Chapter Text
“Kris…?”
I’m just having a bad dream, Kris thinks, or tries to think, since if they were dreaming, they would not be nearly as hungry as they are now.
They’re not dreaming.
“Kris?”
There it is again. Coming from the cage, but also not at all from the cage, as if it had somehow managed to worm its way into Kris’s mind as well as their body. Kris groans into their pillow.
“Shut up.”
“Kris, wait. I-”
“I said shut up.”
Kris is shaking now, trying to look anywhere but at it, trying to get as far away from it as possible. They get out of bed and shuffle up against the wall, nearly falling into Asriel’s dresser in the process, making as much distance between them and it as they can. It doesn’t help.
The thing in the cage speaks again.
“Please, Kris. Just let me-”
“Stop saying my name.”
Kris takes their knife from underneath their pillow and points it at the SOUL.
“Interesting. So that’s where it was hidden.”
Kris freezes. It notices.
“Shit, sorry. I didn’t mean to-”
Kris almost laughs at the fact that the demon across from them had just sworn, but they stop themselves. Instead, they stand up a little taller and brandish their knife.
“What do you want?”
“I want to help.”
Well, that’s stupid. The thing that has controlled Kris, starved them, taken their freedom, wants to help? This time, Kris lets themselves laugh, a sharp bark that causes the SOUL to flinch back.
“I mean it! Do you want to be free or not?”
Oh.
Kris stumbles a bit and drops their knife. It stabs into the floor with a dull thunk.
There’s no way it can be that easy.
“Great. You’re finally listening. I’ve been studying something for the past little while, an exploit in the connection, and I think I can finally use it to our advantage semi-safely, but I’m going to need you to trust me.”
It might be that easy.
Kris thinks about this for a moment. It hasn’t really been particularly malicious so far, barring not letting them eat and forcing them to go through whatever the hell was up with Spamton and the backstage game (Which did end up being somewhat helpful). Other than that, it’s been pretty docile, all things considered. Plus it’s not like Kris has any other ideas on how to free themselves. Well, they do have one, but it would require a lot of pain, and a lot of blood, and they’re not sure if they want to risk it.
“Fine. What do you need me to do?”
“It’s more so what I need from you. Do you have anything you can use to cut off a little bit of your hair or something?"
Kris points to their knife, still stuck in the floor.
“I guess that works. It doesn’t have to be hair either, just anything with human DNA. I mean, TECHNICALLY it doesn’t even need to be human, but I’d rather not look like your brother.”
“You are being exceptionally vague here, and I don’t like it.”
“I don’t really know how I’d explain what I’m trying to do without sounding extremely weird. Then again, you seem really calm about this for it basically being a cult ritual.”
“I’m friends with Catti. I’ve used my blood in a cult ritual; this is nothing.”
“Y’know, I probably should have expected that. Alright. Essentially, I’m trying to make myself a body separate from yours that I can inhabit, a vessel, if you will, using human DNA. It’s not going to be fully corporeal, but it’ll be close enough for now. I tried it before, when I first came to this world, but it… didn’t work out how I wanted. That’s how I ended up stuck with you, actually.”
Deciding to add that to the pile of things they want to grill the SOUL about, Kris picks up their knife, straining a bit to get it unstuck, and, somewhat reluctantly, cuts off a strand of their hair.
“Okay. Now bring it over here and put it in the cage. Actually, on second thought, could you maybe let me out before we do this? It’s going to get real cramped in there if you don’t.”
Kris considers leaving the door locked, since it would be really funny to see the thing that has been torturing them stuffed inside a tiny cage, but eventually decides against it. They are dealing with an apparently multiversal being, and they’d rather not piss it off more than they likely already have.
“…Alright. But if you so much as think about pulling anything, or trying to possess me again, I’m going to stab you.”
“You don’t need to worry about that. I promise.”
Kris sighs and unlocks the cage. The SOUL tentatively floats out, making sure to stay as far away from Kris, and specifically their knife, as possible, before moving to the center of Kris’s room and waiting. Kris takes the hair they had cut off and places it in front of the SOUL, then stands back, just in case.
Immediately, a small, red tendril appears from the middle of the SOUL and grabs the hair, pulling it into the red void. It kind of reminds Kris of a starfish, or whatever kind of aquatic creature it is that expels its stomach to eat.
Kris can swear they hear the sound of a keyboard typing, and then the SOUL starts glowing; similar to how it did in the Third Sanctuary, but much, much brighter, almost turning it completely white. Kris shields their eyes, but leaves a crack between their fingers so they can see what’s happening. The SOUL rises into the air, then the tendril reappears, extending out a couple feet before a human body begins to form around it. It starts off looking like Kris’s silhouette, but begins to morph and change; getting taller, getting longer hair, somehow managing to get thinner than Kris already is, before the light finally subsides and they fall to the ground, landing rather ungracefully on their face.
“Ow. But yay? I can feel the rug, so that probably means it worked. Your rug is scratchy as hell, by the way. Very inconsiderate for people who fall on top of it.”
The SOUL’s body stands up, and Kris finally gets a good look at it. Kris does, in fact, share some resemblance with them, but not as much as they originally thought. They have the same hair color, and are both pretty scrawny, but the other human practically towers over them. Kris is around 5 foot 2, last they checked, but the SOUL’s body has to be at least 6 '1". Their hair extends a few inches past their shoulders, as opposed to Kris’s, which is just barely long enough for them to tie it back, and their eyes are brown, contrary to Kris’s bright red eyes that sometimes seem to glow in the dark. Their faces are also very different, with the other human’s face erring more on the effeminate side compared to Kris’s very androgynous facial features. However, the main difference is that the tendril linking the body and the SOUL together is still there, and the human is translucent and pinkish, almost ghostlike, with the tendril, now also translucent, connecting to where their SOUL would go, if they had one of their own.
The other human looks down at themselves and quietly whistles. They’re wearing a black, unzipped jacket and a black skirt that goes down to their knees, with a purple shirt under the jacket. They look up at Kris again, sitting down on Asriel’s bed.
“Okay, I’ve got good news and bad news. Good news is, you can put the SOUL back in and still be able to control yourself. Bad news is that we’re still linked together, so you’re stuck with me for the time being.”
They shrug, and Kris groans.
“You might want to put it back in now, by the way. You look like you’re about to pass out.”
“Fine.”
Kris walks to the middle of the room and grabs the red SOUL, plunging it into their chest and gritting their teeth to avoid showing pain. They look down and try to flex their fingers. Their fingers obey.
“You’re not just letting me move right now only to betray me later, are you?” Kris asks drily.
The other human does an exaggerated crossing motion over their heart.
“Cross my heart and hope to die. I can only take back control if you explicitly give permission.”
“Which I won’t.”
“Which you won’t.”
Kris picks up their knife again, pointing it at the person who had been possessing them just a few short hours ago.
“Alright. I can talk to you face to face now, which is good, because I want answers.”
They laugh a little before responding.
“I could say the same to you, but I’ll let you go first.”
“Hm. First question, who are you and why the hell are you here?”
“Technically, that’s two questions.”
Kris growls a little and spins their knife in their hand.
“Okay, okay. First one’s tricky since I don’t really have a name right now, at least not one that I want to introduce myself as, but I’ll tell you the easy stuff and answer your second question at the same time. I’m a human, obviously. I’m from another universe, one that was linked to yours through the efforts of someone who administered my universe’s end of the connection, and someone else acting as a middleman for your end whose name I will not say out of fear of breaking the multiverse.”
“Excuse me?”
“Tell you later. Anyway, I was connected to your world and promised a vessel, but it was discarded and I was put in control of you instead.”
“Then why didn’t you just leave?!”
“Because if I did, time would freeze in your universe until I came back. Watch.”
The SOUL’s body suddenly went very still, and then untensed just a few seconds later.
“What was that supposed to be?”
“I temporarily closed my side of the connection. On your end, it’s been two seconds. On mine, it’s been two hours. What happened to my body on your end, the tensing up? That’s what happened every time I left while I was possessing you.”
“So you can just freeze time whenever you want? That’s creepy as hell.”
“Yeah, it is. Unfortunately, I have to sometimes, since I have a life outside of trying desperately to help you save the world.”
It is at this moment that Kris’s stomach decides it is a great idea to interrupt their interrogation and make its suffering known to the world by growling very, very loudly.
“Shit, I forgot you haven’t eaten anything substantial since this morning. Believe me, if the connection allowed me to, I would have let you; we’re lucky it even let me walk into the diner. Do you want me to sneak down to the convenience store and grab you something?”
The thought of robbing Sans, who, despite finally turning off his Angel-forsaken music, was still in their house, made Kris very, very happy.
“I am not going to rob Sans, Kris.”
Ignoring that the SOUL might have just read their mind, Kris laughs.
“Right. I forgot you’re obsessed with him.”
For whatever reason, the SOUL had made Kris talk to the skeleton at literally every chance they got. The reason why will not elude them for much longer.
“I am not! He’s just… He knows more than he lets on, and way more than he should. To be honest, he’s kind of terrifying.”
“Really. Sans the Skeleton is terrifying. SANS.”
“I’m serious! I’m pretty sure he knows about me, he can probably teleport, and he also probably has some relation, possibly familial, to the guy who connected your world to mine.”
“The guy whose name could break the multiverse if you say it?”
“Yes!”
“I’m sure it’s fiiine.”
The other human buries their face in their hands and stares at the ceiling.
“Ugh! You can be fuckin’ insufferable sometimes.”
Kris smirks.
“It’s something I take great pride in.”
“I’m not going to argue with you anymore. If you’ve got some paper, a pen, and like five bucks, that would be very helpful.”
Kris waves a hand towards their dresser.
“You’ll probably find them in there somewhere. If you don’t, we’ve already learned that you’re apparently fine with robbing my brother.”
“Ouch. But fair.”
The SOUL starts rooting through Kris’s dresser, eventually finding what they were looking for, along with something else. For whatever reason, they have pulled out Kris’s spare non-binary pin with a huge grin on their face.
“Oh, thank fuck. I can’t even imagine how insufferable they’d be otherwise.”
“What are you talking about? Who’s “they”?”
“Tell you later. Anything specific you want me to get?”
Kris flops down on their bed, annoyed, but mostly hungry, so they don’t push it.
“Doesn’t matter. I just need to eat something.”
“Alright, I’ll be back before you know it. Oh, and don’t worry about anyone seeing me, I can be really stealthy when I want to be.”
Then the SOUL steps up to Kris’s window, turns towards them, hoists themselves up…
And promptly topples out, landing with a loud crack on what Kris can only assume is their driveway. Somehow, Kris doubts that the SOUL can, in fact, be “really stealthy when they want to be.” Begrudgingly, Kris leans out the window to check if the other human is okay, finding them face down and splayed out on the pavement, but still very much alive. They give Kris a weak thumbs-up before standing up, dusting off their clothes, and beginning to speed-walk in the direction of Hometown’s main street, the ghostly tendril trailing behind them.
After a little bit, Kris walks back to their bed and sits down, then has a horrible realization.
“Shit. How the hell am I going to explain this to Susie.”
Then, Kris is startled by the SOUL’s voice coming from behind them.
“I’ll handle that. I’ve gone over the conversation a couple times in my head and I think I know how to explain it to her in a way that won’t make her hate you.”
“How the hell did you get back so fast?”
The SOUL grins, throwing Kris an apple and a bag of chips, which they immediately start to devour.
“Told you I’d be back before you knew it.”
“That explains literally nothing.”
“Hometown is tiny, Kris. I could probably run from your house to the church in less than 30 seconds. I just ran in, got the food, left a note and five bucks on the table, then ran back. Plus, I think I was under threat of death the whole time since the further I got from you, the more pain it caused. I guess now we know this thing’s got a range.”
They motion to the tendril still connecting the two humans.
“Fair point.”
Kris finishes the apple and moves on to the bag of chips.
“Anyways, I’ve decided I’m not going to ask you anything until tomorrow. You deserve some rest, considering the Festival is tomorrow. Also, you should probably change. I’m pretty sure you’ve been wearing the same clothes for three days.”
“And whose fault is that?”
“Again, if I could have let you, I would have. Got anywhere I can sleep?”
“Not in my house. Go sleep in Castle Town or something, I’m sure Ralsei won’t mind.”
“Can’t unless you’re there, remember?”
“Ugh. I was planning on leaving anyway, so fine.”
“Nice. When you’re done changing, I’m going to go back into the SOUL until we’re there since I don’t want to get spotted, but I won’t be able to do anything but watch.”
Not responding, Kris grabs some clothes out of their dresser and walks out the door.
When they come back, they find the other human laying on the floor, rhymically tapping their fingers on the hardwood.
“What the fuck are you doing?”
“Got bored. Ready to go?”
Not waiting for a response, they glow white and vanish, the tendril retreating into Kris’s body. When the other human speaks again, it’s once again from within Kris’s mind.
“So, do you want to take the window, or be boring and take the stairs?”
Kris smirks, then jumps out their window and slides down the water drainage pipe like a firefighter before landing gracefully on the ground.
“Perfect ten. Wish I knew that was there when I jumped out your window.”
Now it’s Kris’s turn to walk through town, and they do so, eventually reaching the school. The door is unlocked, as usual, so they walk right in and make their way to the supply closet. The SOUL also decides to reappear, and starts to walk behind Kris, running their hand along the wall. They stop at the door, and Kris pushes it open and jumps in, the other human following suit.
Just before they leap, the ghostly human stares into the darkness, and can swear they see something staring back, something with pink and yellow eyes and a twisted smile.
They jump back in fear, and it vanishes. The human angrily flips off the empty darkness.
“I’m on to you, you son of a bitch! Keep that fuckass smile away from me or so help me I will rip your tail off and wear it like a fucking SCARF!”
They shake their head vigorously to reorient themselves, and finally jump down, spinning into a skydive as they descend.