel?”

As the Dreemurrs turned, they came face to face with a large horned monster. His beard had grown considerably, but the golden locks atop his head had thinned in return. He wore a t-shirt with floral patterns alongside some white pants where one could clearly see spots where grass and dirt had been smeared, attempted to be cleaned, and subsequently accepted as a permanent stain on the fabric. On his hand was his weapon of choice: a large bouquet of flowers of various colours, wrapped in pink paper.

Oh, dad…

“Asriel.” - his mother's voice had lost every bit of warmth it'd held mere seconds ago. She turned to him - “I remembered I need to run some errands “ - you don't - “Would you be alright watching the kids over for a while?” - I will. Asriel nodded, and without a second to spare, his mother turned around and headed into the road.

“T-Tori!”

“Perhaps another time, Asgore.”

His father slowly lowered his raised hand in defeat and sighed, the bouquet seeming to hang down in kind. He suddenly turned to him as if his son hadn't seen what'd just happened, and smiled - “Asriel! It's you, isn't it?” - his father wrapped his huge arms around him, lifting him off the ground without much trouble. Asriel got the breath pressed from his lungs for what must've been the sixth time since he arrived, but was able to take a breather once his father placed him on solid ground once more - “You've grown! I like your new hair too!”

“Thanks dad. I'm glad to see you.” - Asriel looked at his dad, and then to the bouquet he held in his hands. He was still at it. Maybe he'd made it work, somehow - “How's the Flower King doing?”

“Oh you know son, some trouble here and there but nothing to worry about.” - he winked. You're an awful liar dad - “In fact, I've already sold a few of my flowers today! Maybe I can treat you three to QC's later, eh?”

“Those flowers were for mom, right?” - Asriel pointed to the bouquet. Come on man…

“Well… I was thinking, since it's been such a good day so far, why not go around giving free samples?” - Asgore handed the flowers to him - “Here son. As a "welcome back” gift of sorts. Be sure to share with your friends!”

“Dad, I can't take these for free. Just let me know how much-”

“Oh nonsense son! What kind of father-”

“Dad.”

“Alright son, if you insist… But don't worry about that now, alright? You can come back later by the store, and we can have some tea and talk for a while!” - Asgore looked around, as if searching for something - “I can't believe I almost forgot! How was college?”

Yeah, how's college going Azzy - “It's… going, I guess.”

“Oh, I remember my freshman days. The partying, the dancing… If only I could go back! You should've seen your mother too, hohoho!” - Asgore laughed heartily and tapped his son on the back.

“Yeah…” - Going back…

What must've been Asgore's phone buzzed in his pocket, and he picked it up to look at it, holding it at arm's length - “Oh, sorry son, I should be going! Do swing by later on!” - he left the same way his mom had - “And give my regards to Kris!”

Oh Kris. The others. Shit.

Asriel quickly turned around and hastily searched for the four teens, but thankfully they had not gone far. Three of them stood by a claw machine, while another - Susie in this instance - reached inside and attempted to grab something with potentially catastrophic results. Asriel panicked for a second, and rushed to the teen's position, just as Susie triumphally pulled a small plastic ball from the machine and waved it around in the air.

“Huff… puff… That's how you do it, nerds!” - she fidgeted with the ball, somehow managing to crack it open like an egg without splitting the different coloured, easy to separate halves - "What the heck is this?” - she held a small console in her hands, no bigger than her palm. Once the goat monster approached, she turned to him - “Hey, what do you have there?”

Asriel looked at his hand, holding the bouquet. He unraveled the paper around them, and passed a flower to each of those present - "Asgore gave me these just for you guys. Here you go. By the way Kris, dad said hi.” - everyone took a flower, including Kris, who held it in their hand motionlessly.  Asriel was left with one for himself: a beautiful golden flower. A golden flower for the golden boy, he thought - “Toriel had to leave, so I’m in charge now. What do you wanna do next?”

Susie piped up - “Actually me and Kris were going to… work on our project!” - something somber flicked on her face for a second. Or perhaps Asriel was just seeing things again.

“... What?” - Asriel was dumbfounded - “On the day of the festival?” - both Noelle and Berdly looked at them like they had three heads each.

“I mean… If you guys really want we could do that? Together??” - Noelle was trying her best to be nice despite the situation, and it showed. Asriel figured all of this was an excuse to ditch them, somehow, but he remembered Kris’ words from earlier. I don’t know what you and that girl are doing… But I trust you do.

“No no! You guys have fun!” - before anyone could react, Susie grabbed Kris and led them down the street. Not in the direction of the library, that was for sure.

…

Asriel stood there, flower still in hand, with the remaining two teens. The situation was very much awkward, and he was still trying to figure out the details. Why had they just left? Were they not having fun? Should he follow them? He wanted to watch over Kris of course, but he couldn’t leave Noelle and Berdly on their own either. On the other hand, they were already 16, at an age at which he at least had been very much fine on his own. And if he’d been fine, he figured Kris and Susie would be too. Just… stay safe, please.

Noelle spoke up, breaking Asriel out of his own thoughts - “Don’t worry they just… do that sometimes!” - she laughed nervously. She was very obviously annoyed at having had her day at the festival cut short so abruptly, but she tried to hide it.

“Well Noelle! If those two cannot handle our epic festival skills, I guess we’ll have to continue on… together.” - Asriel was amazed at how much the bird monster’s face could change to fit his expression.

“...” - Noelle’s face sunk, as if that mere proposition was even worse than what had just happened.

“Alright, let us go!”

Asriel decided to intervene. Something about Noelle’s attitude really rubbed him the wrong way - “Uh, Berdly was it? I actually would like to talk to Noelle for a while.” - Noelle looked at him, confused - “Would that be alright?”

“Of course! I do not mind being player two for a turn!” - Berdly loudly proclaimed.

“That’s… great” - Asriel was trying to be as nice as possible. He didn’t really know this kid, and he seemed harmless enough, but Noelle was clearly not in the mood. How could he… - “Wait, Berdly, if I’m not mistaken you say you are a gamer, yes?”

“Of course, Asriel! Real recognize real.” - again, the glasses thing. He was consistent with it, at least.

“Well, I don’t recognize it, is the thing. You lost to Kris on the whack-a-mole thing, didn’t you? And Kris is notoriously terrible at games…”

Berdly’s eyes opened wide - “I- I… The mallet was busted! I normally would have left them in the dust!”

“Not that I don’t believe you but, without proof? That’s a hard sell…” - the bird monster looked genuinely sad now. Asriel began to feel bad. A white lie, he thought, for Noelle - “I propose to you… a challenge, to prove your skills. A quest, if you will!” - Berdly’s eyes changed once again, this time full of determination - “Bring me the grand prize from three of the stalls, and I will recognize you as a fellow gamer! One worthy of the title.” - Asriel took out a dollar bill and placed it in front of the teen - “This is for you, should you accept this quest.”

Berdly snatched the bill from Asriel’s hand, and struck a heroic pose - “I accept, master Asriel! I will prove myself to you as the grand gamer that I am!” - he then took off at surprising speed towards the nearest stall.

Asriel looked to Noelle, who looked surprised, but much more at ease now - “That was like 10 dollars. It should buy us some time.” - he pointed to a nearby bench, thankfully unoccupied, sitting next to a tree. He still wanted to have line of sight with Berdly just in case - “Want to sit and maybe talk for a while?”

“Yes, that would be very nice. Thanks, Azzy.”

Berdly was hard at work at a strength testing game, attempting to drive a hammer into a button to push a puck into a bell, signaling a new winner of the grand prize. To his credit, he was getting closer each time, but also had to take a considerable breather between each attempt. Every once in a while he’d look back, narrow his eyes and try again. They had time to spare.

Asriel looked at Noelle, while both were in awkward silence. It’d been two years since he’d left hometown. But since the last time they’d talked more than in passing conversation? The last time they’d seen each other somewhere that was not on the way home or crossing paths in the grocery store? It must’ve been about 4 years. Of course, since-

It’s not her.

Noelle still dressed like her old self: fancy winter clothes, even in the heat, always a mix of green, white and red. However, physically, she’d changed a lot. Apart from her unexpected increase in height - she was taller than Kris now - her antlers had grown in, no longer being the small stubs they’d once been. She styled her hair differently too; she had seemed to have forgone her usual ponytails in favor of leaving her hair straight down. It looked better. If he’d looked at her in the wrong light, she might’ve resembled-

NOT. HER.

Asriel tried to not make his discomfort apparent. He tried to steer his mind away. But he couldn't. Noelle was her own person, she'd been the whole time she'd known her: she'd loved horror movies, liked to play on her computer a lot and, like most Holidays, could not get enough of the jolliest time of the year. But now, as Asriel was, he could only see her through the lens of her sister. She was Dess's sister, and not Noelle. She'd grown to resemble her, not to be her own person. Asriel felt his stomach turn.

I'm a terrible friend, if I can still be called one at all.

“Thanks for that.” - Noelle's voice finally broke the silence. Asriel gave her a puzzled expression, half out of confusion and half out of a vain effort to push his thoughts aside for a moment - “I know I should be more assertive but… it's hard. Like, Berdly's not a bad person but I… just don't want to hang out with him.”

Asriel looked back at the bird monster. He'd apparently gotten one out of the three prizes, and was walking to a game of ring toss, with restored pride ready to be shattered anew.

“Sometimes they disappear for a few hours, fahaha.” - Noelle spoke up once more - “Not really sure what they do, though…” - she rubbed the back of her head.

They? Oh, she was talking about Kris and Susie - “So they just… disappear sometimes, huh…” - Noelle nodded and smiled awkwardly - “Seems kinda rude to just abandon your date like that…”

“D-DATE? I mean, technically yes, I guess but-” - as Noelle rambled on, her nose became a blinding red, matching with her cheeks. Asriel was worried he’d said something wrong, until it suddenly clicked. He hadn’t noticed the word he’d used, but it was clear now. The blushing, the stuttering, the excuses… He’d been all too familiar with that sensation in the past.

Asriel spoke again, smiling slightly - “Yeah, it’s kinda weird. If Susie does that a lot she’s gonna make for a terrible girlfr-”

“WE SHOULD SPEAK ABOUT SOMETHING ELSE!” - Noelle’s eyes looked like headlights, and the intensity of her expression spooked Asriel. He could not stifle a chuckle though, one that she very nervously - and loudly - returned.

“... I'm glad you and Kris are doing stuff together again.” - Asriel looked to the sky. Some clouds hung overhead.

Noelle seemed surprised by the statement - “I'm glad too. They're kinda weird - I mean weirder than they used to be, fahaha!”

“Is that so?”

“Yeah… Just a few days ago they started being a lot more talkative. I guess they were really excited to see you come back from college!”

Asriel thought. A few days ago. He didn't know why but something about that phrase seemed wrong to him. He knew Kris was going through a lot, so the sudden change… and for the better? It couldn't have been me…

“Speaking of! How was college?”

Asriel laughed - “Well Noelle, if you really have to know, it's kinda shit.” - the deer monster gasped dramatically - “What? Did I- Oh shit sorry.” - Noelle gasped once again, breaking into a giggle this time. That one he'd done on purpose.

“Fahaha! Well I'm sorry to hear that. Hope you don't have to retake any courses.”

“Don't worry about that.”

They sank into silence once more. Berdly had bested the ring toss rather quickly, and was on his way to pop some balloons for his third and final trial. The wind was howling as some clouds continued to loom overhead. It'd probably rain soon.

“Asriel… do you… want to say something?”

“Hm? What?”

Noelle looked at him with eyes wise beyond her age - “You've been staring at nothing a lot… and you're gripping your shirt really hard.” - Asriel relaxed his hands to the best of his ability. He hadn't even realized.

“You're too smart for your own good, Elly!” - Asriel tried to force a laugh out, but Noelle's worried face stopped it in his throat- “Too smart for your own good…”

Asriel looked to the ground, as if it held the answers. What could he even say? Yes Noelle, I miss your sister so much it ruins my life. She's the only reason I'm still here. I'm projecting her onto you because I cannot deal with her not being around. And I haven't even thought about how YOU have been feeling all this time, you know, being her sister and all. Because after everything I've done, even when it's about her, I'm still only thinking about myself. I've come back to Kris’ life only to personally crack the pedestal they held me in. I've superposed my ruined self over mom's good memories. I haven't even talked with my dad for more than a few minutes at a time these past 4 years. I haven't even thought to ask about your parents, for the Angel’s sake!

“How… How's your dad?” - Asriel didn't want to ask that. And judging by Noelle's expression, it was not what she'd expected.

“He's… still fighting. He came to church yesterday morning to hear me sing.” - Asriel had gotten the news that Rudy had been hospitalized a few days after he'd left. He'd been fighting something for years in secret, but it had gained ground on him. He didn't want to imagine anything happening to the invincible Rudy Holiday. It couldn't - “He was going to come see the festival today but…” - Noelle fell silent for a second, then smiled at Asriel - “I'd rather he gets some rest if he needs it.”

“I see… And your mom?”

“Working. I think. She also just disappears sometimes, faha.” - her icy glare was still burned into Asriel's memory. Icier still after what happened… - “She's still the same.”

Asriel moved in, without much thinking, and put his hand on the girl's shoulder. He could not say what he wanted, but… he wanted to show Noelle he still cared about her. Despite everything. Noelle was taken aback at first, but slowly leaned into it.

“Susie played her guitar yesterday.” - the deer girl said.

Her.

Asriel looked towards Noelle - “She was not very good but… it reminded me of her. When I saw you guys mess around in the living room, playing and singing.”

Asriel chuckled. It was obvious she would figure it out. Too smart for her own good - “I wish I could've heard it.”

Go on, make it someone else's problem once again - “I dream about her often.” - Asriel carelessly blurted out. Noelle's breath quickened - “It… hurts. But I can't bear not to. To forget her.”

“I think about her a lot, too.” - Noelle added.

The clouds were on top of them now.

Asriel brought his hand to his eyes and unexpectedly wiped away some tears. He didn't know he was crying, nor for how long he'd been doing so. As he looked to the girl by his side, he noticed he was not alone.

“I guess… it's what we owe to her.” - Asriel continued - “Even if it hurts to keep her memory with us. To remember all of those times she beat Kris with a whiffle bat.” - Noelle sniffled, a sound halfway between a sob and a chortle.

Asriel could not see much beyond the blurry mess that his tears had turned the festival into. He figured Berdly would still be around there, and people were still coming and going from stall to stall. But as he sat in the chair, he could only feel his own emptiness, and the soft vibrations of the girl next to him as she quietly sobbed.

I wish it'd been me.

“Noelle.” - the girl looked up - “I'm sorry.”

“... What?” - the girl rubbed one of her eyes.

“For everything. For leaving you and Kris. For drifting away. For not doing more for her. For burdening you with this just now.”

“Asriel…”

“....”

“... It was not your fault, or Kris’, or anyone's... No matter what people said.”

After the failed search, rumors had begun to spread all throughout Hometown, as they are wont to do in small communities. They were never said to them directly, but the Dreemurrs had been on the people's mind from the very first day. Asgore's botched investigation could've been a flimsy attempt at covering his own tracks - why had his loving wife divorced him suddenly if not? Toriel was a woman of faith; what else could she have done once she found out her very son was in love with the no-good, church rejecting daughter of the mayor? And of course was Asriel, who perhaps had committed a crime of passion, an inexperienced teen taking what he didn't know too far and leaving the evidence to rot where he knew none would stumble across it. But perhaps the most repeated rumor was that of Kris. Of course, it'd been Kris. Nevermind the way it had affected them, the therapy or the loss of light in their eyes. They were the wild, troublesome child of the Dreemurrs, and a human to boot. It'd been them.

“Thanks, Elly.” - I wish I could believe you.

His mind inevitably went back to the past. He was assailed by memories of the four of them way too close to the TV, cheering for their respective family's champion as they dueled to their end on the videogame on the screen. He thought back to the picture, alone and deep within the woods, for his sunken eyes only. He should not be the one to have it.

“Say, Noelle…” - he turned to her - “Maybe not today, but another time, I would like to give you something… something I have in a special place.”

Noelle raised her eyebrows - “From Dess’ secret spot?”

Asriel was taken aback and opened his eyes wide, but the surprise formed a smile on his face - “Too smart for your own good, haha…”

“Fahaha, sorry. I figured something was up when you guys kept disappearing on your walks to the forest. Kris wanted to follow you to the spot but I always chickened out.” - Noelle tucked some of her golden hair behind her ear - “It felt like something I should leave to her. And to you, I suppose.” - Asriel couldn't help but smile.

“Yeah, she'd kill me if I showed our super dangerous secret hideout to her darling, goody-two-shoes little sister.” - Asriel lightly tapped Noelle on the shoulder, which made her giggle - “But still. I think you should have some stuff from there. She'd want that.”

Asriel instinctively reached into his jacket to grab a smoke, but realized he should not halfway through the motion. Not in front of her. He idly searched for something with his hand until it grazed a thing he didn't remember putting into his pocket. He pulled it out and found himself looking at the golden flower, a bit scuffed due to its stay in his jacket.

“It's a pretty flower.” - Noelle remarked.

Asriel looked at it, as if he was searching for something within it - “I suppose.”

A raindrop fell on the flower's petals. Another landed nearby. The sky had gotten darker.

Just as the rain began to fall, Berdly returned triumphant, three prizes in hand: The first trial had earned him a pair of cheap looking red headphones; besting the second one had awarded him with what looked to be like a harmonica; and upon beating the final trial he'd had a giant ICE-E plushie bestowed upon him. He presented these items proudly to Asriel, and once again adjusted his glasses.

“Feast your eyes on the spoils of Gamerhood!”

Noelle chuckled, and Asriel stood up from the bench - “Well Berdly, I owe you an apology, one gamer to another. You truly are the stuff of legends!” - Berdly tried to play it cool, but was visibly giddy at the strange compliment - “You can keep the change if you still got any. Think of it as your quest reward.” - he shook the kid's hand, and turned to offer Noelle a hand to stand up from the bench.

The rain had intensified a bit. Some stalls were closing, while others deployed any measure they had at their disposal against the rain. The sky had gotten dark fast.

“Hmm… do any of you have the time?”

Both teens looked at each other and shrugged. Asriel started getting worried about Kris and Susie.

“You guys think you'll be fine on your own? I'm gonna go and see if I can find the other two anywhere. They shouldn't be out in this weather.”

“Sure!” - Noelle exclaimed, looking at the beaming bird monster beside her.

After both kids nodded and waved, Asriel took off.

…

He wandered the main street of the festival for a bit, raindrops occasionally falling near his eyes and making him wince. If his mother disapproved of a few grass stains, she'd probably loathe to see him come home soaked. He looked at the fewer and fewer stalls that remained open, and scanned the dwindling number of passers-by. It seemed people were preparing to pack up for the coming storm. Still, no sign of the teens.

Come on.

The rain was getting intense, forming a curtain that required some effort to see through. He regretted leaving Noelle and Berdly on their own, and hoped they had taken shelter somewhere. He rushed to the street that housed the library - they'd mentioned something about their project, right? Dark windows were a bad omen, but this lead truly went dead cold as soon as the doorknob to the building refused to turn. Locked. Probably closed because of the festival.

Come on come on come on.

It wasn't much of a surprise that they hadn't really gone to work on their project. Oh Kris… what are you doing?

He ran through the streets, splashing on still–growing puddles of rainwater. Most people had already gone home, preferring to stay in the dry comfort of their houses. No sign of the two in between any of the buildings, no sight of them through any window. He tried to trace their trajectory in vain, based on the direction they'd left at first. What could they even be doing? Why had they lied? Why was it getting so damn dark?

No no no no come on. Not them.

Asriel rounded a corner and saw a small building, almost run-down at the end of the road: the Flower King. It’d been his dad’s shop and house both since he and Toriel had separated, and it was where he spent most of his time - even if the state of the building did not give that away. Asriel had meant to come back later to pay his father for the flowers, but decided to go to his store now. He was probably in there, and he could help him out with looking for Kris and Susie.

Angel, please let this work.

Asriel rushed to the door of the Flower King and pushed. No luck. His breath quickened, as he tried to turn the doorknob. It turned, but the door did not budge. Something was blocking it.

Dad, come on!

Asriel looked through the window. The store was dark.

He remembered the side door. If the store was closed, dad was probably at the back, tinkering with something or other. And, even if he wasn’t, he could grab a flashlight from his toolbox or something to help him search - he’d return it later. Was that a fog creeping in, or was the rain growing even more intense somehow? Asriel couldn’t tell the difference.

Asriel headed to the door, just behind his dad’s old and beat-up truck. He went to turn the doorknob…

When the door swung open, knocking him to the ground.

He looked up.

There was a strange, black smoke emanating from the side door of the Flower King.

She stood before the door, looking down at him.

Dirty blonde hair, its dark dye having long faded and been replaced with uneven streaks of a strange black. Her horns, that’d been blue, then dyed red, were now a dull grey. Her eyes were sunken, black and white, yet a strange spark shone within them. And her clothes… they were the same she’d worn that day, 4 years ago. Tattered, stained and grown into. A broken whiffle bat - the reward for disciplining Kris after one too many pranks gone too far - on her hand.

Had he not just been with Noelle, he may have confused her for a second.

“D …”

“… D E S S …?”

Asriel ran through the downpour as she gracefully glided, a cruel puppet master pulling her strings away.

I’m dreaming once again. All that there is left, a twisted memory.

“DESS!!”

His voice splintered after leaving his mouth, the rain swallowing it all. It did not reach her.

I will wake up later, and life will go on as it has.

“DESS!! PLEASE!!”

No one was around to listen. Buildings flew by as the treeline came into view.

... It's so dark.

“DESS!! NO!!”

The shelter was in front of him. There was no low hum to welcome them.

So… why…

“DESS, DON’T LEAVE ME!!”

The darkness swallowed her.

… does it feel so real?

“D E C E M B E R  ! ! !”

…

Something solid slammed into Asriel's side, followed by a loud crack. Either the reinforced metal doors of the shelter had splintered when closing around him, or his body had been broken in half by their force.

He didn’t care much either way. He had no mind to.

He followed her into the dark.

And Asriel

Tumbled

Down

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Chapter Text

When Asriel woke from his dream, he didn't know what to expect. Perhaps the old asphalt of Hometown's roads, him having hit his head after falling due to the rain. Maybe he'd never even made it out of the bench, and had simply slumped down with Noelle by his side. Or possibly he'd be face down on the grass, having passed out while searching for Susie and Kris.

Susie and Kris. Where are they?

When Asriel pushed himself up, he was in none of these places. He didn't know where he was, nor why he shivered immediately upon opening his eyes. He didn't know why a part of his brain sent a jolt through him as if it had recognized a long lost face, or why another raised his heartbeat and told him he needed to get away NOW.

He only saw a great hall.

Ashen, featureless walls extended along its sides, ever upwards, into an unbreachable dark. He stood at the middle of a great, long passage, extending into even more darkness at both his front and his back. Asriel could see no end anywhere; if there was one it was beyond his reach. All beyond the light was submerged in darkness. It might as well not have been there at all.

But, despite this, he could see.

Something on his person was emitting a faint light. Enough to pierce the nearby blackness, but powerless to travel long. He looked at himself, trying to fin-

My… my clothes!?

Asriel had not gone into the festival dressed in a long purple robe, as much as it'd delighted his 15 year old self. He'd not been wearing a golden locket around his neck either, nor had spiked pauldrons adorned his shoulders.

Asriel jumped, as if trying to escape himself. He tumbled back down to the floor, frantically checking himself, feeling around where his old clothes had been and where the new ones were - or were they weren't. Someone had changed him. He felt deeply wrong, and his breath quickened in kind. The light around him grew dimmer.

This is just a dream… just a bad dream…

… and by the Angel, where's that damned light coming from?

While frantically making sure every part of him had remained as undisturbed as could reasonably be considering his situation, Asriel came across something solid under his robes. It felt metallic and very slightly warm, and as soon as he jostled it around he felt the light around him flicker. He carefully pulled it out from under his robes, and held it in front of him.

A lantern…

Asriel held in his hands something that resembled an oil lantern from times of old, but much more… ornate. Whoever had left it with him had made sure it'd match his new outfit, sharing most of the same colours and flourishes now present on it. The glass pane that faced its interior was shaped like a star, and through it Asriel could observe the source of his vision: a small, polichromed flame.

The flame was mesmerizing. Asriel felt almost no heat emanating from it; so much so that, without giving it much thought, he dared to open the small pane and simply… reached inside. Multicoloured tongues licked at his fingers, giving him a tingling sensation but nothing more. It felt… magical. Somehow, despite the darkness around him and the encroaching fog on his mind, a smile slowly managed to creep into his face.

In kind, however, the flame seemed to grow more wild. Asriel retreated his hand quickly, fearing the fire would now actually burn him. As he did so, he only saw it slowly dwindle.

“What… are you?” - he asked, as if a lantern could return a word.

Nothing but silence. The flame made no noise as it burned on its own.

Whatever this thing was, it'd helped him break his spiral and focus on something other than his changed form. He was somewhere he didn't know. The walls looked to hold no secrets, so the way was either forwards or backwards. Now holding his source of light, Asriel tried waving it around, trying to decide which way he'd go along the path. None had any distinguishing features, nor was he sure which one he'd woken up facing - it was remarkably easy to simply get lost looking at the featureless walls - so he let the flame decide. He held the lantern aloft, and simply followed the direction he thought the flame seemed more excited by.

Asriel began walking.

Some of the memories of what he'd been doing before he arrived resurfaced. He'd seen Dess, he'd followed her, screaming her name. And then… he had not woken up. He'd simply plunged deeper into his mind.

“This is… a strange dream.”

…

Asriel walked and walked, the walls remaining in the same direction for what felt like forever. In this monotony, he’d started noticing things about the strange place he found himself in (either that, or madness had set in prematurely). The walls were not completely smooth: if one REALLY looked, he could see small, almost imperceptible imperfections in them. These imperfections were what made him believe he was actually moving at all, since if not for the mere act of following them with his eyes as he walked he’d have thought he may have been walking in place. The place was not as dead silent as he thought, either; he could swear he could hear a very low note permeating through the place, like a growl, coming from nowhere in particular. Asriel would only notice it every once in a while, when it changed pitch slightly, and then it would fade into background noise once again, eventually. None of these details helped him get a move on, but they kept him somewhat… sane?

Nothing but blank walls for thousands of steps.

Had he felt any hunger he’d feared starvation at this rate.

And then suddenly, Asriel came across an opening.

It was a small dent in the rock, as if the wall had once upon a time had a door that opened up into a different room, but had since regretted its decision. This change in scenery served to reassure him he was getting somewhere, at least.

Eventually, these openings became more frequent, more varied. Most were short or shallow, nothing more than mile markers of his endless march, but some extended deeper into the stone. Deep enough to sport equally featureless gray doors. The first sight of one of these had put an indescribable fear into Asriel's heart, as he'd stood paralyzed before it until finally mustering enough courage to turn the knob. The wavering of his heart had been for naught, as once Asriel opened it he'd  found a small passage, barely a meter deep, leading to nothing more than more gray. Eventually, even these too had faded into the mundane, as these openings began to litter the sides of Asriel's path. Some were still nothing more than unremarkable dents on the wall, but some had doors that lead deeper, into places that could almost be described as rooms; even if their size rendered them closer to closets, and they still contained naught but dead air. Nothing but narrow passages into walls in a square shape, rising upwards into an inky abyss.

Asriel tried to pinch himself awake. Nothing but a sore arm. He tried hitting his head. Nothing but a headache. He bit his tongue. Nothing but the taste of blood. Whatever this dream was, it wanted to be experienced. It would not take no for an answer.

Asriel still checked every door, placed his hand on every small crevice, if only to see if the numbness he'd started to feel was only mental. He wasn't sure he had not been turned around at some point, when everything had started to blend together. Another empty room. Another shallow crevice. Another passage to nowhere. Nowhere, he was nowhere. He'd seen all of this before, of course. He'd see all of this again. Everything was the same.

Save, of course, for the figure standing in the middle of this particular room. Asriel's eyes had recognized something strange this time, something that defied the expected monotony of his motions. Opening, checking, turning around. There'd be nothing to see in that room, like in all the others. But there it'd stood.

Asriel’s flame illuminated a strange figure only for a second. He could not distinguish anything about it before his heart skipped a beat, and the flame flickered in kind. The light intensified for a second, tracing coloured tongues along the walls, and then retreated to its source, leaving the new discovery shrouded in darkness once again. Watching. Waiting.

“Damn you…” - Asriel had retreated back into the main hall, his body shaking. He rattled the lantern, as if it could somehow understand his frustration towards it - “How do you manage to do that at the same time as me?” - Asriel held the lantern in his hand, the flame slowly growing steadier and stronger once more as his breathing slowed down. Is this flame… ?

He didn’t entertain the thought much. The flame was stronger now, and he held the lantern forward once more. He could see it now.

It was so… simple, it was actually hard to describe. It was a monster, like any other he could’ve seen around town or during his stay at college. A torso, two arms, two legs, and a head covered in a clam’s shell. And… well, that was it. One could only remark its unremarkableness. Its colour was a strange, faded gray, that somehow clashed with the ashen walls of its environment. And it did not breathe, or move.

A… monster? … A statue?

Against his better judgement, Asriel crept closer, into the passage. He retained a steady hand, steeled his nerves. The flame seemed to react to him - maybe it was nervous too. He walked until he slowly entered the room once more, the light reflecting off the walls, and took a closer look at the statue. It didn’t seem to be-

“GREETINGS. OSRIIEL.”

The thing turned, and attempted to address him.

Asriel’s whole fur stood on end, as the flame dimmed so far it could only illuminate his immediate surroundings. But he could still see it. The statue had rotated itself to face him, its body stiff as one would expect. However, he was frozen on the spot, unable to run. What was going on? Who was this? Was it even alive?

“He… llo?” - he managed to say, the light slowly increasing in intensity.

“NTOCA. ESTIVO.” - the statue abruptly offered a hand.

“Wh- What?”

The statue did not respond. Asriel stood there, the only thing he’d found besides the walls and the darkness extending an expecting hand and returning to seeming unlife.

This is fucking weird. I hope I forget this as soon as I wake up.

He had trouble thinking, the stillness of the place and the stale air having finally caught up to him. He raised his free hand, and placed it on the statue’s.

I suppose, when in Dreamland, do as the dreamers-

Pain shot through his hand, into his arm, and reached his chest. The flame erupted from the lantern, painting the walls in brilliant lights of every colour imaginable.

The pain was impossible to describe. It was as if whatever had touched him had gingerly decided to take him apart. They'd stripped him bare, his very essence, layer by layer, slowly. And they were idly flicking through each as one would an old magazine. Tendrils intruded on him, every nerve, every cell of him. The pain was so intense it dulled his senses, and he could think of nothing but his current vivisection.

Asriel’s mind went blank. It went dark.

And then, one by one, his senses slowly returned. First was touch, as he felt the cold floor on his back, pain snaking through it from the impact. Then it was hearing, accompanied by a loud ringing in his ears. With taste, he savoured what felt like blood in his mouth. And with smell he noticed something burning. At last, with his sight returned, he saw the statue tower over him, engulfed by multi-colored flames.

“REDTACORYS.” - the thing's voice reached him through the flames.

Asriel got up and ran out of the only path leading into the room, and into a different hallway than the one he'd taken into it. He cared not where he had ended up, where he was headed. He only needed to run away from that thing. That pain. The one he was still reeling from, still feeling. Thankfully he'd held on to the lantern.

“This is no dream!”

That had been real pain.

Asriel sat with his back to the wall, the strange lantern in his hands.

On his frenzied escape, he’d actually wandered into a huge room, where the path had opened up. The walls had parted, engulfing everything in shadow at first, so Asriel had decided then to stick to the wall of his leftmost side, and follow it; a simple way to not get lost in a maze - and this place was very much a labyrinth, or something far worse. He’d followed this wall for a while with his hand, projecting the lantern's light towards the interior of the room to no avail. Nothing but pure black, no other end. Asriel dared not think what would happen if he ventured far from the solid stone of the wall. He feared he'd just… fall. Just darkness, all consuming, as he'd never find his way back, lost in the deep. Alone.

Like…

Asriel had lost the notion of time, if such a thing existed here. He'd noticed his legs had started to ache, so he'd decided to sit down to rest.

He looked into the flame, as he felt it looked into him. It was clear they were somehow both linked. When he stepped back, the flame flickered in kind; and when he surged forward, the flame roared in response. In a way, that flame was him.

Asriel's arm still tingled, the pain grounding him in the now instead of the if. Real pain, one he'd known well - “Just… how does this make any sense? How can this not be a dream?” - he asked the darkness, knowing now that the lantern would have the same knowledge as him. He did not expect a response. Perhaps he feared one.

But, if this is real… Dess…

Alas, he did hear something.

Asriel jumped to his feet, clipping the lantern to his tunic at his hip as if guided by instinct. He’d heard something, and it had not been the occasional change in pitch of the growl that hung in the air.

Another sound. Voices, whispers. Two different cadences, at least. Coming from the darkness away from the wall. From the yawning void inside of the great room.

Asriel focused his breathing and tried to calm his heart. Come on. He did not know what awaited him. Another statue, perhaps, or whatever dwelt within those halls. More pain. He didn’t want to find out, so he needed to stay hidden. Come on, work with me. Little by little, the flame slowly dimmed, still steady. Thank you.

The flame barely illuminated his hip now, plunging him into the darkness. He was surrounded by pure black. In all directions, except one. Now that his own light had dimmed, he could see a small spot of light in the distance. A minuscule red dot, with a white corona of light around it. And as it grew closer, he started to discern voices.

“I’m sure I saw something here…”

“I think I heard something, too…?”

Asriel started feeling the wall behind him, hoping it’d somehow be different from all the others, give in and offer him a path to escape. He'd taken any of those gray doors, any of the meaningless closets they'd lead him to. The red dot slowly grew as it came closer, and he began to hear more words in the murmurs, along the uneven sounds of footfalls. More than two people, maybe four. And they knew where he was. They’d seen him, heard him. Asriel had no escape, his own fears having backed him into a corner.

Maybe it is the end.

Asriel remembered that day. He remembered the walk through the snowy street under the cover of the night, the cigarettes they shared if only for a moment. He remembered the promise she'd made him swear to.

Find me.

…

I was never good at keeping promises, was I?

He remembered Dess’ face, as he'd seen her, obscured by the curtain of rain and the smoke coming from the side door. For a precious instant, he'd seen the same girl he'd fallen in love with all those years ago, the same girl that was present in most of his treasured memories. The same girl who'd had so many plans, so many dreams, once.

And suddenly, the flame surged and roared, alerting the strangers about his position. Asriel walked forward. Something coursed through his veins.

DETERMINATION.

No more running. Not anymore. No more fear. Dess would not have run, she would not have left another in the dust. She’d moved the earth upside down for him, for anyone. And he’d seen her, felt her. She was still somewhere, out there. In here. It’d been real, it had to have been. Whatever fucked-up logic made it possible did not matter now, not until she was safe again.

He was going to find her. She had been there, in his grasp. He’d not fail her again, after all this time.

There will be no end. Not until she is back.

“W-Watch out!” - the second voice spoke again.

Asriel saw himself engulfed by the flame, his hands enveloped in a myriad colours. It danced across his vision, coiled around his arms. Before he knew it, it’d withdrawn from him and left him a gift: a pair of two white swords, their hilts between his fingers, and their design dredging back memories of his younger days sketching on his notebook. The flames snaked along the floor and up the wall behind him, setting up a backdrop of dazzling light, ready for whatever - whoever - approached.

He did not care how many. He did not care for where he was. He was going to get answers. He was going to find her.

At last, three figures came into the light.

The first was tall, its mane a deep burgundy. Asriel saw pink scales shine through its spiked leather clothing, as it wielded a long hafted axe above its head. It stopped dead in its tracks, showing a scowl of bright yellow teeth before looking back for its companions.

“He’s here!”

The second one was smaller, most of it covered in a long green robe. A pink scarf separated its white, fluffy head from the rest of its silhouette. Round green glasses adorned its face, and it strangely kept its arms behind its back.

And last one was the light. At last, it was the light. Asriel could not distinguish much behind the corona of white that emanated from a red, heart shaped thing in the figure’s chest. What little things he could distinguish were armored greaves on its legs and a strange sword hanging from its hand.

“Nowhere to run now, Knight!” - the first one spoke, a familiarly brazen voice echoing in the great hall. Asriel’s flames danced on the winds of its words - “Honestly, I have to give it to ya. I never would have figured out you were Kris’ brother!”

Asriel’s breath became fast, as the flames danced and shivered. His heartbeat rose, and he felt something like rage bubble up deep within his chest.  What? Kris? Knight? What are you talking about?

“But now we got you!” - the tree figures stood side by side, their stances changed. They unsheathed their weapons.

Asriel could feel the flame coalescing, becoming something else. His mind was taken to the night, the summer nights he’d shared with Dess. Stars upon stars spread among the heavens, tracing constellations with their fingers. The same stars that’d seen him wander alone, into the night, flashlight in hand with singular purpose. The same stars he’d seen the last time they’d spoken. The same stars that would guide him. Stop. Shut up.

“And it’s time to end-”

Asriel slashed forward with the sword on his right hand, and an arc of light followed its motion. The light splintered halfway, becoming small shards that flew like shooting stars at the feet of the figures and burst into blasts of light on impact. The figures were pushed back.

“SHUT UP! What are you even talking about!?” - Asriel’s voice boomed, many echoes mimicking it from the great opening behind the three figures. In the light of the flames, he could now see the figures before him better. They, like him, were dressed in peculiar clothes, their style similar to his. And, like the thing he’d first found here, they resembled normal people, if ever so slightly off. The tall one looked like Susie, the one clad in robes had a face resembling him when he was younger, and the one shrouded in light resembled his sibling. Kris - “Who… are you?”

The simulacrum of Susie spoke once more - “We’re the Fun Gang.” - she pointed her axe towards him - “And your days of opening Dark Fountains are over.”

As Asriel tilted his head, he saw ripples of doubt spread for a moment among the doppelgangers. He remembered the jolt of pain, the sensation from the first creature he’d encountered here enduring still on his arm. Fool me once, shame on me. Fool me twice… - “Stay back.” - Asriel raised both his swords. He was outnumbered, outmatched. But he was resolute - “Where is Dess? Tell me!”

Susie stepped forward once again - “D-Don’t play dumb! We all saw you after you left the Flower King’s Dark World! We saw you going into the shelter!” - Asriel’s head was pounding, and he could feel his heartbeat anywhere except his chest - “Where did you take Undyne?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about!” - Asriel surged forward once again, taking stock of a courage he wasn’t sure if he could back up - “Tell me where Dess is. Or I will have to go through you!” - he would brave the dark. He would take another million steps, trace every path across this strange place. He’d promised. I will not fail her again. Never again.

Both sides did not budge, yet one could still feel uncertainty in the air. They simply looked at each other, weapons in hand and eyes ablaze. There would be no backing down, it seemed. Asriel was not sure he had the strength to fight off these simulacra, but it was too late to worry about that. He’d just need to push through. He’d just need to run off into the darkness. To find her.

[ !!! ]

* The God of Hyperdeath draws near.

[ FIGHT ] [ ❤️ ACT ] [ ITEM ] [ SPARE ] [ DEFEND ]

❤️ Check     * FlameBuster

* Pray

ASRIEL DREEMURR - ??? ATK ??? DEF

Your brother, returned. He is-

“My brother is not the Knight!!”

Kris' voice slashed through the building tension, cleaving the air and leaving a vacuum that took everyone’s breath away. As Asriel’s muscles tensed, he saw a twitch in Susie’s eye. The robed figure slowly turned to look at Kris.

“K-Kris… ?”

Kris’s eyes glowed red, piercing, as they stared down both of their companions. They sheathed their sword, and soon enough both Susie and the robed figure relented. Susie placed her axe on her back, while the robed figure simply crossed its arms and placed them once more behind its back.

“Kris… We both saw him!” - Susie quickly snapped, staring daggers at Asriel. Her fists balled in barely contained rage for a few seconds, but she quickly sighed and lowered her head - “I hope you know what you're doing.”

Kris stepped forward, prompting Asriel to raise his swords again - “Don't come any closer.” - Asriel looked down at his arm, remembering the pain. He had not noticed when, but a dark stain had appeared on his clothes along the length of the jolt he'd felt then.

“Oh? Are you hurt?” - the robed figure piped up, and backed down once Asriel pointed his blades in its direction. It smiled warmly, despite this - “Susie, if you could-”

“On it, Ralsei.”

A green light quickly appeared between Susie's hands. She quickly projected it outwards, launching a small green glob of flame towards Asriel. Asriel's flames rose in response, attempting to intercept the projectile, but with a slight flick of her finger Susie changed its direction and struck Asriel square.

And Asriel felt… normal.

He looked to his arm as the stain slowly regressed.

“Haha, I'm getting pretty good at this huh?”

“Yes you are Susie! That was very good.”

Asriel stood, dumbfounded, as the flames around him slowly retreated and crept back into the lantern clipped to his tunic. The swords disappeared, too, taken back by the magical fire. He could not help but stare at the tree. The Fun Gang, they said. Kris, Susie and Ralsei.

“Are you… real?” - Asriel asked.

The four of them walked, one behind the other. Kris led from the front, and then Susie, Ralsei, and finally, Asriel. After a surprisingly quick change of attitude in the group, Ralsei - the one that at first sight had resembled Asriel when he was younger - had spoken at length to Asriel about a myriad of concepts for what felt like the past hour. Dark Worlds, Dark Fountains, Darkners… Asriel tried to keep all the information in his head, but it was surprisingly difficult. Something as mundane as stabbing the ground - he’d dropped a pen or three over his lifetime, would that have worked too? - could bring forth a world beyond, filled with objects given life and shaped by the memories of its creator. And, at the epicenter of it all, were the Dark Fountains, where the earth bled shadow and gave form to these worlds. And apparently, all of this was… bad? So they needed to be closed, but only Kris could close them and…

“What the hell. Sure.” - Asriel clutched his head.

Ralsei jumped due to Asriel’s colourful language - which made Susie snicker ahead of the two - and then he noticed his pained expression. He stopped his narration and changed his tone immediately - “Are you alright? Do you want me to stop?” - he spoke with a concern that dispelled the image of the wise, possibly-evil elder sage he’d formed in his mind when he’d seen him for the first time.

“No, no, it’s alright.” - Asriel tried his best to wave the boy’s worries away - “It’s just… this is a lot to take in. It would be a lot to take in even if I still thought this was a dream, but…” - Asriel looked all around. Still, only plain ashen walls and darkness. Was this what had laid dormant within the shelter all of these years? A fantastical world of… nothing? - “... Dess should still be here, right?”

The boy nodded once again. It wasn’t the first time he’d asked him about Dess, even if he did not know who she was, truly. Neither did Susie, for that matter. The only other one who had known her was Kris, who’d retreated back into their neutral-faced, silent self - “If you saw her going in here, she should still be around.” - the boy gave him a reassuring smile, but couldn’t hide a flicker of worry in it.

Asriel sighed, his shoulders slumped. He hadn’t realized how exhausted he was until the adrenaline of their almost-fight had worn off.

“That’s an interesting lantern!” - Ralsei pointed to Asriel’s hip, where the star-marked lantern emitted a steady, multi-coloured glow.

“Thanks.” - Asriel unclipped it from his tunic and held it aloft - “I think it’s linked to my mind or something.” - he held it towards Ralsei, the flame glowing slightly and reflecting on his glasses - “Do you know where it could have come from?”

Ralsei rubbed his chin - “Well… basically everything here has a counterpart in the Light World, that they usually resemble in some way. Would that ring any bells for your lantern?” - Ralsei tilted his head, his long ears drooping to the side.

Asriel gave it some thought. Something metallic, something that produced flame, the shape of a star…

He chuckled. Of course. Click. Spark. Flame. Lid.

She was still at his side.

Hold on, Dess. I'm coming, I promise.

“I think I have an inkling, actually.” - Asriel smiled at Ralsei.

The long walk through the blackness continued, wall after wall passing them by. No more rooms, no more openings. Just the dark ahead and behind. They were guided by Kris, who seemed to have a form of magic - a bright red heart - capable of producing a brilliant white light, capable of piercing the murk. This light was apparently the only way to close the Dark Fountains, too.

“Maaaan, this sucks! Is there anything other than the same hallway in this stupid Dark World?” - a long silence, interrupted by Susie’s voice - “Ralsei, are we going the right way?”

“M-me?” - Ralsei seemed startled by the question - “I-I don’t know Susie, I’m…”

Ralsei stopped, prompting the rest of the group to do so as well.

“I’m not sure we should even be here…”

Ralsei turned to Asriel. Kris and Susie looked at him, too.

THE SIXTH DAY, THE RETURN OF THE GOLDEN SON

HIS FIERY GLOW REVEALS THE DEPTHS BELOW

“... The golden boy of Hometown, huh…” - Susie spoke somberly.

“Susie, Kris…”

“... Yes Ralsei?”

“How many days has it been since you entered the first Dark World?”

Chapter Text

Heaven knows 

the story that we've born 

from our hearts

THIS PLACE. 

ANOTHER TIME.

…

You are the Roaring Knight.

No, I- I was- I AM Dess Holiday.

You are the blade that will pierce the earth.

No I… I’m more than that… !

You answered the call.

I… I did.

Now, like me, you are a part of this place.

…

We are chained here together, you and I.

No… I’m not.

Bound together by the tail. At the end of everything.

I’m not, and you know it!

The poor, lost child.

So you got outsmarted by a “poor, lost child”, huh?

…

That’s what I-

Dess Holiday felt a sharp pain on her abdomen, as something thrusted into her and quickly pulled back - not that it would leave a mark. She knew better than to talk back, but then again, she’d known better than to do many things throughout her life, and it hadn't stopped her yet. Any pain she felt paled in comparison to the satisfaction getting one over that thing gave her. Truly priceless. And most of the time, her only source of entertainment.

It was either arguing with the thing - and she was very good at arguing, years of practice and all that - or reminiscing about… everything before this. And only one of those caused her a pain she could bear. Nowhere else to look, for there was only darkness. No one else to talk to. No sound but the unanswering voices of the depths. She could flail and run, but she went nowhere, as if in a dream. Or rather, a nightmare.

The thing seemed absent, Dess feeling the pressure of two eyes pressed upon her neck slowly dissipate. She must've struck a nerve - good. Between this and her previous little stunt maybe it'd had enough of her for a while.

Dess had a very limited awareness of what went on outside the bunker. Her eyes were only able to perceive anything other than darkness when she was sent out on her duties - and even then, only what her blinders allowed: a bright point, always in her vision, a target. Where she'd go and stab the earth. Bleed it dry. So, when she heard his voice again…

…

The first days - or that's what she thought they'd been, she could never be sure - were the worst. Voices all around her, familiar or otherwise, calling out her name, reaching for her: her parents, the Dreemurrs, every townsfolk she knew or not… “I'M HERE”, she'd cried out, “PLEASE OPEN THE DOORS”. But nobody had come. And quickly, the voices faded, one by one, until a silence so deep overtook her mind she yearned for the unanswered screams. It was at this point that it had come into play. A voice that would answer back.

At first, it was only simple words. Nonsense, mostly. It felt like it was making fun of her and her plight. But Dess was desperate, clinging to the burning nail that was the only voice that would speak back. Over time, it began speaking more. Longer words. Two words at a time. A sentence. It began to make sense, which Dess was not sure she couldn't attribute to her fading mind. How long had she been down there at that point?

Eventually, some of the other voices had come back too. Much more infrequently, Dess would hear whispers, mentions of her. Her sister Elly, a silent prayer. A mumble from Kris. The many, many confessions of Asriel. But Dess no longer had the strength to reach out. Her voice would never reach them. And eventually, they disappeared once more, one by one. The last one, the voice of Asriel as he badly tried to hold back tears, something she knew he was terrible at.

The thing had kept speaking to her. Drawing her attention to her. It was not coy about it. No need to look for the voices, they'd never look back. No need to think of them, they'd forgotten her already. It was only her and it, alone.

Until one day, it finally introduced itself.

I am a friend.

And Dess saw the same eyes she'd seen that day. The ones she'd followed into the dark.

It was no wonder she'd braved the bars of her cage once she'd heard Asriel's voice again, after all this time.

No wonder she'd managed to open the door, risking all to let one who should not be in. Even if it was only to selfishly prove he was still real. That he still remembered her, what she'd been before this. One last time.

He was so warm.

He'd changed a lot.

She had, too.

Deep down he was still the same boy, it seemed. A sweet, sincere dork, whose heart was so brimming with love that it made hers hurt sometimes.

But her…

… she wasn't sure she still was the same girl that'd been lost in the forest that fateful day.

Of the shadows cutting deep 

and the heroes that save us

ANOTHER PLACE.

YET ANOTHER TIME.

…

It had been a sunny day then, she thought. 

Even on the brightest summer days, the canopy of the forest just outside of town would block out the sun, leaving those who ventured within surrounded by shadows. It was one of the main reasons her parents didn’t really like her hanging around in there, especially in the company of her little sister, but this wasn’t the only thing she disobeyed them by doing, far from it. Over time, the forest had become a place for her to be away from everything, if only for the short time it took her to get from one point of the town to the other through it. The silent dark had comforted her during those times. Perhaps that’d been the reason why.

But at that moment she was anything but relaxed.

“KRIS!” - Dess yelled, her voice changing from her normal “I’m just messing with you” tone to her much scarier “You went too far with Noelle so you better hope Asriel is nearby to stop my bat” tone. She immediately saw the effect it had on the human, who looked back and stared at her through their bangs - “Dude, stop running off! I promised your mom I’d get you home by 5 and we’re already late!”

Much to Dess’ displeasure, the Holiday-Dreemurr alliance lacked a certain golden boy that day. Toriel was already putting pressure on him about his future studies and college, so he'd been forced to stay home with her and look through that whole mess. Dess had wanted to take him along to hang out next to the lake for a bit, but had had to settle for only Kris and Noelle - promising Toriel to get them back soon, of course. She remembered the pleading eyes of Asriel as she left through the door. Poor guy.

College. What a drag.

Toriel wasn't the only one interested in that. Dess had noticed her mother dropping hints - as subtle as bricks - that she needed to look into something for her future. Dess did not do badly in class, far from it - especially with her boyfriend's help - but she knew her future would not be waiting for her in a classroom. Not that she'd ever tell her mother this, of course. She just nodded and kept doing whatever she was doing.

“One day I’m gonna find you and Asriel’s secret spot!” - Kris threatened Dess, who simply shook her head and rolled her eyes. She knew they hated it when she did that - “I know what you do in there! I’ll tell mom!”

“Oh, do you, really?” - Dess raised an eyebrow, and slowly turned to the human. She spoke, getting closer and narrowing her eyes. Kris was not used to seeing her as serious, something she very rarely but effectively used to her advantage - “Trust me Kris, you have no idea…”

“... And you don’t want to know what we do there after midnight!” - Dess suddenly bared her teeth and lunged at the human, who jumped back and tripped in surprise. Dess couldn’t help but laugh, and offer a hand to the fallen child.

“Come on Kris, let’s go home.” - Kris stuck their tongue out, and Dess answered in kind as the two walked through the thicket. The child walked behind Dess and followed her outside of the treeline, once again towards the main road. Noelle was waiting for them there.

As she walked, Dess was absorbed in thought.

It’d been a nice day away from home, as most were. Fresh air, birds chirping. She’d watched the two kids chase each other near the lake, occasionally telling off Kris for being too rough, and just thought.

She’d started thinking a lot lately.

Asriel had a talent for pulling her away from her thoughts, making her look to the now instead of the if. He was obnoxiously positive, something which she really appreciated.

But he wasn’t there that day. Maybe if he had…

Dess thought a lot about her mother. She was overbearing, really wanted Dess to do certain things or act certain ways. It was, in a sense, like Toriel with Asriel, right? Something that mothers would do. But… Carol didn't smile at her most of the time. They barely talked, and when they did almost always ended in an argument, where dad had to step in. Sometimes she felt like she wasn't her daughter, just a stranger that had taken her place. Her ideal daughter, a polite honour student with a promising career in politics, had been taken over by a strange girl with dreams of making it big as an artist, who didn't care what others thought and smoked in secret with her boyfriend.

Dess sighed. Her mom deep down loved her. She must have. She was just doing it for her own good. She just didn't understand, like she always told her.

Dess really wanted to believe this. But she couldn't.

“Sis, where's Kris?” - Noelle asked, her voice breaking Dess out of her own thoughts. They'd made it into the road.

“Huh? What do you mean, they're right-”

Dess turned around. No sign of the human. Only the trees.

“OHHHH MY F-” - Dess realized she was still next to her little sister - “...udge.” - she pinched the bridge of her snout with enough force to crack her fingers - “Noelle, you think you can make it home from here? I'm gonna go into the woods AGAIN to look for them. I'll bring Kris’ head back to the Dreemurrs and I’ll go home after, alright?”

“D-Dess! Don't say that!” - for someone who liked horror movies as much as Noelle, she was very sensitive to any attempt at dark humour in her presence.

“Okay okay, just because they're your friend I'll bring them back in one piece.” - Noelle pouted at Dess' smug expression - “Just, maybe with a new bump or two on their head.”

Noelle waved to Dess, and she entered the dark embrace of the woods once more.

…

She didn't think only of her mother, of course. But in the end, as much as she hated it, a lot of things came back to her. She thought about how life would have been if things’d been… different. If mom had been different. She could’ve signed up to guitar classes instead of having to learn through the internet. She could’ve not been yelled at when she got a bad grade. She could’ve pierced her ears with her help instead of having to do it behind her back. Or perhaps, Dess could have been the one to be different. She could have listened to her mom, and stopped with her stupid songs. She could have studied, and been on a fast track to college like Asriel. She could’ve been a daughter she didn’t have to be ashamed of…

How would things have been away from Hometown, anywhere else? How would things have been had she been born in the big city, whose bright lights she could only see in the clearest nights? How different would it all have been had she just left everything behind one of the many times she’d thought about it, taken the first bus she could out of Hometown and never looked back? If she'd burned it all down…?

If things had been different…

… maybe she wouldn’t have had Noelle as a little sister, who was the sweetest sister anyone in the world could aspire to - and the best person to watch cheesy horror flicks with. Maybe she wouldn’t have met Kris, who made for a formidable opponent despite their age and was always down for getting into trouble. And maybe, just maybe, she would have never known Asriel. He would have never pushed her to do better, shine brighter. She would have never cheered him on, made him feel the wind under his wings for the first time. There'd have been no summer nights under the stars, held in each other's arms.

Maybe, after all… some things had turned out alright.

…

Dess saw sudden movement ahead. She figured her prey must’ve been near. As she suspected, she saw a striped pattern, its bright yellows and greens visible even through the dark below the leaves. The shape then moved, quickly, and ran out of sight again. Kris was surprisingly slippery and fast for someone who did not care to do any sort of sport or physical activity unless it resulted in someone getting in trouble.

Dess tried her best to follow the blur, worried. As much as her and Kris played up their rivalry, she really cared for them; and she knew that Hometown’s woods were not the best place to run around, especially for someone without a monster’s hooves or paws. Dess had scraped her knees on rocks and twisted her ankles on roots many times over the years, and she was certain Kris was not as sturdy as her.

“Kris! Come on, the joke's over! Let’s go home!”

Dess followed the blur, as it shifted through the leaves, almost slithering like a snake. How were they so fast? Where were they even going? That way only led to the…

… Shelter.

As Dess emerged from the trees into the clearing that housed the small shelter, she saw the human standing before it, right in front of the door. The shelter had been a constant throughout all her life, remaining the same mysterious humming hill at the edge of town at all times. Not that she'd ever admitted it to anyone, but the place creeped her out a bit. She'd tried forcing the door open on a few occasions, to see what lay within and maybe put an end to her fears, but it'd proven to be surprisingly well protected for something whose doors were more rusty than not.

Only, this time there weren't any doors.

The shelter was wide open.

No hum came from within. Only the howl of a weak wind.

Dess could see nothing beyond the shelter's entrance. There, in the darkness, something gripped Dess' heart and did not let go. This is dangerous, I- we gotta get out of here NOW.

“Kris.” - Dess slowly made her way to the human, who was mere steps away from the door. Her feet dragged as if she were walking through waist-high water, but she could not move any faster while fighting her instincts to just run away.

She reached Kris.

They were shivering. Their breathing was shaky. She could hear their heart beat fast. Or was that her own?

“... Kris? Let's just leave, okay?”

Kris did not move their gaze from the open maw of the shelter - “I saw something…”

A chill ran through Dess's spine. She looked into the darkness herself. Nothing. There couldn't possibly be anything in that old shelter.

Dess placed herself between the door and Kris, trying to wedge them from their position - “T-There's nothing there Kris. Come on, it's not sa-”

Dess’ world tilted as she fell backwards, and time slowed down. She saw Kris’ expression morph from fear into utter and complete horror. She wasn't sure what had happened. Something had pushed her into the darkness. Or maybe dragged her in.

By the time a scream died in her throat, she could no longer see any light.

It took about a second to set in.

Kris…?

Dess didn't move, and sat completely motionless wherever she was. She didn't know if her eyes were open or closed, and it made no difference. The only certainty was the cold that enveloped her, threatening to swallow her like the dark. And despite it all, she remained still. She didn't want to react, she couldn't bring herself to move. She wasn't there. Maybe if she ignored it, if she believed it, it would come true.

…

“KRIS! OPEN THE DOOR!” - Dess jumped up, running into what she assumed was the door that had led her to this place. Not that she could be sure, as the darkness covered all. She banged on the solid surface a couple of times - “THIS ISN’T FUCKING FUNNY KRIS!”

Then she heard a rustle. Barely audible, from behind.

Dess’ heart skipped a beat.

Tears welled up in her eyes. There was nothing else in the dark with her - “PLEASE KRIS!” - she didn't know where she was. It was so dark, so cold - “PLEASE I'M SORRY KRIS!” - Dess slammed her fists on the door. Her hands began to hurt.

A scratching.

Louder.

“PLEASEEE! PLEASE I'LL DO ANYTHING!” - Dess' throat was sore from the cold and her screams. She scratched at the metal of the door, trying and failing to find purchase on a handle, a button or anything that would show her she was not trapped in there. Her nails fruitlessly splintered on the unanswering steel - “MOOOM! MOM HELP ME PLEASE!”

Laughter.

Dess turned around.

Pink and yellow, smiling wide.

Dess screamed, her own voice echoing through the infinite blackness. She cursed, pushed back into the door. She kicked and flailed, cried and prayed. Mom. Dad. Asriel. Toriel. Asgore. The Angel. Anyone, please.

… she didn't do any of that?

…

Before she realized it, she was back outside.

Dess tried to control her breathing and wiped tears from her eyes. The shelter had its doors closed, the machine within hummed as it always had. It hadn't been real, right? Her throat hurt and she was shaking, her fingers ached and the air felt warm on her skin by comparison. But it hadn't happened. It hadn't.

Dess got up, her legs shaking - “Kris? Kris where are you?”

She heard soft sobbing from behind a tree, close to the clearing's edge. She made her way there slowly, only to find a human child, smaller than she'd ever seen them. Kris was shivering. They were sitting, grabbing their own knees. As Dess approached they recoiled back, falling onto the floor and covering their face.

“Kris…” - Dess grabbed the child into an embrace, placing her hand behind Kris' head. In truth, she was thankful Kris started to sob lightly into her. She had an excuse to accompany them  - “It's okay Kris, it's okay. It was just an accident. Nothing happened.”

Both of them remained there, caressed by the wind and bathed in sunlight. Slowly, the shaking stopped, and both were able to look at each other. Kris got up, a worried expression on their face slowly melting into a deadpan one. Dess grabbed their hand and squeezed.

“Let's go home, alright Kris?”

It’d been just a bad dream.

…

Dess began to think differently from that day, after dropping Kris off home and seeing them head directly into their room. She began wondering how she could have dreamed up such a crazy story, how her imagination was able to run so wild.

The shelter had never opened its doors, for as long as she'd lived in Hometown.

And she had not begun to see eyes in the corners of her room at night.

She had not begun to shudder when she heard the rustle of the leaves, when she heard what she hoped was just branches scratching her window, swaying in the wind. Even if she knew no trees had ever reached that far.

She had not lost sleep, fearing what she’d see in her dreams.

And she hadn't ultimately followed the signs into the shelter. To find what hadn't happened.

There'd been no tail.

Maybe, if Asriel had been there that day… things would have been different. Maybe she would have been able to believe herself.

Heaven knows 

the beauty of the soul 

and we weep

THIS PLACE

SOON.

…

Dess felt a familiar pressure building up on her temples, as two distinct forces bored into the back of her head. Great, that thing was back. Dess didn’t need to see it or even hear it anymore to register its presence, as her body would react on its own: her mind would get foggy, perhaps in a vain attempt to impede the one that was so keen on intruding upon it; her shoulders would slump and her legs would give out, knowing well that animating them would, at least for a time, not be as simple as before. But at the end of the day, it was what she wanted, wasn't it?

Absolutely not.

You will go into the Light World, shrouded by dark. There, on the brightest point, you will drive your blade deep into the earth, focusing on your deepest desires, and bleed it dry. You shall create a Dark Fountain, bringing forth a world of purest black, revealing the truth lying below.

And, in due time, the Roaring shall come.

The world shall be plunged into dusk, and all shall be able to begin anew.

That is what you desire, is it not?

I…

But this time didn't seem to be one of those times. There was no overwhelming voice inside her head goading her, prodding her. She could feel no strings pulling on her hands, hoisting her up from above. Instead, she only felt the presence of the thing, as it slowly faded out of the darkness behind her. She turned around.

Hello.

Go fuck yourself.

Surprisingly, there was no pain. The thing simply stared, its expression the same as every time she'd had the displeasure of seeing it: two small eyes open wide, coloured yellow and pink, and a large smile, larger than any smile on any face within reason should be. But this was not a creature of reason, of course, or at least no reason she could fathom. Even aside from its warped shape, its very existence, the way it moved, it talked, it intruded upon her… it made no sense. But the hope that all of this had just been a horrible, senseless nightmare all along, that she'd never become lost, had deserted her a long time ago.

Curiously, Dess did notice something different on the face, as it seemed to struggle, to take longer than it normally would to blurt out a response to her childish insult. Was that… anger? No, there was something else.

You are a foolish child. You have no clue what you've done. For the good of the both of us you better pray it can be fixed before it's too late.

I don't know what you're talking about, but I hope it hurts.

I suppose the blame lies on me for not removing the root of the problem when I had the chance. Or for believing you might have actually come to reason after all this time.

Come to reason? You are mad.

Am I? What does that make of you then? Doing as you do, thinking as you think. Perhaps you should take a good look at yourself.

You know I-!

Yes, I do know. And so do you. Could I force you? You mean to tell me you truly, deeply had not harbored this desire? To see what it'd bring forth? To see what would have been? If there'd been no reason you'd answered the call?

That gigantic, toothy smile curved ever upwards, mocking her.

I… never…

I only gave you the tools. The first push.

…

And you seized your chance.

A great scream rang out throughout the depths, reaching even the remote pocket she'd been resigned to. A low rumble accompanied it shortly after.

The thing's expression shifted slightly.

We have visitors.

What… ?

Come, let us not be rude. Let us welcome YOUR guests.

My guests? Who… ?

The thing's expression never truly changed, and if it ever did it was only from a smile to a full blown cackle or viceversa. However, below that veneer, Dess had learned to identify what really went inside what passed for a brain on it. And now? It was… something she'd never seen.

As the familiar sensations returned to Dess, her body slowly becoming numb and not fully her own, she came to know what else she'd seen hidden in the face of her false friend.

Anger, yes. A great deal of anger, burning hot.

But also, fear. A great and terrible fear.

Dess smiled. Her lips did not move. They could only muster a slight twitch.

And the Roaring Knight flew into the darkness.

To the majesty and 

pray we not forget 

the tale of DELTARUNE

Asriel had sung those hymns too many times to ever forget their lyrics. From an early age, his mother had brought him to church every Sunday, where he’d learned about the tale of DELTARUNE and the Angel, a creed she’d lived by - and made her family live by - throughout her whole life. It was no wonder he’d ended up joining the choir, encouraged by his mother. And every Sunday, he’d recite those words again. 

He’d done so until a few years back.

I miss singing.

“Yes, I think I know of it” - Asriel told Ralsei. Some parts of the prophecy had been lost to time, but the broad strokes were there. Not that he would ever admit this to his mother, but one of the main ways he’d managed to learn it by heart was playing through the Dragon Blazers series as a kid: every new game he’d get had to be approved by his mother, and these ones thankfully were based on the prophecy - rather, on The Lord of the Hammer, which had been based on the prophecy itself - so it was greenlit without too much pleading. Very quickly, they’d become an obsession of his, being one of the most exciting things he’d had access to. It didn't help that his neighbours and closest friends shared his passion, which meant he always had someone he could talk about them with.

“There're three heroes: a warrior, a girl and a prince. Together, they travel through kingdoms in search of ways to stop an oncoming calamity. First, they slay the Dark King atop the Black Tower, freeing the captive dragon he’d enslaved.” - the original Dragon Blazers. A classic, but hadn’t aged the best - “Next, they travel to the Citadel of Metal, where they beat the Bright Queen in her own coliseum.” - the aptly named Dragon Blazers 2. More of the same, both the good and the bad - “Then… then they take a boat northwards, finding the forbidden city of Gelida and unleashing its terrible blight upon the world.” - Dragon Blazers 3: Wrath of the North had marked a dark turn for the franchise’s story; so much so that he’d left it at Dess’ house to prevent his mother from finding out he’d played it - “After that, the great smith Gerolt seeks them out, to test their might and give them a great weapon that could face the coming horrors.” - perhaps the strangest entry in the franchise, Dragon Blazers 4: Trials had added some experimental gameplay elements that’d been thankfully abandoned by the next game - “Finally, on the flying kingdom of Yggdrasil, the heroes face the Grieving Monarch, and bear witness to the World Tree’s destruction.” - a bittersweet ending. Dragon Blazers 5: FLAME had been the last game in the franchise, due to the untimely passing of the author of The Lord of the Hammer. He still missed him.

“Dude… that’s just the plot of Dragon Blazers.” - Susie raised an eyebrow.

“I-I know! It’s my way of remembering how it goes!” - Asriel felt somehow embarrassed - “I’m getting to it, alright?” - he’d had to learn the parts beyond these games by reading scripture under his mother’s watchful eye - “After the three unknown heroes travel the world, weary and experienced, they come back to their realm. Only to find the calamity of shadow has already come.” - Asriel’s voice grew somber - “And it is only through ultimate sacrifice that they devote themselves to the salvation of the world.” - in truth, there was not much more to say. The pious, led into the pyre for the salvation of it all. The teachings of the Angel. While Asriel had always looked to it as a tale of heroism, of selflessness and belief in the good inherent in each of us, he couldn’t deny the bleakness of its end when surrounded by stone and darkness.

“That is… mostly true, yes.” - Ralsei spoke again, having paid very close and polite attention to Asriel's half-assed attempt of recounting the prophecy - “The prophecy is more… thorough than you know.” - he turned away from the group - “It dictates everything that’s happened so far, to the last detail. The heroes, the kingdoms… the calamity.”

Asriel spoke without thinking - “What do you mean by that? What’s happened so far?”

Asriel could hear Susie scoff behind him. She made her way towards Ralsei, while Kris did the same. Standing side by side by the ashen wall, backed by the light coming from Kris, they appeared as a colossus of shadow each, their shape thrown against the gray. The warrior, blade in hand and resolute. The girl, eyes to the sky and smiling bright. And the prince, shoulders sunk in prayer and reverence. Players one through three.

The heroes of the prophecy.

“... It can’t be.”

Susie smiled proudly - “You better believe it! Feast your eyes on the heroes of the prophecy, golden boy!”

Asriel had to take a step back - “Impossible…” - somehow he decided this'd be where he'd draw the line. Worlds of imagination brought to life? Sure thing. Objects gaining sentience and free will? Fine! Dess being found, just beyond his reach, in the shelter all along…? Please.

Asriel tried to compose himself. His sibling, the little menace who spent way too long planning pranks to pull on others, the wielder of the sword who'd slay the dark. He didn't know Susie well enough to make a judgement, or Ralsei either, but they seemed so… normal (as normal as Kris’ friends could ever be). Just people, like him. In a way it made sense: a big point of the Angel's teachings was the fact that these heroes could come from anywhere. But still, the heroes of legend, standing before him…

“Does… does that mean…?”

“Yes.” - a shadow crossed onto Ralsei's face - “The Dark Worlds and the Fountains… It is all related. A clash of light and dark, ending in the Roaring. The Roaring, which can only be stopped…” - Ralsei's voice trailed off, as he retreated into his scarf.

Susie placed her hand on Ralsei's shoulder. Asriel could've sworn at that moment, her eyes were the brightest thing around, surpassing Kris’ and Asriel's magical lights combined - “Until now.”

Ralsei peeked from behind his scarf at the lizard, who held her gaze firm. He took a breath and nodded a bit too eagerly, which caused Susie to giggle - “You are correct. If it's truly been four days as you said…” - Ralsei looked at Asriel, with fire in his eyes - “The prophecy is no longer accurate.”

Susie smiled wide, turning towards Asriel too - “Hell yeah! Nice going, Asriel!”

Asriel jumped slightly upon hearing his name, as if the actors of a play he'd been spectating had suddenly singled him out - “Huh… me? What?”

“Perhaps it needn't have been just you. Maybe other things, other people, one after the other, led you here.” - Ralsei rubbed his chin - “But you are undeniable proof. It can be changed!” - Asriel saw what looked like tears forming on Ralsei's eyes - “And I believe you'll be a part of it.”

Raslei breathed in.

“I just hope that what it changes towards… it's not something worse.”

Silence once more. Asriel could not help but wonder what had happened between the three of them in the four days they'd mentioned. As Ralsei had recalled earlier during his explanations, Susie and Kris had not even entered that first Dark World as friends. So how come, when he looked at the three of them, he could see it? Understanding. A bond stronger than any other. They had each other.

Like Kris and Asriel, once. Like him and Dess.

Dess…

Asriel raised his voice - “Ralsei.” - all three members of the Fun Gang turned their heads - “You did say that, until now, the prophecy had been accurate, yes? And that it was very specific?” - Ralsei nodded twice, once for each question.

“... did it say anything about Dess?”

Ralsei retreated back into his scarf ever so slightly - “You said you saw her enter the bunker before you, yes?”

“I did.”

Ralsei took a deep breath.

THE KNIGHT WHICH MAKES WITH BALCKENED KNIFE

SHALL DUEL WITH HEROES STRIFE BY STRIFE

…

AND AT JOURNEY'S END SHALL THE ONE IN BLACK BE SLAIN

Silence once more.

“If she's the Knight, then-” - Ralsei was cut off.

Suddenly, everything crashed around Asriel. He felt something bubble within him, and didn't know whether to cry or laugh. So he did both.

First a chuckle, low, which transitioned into a laughter. Higher, higher until he was roaring, his voice echoing off the walls. Asriel laughed and laughed, tears streaming down his face. To find Dess after all this time, only to have her be cut down before him. Utterly ridiculous, laughable. He trembled, as he held his chest for a moment, his laugh having become no more than a wheeze, and dried his tears.

The Fun Gang looked at him. Susie held a conflicted expression on her face.

“Good thing that won't come to pass anymore, huh?”

Susie looked to the others, and then to the darkness ahead - “You got that right.”

Chapter Text

The march continued, with Asriel behind the heroes of the prophecy. An uneasy silence washed over the group, suppressing every small impulse of them bringing something up that would break the ice that encased them. Asriel tried to keep his mind occupied on the barren walls once again, searching for the repeating patterns in their imperfections.

Wait… Repeating?

Asriel rubbed his eyes and fixated his gaze on a particularly uninteresting part of his right hand wall. He followed it with his gaze until his steps sunk it into the darkness behind him. He whipped his head around quickly, as if to catch the wall itself unaware, and looked around the same spot he'd first stared at.

And there it was. It sank into the darkness again and reappeared ahead once more. And again. As they walked and walked, the path felt… narrower, the walls barely perceptibly closing in. More hostile, like they were treading uphill. A chill ran down Asriel's back. The walls did not curve, but somehow they were managing to go in circles.

“I have an idea.” - as if reading his mind, Susie raised her voice for the first time in what felt like an eternity - “Hey Ralsei, do you trust me?”

Ralsei snapped out of some sort of daze - “H-Huh? Yes, of course Susie!”

“Hold that thought.” - Susie grabbed Ralsei and effortlessly lifted him over her shoulder. Asriel wondered how much of him was just weightless fluff - “Asriel, turn around!”

“Hm? Sure?” - Asriel sheepishly followed Susie's order, but turned his eyes on the group just at the right time to see Susie throw Ralsei forward with great force.

“What are you doing!?” - Asriel asked as the fluffy boy disappeared into the darkness ahead. He didn't have to wait long for an answer, as the combined force of Susie's throw and Ralsei's weight came back from behind the group, slamming into him and knocking him on his ass - “Ouch!”

“Sorry…!” - Ralsei apologized as he clumsily attempted to get off of a slightly stunned Asriel.

“You saw it right?” - Asriel looked at Susie, who now stood before him alongside Kris as he laid on the ground.

“Yes.” - Asriel groaned as he took Ralsei's hand to stand up - “We're stuck in a loop. I had my suspicions.”

“No wonder it was taking this long.” - Susie raised her arms, exasperated - “So uh… any bright ideas on how we get out of here? We're not gonna get to the Dark Fountain at this rate… Or whenever we need to get to, I guess.”

“This dark world is very strange.” - Ralsei added, after appearing absorbed in thought for a long while - “There is an overwhelming presence of darkness all around, but… I can’t feel the pull of any Dark Fountain.” - Ralsei looked to the sky, or what made for a sky in that place: an endless expanse of black, perched highly above their heads. If there were any stars in that place, their light did not reach them - ”I can’t feel… anything in here, haha.” - Ralsei’s laugh was very much forced.

Suddenly, the ground rumbled.

The walls stumbled or walked, as if the world itself was angered by the fact that the group had caught on to its little game. As the ashen walls shivered, there came a great, loud noise, a vibration so deep and physical it did not register on their ears before their hearts and their stomachs. Perhaps Ralsei was right, and this was no regular Dark World. Perhaps they’d wandered into the belly of a great beast, a curious thing that had preferred to play with its food at the sight of its foolish bravery. Whatever it had been, it was tired now, and soon it would feast on them as their just reward. They laid, shaken and stumbling, in the yawning maw of the void, and cursed their luck for their own undoing. Poor fools, Asriel thought, thinking themselves different. Poor fool, he thought, for thinking this’d amount to much. Among the noise and the dark, a bitterly familiar sensation.

At least I saw her before I died, again.

…

No. No! I-

And then the noise stopped, and the walls became solid once more. The sound left his body so fast Asriel had to look to the others to check he had not been the only one living through that massive shift.

“What was that!?” - Asriel asked in Ralsei’s direction, hoping that his would-be guide would not be as clueless and unsettled as him - “Is this normal?”

“I… I don’t know!” - Ralsei answered quickly, as if he feared the shift would come again if he took too long - “I’ve never felt anything like this… T-This is wrong!”

Susie spoke over the two - “Did everyone else see the walls move? Was this place this narrow before?” - The bravado in her voice could not cover up her trembling, as her words stumbled their way out of her throat.

Kris pointed ahead, their silent gesture somehow managing to cut the voices of everyone else short. Ahead of them laid something, a grey different from the encroaching darkness and the now more narrow walls. Ahead of them lay, somehow, something, someone.

It was not recognizable as a living thing, at first. Two thin, long columns stretched from their plinths on the floor high into the darkness, disappearing. In front of them, an almost identical pair coming from an unknown point above, and tilting in such a way that they seemed to reach for them, grasping and hungry. And up there, in the murky black, where one would lose track of those thin limbs of stone, a shape. Glimpses, escaping the darkness, moving but still, the dark leaving and coming from them as if it were flames. Those glimpses, together, came to resemble something angular, strong. And from that uncertain shape sprouted two massive horns, a colour similar to the wall, that were visible despite the dark. They were visible, even if they closed their eyes.

And then it moved, long columns shifting slightly to give it grotesque animation. It leaned slightly forward with great effort, and screamed.

Asriel joined the other three in their stance against the wailing thing before them. Almost as if they were of the same mind, all of them took out their weapons: Kris unseathed their sword, Susie let her axe rest on her shoulder, Ralsei held out his arms as sparks danced on his hands and his scarf seemed to uncoil on its own. Asriel followed their lead. He felt the fire rise from within his lantern, granting him his twin blades once more. Embers and cinders danced around him as he steeled himself for his first true fight here. He was about to find what he was capable of.

[ !!! ]

* Is this not the Minotaur?

Asriel looked to his side and saw Kris pointing towards the enemy, defiant. In this light, any doubts he had harbored about his sibling being a legendary hero faded, giving way to an awe that was hard to describe… Pride. Yes, that was it, pride. Although Asriel had not been a part of it, he felt immensely proud for Kris. Proud of them having risen to the occasion, to have made friends new and old. For having pushed through. Perhaps, he thought, he could learn a thing or two from them. Hope, yet…

[ ❤️ ACT ]

❤️ Check

THE MINOTAUR - ??? ATK ??? DEF

* Kris already knows this is not the Minotaur.

“Watch the walls.” - Kris projected their voice towards the group. The three of them nodded, and Asriel pondered their advice. Watch the walls?

[ ❤️ MAGIC ]

❤️ S-Action

“You got it!”

Susie held her axe on her shoulder, and put one foot back. Asriel braced himself to witness a deed of legend, an attack from the mightiest of the heroes of the prophecy. As she pulled her head back and took in air, Asriel imagined a gout of blazing flame belching forth from the lizard's mouth, annihilating the enemy and reducing it to nothing more than molten, distressingly gray slag.

* Susie tries to out-roar the Minotaur.

A mighty bellow escaped Susie's throat, echoing off the walls of the labyrinth. A great beast's roar, crashing into the Minotaur and pushing it back ever so slightly.

The Minotaur replied, another scream coming from it. This one was stronger, like a gust of fierce wind, that cut into the party and made them brace themselves to not be pushed back.

“It's no good, Kris! I don't think we're gonna get much outta this guy!”

What the… ?

Far from Asriel to question the methods of the heroes of the prophecy but… a simple shout? Asriel tried to push away the doubts from his mind - this was a world of magic, after all. His thoughts went back yet again to Dragon Blazers; maybe it'd been a powerful debuff, or a boost to the damage of the party. Surely they knew what they were doing. Right?

[ ❤️ MAGIC ]

❤️ R-Action

“Here goes!”

Ralsei raised a finger towards the Minotaur. He was the most mysterious to Asriel of the three. He’d mentioned he was a Darkner - the Prince of Darkness - but not much else. It was clear he knew a great deal about everything, seeing as he seemed to act as a guide for the others. But, who truly was he? His physical similarities to his younger self had not gone unnoticed - although they’d become more and more hard to see once he’d actually taken a proper look at him - but beyond that, he seemed to be a kind-hearted boy, patient and eager to help. That was the side he displayed outwardly, but Asriel had taken notice of shadows that sometimes plagued his face, and of words he trailed off or left unsaid. It was clear he harboured something secret, something he kept to himself. In a way, like he himself did…

Asriel wasn’t helping his own case by pointing out more similarities between the two.

This composite image of the Prince of Darkness left Asriel unsure of what he was truly capable of. Unlike the others, he seemed to carry no weapons, so he surely was proficient in some sort of magic. At most, he'd seen sparks at his fingertips, so he was eager to see what the might of one native to this place would be.

* Ralsei tries to reason with the Minotaur.

“Please, let us through! The fate of the world depends on it!”

The Minotaur replied again, a howling wind pushing them back once more.

Just. Words.

They'd been spoken with great urgency, and Asriel could feel the weight behind their meaning. But…

Just…

… WORDS?

“It seems there's no other way…” - Ralsei lowered his head.

“What the hell are you doing!?” - Asriel didn't try to hide the anger in his voice as Ralsei and Susie looked at him, surprised. They were the heroes of legend, who'd bested many foes, brought down creatures borne of nightmares. They were against something unknown, a monster from a twisted fairytale, who blocked their path forward. The path where there lay a girl who'd been missing for 4 fucking years, who they'd finally been able to track down. And the only thing they could think of was to chat? To play around?

“We're trying to see if we get through this peacefully, dumbass!” - Susie's reply was almost as coated in anger as Asriel's had been. This only made him more furious. Dumbass…?

DUMBASS? I’m only trying to get this over with! Am I the only one here that cares about what we’re doing…? About finding DESS!?

… Of course I am! You don't know her, you didn't know her! You don't care about her! You didn't see her face, changed but still undoubtedly hers, after years of it remaining just in memories and faded pictures! You didn't have thoughts of her rekindled, of the future and dreams that were stolen from her when she was still just a kid! Y-you-...

The flame rose, and then sputtered.

…

… you should never know the feeling.

Asriel's shoulders dropped, letting go of the tension that'd been suddenly thrust on them. His grip loosened on the hilt of his blades as he pulled his head back onto the Minotaur, still standing tall in the middle of the hall. Breathe, Asriel. The flame in his lantern slowly calmed down, pulling back a polichromed light from the startled faces of both Ralsei and Susie.

Not now. Not here.

Asriel breathed deep, and looked forward. His opponent stood high in the darkness, so motionless it was hard to believe it had roared with such force mere seconds ago. He raised his blades once more towards the creature. It was time to truly test what he was capable-

[ ❤️ MAGIC ]

❤️ A-Action

Asriel heard a voice, stern, so close he could have almost sworn it came from the very inside of his own mind. He turned around quickly, but found no mysterious stranger behind him. His sibling, in the distance, looked at him and pointed with authority towards the foe as the red heart in front of them shone brightly.

“… Kris?” - Asriel asked, in full knowledge of the fact that an active battlefield was perhaps not the best place to question their leadership - “... what? What does A-Action even mean?”

“Just do anything dude!” - Susie piped up.

Anything? Asriel couldn't think of anything at that moment. Every time he'd thought he'd managed to grasp the logic of this place, it threw something new at him that broke his perceptions. Was this how battles were fought in these worlds? Through word and deed instead of sword and sorcery? That wasn't how he'd felt his first encounter with the three heroes of legend was heading, back in that great hall…

But perhaps, the thing that most confused him right then was Kris. As he looked back at them, he thought. Yes, they had said something, but not with their own voice. Not the voice Asriel knew.

Asriel thought he saw something. A figure  peering from behind them.

Watching.

Who-

* Asriel couldn't think of anything to do!

Asriel was brought back to reality as the thing before him seemed to move towards them, ever so slightly. He braced himself as the creature roared once again, but this time he felt his whole body rumble. He looked at his sides, and saw the ashen gray of the walls become stained by long streaks of black. Dark tendrils sprawled across them as Kris’ advice echoed through his mind. Watch the walls.

Something lunged at him from the wall. A spike or an arm reached out, but Asriel was able to jump back in time. Soon, another one followed suit, but he was able to be spared its rage due to his slender frame. Then another rushed towards him, and another. Asriel  staggered back, and hacked at the tendrils fruitlessly, trying to slow them down as more of them erupted from the wall.

As Asriel was pushed back by the onslaught, he saw the other three doing as he did, dodging the tentacles with a practiced ease. Soon enough, the darkness that gave them form dissipated, and he saw the Minotaur in front of them stagger back slightly. It was their chance.

“It doesn't seem very peaceful to me!” - Asriel said.

“Yes, I know! We'll have to deal with this the hard way.” - Ralsei added. He then looked both at Kris and Susie.

[ ❤️ ACT ]

❤️ FlameBuster

Kris pointed forward once more, and a bright smile crept onto Susie's face as she looked towards Ralsei. He replied with a look of focus, a fire shining in his eyes.

“Finally!” - Susie rushed forward. She held her axe in front of her, as if challenging the enemy, before she brought it back behind her, lined up for a homerun-worthy swing. Besides her, Raslei seemed to be planning something on his own. The sparks on his fingers, once few, had multiplied into a faint light, and then a white-hot flame that he cupped between his hands. He held it in place, his eyes closed deep in focus.

Then, Susie unleashed her swing, furious as if it'd been a ferocious beast thrashing against thick steel chains, a slash so fast a small gust of wind accompanied it. She rose through the air in an uppercut motion, axe first, as a pink wave was left in her wake.

At the same time, Ralsei closed his hands around his newly formed flame, then pointed upwards, the very same flame spiraling in every direction from his finger. It lit the whole hall around them, and made its way in a white torrent towards his friend, joining the pink wave she'd left behind.

Then, the pink wave, followed by a trail of pure-white flame, rushed ahead, illuminating the dark as it struck the Minotaur true.

3552!

3701!

Small specks of white light remained on the Minotaur for a few seconds before the darkness around consumed them too. The thing howled differently this time, as Asriel saw some of the columns supporting it bend back and move to prevent it from falling. Susie laughed heartily, and Ralsei seemed to breathe out in relief.

Asriel smiled.

That's more like it!

[ ❤️ ATTACK ]

Like clockwork, another order came to Asriel, still in that strange authoritative voice. But this time, he knew very well what it wanted from him. He readied his blades, flame flickering at their edges, and slashed forward with both, as an x-shaped ripple of multicolored light came forth and sped towards the Minotaur. About halfway through its trajectory, the light splintered into shards, each one becoming shooting stars that homed in on the enemy. 

Each of the stars burst on impact, tinting the battlefield a different colour for a fraction of a second.

177!

167!

185!

169!

180!

184!

Asriel felt a sense of pride as he saw the creature stagger with each impact, being driven back once more. Not bad, for a newbie. He wondered what’d happened had his aim been better the first time he’d met the Fun Gang.

His gloating didn't last long, as the creature soon decided to retaliate. The ground shook once more, and more tendrils appeared. Asriel though knew this song and dance already, but thankfully he caught himself mid-thought - now it was not the time to get cocky. It seemed the Minotaur agreed with him. As it slowly moved towards them, a dark, barbed whip sprung from the very floor below him and grasped him tightly, its spikes burrowing into his flesh. A yelp of pain died in Asriel’s throat, as he watched the same fate befall Susie.

-108!

-111!

Kris and Ralsei both managed to avoid this punishment, swiftly dodging to their side and slicing the tendrils clean off with a swift motion. As soon as they noticed their companion’s plight, they rushed to their sides, with Susie being freed by Kris and Asriel by Ralsei. The Minotaur roared once more, and slowly continued its approach.

“Y-you’re hurt!” - Ralsei said, placing a hand on Asriel’s chest. The barbs had cut deep into his robes, and he could still feel their sting. He hoped they didn’t carry any poison.

“I’m good!” - Asriel tried to push through the pain, not very convincingly judging by Ralsei’s expression. He tried to get up but his knee faltered at the last second.

[ ❤️ ITEM ]

❤️ Tensionbit

Kris stood silent as they held aloft a small shard of a pale orange color. They crushed the crystal with it with their hand, and a warm glow enveloped the group. Asriel was unfamiliar with the effect, but couldn’t help but be encouraged somehow. Kris seemed to be more of a leader or a tactician than a fighter or a mage, at any rate. Knowing his sibling as he did, he would have never guessed that’d been their role.

[ ❤️ ITEM ]

❤️ Flowertea

A wounded Susie produced a somehow steaming cup of tea, plate and all, from her pocket, and drank it - pinky up, of course. After throwing the plate and the cup in the creature’s direction, she picked her axe back up and stood at the ready.

+MAX!

[ ❤️ MAGIC ]

❤️ Heal Prayer

“Hold on!” - Ralsei knelt down, a small aura of light gathering at his feet. Asriel heard soft murmuring coming toward him, but couldn’t quite catch any word in particular. He stood still, anticipating what the boy would do, until he stood up and placed a hand on his chest. As the boys’ hand glowed, a strange warmth spread through him, a warmth that burned away any would-be poison and lessened the sting of the dark barbs on his flesh.

+MAX!

“Thanks!” - Asriel stood up, feeling refreshed and ready for what was to come. Ralsei nodded, a serious expression on his face, and stepped back from the golden boy.

[ ❤️ MAGIC ]

❤️ Chaos Buster

… Chaos Buster?

As Dess flopped onto her bed, launching what had moments prior been well-organized piles of papers through the air, all pretense this would be a productive study session vanished without a trace. To be fair, Dess had held out for far longer than Asriel had expected, and in the piles of paper that now littered the floor there’d been some stuff that could be handed in at school. Once it’d been fished out from the daunting mess that was Dess' way of “organizing her room”, of course.

“Azzzzzyyyyy.” - Dess' voice switched to the usual tone she used when asking for a favour, something that their parents would not approve of, or most likely both - “We’ve been at this for hours…”

Asriel picked up one of the sheets that had fallen near him. It was most of an essay analyzing a text they'd been given; while most of the first part was coherent, the second one slowly devolved into just listing literary resources by name without any additional information. Asriel sighed and looked at his watch: it was barely 7 PM - “Actually, I'd say it's only been-”

“Actually!” - Dess badly mimicked Asriel's voice, her purposefully poor impression getting a chuckle out of the boy. She smiled at him - “Come on dude, we worked for a long time. How about we do something fun for a bit? We'll get back to work after, promise!”

Asriel shook his head. He knew Dess had already made up her mind, but he also knew they would likely not get back to work later on. He didn't want her to have to stay up all night before all of this work was due. Again - “Fine… But promise we'll finish some of this stuff today!” - Asriel had finished all of his work a long time ago, but always tried to leave some time in his schedule to help Dess out with hers. She wasn't the one to seek out help on her own, but Asriel knew his best friend well enough to know she'd accept and appreciate a hand with these kinds of things.

“Pinky promise!” - Dess held out her pinky.

“Alright.” - Asriel closed his notebook carefully, picking it up and looking for a suitable, not messy place to leave it - a hard task in Dess’ room. He wrapped his pinky around his friend's as she smiled wide - “What did you have in mind?”

“I'm glad you asked!” - the smile didn't leave Dess’ lips. She weaved through the mess towards her computer, and clicked on the power button. As the machine whirred to life, Asriel hoped she wasn't gonna show him another scary video. The last time she'd done so, he'd not been able to be in the same room as a mirror for at least three weeks.

Once the machine booted up, Asriel saw Dess’ desktop, in a similar state to her room. Below the numerous files strewn across it, there was an image of some monsters posing in dark makeup. Asriel recognized them as the same that featured on some of the posters from her walls. Dess clicked around, browsing through folders until she'd found what she'd apparently been looking for - “Check this out!” - with a swift motion, she clicked the file and turned back to his friend.

A small tune started to come from the busted speakers besides the computer. Dess had shown Asriel music many times before to varying degrees of success - Asriel always tried to give things a chance, but their tastes were almost irreconciliably different - but this one felt more… basic. There were no lyrics, just a simple backing track accented by some very compressed samples to give it flavour. Dess watched her best friend intently as he nodded along to the music, until the track unceremoniously stopped after a minute or two.

“What'd you think?”

“Hmmm… It was cool.” - Asriel rubbed his chin. - “It reminded me of a song from a video game, like the one that would play during a boss. Where's it from?”

Dess pointed her thumb proudly to her chest and smiled - “Original composition by yours truly, Azzy!”

Asriel's eyes widened - “No way!” - he was always surprised about how many things Dess could do. She'd learned to play the guitar on her own throughout the years, was an ace at baseball (when their parents let them play it together), and it seemed she was already making strides in making her own music! She was the coolest, Asriel had always thought - “That's so cool!”

“Right? Fahaha!” - Dess was somewhat flustered by her best friend's earnest sincerity, as she often was. It hadn't been anything special - in fact, Asriel's comparison had been pretty apt given most of the main melody had been heavily based on an existing Dragon Blazers track - but she felt very proud of it, and was happy he was there to cheer her on.

“What did you name the song?”

Without knowing, Asriel had struck a weak point. Dess had a hard time picking names for anything, almost rivalling the Dreemurr parents - “It's uhhh… unnamed for now.” - Asriel seemed pleased with the answer.

Dess closed the music player and quickly typed something into her computer's search bar. Slowly, a grey window emerged - “I made it using this ancient music making program I found in an old forum. I've just been messing around with it.” - she turned back to her best friend - “Do you wanna try?”

“M-me?” - Asriel staggered back, as if she'd asked him to do an unspeakable act. Dess tried to remember if there was a prohibition against making music on your computer within the teachings of the Angel. She could've sworn Toriel sometimes just made some of them up just to keep Asriel from doing fun stuff.

“Yeah dude! Come on!” - Dess grabbed Asriel's hand and pulled him closer, causing his notebook to fall onto the ground.

Conveniently open, showing the last pages.

The attention of both kids was stolen by what lay within those pages, as for a few seconds they froze and tried to take it all in. Dess, her mouth opened in surprise, and Asriel's in complete and utter horror.

“Asriel, what's-”

“Y-YEAH SURE LET'S DO IT.” - Asriel hurriedly bent down to close his notebook and picked it back up. He bumped his head on Dess’ desk when he tried standing up again.

“What was that dude?” - Dess couldn't help but laugh slightly, but tried her best for it to not be too obvious. Her friend was blushing profusely - something not unusual in him, to be fair - and was avoiding looking at her eyes.

“It was nothing! It was just… something stupid I scribbled.” - Asriel still refused to look at his best friend directly. He clutched his notebook tightly, as if it was in danger of flying off on its own and embarrassing him further.

“Well… I thought it looked cool.”

Asriel's posture relaxed completely in a single second. His blush remained - it strengthened, in fact - but he managed to make eye contact again - “... Really?”

“Yeah! Well, I didn't get a good look at it… but it seemed very cool!” - Dess stared at the notebook, as Asriel nervously tapped on its cover - “... Can you show it to me?”

Asriel hesitated for a second - “... Do you promise not to make fun of me?”

Dess suppressed the urge to crack a joke and nodded - “Of course.”

Slowly, Asriel placed the notebook on top of Dess’ desk, as he stood beside her chair. Slowly, he turned the pages. The first ones were filled with many, very well organized notes taken in class - most of which Dess would ask for a copy of later on - until the pages became blank halfway through. When Asriel flipped to a page almost at the very end of the notebook, Dess was able to see them again.

“Scribbles” wasn't the world Dess would have used, but she knew her friend was humble to a fault. On that page, organized in a way that contrasted with Dess’... well, everything, was a series of drawings depicting a character, with multiple, smaller drawings depicting it in different poses or doing different actions surrounding it.

The character did look suspiciously like a grown up Asriel, or at least a taller one. It was a goat boss monster like him, with large, curved horns and white fur. Black markings adorned the fur throughout his body and face, with his eyes being of a deep black with white pupils. His clothes were similar to Asriel's church clothes, but not nearly as lame: the purple robe with a Delta Rune was modified to be more like an oversized tabard, with some equally oversized pauldrons on its shoulders. On his neck there was a pendant in the shape of a heart, and some long fingerless gloves covered his arms. He did look very cool.

“Whoa dude… you really drew this?” - Asriel nodded, a weak smile starting to appear on his face. Dess scanned the page once again, taking in some of the different poses he'd drawn the character in: shrugging, flying with multi-colored wings, gathering some sort of powerful aura around him… - “He's so cool! What's his name?”

“The God of Hyperdeath-” - Asriel seemed to realize he'd been too eager to share when it was too late to cover his tracks, as he opened his eyes wide and shut his mouth.

Dess tried her best to suppress a laugh, but her barely contained chuckle only made the situation worse.

“D-DESS! Y-You promised you wouldn't make fun of me!”

“I'm not making fun of you, fahaha!” - Dess cleared her throat. She truly wasn't, she was just surprised - “It's just… that name is very unlike you, you know?”

“I-It's not me! He's not based on me!”

Dess raised an eyebrow - “Oh don't worry I believe you.” - Dess knew he probably would not catch onto her sarcasm. Maybe for the best.

“I just… thought of a name that you'd pick… A name that would sound cool. All you do is cool.”

Way to turn the situation on its head.

This time it was Dess who found herself against the ropes, but thankfully her opponent was not one to push his advantage too much - “O-oh yeah? Well…” - she stuttered a bit and coughed away from Asriel in a vain attempt to conceal some redness on her cheeks.

“... Do you not think it sounds cool?”

Dess whipped her head around and looked at her best friend. She cupped his face between her hands - “Are you kidding me? That name is so badass!” - Asriel gasped, a mix of shock from hearing something most people would not even consider a swear, and admiration - “It does sound like something I'd name a song after, faha! In fact, I may have gotten some inspiration for my next piece…”

Asriel looked back to his notebook, eyes filled with pride. Colour theory was not his strong suit, and the less one looked at the hands of the God of Hyperdeath the better, but he couldn't help but smile.

“By the way.” - Dess pointed to some drawings of different objects that accompanied the main figure, spread across the margins of the pages - “What are those? His friends?”

”Those are his special attacks!” - he smiled.

“What?”

”I'll have you know, he's a very powerful wizard, and the best swordsman in the kingdom!” - Asriel stuck out his finger in feigned indignance.

“Fahaha, well excuse me, your highness!” - she pointed to one of the doodles, a strange shape that could only be described as an elongated skull with a rainbow stripe below it - “What's this one?”

“That's a magical energy laser he can summon on his arm. It can pierce any magic barrier, and can also shoot exploding stars!”

“Cool! What's it called?”

“... What? I don't get what you mean.”

Dess opened her eyes wide, as if Asriel had just missed out on the obvious - “Dude, his attack's name? You're telling me you named him something that cool but didn't give his attacks names?”

“... well, I didn't really think of that…”

Dess placed her hands on her best friends’ shoulders, and looked him dead in the eyes - “Azzy, how's he gonna call them out when he uses them!? He needs to shout them out before doing them, that's how it works!”

Asriel's eyes lit up with realization - “... by the Angel… You're completely right!” - Asriel picked up one of the pencils scattered across Dess’ desk and hovered above the notebook - “Quick, think of something cool!”

Dess used all the brainpower she'd refused to use during their study session to come up with a name badass enough for such an attack. With a snap of her fingers, something came to mind.

“Chaos Buster!” - she mimicked holding her arm out and shooting out a devastating beam of energy, before raising her arm and blowing on the tip of her finger like a smoking gun. Asriel furiously nodded before scribbling the name below the doodle.

“What about this one?” - Asriel pointed to a pair of swords crossed below the character.

“Hmmm…” - Dess picked up two pencils from her desk and made some quick slashing motions, before striking a pose probably only the both of them would have found cool - “Chaos Saber!”

Scribble by scribble, both of the kids slowly filled out the vast repertoire of moves in Asriel's notebook: Star Blazer, Shocker Breaker, Hyper Goner… A veritable collection of the most awesome names any monster could conceive of, the pinnacle of writing. Once done, they admired their handiwork, spread across the pages of Asriel's notebook, as both artists smiled proudly before the result of their collaboration.

Dess looked at the back of the notebook. There were some pages still unused behind the ones taken over by totally-not-Asriel.

“Hey Azzy?”

“Yeah Dess?”

“Could you draw one of these for me!?” - Dess asked excitedly.

Asriel opened, his mouth in shock, but his bright eyes betrayed his true feelings - “Y-Yes Dess! Yes of course!”

He raised his pencil and began his work. Dess hovered over him, acting as his advisor and assistant. A warrior. No, a knight! With black armour! And big antlers. She also has dark magic and one of her eyes is red! And can go into a demon mode and…

They did not end up getting back to work that night.

Memories. Even here, even now.

Asriel chuckled.

Because I'm with you in the dark.

He didn't need to turn his head to see what his swords had transformed into. He could feel the bone-white construct coalescing around his right arm, the tingling sensation of magic inside it. It looked like an elongated skull, spikes protruding on its edges as it thinned into an opening towards what would be the skull's jaws. Through ridges on its surface one could see ripples of magical light pulsing within, ready to be unleashed. 

And Asriel was more than eager to test out this power. If was as powerful as he thought, the Minotaur's days were numbered.

“... Kris?” - Asriel placed one foot back, and used his free arm to support the one with the newly formed weapon. He aimed towards the general direction of the creature, and closed one of his eyes.

“Please stop snooping through my old notebooks, alright?”

Asriel breathed in.

“CHAOS BUSTER!”

A barrage of bright stars surged forward, flying in erratic arcs through the air but converging without fail on the creature. Each one flashed for an instant on impact, snapshotting the moment the creature recoiled.

35! 35! 32! 35! 29! 34! 35! 36! 28! 36! 37! 33! ...

The barrage continued with a rising intensity, until Asriel felt an electric pulse course through him. Now or never!

He braced himself on his feet, and let go. The construct spun around itself, gathering energy, and its jaws spread wide open. A powerful roar alongside a dazzling torrent emerged from within, dancing lights adorning every corner of their makeshift battlefield. Asriel fought to keep the stream steady as his arms shook from the outgoing force. He could see the Minotaur feeling it, too, as what passed for its legs had to take a few steps back into the dark to not be tipped over. After a few seconds of firing, the beam became a trickle, and his blaster was dissolved into flames and back into swords on his hands.

3005!

Asriel turned to the rest of the fun gang - “How's that?”

“Not bad for a noob!” - Susie barked back.

He didn't have much time to think of an appropriate comeback, as he suddenly felt the weight of the Minotaur's revenge all around him. There were no tendrils this time around, no; the very walls began shaking again, and coming towards them. Asriel stepped back as he was separated from his team, the sections between them clashing together like great teeth in a gigantic jaw. He dodged the crushing strikes as best he could, narrowly avoiding a fate that felt quite more fatal than the attacks he'd suffered before, until the minotaur seemingly tired of his onslaught and the wall returned mostly to where they'd been before. 

Asriel started to feel very winded. The thing was stepping back, yes, but was still relentless. Were they even making any progress?

[ ❤️ ACT ]

❤️ True Unleash

And then there was light.

Chapter Text

When Asriel regained the ability to see, he didn’t expect to be standing in the darkness. He’d lost his sense of sight, yes, it being stolen by a flash of light so brilliant he wasn’t sure closing his eyes had made a difference, but his hearing had been unaffected. He’d heard a great scream that thankfully did not seem to come from any of the others - so at best it'd been the Minotaur, and at worst something else, an interloper that had intruded on their fight. A rumble had followed, the noise of crumbling stone and falling debris all around him. He’d prayed to not be buried, and later prayed none of his companions had either. Had the whole place caved in? What had been that light, an explosion? Was he even still alive? His mind had conjured many possible images for him to open his eyes to, all rendered invalid as soon as he did.

He could still see the Minotaur fading, simply disappearing as it dissolved into thin air. And it seemed that, without him, the whole place was beginning to unravel. The walls that had divided the myriad passages of the place - or maybe just the one the Minotaur had confined them to with its looping trick - had fallen down, revealing the surrounding abyss where they once stood. Peering down from the edge caused a similar void to open in Asriel’s stomach, an uncomfortably familiar sensation in the back of his mind he tried to suppress. But perhaps more disconcerting was what he saw far off in the distance, where no path led or came from. Where things stood among the shadows.

Tall, ashen gray buildings breached the inky darkness. Their appearance was mostly unremarkable, seeming like skyscrapers lined with empty windows. But there was a veritable forest of them, sparsely populated closer to where they stood but increasing in number as they approached the horizon - if there was one in that place. And calling them empty was perhaps the wrong choice.

Asriel could swear he’d seen shadows move past the thresholds, and dark presences had peered at him from within. When he tried to focus his eyes, the shapes were gone. For the best, he thought. Except one.

A gray looking bird monster. It waved at him.

“Asriel!”

Asriel jumped, trying to catch his heart as it escaped his body through his mouth. When he looked at the cause of his scare, he saw a very worried Ralsei, who stepped back upon seeing his face. He looked at him close, then smiled - “Thank goodness you’re okay! We were afraid you’d fallen. Careful, watch your step.”

Asriel looked back to the building, his heart still beating fast.

The bird was no longer there.

“Yeah, sorry.” - Asriel rose to his feet and dusted himself off. The others were just ahead, with Susie seeming to be engaged in conversation with Kris (or as engaged as one could be with the human’s current attitude). As the goat boy started to turn back, Asriel raised his hand towards him and spoke - “Ralsei, what was that light?”

The Prince of Darkness stopped.

“That was… Kris’ SOUL. What's been guiding us so far. The very culmination of their being.”

Asriel pondered for a second. His sibling's SOUL, their very essence. Was that why they were needed to fight off the darkness, why they were the only ones capable of closing the Dark Fountains? Within that troubled kid, the Dreemurr's troublemaker… a light brilliant beyond measure.

“It's… hard to picture, isn't it?” - Ralsei tilted his head and smiled, as if he could somehow read what Asriel was thinking - “Truth is, Kris' SOUL is… very special. They, too, are very special.”

Asriel simply stared. Something stirred within Ralsei. Something he did not share.

“I am glad to have met them.” - Ralsei turned around, as if he'd spoken only for himself.

Ralsei headed back to the other two, a certain spring in his step. Asriel followed, his eyes fixated on their sibling. On their essence, shaped like a bright red heart on their chest, as red as their eyes, and still emitting a white light. He couldn't help but feel wrong while looking at it, as if he was seeing something he shouldn't. Kris…

“There you are!” - Susie turned her head, addressing the pair of similar-looking monsters as they returned with a toothy smile - “Good job back there, that thing didn't stand a chance!” - Asriel tried to smile as Ralsei positively beamed at the compliment.

Asriel looked around, as the goat boy returned to his familiar company. There were many walkways of stone, each separated by a considerable distance that plunged into the dark, winding ever deeper into that accursed place. The sheer enormity of it all, the fact that still, no matter where he looked, he could see  neither ceiling nor sky, made his head spin and his stomach turn. Where in this entire world could Dess be? She still needed to be there, she had to. Could they ever hope to find her? Would they ever be able to find her… in time? What if-

What if it is already too late… ?

“I guess that's where we’re going next, huh?” - Susie had walked closer, her voice startling him slightly. She pointed to the distance behind him - “Not like there's much of a choice.”

Asriel turned around and looked down the stone path.

Asriel had to squint to see it at first, but once he did it did not leave his sight. As he strained his eyes, the darkness before him slowly coalesced into the distinct shape of something. There was a great thing ahead of them, even visible through the murk. It was hard to make out, its shape blurred by the distance, and harder to describe: it was as if the beating heart of a gigantic creature had been removed from its chest to be hung by hooks and stabbed by wires, high up in the air for everyone to marvel at. Asriel wondered if, in a twisted way, this was the so-called Dark Fountain. The thing that gave this world life.

Asriel turned back to the Fun Gang, as they stared intently at the thing. Susie and Kris looked to Ralsei, who nodded. The three of them led the way, and he followed.

…

As they walked through the only path before them, they saw the others in the distance slowly converge on them. One by one, as the walkways came together, the path widened. Before they knew it, they could no longer see the black abyss below, as a seemingly endless floor spread before them. The buildings, too, had faded into somehow even more obscurity, no longer visible in the distance. Asriel was glad to see them go.

What replaced them was walls once again sprouting to their sides, much to their chagrin. Impossibly tall walls that Asriel hoped didn't end up in rows of windows up high with things watching from within. However, these walls were not as impenetrable as the others: every few hundred steps, they would open up to either side, creating a crossroads before the group. It'd been an exciting discovery at first, with them fiercely debating where they'd end up going for a few minutes, only to find more of the same nothingness on either way. It seemed to just be an endless grid of paths, like a city without life or reason. The Heart of Darkness - that had been the suitably gnarly name agreed upon by the group - was the only thing certain in that place, the only clear direction. Maybe by design, Asriel thought to himself. Maybe they'd be walking into a death trap, an obvious ambush, taking the bait a predator sets for its prey. But something told him that it was where they'd need to go. That it was where they'd end up.

Asriel's own heart grew heavy.

After what felt like the hundredth repeating crossroad, Asriel seriously started to consider the possibility that they'd somehow encountered another creature like the one from before, entering another loop. Maybe that was the way this world defended itself; because outside of the gray-looking monsters he'd spotted, this world was completely devoid of any of the Darkners Ralsei had told him about. No life, no denizens borne from borrowed memory. Nothing more than a desolate wasteland.

The Heart of Darkness still loomed ahead and above them, and Asriel had noticed it seemed to grow. They were getting closer, at least. Either that or it was getting closer to them.

“Everything looks the same down here…” - Ralsei spoke the obvious, but his voice felt like warm water washing over the cold silence that had fallen over them over their march.

“Thanks, dude, couldn't tell.” - Susie replied. She then pointed ahead - “No wait, you're wrong, that wall is slightly more gray than the others! Silly you.” - Raslei pouted, and then laughed.

The voices of the Fun Gang broke him out of a daze, a moment he decided to seize to retreat to his thoughts, unclouded, for a while.

While he'd been told time flowed differently in Dark Worlds, he still felt like he'd been there for far too long. His body ached, his eyes had begun to sting, and his stomach was beginning to complain - it seemed a few bites of a candy apple had not been enough. And, in this state he'd known many times before, the magic of this place had started to wear off, the veil being pulled back. Little by little, everything had started to come back to him. He was still Asriel Dreemurr. The failure. Those years had not been a bad dream. They never would be.

But, if Asriel was a master at anything, it was pretending - maybe he'd have had better luck at college if he'd pursued acting instead of his failed degree. Pretending everything was fine, pretending he wasn't scared. Pretending it didn’t weigh on him. He was adept at lying through his teeth, a skill he was not proud of having developed, and much less of who he'd used it on. Mom, you don't need to worry. Dad, I'm doing fine. They didn't need that pain, not with all they'd already gone through. They were his problems, and if there was a person that needed- no, that deserved to struggle through them, it was him. He dared not bring another into the mud with him.

He thought back to the prophecy. The golden son, his fiery glow shall reveal the depths below. Asriel looked to his lantern, at his hip, as it emitted a faint glow - no need for it to do much as long as Kris's SOUL guided the way. He looked to the Fun Gang, almost seeing the threads that bound them together. Fate, friendship, love… Asriel retreated back to Dragon Blazers. He felt like one of those NPCs that'd sometimes join up with the party for a time. They weren't really party members - they were either comically overpowered or comically underpowered - but they tagged along for reasons within the story. Then they'd be used up and forgotten.

Most of them would leave the party by way of dying heroically. He tried not to dwell on that too much.

…!

Asriel whipped his head around and stopped for a second.

Was that the wind?

Nothing. Just pure blackness.

Asriel turned back around. The others were slightly ahead, as it seemed Ralsei and Susie were in the middle of a fierce debate. Something about furniture, apparently.

… TAP.

This time he was sure he'd heard it.

Asriel turned around, and raised his lantern. The flame stood at attention, reaching out into the dark just in time to illuminate the slightest suggestion of movement.

“Who goes there?”

TAP TAP TAP TAP…

The familiar sound of hooves on stone, running away.

A voice flashed into his mind.

“Come on Azzy! I thought you were supposed to be good at track, fahaha!”

Asriel hit the ground running before he realized. He could feel the stale air rushing past him, an uneven howl in his ears that somehow didn't eclipse the sound he followed. His legs carried him forward of their own volition, as all else sunk even deeper into the darkness, and any exhaustion Asriel had felt was dispelled, if only for a moment.

… It's her.

Vibrations followed behind him, muffled voices he couldn't quite make out. He didn't care what they said, not now. Soon there were other steps, too, and they marched with him towards his destination. Asriel took in the cold air around him, each mouthful stinging in his throat and lungs - how long had he been down there? - as his lantern's light illuminated only the next steps he needed to take. The sounds turned, trying to shake him off through one of the intersections. Asriel followed.

It has to be her.

Asriel stumbled, one of his legs buckling. He fell, and felt the warmth of freshly drawn blood as his arms scraped against the uncaring stone of the path. The voices behind him cried out, and he could almost recognize his name in them.

He could still hear the sounds. She was still close.

No! … Not yet!

In a feat of desperation, he pushed himself to his feet once more, his arms shaking to lift what little weight remained in him. He felt a force - a few - grasping for him. But he was able to wrestle himself free. Once more into a dash, he saw something come into view from the dark, as his vision blurred. Illuminated by the surging flame on his lantern, he saw a figure, as he steadily closed in on the source of the sounds. The steps had gotten fast, frantic. She was afraid.

TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP… !

“DESS! IT'S ME!”

Asriel reached out his arm, and the figure turned around.

She was clad in white, a robe made of pure snow covering her from head to toe. The hood had been pulled down by her mad dash, revealing flowing blonde hair below her brown antlers. On her face, a pair of brown eyes trembled, as she reached out her own hand. A blue ring on her finger glowed.

And Asriel felt real pain, once more.

The figure stumbled back, but Asriel could not. He couldn't move, he couldn't breathe. He tried to will his body to do so, berating himself for failing just at the end, but soon enough the nerves of his body that had not been seared off let him know what'd happened. Asriel looked down, and he saw most of his lower body encased in a prison of blue ice. His body caught on to this realization, and his eyelids grew heavy. His mind was clouded by blissful fog.

It was cold. So cold.

The figure stammered to her feet, and said something - at least that's what he thought. Asriel couldn't hear it, and neither could he hear the voices of the Fun Gang as they caught up to him. Through the haze in his vision he could barely see the one in white approaching him, tears in her eyes and pleading.

“... Elly… ?”

It isn't her.

But what is she…

Asriel closed his eyes.

Asriel shivered violently, the motion startling him awake. At first there were only blurry shapes and distant noises, but it only took a few seconds for his senses to wake up too. He was laying down next to a makeshift bonfire. Something nondescript burned with a pale flame, and four figures surrounded it. Asriel attempted to push himself to his feet, his body trembling from the effort.

“... Hnnnng.” - he strained himself, but only managed to lift himself just enough to bump his head on the floor when his arm failed and he fell back down. The others turned their heads towards him.

“Thank goodness!” - The deer monster was the first to come to him. She held out her hand towards him - the same that had the ring - but quickly pulled it back - “I'm so sorry Asriel! I- I didn't know it was you!”

“Elly…” - Asriel managed to speak with some difficulty. He tried to pull himself up once again, this time aided by the others who'd come closer too - “What are you doing here?”

“Well… it was storming very hard, and I was also worried for Kris and Susie… so I left home just in time to see them run past the church. I followed them to the forest, and then I found the shelter door slightly open, and there was a lot of smoke and then… I fell asleep? I think?”

Asriel looked at the rest of the Fun Gang. Susie and Ralsei gave him a conspiratory stare. So he'd prevented the closing of the door. That'd been the pain he'd felt, and why the others had been able to get there.

The golden son, revealing the depths below.

But was the shelter just… open now, up on the surface?

“And now, I'm back here, I guess. In the world of dreams.” - she tugged at her sleeves, and looked at Susie - “But it's strange… it doesn't feel like a dream.” - she looked to her hand, as if she searched for something within it - “Not this time.”

Susie raised her hand behind her, but pulled it down.

“Well… I'm sorry I scared you. I didn't mean to.” - Asriel smiled at Noelle. She smiled back, her face betraying a hint of worry. Asriel looked at their makeshift bonfire. It was appealing, but…

“No, I'm the one that should be sorry, faha. I didn't know where I was, so when I saw your lights I decided to follow you for a bit. I was so lost, and I didn't know it was actually you…”

Noelle was shaking slightly. She was always a beacon of calm and joy to others - real or otherwise - but now… Now she was shivering - “I… I didn't know I would do that. I panicked and it just… happened.”

“It is a very powerful spell.” - Ralsei added, the tone in his voice seeming as cold as the ice Asriel’d felt on his skin. He still felt a persisting numbness where he'd been frozen solid, but it seemed the group had been able to heal any obvious damage - “I pray we won't need to use it.”

Asriel tilted his head, trying to make sense of Ralsei's words and his worry. Was a powerful spell not good?

Why not-

“... We should get going.” - Asriel didn't have time to ask his question fast enough before Ralsei looked somberly at Susie and Kris. Why… ?

What are you not saying?

Susie nodded. With a swift kick, she put out the flames, and Kris' SOUL began to shine once more. Noelle offered a hand to Asriel, shooting him one last apologetic look he tried to answer with a forgiving smile.

The heroes went on ahead.

“You… you spoke of Dess earlier.” - Noelle said as she helped him up.

“Yes.” - Asriel looked at the girl. Her expression shifted for a second, almost imperceivably - “... She should be here. She has to be.”

“Faha… Maybe it really is a dream after all.”

Asriel stood by the girl as they both caught up with the heroes of the prophecy.

And they continued on once more, towards the Heart of Darkness.

…

Noelle walked beside Susie, while Kris and Ralsei stood beside Asriel. The streets were as empty as they'd been so far, but the Heart crept ever closer. In fact, now that they could see it better, calling it a Heart was the wrong choice. It was a colossal machine of reddish metal, being hoisted up by chains and hooked up to tubes and wires of unknown purposes or origins. The roof it was anchored to - if there was one at all - was impossible to see.

And, as they'd gotten closer, Asriel could've sworn he'd heard the growling noise become ever so slightly louder.

As he was absorbed in thought, he suddenly felt something tugging at his sleeve, and Asriel jumped slightly. He looked back to see Ralsei behind him, and Kris with their signature expressionless face.

“Noelle… has been in a Dark World before.” - the boy said.

“I figured.” - Asriel replied. Am I the only one who didn’t know about any of this? - “She thought it was a dream.”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“H-Huh?”

“Why lie to her?” - Asriel tilted his head. He felt bad about his words, how spiteful they sounded, but was unable to keep them from coming out - “Would you have lied to me too, if I hadn't figured it out on my own?”

Ralsei remained silent. Kris did not offer an answer.

Asriel sighed. Just as he was about to turn around, he heard the voice of the boy once more - “Those other two seem to have wandered off.”

Asriel looked to where the two girls had been a moment ago. Now there was nothing but darkness. They must've walked ahead of them without noticing.

“Damn, you're right. We should-”

“How about we close our eyes, and try to think of what they are doing?”

Asriel looked at the boy and did not hide the irritation in his voice - “What? Are you serious?”

[ Let's think of Asriel     ❤️ Sounds like a plan ]

“Let's do it.” - Kris spoke for the first time in what might as well have been hours. Asriel was taken aback, both by their voice and their words.

“K-Kris? What are you talking about?”

The human only stared at them for a second, red eyes piercing through him, before closing their eyes.

Asriel tried to think of something to say, but simply resigned himself to a sigh. He was far too tired to think of anything, but maybe if he closed his eyes for a moment he could get this over faster, and they could search for the girls that were now lost in the darkness.

Thankfully Asriel didn't have much time to think with his eyes closed. To think of what the girls could be up to. To think of another girl that too, was down here. Alone, in the dark. What am I doing? I need- WE need to-

“It's gone.” - Ralsei's voice broke his focus.

Asriel felt very strange. He felt lighter, like a weight he had not noticed was resting on his shoulders was suddenly lifted.

“Thank you Raslei. I think we should have a few minutes.” - that was Kris’ voice. It was not their lips moving and a different one coming through, nor was it just a simple phrase or word. It was their voice, the same voice they'd talked to him with that early morning.

Asriel opened his eyes. He saw a very different Kris, their hand on Ralsei's shoulder as the latter blushed slightly. The human turned to their brother, their face for once not consigned to a neutral expression, but rather a bittersweet smile. Asriel's lantern illuminated them, a myriad colours washing over them.

Wait, my lantern… ?

“Asriel.” - Kris addressed their brother directly, and dug into their pockets. Soon enough, they produced something small, wrapped in a handkerchief, and offered it to the golden boy - “I'm sorry, I can't explain much. You should take this.”

Asriel extended his hand, his mind still struggling to find words to say. Kris continued - “I am not sure if they'd choose to use it. But I trust you will. It-”

The blockade in Asriel's throat burst, words and questions rushing forth in a ceaseless torrent - “Kris! What the hell is going on? What even is that?” - Asriel pointed to the wrapped object in Kris’ hand. He realized only his lantern was shedding light on the three now. The red heart was nowhere to be found, and with it, the pure light was gone too - “Where's your SOUL!?”

Kris looked at Ralsei.

“Don’t worry about it, it’s just us now. Just take the-”

“Kris…” - Asriel stepped forward. The SOUL, sent away without worry… Just them…? - “... What is actually going on here?”

Kris’ expression changed, as they looked away. Their hand slowly fell to their side - “I’m sorry Asriel, I can't say. It's… complicated.”

I can't say. It’s complicated.

Ha… ha…

Asriel felt sick. A different weight came back to him all at once - rather, he stopped being able to ignore it. It crushed him, sunk him into the earth. The weight of that fateful day, as he ran through the forest in vain. The weight of the screams, the yells he tried to shield his sibling from. The weight of his guilt as he left on that bus two years ago. The weight of a hundred sleepless nights, crashing on someone's couch, calling home and making stuff up about his courses. The weight of a thousand calls to the same number, of a hope that maybe this time, just maybe, someone would pick up. The weight of the people he’d talked to, the ones who he’d turned away, because she would return some day - she would. The weight of the way he’d had to scrounge up cash for the ride home. The weight of the staring, the faces he knew he’d seen everyone make when seeing him after all this time. The weight of these last days, as they stretched on for centuries. The weight of what laid below. Even the weight of Noelle's terror in her eyes as frost had enveloped him. The weight of everything.

Asriel crumbled.

“But of course Kris, things have been fucking complicated for a LONG time!!” - Please no, don't do this - “What about you being the hero of our entire religion all along, huh!? Or magical worlds existing beneath our feet where imagination is reality!? I thought that was pretty fucking complicated too!!” - They don’t… - “Oh! And how about the fact that Dess is still alive after years of there being no trace of her anywhere, and she’s somewhere in this fucking dump while you tell me cryptic shit!? That she was destined to DIE!? I’d say that’s pretty complicated, wouldn’t you!?”

Kris stood in silence, next to Ralsei.

Asriel tried to calm his breathing. He could not.

“Kris, this is all… It’s too much…” - Asriel’s throat hurt. Tears welled up in his eyes, and he hoped in vain that they would wash away his words, would drown them in his throat before they had a chance to hurt him, to hurt Kris anymore. His knees buckled under the weight on his shoulders, and he felt lightheaded as everything caught up to him. I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry - “... What are you not telling me… ?”

Kris looked away.

A question wormed its way into Asriel’s mind, one he wasn’t sure he could bear asking. Or having answered.

“... How long have you known about all of this? About… Dess?”

There was no response, as Asriel’s voice echoed in the darkness. He shuddered.

“TELL ME!!”

Silence.

Asriel clenched his fists, nails digging into his palms as tears fell on the grey stone below.

And he ran.

Asriel ran. He ran and turned, the walls passing him by and the voices of the others being lost in the murk. His lantern’s flame fluttered, illuminating his flight into the abyss. Until, after a while, his legs gave out, remembering the thousand needles of ice that had bored into them not that long ago. Asriel tried crawling to his feet in a pathetic attempt to resume his escape, but he couldn’t. He dragged himself to the nearest wall, and pulled his meek body up, managing to stand with trembling legs.

Asriel slammed his fist into the uncaring wall as he heaved between sobs, daring not to raise his head. He wanted to hurl badly. He wanted it to hurt, to sting as it should. His mind was pure black, his thoughts inaudible below a thump in his head. And Asriel wailed, as he felt small, hopefully small enough that the wind would take him far away enough to forget and be forgotten.

Then Asriel felt a hand on his back. He tried to move away, but only managed to stumble and fall to the ground once more. Pathetic.

Kris knelt before their brother, and Asriel felt the pull of their eyes as he lifted his head. He could see tears in them, which only made him feel even worse. His voice trembled between sobs - “… Don't…”

“I'm sorry.” - Kris’ voice cut through him, as they wiped a tear from their eye. They offered a hand, and Asriel stared at it for a long time before he took it, shaking - “... I know it’s hard. I wish I could tell you.”

“... Then… why…” - Kris’ glare looked through him. They were hurting, too. Asriel was almost too exhausted to speak - “... I want it to end, Kris. All of it. I... I’m so tired.” - Asriel gripped his tunic. Why did any of this have to happen? It's not fair.

“I am too.”

Asriel looked to the floor.

“... But you have to trust me. Trust us. It’ll not be much longer now.” - the human placed the wrapped item in Asriel’s hand. It was heavy - “For me. For Dess… For you.”

“Could I… count on you, Asriel?”

Asriel raised his head to see the human, smiling at him. As if by instinct, he slowly wrapped one of his arms around their back and squeezed as his sibling did the same. Like they’d done many times before. Asriel had learned the right way to hug Kris over time, since they were not very fond of prolonged physical contact. Kris, in kind, had also learned a few ways to stop the Dreemurr crybaby when something got him started.

“Kris... You’ve grown so much.” - Asriel managed to say while pulling away from the hug. Kris smiled weakly - "... Sorry for yelling at you like that. I'm sure it's been hard for you too… Angel, I'm such an idiot-"

“I don’t like when people call my brother an idiot.” - Kris interrupted him - “Other than me.” - Asriel snickered at the comment, and Kris rubbed the remaining tears off their eyes - “And you don't need to apologize for anything, you always do this. I should be the one apologizing.”

Maybe it was true. It did not make Asriel feel any better.

“I’m sorry I can’t tell you more. I wish I could, but…” - Kris continued. Asriel saw his sibling look at the wrapped object with forlorn eyes - “... I'm scared. I’m scared what’ll happen to you if I do.”

“... It’s… fine, Kris. I will trust in you, like always. For our sake.” - Asriel got close to their sibling - “But please… promise me we’ll find her. That all we’re doing is to save her, to save everyone.”

“... I do.” - the human replied.

“And that after everything… that you'll tell me. Promise you’ll tell me everything.”

“I will.” - Kris nodded.

“... Thank you, Kris.” - Asriel breathed out.

“... I'm happy you're back.” - they added, smiling.

Asriel looked at Kris. His Kris, his sibling. The one he'd known since they weren't even tall enough to reach the seat of the living room's chairs. The one that had blackmailed him for one extra hour to use his computer with the threat of telling mom his nightly escapades with Dess. The one who he dearly treasured. Who he would follow to the end of the world.

“I'm glad you're back, too.” - Asriel replied.

Kris looked away. They weren't a fan of having others see them cry.

Asriel unwrapped the object in his hands. It was a strange thing, made of uneven shards of black glass that’d been crudely fused together. It was slightly misshapen, but it kind of looked like a black heart-

“It’s heading back.” - Kris suddenly warned, and Asriel instinctively wrapped the mysterious item back into its handkerchief and stuffed it into his tunic. Kris looked at him and nodded. They needn’t speak any more words.

And suddenly, they couldn’t. The warmth and expressiveness that had returned to them faded once more, as they looked to the distance where the girls were running from. The pale light of the heart was back.

The SOUL… Kris’ SOUL?

“Hey dumbasses! Where were you? You're lucky Asriel has his lantern, or we'd have never found you!” - Susie yelled.

“Uh, sorry Susie! We got distracted by something.” - Ralsei was quick to cover them.

“Well stop with the distractions! We found the way to go up to the Heart! Come on, it's close by!”

The group followed a very determined Susie as she led them through the twisted streets of the dead city. She walked fast enough to outpace the rest of the group, fading into the darkness and rushing back into view to check they still followed her.

“Come on, it's this way!”

But as he saw the others ahead of him, Asriel felt something in his pocket grow heavier. He searched around his robes and came into contact with the small object he'd been given, still wrapped in a handkerchief. It seemed to be… resonating, a strange sensation seeping through the cloth and into Asriel's fingers. He wanted to unwrap it, to look at it again, but he felt somewhat reluctant in the presence of the bright red heart in Kris’ chest… Why this sensation now?

After a while into their walk, Asriel gave in. He slowed his pace and silently stayed behind the group for a bit, seeing them fade into the dark ahead as they proceeded. It’ll only be a moment. He then took the object out carefully, and unwrapped it.

It was indeed an object in the shape of a heart, but very much rough around the edges, with big cracks spreading throughout it. The strange sensation was stronger now, unimpeded by the cloth, and his fingers seemed to grow numb while holding the thing. As the flame in Asriel's lantern fluttered in the stale air, he saw its light sink into the facets of the object, being swallowed. It seemed to be made of black shards of dark glass, whose color somehow stood apart from even the murk surrounding him beyond the light of his lantern.

Kris… what is this?

How was he to… “use” it? Its shape was reminiscent of Kris' soul, of course, so he figured it may have something to do with it. But at the same time, it seemed almost the opposite to it. It shed no light; rather, seemed to take it in, take it away. If not a light to guide the way… maybe…

Asriel brought it to his eye.

Through the lens of the dark heart, he saw nothing but black at first. But slowly, as he looked in the direction the others had followed he saw something small: White lights - three of them - formed in his vision, far away. A much bigger red one stood by their side, something almost like a thin string extending from it to the others; and towards where he was. Perhaps it was the uneven surface of the glass distorting his vision, he wanted to think.

He then turned in the direction of their destination. Far above, he saw another white glint, waiting. To its sides two sparks, in yellow and pink, as they enveloped it.

And yet above was what must've been the Heart of Darkness.

Covered in a million stars. More than he'd ever seen in the night sky.

Asriel ran to meet the others. By the time he reached them they’d found the way upwards, into the heart of the depths.

Come lambs, to the slaughter.

… lambs… who?

Chapter Text

HERE.

NOW.

…

In what Dess could only assume was the center of the depths lay a great and terrible weapon. A shell of dark steel forged in deepest night and tempered by frustration and fury. The warrior of darkness, the herald of the apocalypse. 

Woe to all who stood before the Roaring Knight, for death would be their just reward, and oblivion their fate. Woe to all who stood with the Roaring Knight, for eternity would be their prize and madness their mercy. Woe be to those who loved, those who hated the Roaring Knight, for there was no one left to feel below the mantle. Woe be to the wielder of the Black Knife, for they are creator, destroyer, and none should shoulder that burden. Woe be to the Roaring Knight, a finely tuned instrument of poorly understood purpose but keenly known end.

The Roaring.

When enough Darkness had been freed, when enough blood had been shed. When the suffering had somehow been enough, the earth would split open. From below the earth, billowing columns of pure black would engulf the world, and there would be no unreality. All simply would be. The Dark, the greatest of fears, would reign supreme, and in the end, the world would plunge into nothingness. And from that nothingness, something would be made anew. Better.

… but when will it be enough?

This was the ultimate prize, the goal of all of this. The goal at the end of an eternal stay in the dark, the goal of childhoods stolen, dreams lost. The goal of leaving a wound in Hometown, in its residents, that would never heal. The goal of ever feeling, ever wishing it'd been different.

After all of this, it would be different. It would've been worth it. It wouldn't hurt anymore.

Dess tried not to think of it too much. She tried not to think of what she'd done, what she'd felt, what she'd end up doing. “It wasn't truly me” she fruitlessly told herself. “Beyond my control”, was how she tried to forgive her own sins. But deep down she knew, of course she knew. What was it that drove the Knight forward, after all? Despite everything, it was still-

She managed to curve her lips and snarl.

Shut up.

Something slithered along her shoulders and retreated slightly with a low cackle. She felt her mind clear ever so slightly.

In the center of the depths, too, was something else. Her false friend seemed drawn to it, but it had never divulged the true nature of its purpose, and Dess had only seen it used once - something she wished she would not remember every time she laid eyes on them. It was just an unfathomably large machine in the shape of an elongated skull, red metal being held up to the ceiling by a bundle of wires and tubes. A deep sound, like the snoring of a sleeping giant, emanated from within and permeated the entirety of the depths. Whatever it was, it was instrumental to her role in the prophecy, and its conclusion.

Dess hated the mere sight of it, what it reminded her of. It gave her chills. Or it would have, had her body responded to the impulse.

They will come along soon. Aren't you excited? After all, it was your actions that led us to this mess.

Dess savoured every bit of hatred in the thing's voice. She refused to answer, knowing it would only make it angrier.

YOU WILL NOT BE AS SURE OF YOURSELF ONCE THEY GET HERE.

Bullseye. Yeah, that'd struck a nerve. The self importance of her false friend could very easily be used against it.

Bite me.

Oh, so you don't look forward to meeting the cage again? I suppose it's only fair, seeing as last time you almost killed them.

Their connection had always been a double-edged sword. She knew of it. It knew of her.

Kris…

In truth, she’d seen Kris a few times since she’d stepped into the shelter to never return. But she wished she hadn’t. She wished they’d forgotten that fateful day, they’d forgotten her, and lived on. She wished they had not cared about her disappearance, that it hadn't affected them the way it had. She wished they hadn't been wracked by grief and guilt, and hadn't been pushed to… this. She wished they hadn’t followed in her steps, the same way she had. She wish she’d been able to find them, wandering alone and scared, before that fucking thing had, before it’d made them promise what it had. Before Kris had been taken before the great machine, as Dess had tried in vain to grab them, take them away from it all. Before they’d heard a voice, a voice that wasn’t theirs, echoing through the depths as she’d yelled out their name for the last time. The way they’d… never be the same.

Kris was very different now, but she could hardly fault them for that - it’s not like she was the same girl she’d entered the darkness as. But what irked her about Kris, what made her stomach churn every time she saw it, was not who they were, but who they weren’t. Whoever wore their skin, played with them like a doll and would have discarded them without a second thought. Who they played at being, uncaring for the consequences of what they could tell themselves weren't their own actions. Who they had been forced to be, for a promise made for her. A promise she could never forgive herself for, as much as she tried to think it’d not been her, not what she'd wanted.

But she knew.

Deep down, she was not a very good person.

See, it wasn't that hard, was it? There is no shame in coming to your senses later than normal. Perhaps this whole ordeal is a blessing in disguise, after all.

Kris had their duties, like Dess did, and they followed them of their own volition to see the task done. Kris would enter the Dark Worlds, whether made by her or them. There, they would lead the heroes of legend, and their new selves, through the trials of the prophecy. They would grow stronger, their connection would deepen, as they'd take root in them. The others, too, would serve to strengthen that bond. The girl and the prince, but also the King, the Queen, the Lord, the Man… Herself. A few lines in ancient text, most of them. Footnotes. But they hungered for them, for anything. Every time Kris’ and Dess’ song and dance would begin anew, they were more ravenous, more eager, their thirst having grown tenfold. This last time she'd had to flee, their sheer strength threatening to break through and ruin everything. But this was a fine balance that they needed to maintain. In due time, they would come here and, with them, the Roaring.

Dess suddenly realized why their false friend was acting the way it was. Why there was rage, and fear. What she'd done.

They're… coming? Already?

… Yes.

Dess jogged her memory slightly, even if only to confirm what she already knew.

Her lips curved upwards, buck teeth showing through them. Dess wanted to laugh, and to her surprise her body obeyed. She got a few cackles in before erupting into a loud laughter, her voice discordant in the void.

FAHAHAHAHA…

So… it was for naught, in the end? They'd failed? Somehow, their one and only clear path forward, cut off just by a few days. All they'd done and suffered, and the reason for it, gone down the drain. She laughed again, a softer sound this time. It was Dess Holiday who she was talking about of course, despite what the thing may say. And if there was someone you could count on to screw up simple, important instructions, you needed to look no further.

Dess, as always, was a confusing storm of emotions. Hatred, fear, sadness, regret… but this time, she felt a strange joy, a relief. In the end, it was not their choice. It wasn't their choice to burn it all, nor their right. Dess needed to… simply let go. To accept it. She wondered what awaited her, after everything. After all of this had failed, after it had gone up in smoke. Maybe a simple death, the one she'd come to yearn after all this time. She hoped they'd discover her outside at least, give everyone closure. Mom, dad and Elly could mourn her properly, bury her in the ground and in the past instead of their hearts. Her sister could live on without her shadow looming over her. Asriel could move on, as painful as that notion felt to her - selfish, she knew. Maybe he'd find someone as brilliant as him, although she doubted such a person could exist. And Kris… She wondered what would become of Kris, too. She hoped that theirs would be a lighter punishment, lesser consequences. That after everything, they would be able to live a normal life. They had never deserved any of this. Whatever it would be, it-

YOU ARE GETTING QUITE AHEAD OF YOURSELF, ARE YOU NOT?

… I'll take my chances.

Hmm, will you? Need I remind you this is far from the first time things have gone differently than we expected? I don't recall the one we'd meant to take with us that one time being so… feisty.

Undyne, the police recruit. Or that was what she'd been when Dess had known her. Much to her displeasure, the plan that was in motion was not as simple to dismantle as she wished. Her false friend had become frustratingly resourceful at salvaging situations that would have ended its ambitions - even if this one was a bigger hurdle than the ones it’d had to handle before. Taking the now chief of police instead of the head of the choir into the shelter had been a stroke of either sheer genius or dumb luck. Either served their purpose there - this one better than Toriel, according to the thing. She now lay motionless, in an unknown pit within the depths. Dess hoped she still lived, but she preferred not to peer into the thing to remove all doubt.

It seemed Dess was not fully out, yet.

Just trust your old friend. A few masterful strokes and we can get back on track. Or, maybe even better.

Dess did not enjoy the tone of the thing's voice. Their connection made keeping secrets from one another difficult, so she was normally privy to its plans - it was her who would put them in motion after all, due to the thing's dubious tangibility here and its outright inability to meaningfully influence the Light World - in fact, the thing was overjoyed to share this link. It allowed it to torment her and toy with her, and it was a way for it to bring up old wounds and painful memories. Ways to maintain its vice-like grip on her. However, that laughter, that mocking laughter… It was more than its usual cruelty. It was knowing. It was keeping something from her.

And that scared her.

But enough chit-chat. Say hello to your guests.

Dess turned around, looking away from the great machine. The only way to reach that infernal device - if one couldn't fly - was to climb up a huge altar of grey stone that stood in the middle of a dead city. It was hard to miss, given the monstrosity held up above it, so she wasn't surprised the heroes had managed to reach it. What surprised her was the fact that they'd already done so. They'd made short work of the sentinel, too - its death rattle being what had prompted her false friend to bring her here. The plan dictated she go out once more before luring them in for their end, but fate seemed to have had a differing opinion.

The heroes of the prophecy stood before her. The girl, the prince. And the cage.

Susie was perhaps the most powerful of the three. Her raw strength was nothing to scoff at, but she was no brute; she'd managed to master healing magic in a remarkably short time. The most dangerous part about her, however, was her uncanny ability to always throw everything off-balance: out of the many situations her false friend had had to improvise in to keep the plan from failing, she'd been the cause of at least half of them. Upon thinking about it, Dess was surprised the plan had not gone awry much earlier than now.

Perhaps unconsciously, all their encounters had, at some point or another, ended up in a fierce clash between the two of them, one that over time had become less one-sided. She was brash and wild and free, in such a way that she could not bear. A part of her, the part of her that drove the Roaring Knight forward, could not stand the mere sight of her. The messy girl, the rebel, the one who simply had to go against the flow. She just needed to be herself. Why couldn’t she just…

… Dess tried to ignore how much she reminded her of herself.

Her eyes moved over to Ralsei, the Prince of Darkness, who was standing next to her. He was strange, had been from the very beginning, and it was not only because he'd resembled her best friend at first glance. She could tell her false friend had some kind of relationship with him - she could just not tell what it was. Hatred, pity, envy… any of them could have been the case, but what was certain is that something, deep down, bound them. He was a Darkner, so maybe, in the past, her false friend had been one too. Both beings of pure dark.

While he was not the mightiest, underestimating him had bit her hard at the Flower King. She'd always known he was aware of the extent of their plan, of the whole prophecy, but seemed to be more of an observer than an interloper. However, that had all changed on her last incursion. Her false friend had noticed a shift in the boy, too, and that strange feeling it seemed to share for him had twisted into something different. A part of her had felt… pride. If only I…

But by far, the most dangerous of the trinity was the cage. Well, not the cage, but what lay within, shivering in barely contained something. The great gift, the Angel. The SOUL.

It was… unknowable. Alien. She supposed the name fit them like a glove. A bright red point, one that had to be a window to somewhere. She couldn't fathom the enormity of it, the fact that her life, the lives of all of her loved ones, hinged on something Kris could sometimes just… grasp with their hand, and throw into a birdcage to be able to sleep. That something so monstrously powerful, whose whims would dictate fate itself, would sometimes just enjoy messing around. That it enjoyed seeing new things, making Kris play pranks, do or say ridiculous stuff, like it was a small child. The more Dess thought about what truly could have come through the machine that day, what lay in her childhood friend's chest, what she and them were guiding towards the end… the more she felt sick.

Dess could see thick, gnarled roots of an unnatural red bursting from Kris's chest and invading every part of them. They snaked through their arms and legs, peered through their eyes, and extended above them, looming over as great wings. But these disturbing tendrils were not unique to Kris, far from it. They grasped for the other heroes, too, extending beyond Kris’ form. They latched onto their necks, their shoulders, as if they were a twisted image of a friend's embrace. And they searched for their hearts within them.

Within all of them.

For, beyond the chosen three, were two others the tendrils grasped for.

Two Dess had never hoped to see again before her duties had been complete. Two Dess had hoped had not seen her until her judgment had come, final, for either failing or succeeding after all.

To the side of the group, hiding meekly behind Susie, was a small doe monster. Well, she’d been small last time she’d seen her, but now she was taller than Kris.

She wore a long white robe, white as snow. It resembled a small angel costume she’d worn once to a school play, one she’d insisted on wearing during special occasions after - busted cardboard wings included. But this was not the little girl that ran around wearing that costume, even in the summer. This was who her sister had become, after four years of her not being there. To watch her grow, to give her advice, to help her when she was scared or confused. A new person. And in her brown eyes she could see a certain light. Recognition.

If Dess’ heart had still been under her own influence, it would have shattered.

Elly… I’m sorry…

When Dess had first learned of the prophecy, she’d feared the worst. She’d feared the girl, her darling sister, being dragged down by it. Having to face her in the depths, throughout the different Dark Worlds, as she could never tell her why she was doing this, why she had to face her. In a way, seeing Susie for the first time had been a relief; her sister was safe, away from all of this. Or she should have been.

Dess saw the tendrils reaching for her, and they made her stomach turn.

Looking over to the other monster the tendrils grasped for, to Ralsei’s side, did not do much to calm her.

A small smile did attempt to creep into her lips, if only for a moment, once she saw him. She remembered his notebook. He had grown to resemble him, and he did look very cool. She then saw his eyes, as they pieced together the truth while he traced the lines her claws had left on his warm fur. Tears welled up within them as they were wont to do - her crybaby. She would’ve teased him for that, what felt like uncountable years ago. She wanted to return the tears, but her eyes stayed immutable, hateful.

Azzy…

She knew she might have met him again, in time. She hoped there was a different golden son, how she’d wished another girl had taken her sister's place, or how she always wished another had been the cage. Or that the depths he’d have led them to had been different. But it was foolish to hope. None could have dreamed to match his brilliance, and she’d always know he’d be destined for great things. She just wished…

… She just wished he’d forgotten her by that point. That he’d moved on. That he’d changed, that they both had changed enough for it not to hurt like it did. 

So, why… Why why why!?

… I shouldn’t have…

It’d been stupid. She’d been stupid, selfish, opening the door that day, to drag him back. Why give him false hope, after everything that he’d been through, and knowing what he'd need to go through after? What gave her the right to drag her memory back to him? Why should she have yearned for a warmth she didn’t deserve? And to lead him here, to find the truth? Another runaway soul, another lured to the maw of the void. To the hands of the thing. It was a fate she wouldn’t have wished on her worst enemy… And now she’d done it once again, to her flower boy, her dork, her shooting star, her best friend. Her boyfriend.

The tendrils, too, wrapped around him. Dess could not bear it anymore.

Here they are. The fruits of your labour. It makes me glad to see that at least you recognize the extent of the consequences  of your own actions.

But Dess couldn’t respond. She could barely hear its voice in her own head as she retreated to what remained of her mind. She wanted to hide, to cry, to die, to do anything but be forced to watch as the worst of her laid bare in front of the ones she'd loved the most.

Why did this have to happen…

Well, we shall get to work. There’s many to choose from, but I believe we should aim to kill that golden idiot first - he’s been quite the thorn in our side. It may not be quite enough to get us back on track, but it will do us some good.

Dess felt her muscles clench, her tendons pull and blood pump through her. Her limbs obeyed. A well oiled engine of destruction, sent from below to cast down any who would brave the dark.

After you.

The body of Dess screamed.

Please… don’t…

Dess saw the battlefield through blurry eyes, as her arms tensed following through all-too familiar motions. The sounds from outside came to her muffled, a passenger in what remained of her own flesh.

She could barely hear the giant machine whirr to life behind her.

… what-

—

ESTABLISHING CONNECTION.

—

Dess was shaken from her stupor slightly as she simply felt the machine behind her. A strange sensation - stranger still than the one that she normally felt when she fought as the Knight - permeated through every part of her, accompanied by a sound she'd wished to never hear again. She fought with herself to turn around, to fly away from there, but could do nothing but watch as her gaze fixated on the heroes of the prophecy and their companions, filled with rage.

Before them stood a dark, horned thing, fuelled by anguish, and knowing only hatred. A thing that should not be, at the end of the maze they'd been led to following a shining thread.

The true minotaur.

[!!!]

* The Roaring Knight is here.

She was the first to strike. The Roaring Knight pointed to the heroes in a crude approximation of Kris’ signature technique, firing a barrage of light and shooting stars from her fingertip. Slow and predictable projectiles, even those whose mettle she'd not tested before were able to dodge out of the way unscathed. Unscathed yes, but dispersed.

The Roaring Knight sensed something, and instinctively retreated into herself just in time for a wave of magic to fly past what would've been her head, had it not been compressed into a dark sphere along the rest of her. Another projectile, slower, was easily avoided as well, a bright bolt flying past her. As she unfurled herself, she looked at the frustrated faces of the prince and the girl, and the undisturbed one of the cage. The other two seemed to be hesitant.

The Roaring Knight flew back, and soared across the dispersed group. With a flick of her clawed fingers, darkness coalesced into sharp, fearsome blades around her. One by one, they flew towards the group in a flash, leaving a trail of dead air in their wake. The heroes were mostly unharmed - experience, she thought - but one of them did manage to graze Noelle. Dess did not hear her yelp of pain come from outside, but instead it replayed in her mind; the same high pitched noise that would have, a long time ago, signaled an incoming torrent of tears, and the sound of many apologies and promises to prevent mom from knowing.

Noelle fell to her knees, covering with her hand the part of her arm where the blade had marked her snow white dress in bright red.

ELLY!!

But it was no use. Another blade flew towards her.

NO!

Dess tried to exert as much influence as she could over her own body, but it barely budged. The blade flew true, towards the heart of her sister.

And then was stopped by the head of an axe.

Dess did not hear what Susie uttered, but figured it'd been some manner of profanity. As the prince rushed over to her sister, light brimming in his hands, she felt a relief. Somehow, she felt her body stiffen and relax slightly, before the sensation of numbness returned.

Hmmm, not quite. I could've sworn that one would have done it.

“... ess… you h…” - a sound reached her, but she couldn't fully take it in. She would have believed it'd come from very far away, had she not seen through the haze in her vision her sister, screaming behind the pink lizard.

After all that…? Interesting. Of course, these two lack the experience to know what is truly at stake, the monster that you are.

… Good! We can use this to our advantage.

What…?

Don't… don't… !

The Roaring Knight faltered for a second, its arm trembling. Suddenly, Dess was thrust into her own body again, the sounds and sights of everything around her becoming clear once more. She could see doubts pop into the mind of her foes, as she took a second to realize where she was, who she was at the moment.

In a daze, she turned to look at the machine behind her. It shook, as lights illuminated what would have been the sockets of its eyes. It pulsed and moved in such a horrifying way that the notion of it being a machine at all deserted her mind. What should've been metal bent and stretched, and what shouldn't have been the jaw of the Heart of Darkness was wide open.

“what…” - she wasn’t sure her voice had left her throat, but not for lack of trying. She wasn’t sure when the last time she’d spoken aloud - or even been able to - had been. Maybe her voice had died when her hope of ever leaving had.

Another voice, however, brought her back to the present.

“Dess, listen to us! We're here to save you!”

Dess turned her head and looked at Asriel, running towards her in a frenzy. Like her sister, he yelled towards her, while the rest of the heroes looked on with reluctance. He was in almost her grasp. If she could reach out now…

But she could. Her arm obeyed with almost no resistance, and she reached out to her lover like she’d done many times before. Images came to her, images of him greeting her after track practice tackling her to the ground, or simply waiting outside class only to be surprised by a warm hug. She was fully under control now…

And it felt wrong.

This isn't right…

A smile crept into its lips.

“Asriel, don't! It's a trap!!” - Dess yelled out, as she pulled her hand away from her boyfriend.

But she didn't do any of that.

The words died in her throat as she was suddenly pulled back, and she could feel the numbness return once more. Her arm tensed with regained purpose and sprung towards the golden boy with killer intent. A darkened blade flew forward.

A bright red slash cut her vision in half.

NO!!

…

Thankfully, once she could see again, she saw it wasn't Asriel who'd taken the blow. Standing before her she saw Kris, a shield of pinkish gold held high and clashing with her notched blade.

K-Kris?

KRIS!?

Dess’ would have shuddered had she been able to upon hearing her false friend speak the human's name. It never did - for it they were nothing more than the cage - but this time it'd been different. The fear in its voice had grown tenfold, and so had the rage. She had never heard it like this before. But it was right.

This'd not been the cage, nor the thing nestled within. This'd been Kris. The human, going against everything they'd stood for in recent memory. Throwing caution to the wind, forsaking any plan, any promise made. She could see it in the piercing red in their eyes - their own eyes - and their expression of determination. It would go on no longer. And Dess… breathed a sigh of relief. Yes, it would not. Whatever Kris had thought of, whatever scheme their mind had conjured… it would be the end, she hoped. Maybe they’d finally had enough of being puppeted for her sake. Maybe, just maybe… 

All of this madness would finally end.

…

This STUPID CHILD. They’ll ruin EVERYTHING yet!!

Dess felt her whole body trembling, shaken by the rage of the thing and… someone else’s. As she felt a great scream build in her throat, she wondered whose it could be. It couldn’t be hers, of course. She would not have lashed out against one who had sacrificed so much for her, someone who'd suffered in their stead when they didn’t need to. It wasn’t her. She hadn’t wanted it, after all.

Had she?

Her voice, the voice of the Knight came out of her throat, sore and discordant. She wanted to apologize to them. She wanted to tear them apart.

“YOU PROMISED!!”

The human pushed her sword upwards, and jumped out of the way just as a gout of colourful flame flew towards the Knight. She quickly pulled back into the air, easily outrunning the magical fire. A concerned Asriel stood with his arm outstretched, as the light in its lantern battled with the one coming from Kris’ SOUL. The latter nodded to their brother, and returned to their fighting stance, sword in hand.

THIS IS NOT HOW IT WAS SUPPOSED TO GO! IF THEY TURN ON US NOW, THEN…

Dess could feel the emotions of the thing, its fear increasing as hers waned. For the first time in years, she'd seen light. The end. She was sure, between all of them, they could stop it all, bring an end to the senseless destruction, the very end of the world. They could stop her. And she could finally rest.

She was going to be free.

The Roaring Knight spun around herself, a deadly dance that split the very ground in half. Those who could not fly were staggered as a mouth in the stone opened up and spat globs of darkness towards them, before slamming shut once more. Kris’ odious light dispelled most of them, but some did manage to sneak around it and strike some of the heroes. As the heroes stood firm, she could feel some of the numbness fade.

Susie rushed forward, a pink blur appearing before her in a fraction of a second. Her eyes shone a bright yellow, as she hacked down with her axe towards the Knight. A simple attack; she simply needed to circle around Susie’s side and-

Dess moved her arm back into the girl’s path.

The axe came down with such force it would’ve cleaved her arm clean off had she not been wearing armour. This coat of midnight did not protect her from the pain, as a jolt shot through her from the impact and sent her careening through the air. Control shifted once more, and she was able to hold herself up before hitting the ground.

YOU…!

A slight smile formed on Dess’ lips. Yes. Me.

What, can’t handle a little 6v1?

The thing was not able to respond, as the Knight quickly dashed ahead to successfully dodge one of the hero's attacks. Ralsei’s Flamestorm rushed past her, but the onslaught continued. She barely saw the human coming at her after, and had only a split second to react by raising up her sword arm to meet theirs. A clash of steel followed, arms shaking with blade in hand as the human stared down their friend - what had become of her - with strange eyes. Was that Kris… or them?

Dess’ arm faltered of her own conflicting volition, and the cage struck square. She felt some of the stale air hit her fur as shards of black steel flew from the impact. She could feel her false friend wavering, too.

Come on.

But the Roaring Knight used the momentum of her own disadvantage to be pushed back, and blend into the darkness. She flew in a wide motion around the battlefield, standing clear of the SOUL or Asriel's light, as a twisted bird of prey. And like one, she honed in on the most vulnerable target: the prince, standing alone at the back of the group.

Wait, don't-!

It was over in a flash.

SWOON.

A gust of wind accompanied the sound, as the prince's clothes fell to the ground and he became nothing more than a pile of fluff. Dess felt her expression twist upwards.

How about we make it a 5v1 then?

Dess’ confidence deserted her for a second. She saw Suise's face, in shock as she saw the nothingness that'd been Ralsei a second before. Kris - or someone else - stepped back slightly. Noelle looked at her sister with dread in her eyes.

The Knight's breathing was steady. Dess’ was not.

No… not yet…

Then, the Knight turned back to meet another's blade. This time it was Asriel's, as his twin sabers were stopped by her sword. Sparks of many colours exploded at the cutting edge.

“Dess… please!”

Dess felt her heart beat.

Asriel was pushed back by a clawed hand, and the Knight followed the motion by rushing towards him. He tumbled backwards and fell, leaving him exposed. The next step was simple, and she'd done it many times: concentrate on your truest desires, and dig your blade deep down into the earth. But thankfully she could only hold the sword above her boyfriend, at least now. She could not plunge it down, even if she felt the burning strain of rage on her arm, control trying to be exerted over her.

Then a cold wind blew.

She felt pain ripple through her whole body, as a freezing cold ran through her. It was a different kind of cold than the one that permeated through the depths, one that felt somehow even more wrong. For a second, Dess could not move, and it was not because she could not wrestle control over herself. For a split second, even her false friend was dead silent.

… Forbidden.

The voice of the thing snapped her from her daze. Once more she rose into the air, out of reach of the heroes.

The forbidden path…

The Knight locked eyes with her sister, her arms raised and eyes lost. The others looked to the knight, a mixture of determination, confidence and hope in their eyes. All except Kris, who too looked towards Noelle.

And they were scared.

Without warning, the Knight raised her blade into the air, in the direction of her sister. Soon after, a red star appeared beneath her, spreading outwards. And with a quick slash, darkness rose from within the red shape. If it hadn't been for a human rushing in, Noelle would have been no more.

KRIS!!

SWOON.

The human fell, laying slumped next to the doe monster they'd pushed out of the way. The lizard rushed to them, too late. Dess felt herself fall, though her body disobeyed. They were falling back, when it was so close now. Was this truly the fate that awaited them after all this time? The worst possible outcome? Neither closure nor success. Only death.

Kris had gotten out of worse. They could go on. They could triumph, even if the one within needed to take over, more than they already had. They couldn't end like this… Please…

Only three remained.

And Dess pointed to the three of them again, and a barrage of dark blades followed. A seemingly infinite rain that would block even the light of Kris’ SOUL, still nestled into the fallen human's chest. Dess could not muster the strength to deviate them, to throw them of course. She could only watch as the friends she'd suffered for were made to suffer for her.

“WE'RE NOT DONE YET!”

The lizard's voice flew through the air as she hacked at the oncoming storm, cleaving a path wide and clean. Her eyes shone brighter than anything Dess had seen since her stay in the depths below. They were the sun, the light she'd missed so much. They were hope, her naive hope. One she could not help believe in. This girl…

She was not the only one roused by the fire within Susie. She saw an expression she'd never seen in her sister. Teary eyed, she rose besides Susie, and her eyes were not the ones that'd been scared to ask for extra syrup at the nice cream stand four years ago. In her eyes she saw grief, yes. But love too. Love, a love unending. For her friends, for her sister. She needn't speak, as her eyes cut straight through the black cage that covered Dess’ heart.

And carrying his sibling as they gently stirred in his arms was Asriel, too. As he clumsily took a small mint-colored shard from Kris’ pocket, he turned his head towards her. His weren't the same eyes she'd looked into four years ago either, as their lips closed around each other and their hearts became one. But below years of shadow, of regret she'd been very familiar with, lay still a golden glow bright enough to pierce any veil. It was love, too. Love, love clawing and screaming, refusing to die when everything around it had, and enduring after everything. A love that made her own heart ache, her limbs stiffen.

If it is to end…

Dess stood still, in the air, the eyes of heroes destined to slay the dark placed on her. A scream tore through Dess' throat. YOU LEFT ME. But she didn't allow there to be any words. Instead, there was a roar, and there were tears. Shards of black and bright stars flew all around her with a fierce tempestuous wind.

The heroes were pushed back, as the stars and darkness continued to come. Dess could do nothing to stop the downpour, as another force had seized its opportunity. She saw the heroes struck, once and again, by the foul magic coming from her. The newly revived cage shielded the prince they'd just held up, and the girl dragged Noelle out of harm's way. The onslaught continued, Dess’ roar neverending. And Asriel… he stood, looking at her against the storm. Fight or flight.

And Asriel soared.

Borne on wings of fire, Asriel braved the winds and the very stars, his flames making a path through the hail. An imperfect path, as he was struck multiple times by the projectiles. But still, he soldiered on, towards her.

Asriel broke through her barrage, twin swords held high above him as his wings spread before Dess. She would have loved to smile.

If this, truly, is the end…

The Roaring Knight quickly unsheathed her sword, pulling it out of the surrounding darkness itself through the hole in her palm, still unmade by the time it clashed with Asriel's bone-white sabers. He hadn't yelled the name, she thought to herself, as both her sword and his splintered into a million pieces of ethereal light.

Dess was pushed back, her arms thrown to her sides.

And she used all the strength she had.

On her chest, the grotesque cage that housed her still-beating heart was forced open, black spikes bending outwards. Welcoming her end.

… I am glad it was you.

Dess could not feel that which tried to fight back. It would only take a single strike to end it all.

She simply closed her eyes, and welcomed a blissful oblivion as Asriel closed in on her.

…

An oblivion that never came.

Dess felt the weight of Asriel's body as he crashed into her, she felt his heartbeat on her own. But she remained. She still felt.

When she opened her eyes, she found her best friend on her, arms embracing her and tears in his eyes.

He was so warm.

“Dess, I know you're in there! Please!”

Dess’ breath quickened. A familiar sensation. NO.

“Asriel, you-” - was all she managed to say. She didn't know if the words had made it out of her throat as more than an incoherent whine.

CRUSH.

The spikes, the jaws that had once held Dess’ heart shut, closed in around Asriel, digging into him with great force. She saw first hand the moment they did, an expression of shock as he exhaled all the warm air his lungs had held until that point.

“I…” - Asriel tried to force his arm to move, to search for something - “Just…”

NO

The spikes dug deeper, and his movements stopped. Dess could feel Asriel's warmth drape over them, coating them as it slowly drained out of him.

Nonono no NoNO NO NO NO

But Asriel smiled.

He lifted his head slowly, and with great effort.

“I… I found you.” - he smiled, voice trembling as tears were forced out of his eyes. The spikes dug deeper, making him suck air through his teeth - “I-I promised… you, didn't I…?” - a wheeze came out of him, and then a cough accompanied by droplets of the same life that dripped along the spikes.

So warm.

“I… I’m sorry I took so long…”

He attempted to place a hand on the size of her head, falling short. A murmur, only audible due to the contact between their bodies, spread out of his chest as it slowly faded into silence.

Because I'm with you in the dark

With your hеart as my mark

Which shall guide you the way, through the wavеs

His head slowly drifted back down.

…

Dess had no words, she had no breath, she had no thoughts. She had no soul.

Good to see that took care of itself.

I must commend you. Disarmed as you were, I could not have thought of a better way to deal with him. To think he'd still try that approach after all of this…

He really was an idiot.

…

Now, that gives us free reign to deal with the others. Look at them, yelling out his name, your name. Ha! Maybe in death he can be useful to us.

…

But we must deal with your stupid sister first - Kris’ punishment must come after. If left unchecked she could cause real trouble.

Dess' body tensed up, her best friend still embracing her. His heartbeat was slowing down.

…

Many black knives appeared behind her, their blades pointed towards the earth. They would summon a Titan each. She would concentrate on the desire of her heart. And in her heart there was…

…

… A GREAT SCREAM.

Dess' hand moved like a bolt of lighting, finding purchase on what she knew was perched on her. It wasn't truly intangible, not within the depths. So she dug her claws. She pulled. She RIPPED.

HNN! W-WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?

The scream breached her heart, forcing open her jaw against the powers that would keep it closed. It was unstoppable now, out in the world outside. Her voice rang throughout the void, and the heroes of legend looked in awe and horror; but she had no eyes for them. Her eyes were fixed on Asriel, as he clung to her. The golden boy, the pride of the Dreemurrs, the star of Hometown’s track club, the boy who had dreams of leaving for the city one day and going to college.

The boy who was dying in her arms.

He was getting colder.

Dess' hands searched for more of the thing, as she felt herself drift through the air erratically. Her muscles ached, the pain of meager resistance not enough to deter her from taking control. She pulled at the thing as it coiled around her. She had fantasized about this many times, to take herself back, to put the thing in its place. She had figured she’d savored the moment. But, like this… She found the tail, as it tried to evade her clutch. She gripped. She TORE.

AAARGH!! STOP, YOU IDIOT! WHY-

The black knives shivered behind her, hovering over the battlefield as a portent of doom. 

And they flew, like a flock of dark birds given flight by the wind of her roar. They flew in all directions with no care for their original purpose. The heroes of legend took cover, shielding themselves from the dark rain, swatting the would-be darkspawn from the air whenever they were able. Those that landed on the ground erupted in brilliant pillars of blue light that briefly clashed with the very concept of the depths before turning to grey stone. 

There were those that flew upwards into the great machine. They bored into it, producing a groan that almost sounded like a voice. And from within the machine leaked something. Something darker than dark slowly dripped down.

NO! NO NO NO NO NO NO-

And Dess’ scream continued to echo into the infinite blackness of the depths, her body goading her on as she wrestled with the parasite that had wormed its way into her all of those years ago, when she’d first stepped into the shelter. It was a creature of pure dark, a demon that made no sense. But if it could, today it would bleed by her hands. It would pay for the blood it'd made her shed tenfold. Dess felt her hands against the now struggling thing, her claws nestled deep within. She would tear it apart, rend it asunder until there was nothing left, until it was the true void it had always played at being. And it knew. And it was scared.

Y-YOU FOOL! STOP… THIS! YOU’LL DESTROY… YOU’LL DESTROY EVERYTHING WE’VE WORKED SO LONG AND HARD FOR!

Dess could not hear, she could not feel, she could not think.

The machine above them groaned once more as more blades sunk into its metallic flesh.

And then Dess felt something give in through her hands. Soft. Almost warm. Something that cleared all sounds in her head if only for a second.

Embraced with her lover, they both swerved into the blackness off of the great altar, a twin-tailed comet hurling into the void.

Down, down

back into

the ab

ys

s

.