Archive of Our Own ^beta

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.

Chapter Text

Ralsei is sitting alone in Castle Town. He could go talk to Lancer, or Queen, or even King, but he doesn’t. Instead, he sits on a couch cushion in his nearly empty room and stares out the window into the endless dark, thinking. Thinking about the Prophecy, thinking about his fate, and thinking about Susie’s staunch defiance of hers. That defiance gives him hope, if only a little. 

He is interrupted by a small, blue figure bouncing into his room, off the wall, and into his face. 

“Hello, Lancer…”

“Hey, Peachboy!”

“Is there… something you need me for?”

“It could be a something, a someone, or a somewhere! You’ll have to find out for yourself!”

Lancer rolls backwards onto the floor and blows a raspberry. 

“All I’ll tell you is that blue person and a pink blue person are here, and they need to talk to you! A devilish riddle, if I do say so myself; which I do!”

Ralsei sighs. 

“Lancer, I think that’s all you could have told me.”

“Maybe so, Peachboy, but I still haven’t told you the pink person’s name, because I don’t know it! Hoho!”

And then Lancer hurls himself back at the wall and ricochets out the door, right into Queen, who excitedly backflips off the balcony, slam-dunking him through a net of Swatchlings and into Ralsei’s cauldron. He silently thanks his past self for emptying the cauldron a few hours ago. 

After watching this impressive display of coordination, Ralsei walks down to the castle’s entrance and opens the door, walking through the courtyard into the main town. Because of how much larger Castle Town has gotten over the past few days, he makes the decision to ask around to see if anyone knows where this Kris and this mysterious human are rather than looking for them himself. Ralsei decides to ask Seam first, since they’re probably the most perceptive citizen of the town, which turns out to be a good decision. 

As soon as Ralsei enters, he spots Seam, who, without looking up from their table, points to their right. 

“They’re over by the cliffs.”

“H-how did you…?”

Seam just smiles. 

As it turns out, they were right. Ralsei does find two humans at the cliffs west of Castle Town, one of them blue, and one a light pink. The first human is Kris, obviously, but the second is unfamiliar to Ralsei. They look similar to Kris (despite the skin tone difference), but are much taller, wear a chainmail skirt around their waist, and have a curved sword strapped to their back. This strikes Ralsei as odd, both because most Dark World weapons dematerialize to save space, and because its hilt is pointed down instead of up. Maybe this sword is different somehow. 

Ralsei waves to Kris, who smacks their companion on the shoulder, snapping them out of their observation of one of the strange wobbly things that inhabit the Dark Wastes. They rub their shoulder, grimacing, and give Ralsei a small wave back. 

“Greetings! I’m Ralsei, I don’t believe we’ve met before?”

“Not in the… traditional sense, I guess.”

“What do you mean by that?”

The unfamiliar human sighs. 

“Alright, this is either gonna take a while, or take literally five seconds, depending on how specific the Prophecy really is. What do you know about Kris’s SOUL?”

“I know that they use it to seal fountains?”

The human laughs under their breath. 

“Y’know, I’m not sure what I expected from you, considering lying by omission is kinda your whole thing. Really, what do you know about it?”

Ralsei sighs and looks away. 

“Everything. What the prophecy didn’t tell me, Kris did.”

The human turns back towards Kris, annoyed. 

“You could have told me that before we got here! Would’ve saved me a bit of time.”

“Nah. More fun for me this way.”

“Ugh. Anyways, Ralsei, you evidently didn’t know everything, since you haven’t realized who I am yet.”

Ralsei takes a step back.

“Y-you’re Kris’s SOUL, aren’t you?”

They let their shoulders fall, a little dejected. 

“Ruined my cool exposition moment, but yeah. Hi. And not really, as far as I can tell they lost their own SOUL.”

Kris freezes. 

“I never- how did you-“

The other human grins. 

“When you’re in a position like mine, you start to notice stuff. Also, you suck at keeping secrets.”

At this moment, the beacon leading back to the Light World emits a large burst of energy, signifying the arrival of a Lightner. The human clicks their tongue. 

“That must be Susie. I expected her to already be here, honestly. Kris, Ralsei, let’s go.”

Kris’s eyes widen, or, at least, they probably would if their eyes were visible. 

“You’re not going to-“

“-Tell her the truth? She’s gonna find out one way or another, better she hears it from us of our own accord rather than the alternative.”

“…Fine.”

They find Susie at the training area, angrily bashing the Addison dummy with her axe. Kris speaks first. 

“Susie. We gotta talk to you.”

Susie jumps, then dematerializes her axe, grimacing. She turns around, sees the pink human, and laughs. 

“Hey, Kris. Didn’t know you had a cousin or somethin’!”

The new human sighs before speaking. 

“I’m not their cousin, Susie. You know about Kris’s SOUL, right?”

Susie scratches the back of her neck. 

“Seen it. Why?”

Evidently uncomfortable, the human continues. 

“Because over the past couple of days, Kris hasn’t… been entirely themselves. I’m their SOUL, or at least the person on the other end of it, and since before Card Kingdom, I’ve been forced to… possess them, I guess.”

Susie snarls.

“You WHAT?”

“H-hold on. Let me explain first-“

Susie snaps, resummoning the JusticeAxe and hurling herself at Kris’s former possessor. Just in time, the human yanks their sword out of its scabbard, holding it backwards in their hand, and Susie’s axe clashes into the blade, grinding it against the armor on the back of their forearm. 

Suddenly, the human’s eyes glow a bright blue, and electricity  surges through their arm and into the sword, charging the blade with magic. Susie’s eyes widen, just before she is blasted back with the power of a small thunderstorm. She flies a good twenty feet, slamming into the Addisons’ wooden stand and shattering it to pieces. 

??? Learned DISCHARGE

The human shakes their hand out, half marveling at what they had just accomplished and half feeling bad for accomplishing it in the first place. Then, they look up, and are greeted by Susie, now on her feet again, rushing towards them. They try to raise their blade to block again, but…

Too slow. Susie’s claws rake across their face, leaving three deep gashes and just barely missing their right eye. They cry out in pain and clutch their face, dropping their sword in the process. 

“OW! Shit, shit, shit. Fuck. Ow. That. Really. Hurts. Little -Ow- help, Ralsei? Please?”

Ralsei rushes over, motioning to Susie to back down and beginning to heal the human while Susie watches, horrified. 

“Why are you helping them?! They possessed Kris!”

Muffled, the human starts to speak again. 

“As I was saying before you tried to kill me, I didn’t have a choice. It was either possess Kris or leave them to die.”

Susie turns to Kris, distressed. 

“Does this mean that- were we ever really-?”

“Saving you from the statue of the Old Man was all Kris. So were all the little interactions in the Church. The piano-organ-thing was them, I can only play guitar. And they were the one who saved you from King.”

Kris nods.

“Yeah. The SOUL had nothing to do with that.”

Susie responds, evidently still rattled but trying to hide it.

“Phew. Got a little worried for a second.”

She points at Kris’s former possessor, now fully healed, and continues. 

“This doesn’t mean you’re off the hook, by the way.”

The other human rolls their eyes. 

“‘That’s great, but there’s still stuff we gotta figure out before you try and maul me again. For one, why the fuck can I use magic?”

As a demonstration, they charge up again, throwing another blast of electricity at the now-ruined stand without even looking. Ralsei speaks up. 

“My best guess would be because, as Kris’s SOUL, you normally exist on a higher, more “real” plane of reality in comparison to the Light World. As we descend through the layers, you become more powerful, with a side effect being that you gain magic in the Dark World.”

“Huh. Cool. So if I were to enter the Depths…”

“I’m sorry?”

“Y’know, The Depths. Hell. Casa de Gaster.”

They clap their hand over their mouth, then slowly lower it. 

“Okay. Saying his name doesn’t break the universe. That’s good.”

Something like recognition sparks in Kris’s mind at the name, but it disappears before they can dwell on it. 

Ignoring Susie and Ralsei's alarmed expressions, the human continues. 

“Anyways, the Depths, as far as I can tell, are below the Dark Worlds. Jevil mentioned it after you defeated him, and it’s likely where Dark Fountains come from.”

They side-eye Kris. 

“It’s also important for… other reasons, but we’ll talk about that later.”

This sends Kris into a full-blown panic that, all things considered, they hide really well. Do they know? There’s no way they could possibly know, right?

The other human claps their hands together. 

“Alright. It’s, like, three in the morning, and we all need to sleep, probably. Ralsei, any chance you can just, I don’t know, will another bedroom into existence?”

“Um, I don’t think so? I had to set up Kris and Susie’s ahead of time.”

“Okay. Anyone have any other ideas?”

“You could sleep in Ralsei’s cauldron,” Kris says under their breath. 

“Very funny. I was asking for good ideas”, the other human responds, annoyed. 

“That was a great idea. If you insist on being picky, you can take my bed, and me and Susie will take hers.”

Susie laughs. 

“Awesome. Now you’ll finally get to see the glory of the spike bed.”

Kris takes an exaggerated bow. 

“I’m honored to have the opportunity.”

Already walking away, the other human waves over their shoulder. 

“Copy that. If you get stabbed during the night, don’t scream too loud.”

Kris swears that they can see the human pump their fist a little as they go up the stairs. 

Chapter Text

Kris wakes up in a bit of a pickle. Or, more accurately, trapped under one. The pickle in the situation is Susie, who has somehow ended up sprawled across her entire bed, including over Kris. With great difficulty, they manage to turn their head to the left and see the SOUL, fully awake and silently laughing their ass off at Kris’s predicament. With even more difficulty, Kris frees their hand and flips them off. 

“Very funny. I’m suffocating over here.”

The SOUL tries to speak through the laughter. 

“I’m sorry, it’s just- pfffft-“

They fall back on the bed, now laughing out loud. The noise causes Susie to stir slightly, getting Kris’s hand stuck once again, dangerously close to a spike. This gives them an idea. With another few minutes of effort, they prick their finger on the spike and hold it in front of Susie’s nose. Suddenly, her eyes pop open and she sits up, finally freeing Kris from their prison. 

“Dude. What the fuck was that!?”

The SOUL, no longer laughing, interrupts before Kris can say anything. 

“So wait, are you, like, a shark or something? Since you smelled the blood and all.”

Susie wrinkles her nose. 

“Nah. Some kind of dragon, I think.”

“Cool. Can you breathe fire?

The dragon shakes her head.

“Nope. I can do this, though.”

Suddenly, she takes a deep breath and spews out a cloud of black smoke from her nostrils, right into Kris’s face. 

“Oh, shit. Sorry, Kris, I didn’t-“

Susie is interrupted by Kris taking a large whiff of the smoke. 

“Kris. What the fuck.”

Kris smirks. 

Suddenly, Susie jumps off the bed and turns to the human. 

“Shit! The festival is today. Do you know what time it is?”

Kris looks at their wrist, well aware that they’re not wearing a watch. 

“Hmm… It’s fifty-seven o’ clock and we missed the festival by three days.”

“Kris! I’m serious!”

“I don’t know, Susie. We’d have to go to the Light World to check.”

“Well then, come on, dumbass!”, Susie exclaims, dragging Kris out of bed and throwing them to their feet. Kris holds up their hand. 

“I still need to change, you know.”

They point to the SOUL, who has been silently watching the conversation. 

“And you need to step outside.”

“Well, yeah. What do you take me for?”

They jump up and walk out of the room, Susie following close behind. 

Kris exits a few minutes later, now wearing something much more comfortable and having finally changed out of that Angel-forsaken bodysuit, and follows the others to the portal back to the Light World. When Kris steps out of the closet, their clothes have changed to a Light World form, as expected, but there is also the lack of a certain pressure around their upper torso. 

Turns out they did need that bodysuit, after all. 

After another five minutes in the Dark World, Kris finally leaves the school and meets up with Susie, the SOUL following close behind. Susie speaks first. 

“So. Festival. Where is it.”

Kris points past the police station. 

“Over there, past where the barricades were yesterday.”

They start to walk, but the SOUL stands still. Kris turns around. 

“Well?”

“Yeah, yeah. There’s just something I need to check out first. You and Susie should come too.”

“Okaaay…?”

The SOUL turns north and starts walking, eventually reaching the Flower King. They fling open the door…

And are greeted by darkness.

“HA! I KNEW it!”

Not waiting for a response, they jump through, Susie and Kris close behind. The familiar WHOOSH of the Dark World appearing greets them as they hit the ground, landing in a closed room on a bed of golden flowers. The SOUL looks around in awe. 

“No fucking way.”

Susie turns to them, confused. 

“What?”

“I’ve been here before.”

“Like, this Dark World? It just opened.”

“No. To clarify, I’ve been somewhere in another universe that looks exactly like this. If my theory is correct, he should be through there.”

They point to a nearby door. 

“He? Who the fuck is “He”?”

“You’ll find out in a bit. Where’s Ralsei?”

The prince suddenly appears behind them, as if he had been there the whole time. 

“Right here!”

The SOUL jumps, startled. 

“Gah! Remind me to ask you how the hell you’re doing that sometime.”

Ralsei tilts his head. 

“I… walk? Dark Worlds don’t cease to exist when the Fountain is closed, they just become part of the Cliffs again.”

“Oh. That… actually makes a lot of sense.”

Another voice interrupts. 

“Kris! Susie! What are you doing here?”

The four turn and see Noelle, huddled against the corner. Susie jumps back. 

“Noelle?! What are you doing here?!”

“Um! I was going to Kris’s dad’s shop to buy flowers, but the lights were off, so I tried to find a switch and ended up here! Am I dreaming again?”

Kris and Susie look at each other, then nod. Kris steps forward. 

“You were never dreaming, Noelle. This is a Dark World, just like the one on Friday.”

Suddenly, Noelle notices the SOUL and points at them. 

“Kris? Who’s that?”

Before Kris can answer, the other human interrupts. 

“Interdimensional being from a higher plane of reality, what’s it to you?”

Noelle just stares. Susie eventually clears her throat. 

“Uh, Noelle. You mentioned you came here to buy flowers?”

“Oh! Yes?”

“Why.”

“Because… that’s what you do when you go to the festival with someone?”

“Oh. Really? Alright, guess I’m not one to complain about free food.”

“Faha, Susie! You’re not supposed to eat the flowers!”

“Then what am I supposed to do with them?”

“Uhhh…”

“Exactly. Kris agrees with me, too.”

Kris nods. 

Noelle then remembers what she was saying before, and turns back towards the other human. 

“Wait, what did you say you were?”

The SOUL rolls their eyes. 

“Hooray, more explaining; as if I haven’t had to do this three times already. Basically, you were right. Kris was acting weird, because it wasn’t them. It was me; I’m from another universe and I was forced to possess them, but I figured out a way to separate us enough that I stay here but they get control back. Now may I never have to explain it again.”

Kris looks at Noelle, smiling. 

“You knew the whole time. You knew it wasn’t really me.”

Then they throw their arms around Noelle and hug her, tears welling up in their eyes. 

This is the first time in a long time that Noelle remembers Kris showing physical affection in any form, so it surprises her. She jumps back slightly at first, but settles down and returns the hug, allowing Kris to rest their head on her shoulder. 

“Well, yeah, silly! Normally you’re way weirder!”

Kris laughs quietly and stands up again, pulling Noelle up with them. 

“Alright, looks like the only thing we can do is go that way.”

The SOUL huffs. 

“I already said that, but yes. Oh, and you might want to prepare for a fight.”

Susie growls, flexing her claws. 

“I’m always prepared.”

“Alright, follow me and keep your guard up.”

The other human walks towards the door, right hand on their sword and left hand ready to shoot lightning at a moment’s notice, and steps through, motioning for the other to follow. When they reach the other side of the doorway, the SOUL gasps and takes a step back. 

As they expected, there is a small flower with a face in the center of the room, but said flower has its stem wrapped around the shoulders of a Darkner, with six more Darkners behind them. Each one has a different color scheme, with the middle one being dressed in red. They are also all humanoid, but all share characteristics with flowers as well. 

Collecting themselves, the SOUL nods at the flower. 

“Greetings. Flowey, I presume?”

The golden flower smiles, speaking in a high, slightly scratchy voice. 

“That’s me! Flowey the Flower!”

The human motions to Flowey’s companion. 

“And I assume you are…?”

“Buttercup. If I may ask, how are you aware of my accomplice’s name?”

The human smiles, leaning against the wall. 

“Let’s just say I’ve got some outside knowledge. Who are the others?”

Buttercup and Flowey point to each Darkner in turn as they introduce them to the group. First is Justice, wielding a leafy revolver. Secondly, Patience, who has a knife strapped to their waist. Third, Bravery, wearing a pair of steel gloves. Fourth, Integrity, holding no weapons. Fifth, Perseverance, holding a worn spellbook. Last is Kindness, wielding a stained frying pan. Justice is the first of the six to speak. 

“Why would ya go mouthin’ off to a couple ‘a strangers like that?!”

Bravery responds, smirking. 

“Relax, Justice. I’m sure they won’t be any threat if they do decide to fight us. That one isn’t even holding their sword correctly.” 

They point to the SOUL, who scoffs. 

“Last I heard, plants don’t do great against any kind of sword, backwards or not. But as of right now, we mean no harm. That doesn’t mean I trust you, though.” 

They point to Flowey. 

“And I’ll be keeping a close eye on you.”

Buttercup raises an eyebrow. 

“I doubt that will be necessary. He is by far the least threatening of all of us.”

“You don’t know that,” the SOUL grumbles. 

Kris steps forward. 

“I apologize on behalf of my friend. My name is Kris, and this is Susie, Ralsei, and Noelle.”

They look at the other human quizzically. 

“You still haven’t told me your name.”

The SOUL sighs. 

“Well, I didn’t want to say anything until I was sure my theory was right, but you can call me the Angel.”

Everyone in the room gasps and Justice places a hand on their revolver. Noelle speaks first. 

“The Angel? From the Prophecy?”

“S’either me or you, but that’s a whole other can of worms.”

This causes Noelle to stare at them for a very long time. 

Justice aims their revolver at the newly-revealed Angel. 

“And how do we know you’re not lyin’?”

Kindness steps in front of them and lowers the revolver. 

“Justice, think about this. If they are lying, what difference does it make to us? There’s no need to get aggressive over it.”

The Angel chimes in from across the room. 

“Meh. I don’t even know if I’m right.”

Kris chimes in again. 

“Anyways, we just want to pass through. If you could lead us to my father, that would be very helpful.”

“The King? Certainly. This way, Lightners.”

The five follow behind Buttercup and Flowey, with the six Darkners bringing up the rear. 

Chapter Text

Kris assumed they would be prepared for any question the Angel could possibly ask. 

They aren’t. 

“It’s Dess, isn’t it?”

This is the first question the Angel asks Kris, and the first thing they say to them after the group stops to rest. 

“W-what?”

“Dess. She’s the Knight.”

Kris sighs. 

“How did you know?”

The Angel stifles a laugh. 

“Because you just told me.”

Kris freezes. Stupid, stupid, STUPID! She’s gonna KILL me. They turn and punch the stone wall as hard as they can, giving them nothing but bloody knuckles. They punch it again. Kindness worriedly looks over at the human. 

Kris turns to the Angel. 

“You can’t tell anyone,” they say, wrapping their hand in the folds of their cape. 

“If I do?”

Kris draws their sword and attempts to bring it up to the Angel’s neck, but they raise an arm and block it with their armored wrist. 

“Listen, Kris. I trust you. I trust that you know what you’re doing, but I can’t help you if you don’t tell me exactly what’s going on and why you won’t tell the others.”

“I don’t want your help.”

“Well, that’s too bad, since you’re stuck with me and I want answers. So. Why are you working with the Knight?”

Kris sighs, hiding their face. 

“I promised.”

“Yeah, I got that already. Promised what?”

“Promised that I’d save her. Carol thinks working with that thing is the only way to do that.”

“I thought you said Dess was the Knight?”

“She is. She is but she’s not, and she’s gone, and it’s all my fault.” They’re crying now, their cape turning red from the blood on their hands. 

“She’s not.”

Kris looks up. 

“What?”

“She’s not gone. She’s just trapped.”

“Where?”

“I don’t know. I found her in the code the connection uses to link our worlds, but she either didn’t know I was there or I was watching a memory. My best guess is the Depths, but…”

“No. I am not going there. No, no, no, no, no…”

“And therein lies our problem.”

Kris snaps. 

“Our problem? Are you insane? You have nothing to do with this! I didn’t want you here in the first place, and the ONLY reason I didn’t kill you the second you arrived was because I needed you to stay alive.”

They scrape their sword along the Angel’s forearm armor. 

“So I want you to know that if you don’t stop trying to figure me out, the SECOND I don’t need you anymore, I am going to murder you.”

The Angel just laughs. It starts as a small snicker, then grows to a full-body laugh, causing them to bend over in hysterics. Suddenly, they drop the smile, draw their sword, and stab it between Kris’s torso and their arm, pinning them to the wall. 

“As if you would even have a chance.”

They yank the sword back out and, with a flourish, return it to its scabbard, before walking back to rejoin the group. 

“Come on. The others are on the move again.”

Kris stares at them. 

“That’s it? You’re just going to leave after that?”

“Well, yeah. What else am I meant to do? Come on.”

Kris sighs and reluctantly follows the Angel, rejoining the rest of the group. Susie motions them to come over. 

“Hey. You alright? You look pretty damn rattled.”

Kris smiles. 

“Fine. Thanks.”

“You sure? Your hand is bleeding.”

She points to Kris’s hand, still scraped up from punching the stone wall. 

“I’m fine, really.”

“No, you’re not, dumbass. Here.”

She holds her hand out. Kris places their hand in hers, and with a flash of green light, the blood is gone and their hand is healed. 

“Thanks...”

“Don’t mention it, heh.”

The group continues on. The Angel is still keeping a constant eye on Flowey for seemingly no reason, Noelle has struck up a conversation with Integrity, Susie and Justice are somehow managing to arm wrestle while walking, and Ralsei and Kindness are discussing cooking. Eventually, a large structure looms in the distance, with Darkners milling around it. Buttercup stops and turns to the group. 

“Welcome to the Amphitheater. If one seeks an audience with the King, they must prove themselves in combat.”

Kris looks skeptical. 

“And does he know about this?”

“Well… No. However, it was instated before his arrival, so it remains.”

Susie cracks her knuckles. 

“Great. Been dyin’ to crack some skulls.”

Flowey rolls his eyes, and Buttercup continues.

“Each of you will fight in a tournament bracket against each of us. As there is an odd number of you, one of you will sit out.”

Immediately, Noelle steps forward. 

“I’ll sit out. I’m not great at fighting to begin with, let alone in a tournament!”

The Angel lets out an almost-inaudible sigh of relief that only Kris notices. Buttercup nods to Noelle. 

“Splendid. Make your way to the stands. The rest of you, go through the entrance to the waiting room. Flowey and I will remain here, as we will be officiating the matches.”

Noelle waves goodbye to the rest of the group and walks away, towards the entrance to the stands. The rest, including the five remaining Darkners, go through the door to the waiting room. 

In the waiting room are a set of benches, as well as a rack containing different weapons. The Angel immediately replaces their sword with one from the rack, strapping it to their back. 

“Better stats equals better chance of survival.”

Justice looks over from the bench. 

“Survival ain’t a question here. You fight ‘till you’re down, that’s all.” 

“Which shouldn’t be too long,” Bravery finishes snidely. 

The Angel turns away, scoffing. 

“Dick.”

Suddenly, Flowey pops out of the ground. 

“Howdy! The matchups are being displayed outside, you should head out there. Unless you want to go in blind…?” 

Then, just as quickly as he appeared, he’s gone. The group decides to heed his suggestion, and walks out into the Amphitheater’s arena. 

There are hundreds of Darkners in the stands, all resembling some variety of plant. Susie spots Noelle in the crowd and waves to her. Then, Kris directs the group’s attention to a large, rusted TV at the back of the arena displaying the matchups. 

KRIS - INTEGRITY

SUSIE - KINDNESS

RALSEI - JUSTICE

ANGEL - BRAVERY

PATIENCE - PERSEVERANCE

Buttercup’s voice rings out from the commentator’s platform. 

“Attention, Darkners of the Golden Fields. Our first match today will be the Lightner, Kris, versus one of our own, Integrity.”

Cheers and applause for both sides roar from the stands. 

“Fighters, take your positions!”

Kris steps onto their starting block and Integrity steps onto theirs. 

“Ready!”

Integrity raises their hands in a defensive stance , and Kris smiles. 

“Very well.”

They throw their sword to the ground and raise their arms, palms open and ready to strike. Flowey pops out of the ground again and counts them down, using a vine to separate them until the time comes. 

“Three! Two! One! FIGHT!”

Chapter Text

Integrity strikes first, hurling themselves at Kris with a flying axe kick. Kris barely has time to process the fact that Integrity’s shoes have prongs where the heels would be before they need to get out of the way. They sidestep Integrity and, spinning around, stick out their arm, smacking the Darkner in the torso and hurling them to the ground. 

Integrity immediately rolls back upright and unleashes a flurry of kicks. Kris attempts to block them, but a final kick from the Darkner catches them off guard, creating a gash in their left arm. 

Destabilized but undeterred, Kris blocks the next volley, silently thanking Dess for teaching them hand-hand combat, and catches Integrity by grabbing the prong on their left heel, snapping it off. They quickly throw it to their other hand and use it to slice off the other prong, removing Integrity’s most dangerous weapon. 

Now on an even playing field, Kris strikes, weaving around the Darkner and landing blow after blow, ending with a grab that they use to throw Integrity to the ground. 

DOWN

Buttercup’s voice rings out from the commentator’s stand. 

“We have a winner. Kris Dreemurr has defeated Integrity.”

Cheers erupt through the stands, Noelle’s by far the loudest, and Kris helps Integrity up, handing them back their dislocated weapons. Flowey pops out of the ground and escorts Kris and Integrity to the combatants’ stands, where Susie gives Kris a high five, grinning ear to ear. 

“That was awesome, dude! You’ll have to throw some of those moves at me sometime!”

Kris smiles sheepishly and looks down at the ground. Flowey and Buttercup have switched places, with Flowey now sitting in the commentator’s stand. 

“Our next match, folks, is bound to be interesting! Susie, the Axe of Justice, against Kindness!”

Susie turns to Kris. 

“I get a title? That’s fuckin’ awesome!”

She summons the JusticeAxe and walks onto the pitch, Kindness close behind. Buttercup walks between them and counts them down. 

“Three. Two. One. Fight.”

They step back, and Susie rushes at Kindness, her axe kicking up sparks against the stone floor. Kindness, realizing they are woefully underprepared considering they only have a frying pan, goes on the defensive, dodging and blocking as many attacks as they can. Eventually, they score a blow that knocks the dragon back, but Susie stabs her axe into the ground and uses it to yank herself back up. She drags it across the ground again, and unleashes a fully-powered Rude Buster. 

Kindness easily dodges it, but with a smirk, Susie makes a chopping motion with her axe and splits the spell down the middle, causing it to double back and slam into Kindness from behind. It hurls the Darkner at Susie, who gets ready to hit a home run, but Kindness curls into a ball at the last second and stabs Susie with a spike on the end of their frying pan, rolling back. Noelle audibly gasps. 

DOWN…?

Against all odds, and with blood still dripping from her torso, Susie stands up again. 

SUSIE used HEAL!

Her wound magically seals itself back up, and, with Kindness bewildered, she strikes, cutting through the Darkner and reducing them to a pile of leaves. 

DOWN

Flowey’s voice cuts through the crowd. 

“In an unexpected turn of events, Susie is the victor!”

Kindness, now back to normal, is helped off the pitch by Susie, who congratulates them on a good fight. 

Now, it’s Ralsei’s turn. He has spent the last ten minutes wishing he had volunteered to sit out before Noelle got the chance, but there’s no backing out now. Him and Justice take their places, Ralsei bowing in respect and Justice raising their revolver, closing one eye. Flowey and Buttercup have once again switched places. 

“Three! Two! One! Fight!”

Justice wastes no time, firing off a full volley of shots that Ralsei barely manages to dodge. Justice throws their revolver in the air before throwing six more bullets up with it, which the revolver catches. They catch the revolver and flick the magazine back into place. Ralsei steadies himself and lets magic flow through him to his hands. With a deep sigh, he reluctantly creates a ball of fire and melts the next volley of bullets, before hurling the ball at Justice. They dodge it, but it singes them and leaves them staggered, allowing Ralsei to jump in with another fireball. Just before he makes contact, however…

BANG!

DOWN

Ralsei is reduced to a pile of fluff and green clothing.

“Justice has won the match.” 

 Justice blows out their revolver before returning it to their hip and Susie helps Ralsei, immediately reformed, back off the pitch, congratulating him despite his loss. 

Even before Flowey’s announcement, the Angel and Bravery have already reached the pitch, the Angel still royally pissed off at the Darkner. They unsheathe their sword and flourish it, before positioning it defensively in front of their torso. Bravery raises their fists, a mechanical claw extending from each metal glove. 

“Three. Two. One. Fight.”

Unexpectedly, the Angel doesn’t strike first. Instead, they wait for Bravery to attack, and when the Darkner does so, the Angel throws the slice away with their sword before grabbing Bravery’s shoulder. 

ANGEL used DISCHARGE!

Bravery flies backward and collapses, but gets back up soon after, striking wildly, but not without strategy. The Angel blocks a few, but a couple of slices get past and catch on the human’s arms. Buckling in pain but still standing, they block the final attack, then dash in an arc behind Bravery before twirling their sword around and stabbing the Darkner through the chest. Bravery freezes, and the Angel pulls out their blade, sheathing it before the Darkner even hits the ground. 

DOWN

“Not much of a threat, my ass.”

Flowey declares the winner, and Bravery is helped off the pitch with the Angel close behind. Patience and Perseverance, sharing a fist bump, walk onto the pitch in their stead. 

——————————————————————

Noelle left after Susie’s fight. It’s not that she’s not rooting for the others, she just doesn’t particularly want to watch two strangers beat the tar out of each other. Instead, she’s attempting to find a concession stand. To be fair, most Darkners here are plants, and therefore photosynthesize, but there has to be something, right?

“heya, kid, you lookin’ for some food?”

It was Sans, who had set up a small hot dog stand nearby. 

“Mr. Sans?! What are you doing here?”

Sans leans back in his chair. 

“nothin’ much. the big guy didn’t show when he usually does, so i went to check on him. his store is way bigger on the inside, don’tcha think?” 

“Well, normally it’s not-“

“save your breath, kid, i’m just jokin’ with ya. hot dog?”

He throws it to Noelle, who barely manages to catch it, then takes a bite. She thanks the skeleton, awkwardly trying to talk through the hot dog, and continues on her way, heading back to the stands. 

——————————————————————

After a very long match (courtesy of Patience) Perseverance had eventually worn their opponent down and taken victory. The fighters watch as the old TV projects the matchups for Round 2, which the Angel had chosen to sit out of, citing a lack of stamina. 

KRIS - PERSEVERANCE

SUSIE - JUSTICE

Flowey appears in front of the four contestants and explains the rules of the Semifinals. 

“Alright, here’s the deal. At most, we’re gonna have one more round after this, but if either both Lightners or both Darkners win your respective matches, there won’t be a final ‘cuz there’d be no point. Got that? Great!” 

He tunnels over to the pitch, Kris and Perseverance close behind. Kris, happy they’re not obligated to throw away their sword this time, readies themselves, and Perseverance flips through their spellbook in preparation. 

“Three! Two! One! Fight!”

Perseverance casts a wind spell, propelling themselves into the air, which they follow up with a fireball. Kris deflects the magma before launching themselves at the airborne Darkner. Just in time, Perseverance forms a shield of leaves to block Kris’s attack, but they manage to hack through it, scoring a hit on the mage. Perseverance falls to the ground, teleporting a couple feet away to recover. 

Kris, wasting no time, rushes towards their opponent, attacking with a flying slash that Perseverance barely dodges. Unfortunately for them, Kris does a backflip over the Darkner and slashes through their spellbook, disabling it. 

Weakened but undeterred, Perseverance pulls a sai from their belt, jumping at the Lightner. Kris barely blocks the slashes, but their sword is caught in the sai’s crossguard, allowing Perseverance to deliver a gut punch that destabilizes Kris, allowing them to strike. At the last second, through, the human grabs their opponent’s arm and stabs the Darkner through the chest. 

DOWN

“Kris has won the first match of the semifinals.”

Kris helps Perseverance off the pitch, Susie and Justice taking their place for the final match of the semifinals. Buttercup shoots Justice a rare smile before counting the fighters down. 

“Three. Two. One. Fight.” 

This time, Justice conserves their bullets, instead utilizing a dagger at first. Susie and the Darkner briefly clash, and Justice gets a stray hit in with their revolver. Still standing, Susie throws out a Rude Buster that knocks the revolver out of Justice’s hand, leaving them with only their dagger. Determined to end the fight quickly, Susie strikes with her axe, missing but sending another Rude Buster out on the backswing that hits Justice, sending them right into Susie’s grip. She grabs the Darkner by the collar and hurls them into the ground. 

DOWN

Flowey declares Susie the winner while Buttercup helps Justice off the pitch themselves, patting the fellow Darkner on the arm as they walk. Flowey finishes the announcements. 

“With that, folks, the Lightners have proven themselves and have won an audience with the Flower King!”

Noelle suddenly appears, congratulating Kris in Susie on their victories. 

“Oh, and you guys won’t believe who I saw!”

Susie leans against the wall, intrigued. 

“Who?”

“That guy who runs the convenience store!”

Kris grimaces, and the Angel suddenly snaps to attention. 

“Sans?”

“Um… Yes?”

They stand up, their jaw set.

“Where is he.”

Chapter Text

Sans is bored. This is quite a rare occurrence for him; he usually finds some way to keep himself entertained, but none of these plant guys had a good sense of humor, so there was nothing he could bounce off of. Unfortunately for him, there are ways besides humor to make a day interesting. 

Four mostly-strangers (he remembers a couple) as well as the deer girl from earlier approach his stand, one of them looking very set on something. He quickly judges the others’ expressions. The other human (Kris, if he remembers correctly) looks bored, the purple girl (Snoozie? That can’t be right) looks confused but still ready to kick someone’s teeth in, the deer girl just looks confused, and the goat-looking one looks almost reproachful. Sans can pretty easily guess that that expression tends to make a home on his face. 

“heya. what can i do for ya?”

The first human rests their weight on the counter with their hand. 

“Where is it?”

“where’s the what, kid? you’re not givin’ me much to work with.” 

Sans knows exactly what “it” is, but he’s not about to let them know that. 

“The crystal. I know you have one.”

The Angel does not, in fact, know he has one, but they’re pretty sure. That’s good enough, right? Apparently so. 

“oh, this?”, Sans says, holding up a small black shard. “my brother found it a few days ago, he’s a bit scatterbrained so he asked me to hold on to it. cool, huh?”

“Well, that was easier than I thought. Hand it over.”

“sure. on one condition.”

“And that is?”

Sans points at Ralsei. 

“i want that guy’s scarf.”

Ralsei startles. 

“W-what?”

“you heard me.”

Ralsei grabs his scarf, backing away. 

“N-no.”

“what was that, kid? couldn’t hear ya.”

“I said no.”

“alright, then. you willing to fight for it?”

The party draws their weapons. 

Sans is here. 

“ready?”

Kris groans. 

“What have you gotten us into?”

The Angel just grins. 

“Everyone, DEFEND and get ready to dodge. I’m going to confirm a theory.”

Reluctantly, the group complies, and the Angel, drawing their sword, slashes at the skeleton. 

DODGE

Except he’s not there anymore. 

“Welp. That settles that, I guess. We’re gonna be here for a while. Your turn, bone man.”

That shit-eating grin still on his face, Sans attacks, using a pattern one member of the party is all too familiar with. A hop, a skip, and a couple of rolls later, the Angel is clear of the bones and blasters and completely unharmed. The same cannot be said for the others. 

Kris is mostly fine despite having taken a couple of bones to the armor, Susie is banged up but still standing, and Noelle and Ralsei are both downed. The Angel directs Susie to heal Ralsei, who heals Noelle in turn. 

“here we go.”

“Alright, check your ACTs, let’s see what we’ve got.”

“nah.”

The Angel turns to the skeleton.

“The fuck do you mean, “nah”?

“i don’t get to ACT, why should you? s’only fair, right?”

And then they can no longer ACT. After a quick look at their remaining options, the Angel realizes they can still CHECK Sans, at the very least. 

SANS - AT 15 DF 2

nothin’ better to do. 

“Well, that’s new. At least we won’t have to deal with KR damage.”

Kris looks over, confused. 

“Could you speak English for once?”

“Tu demandes trop de moi.”

“…Dick.”

The Angel turns to the group. 

“Okay. We can’t ACT, and he’ll just dodge everything we throw at him, so there’s probably no harm in attacking. Noelle, Ralsei, DEFEND; Susie and Kris, get ready to FIGHT.”

The party readies themselves. Kris, Susie, and the Angel all throw out their own attacks, while Noelle and Ralsei create magical shields in front of themselves. Of course, Sans dodges all of their attacks, but he moves ever so slightly slower this time. He fires off his own attack, which the Angel once again dodges easily. 

“i guess this is the part where i have to explain stuff, huh? well, i already know a little about your friend there.” 

He points at Ralsei. 

“you’re too scared to do anything for yourself, any time you do something that doesn’t directly benefit someone you call yourself selfish, and you’re apathetic since you know nothing you do matters in the end.”

The Angel interrupts him. 

“Says the guy who pretends to be lazy for the same exact reason.”

“nah, kid, if you were as funny as me all the time, you’d get pretty tired, too.”

“And that just proves my next point. You use humor as a crutch to get out of a bad situation, as a reflex, like flinching before you’re hit. You can’t ever give a straight answer, so you try to deflect suspicion by making a joke instead.”

Sans tries to speak, but the Angel holds up a finger and continues. 

“That won’t work on me, though. I know everything about you. I know what you’re hiding, I know how to hit you where it hurts the most, both physically and mentally, and…”

They pause, smirking. 

“I know how to kill you.”

Sans’ expression barely changes, but it’s enough that the Angel can notice. 

“That got a reaction. Lucky for you, I’m not going to use that knowledge with no reason to.”

Sans, somehow, manages to look almost scared. 

“what… are you?”

The Angel laughs quietly. 

“I’m not important.”

They slash at the skeleton, and the battle continues. 

Over time, Sans is worn down, eventually tiring out and collapsing. The battle is over, and the Angel hasn’t taken a single hit. 

“alright. you win. take the crystal, and while you’re at it, your friend can have this, too.”

KRIS got the SHADOWCRYSTAL

RALSEI got the BROTHERSCARF

Sans returns to running his shop, and the group sets off. As soon as they’re out of earshot of the skeleton, the Angel turns to their companions. 

“There’s no way that’s how that was meant to go.”

“What are you talking about?”, Kris responds flatly.

“I mean that me being here, me interfering, caused something to be different. I have a feeling that was meant to be a one-on-one fight, Ralsei vs. Sans, just like Susie’s fight with the Old Man, but since I was there, Noelle found Sans first. I think what was meant to happen is that, since I’m not meant to be here, nobody would have sat out, Noelle wouldn’t have met Sans first, and Ralsei would have encountered him organically on his own.”

Ralsei sighs. 

“They’re right. I was meant to face Sans alone. I was certain we couldn’t change the Prophecy, but now…”

The Angel finishes his sentence. 

“You have an interdimensional time creature that can crack reality open like an egg on your side.”

“Yes. That.”

Kris suddenly remembers something. 

“Sans called you “kid”, right? How old are you, really?”

The Angel shrugs. 

“Sixteen, give or take.”

“WHAT?!”