Chapter Text
Drift all you like, from ocean to ocean
Chapter 1
Kris was never a loud person. When they were little, the only times they spoke were to ask for more pie, or when Asriel coaxed words out of them. It simply never felt natural. so they didn’t speak, unless absolutely necessary.
So, unsurprisingly, when they wound up walking alongside Susie on their way to the festival, none of the noise was coming from Kris. They thought back to all the times they’d been in this exact situation. Susie talking about her every thought and Kris listening intently. In the Dark World, in school, QC’s. The list was endless. Even so, they enjoyed the balance. Susie’s everlasting energy and passion were mellowed by Kris’s quietude, though not without their subtle chaos. Completely overshadowed by Susie’s loud presence. I don’t want this to end.
It had been so nice getting to know Susie. Despite the nightmares from her torment, these past few weeks had been eye-opening for Kris. Perhaps too insightfull at times. Their feelings for Susie weren’t too dissimilar to a rollercoaster. years of fear and resentment turned into a fragile friendship, and now… something else. Something new.
Kris was never very good at identifying feelings. They confused sadness with anger, kicking and screaming when Asriel left for college; they punched a wall the day Dess went missing; they pushed Noelle away the moment things got too hard. Emotions were difficult. And this. this was the hardest of all.How do I feel about Susie?
“Hey, do you think they’ll have popcorn? Hell yeah, or maybe cotton candy damnn, this is gonna be so great!” Susie rambled, the autumn breeze brushing against her brown hair. Morning sunlight peeked through the dense clouds. it was peaceful.
With Kris’s silence expected, she kept going.
“I know Noelle and everyone else will be there. Hell, even Berdly’s gonna rip his head outta a damn book to show up. I’m so excited!”
She pumped her fist in the air with a small jump, loud enough to cover Kris’s tiny giggle at her antics. She’s so adorable, and she doesn’t even know it.
“It’s a fucking shame Ralsei can’t be here,” Susie continued, her tone softening. “He was lying, right? About not being real? I mean, he is real. I’ve seen him—felt him before. I don’t buy that ‘seeing the truth’ bullshit.”
She gestured animatedly in Kris’s direction, her tangent becoming physical.
“We gotta find a way to convince him, Kris. We gotta.”
Her determined eyes locked on theirs. Kris froze, their mind blank as always when it mattered most.
Okay, they signed quickly, glancing away before Susie could see the faint blush growing on their cheeks. I could look at you forever.
The conversation drifted into comfortable silence as the festival gates came into view. The air shimmered with the warmth of distant laughter and the sweet scent of caramel apples. For a small town, the energy was electric, children darting between booths, paper lanterns swaying from string lights, and music echoing faintly from the square.
Susie grinned, her yellowed fangs catching the light. “C’mon, Kris! Last one to the popcorn stand’s a loser!”
She took off running before Kris could respond, her laughter cutting through the crisp air. Kris stood for a heartbeat longer, watching her go.
Then, with a small, rare smile, they followed.
The festival lights blinked to life overhead. bright, chaotic, and impossibly alive. Just like her.
Kris jogged slowly to catch up, their worn sneakers crunching softly against the gravel path. The festival spread out before them in a burst of colour and light. bright streamers fluttering between lamps, the air filled with laughter and the smell of fried dough. As they moved through the crowd, they couldn’t help but take in every detail.
Jockington and Catti were locked in an intense battle at a hook a duck booth, each insisting they had scored more points. The argument had drawn Alphys in as a reluctant mediator, although she seemed much more interested in Officer Undyne, who stood proudly by the festival entrance, arms crossed and sunglasses reflecing the sunlight. Alphys was too distracted to pay the arguing students any mind.
Kris let a faint smile creep onto their face. Everyone looked happy. Relaxed. No one seemed haunted by dark worlds or the threat of reality being destroyed. For once, the town felt unburdened.
They watched a few children chase bubbles and thought, All thanks to us.
The heroes. The Lightners.
Kris didn’t often feel good about themselves. Most days, they felt like a puzzle missing too many pieces. something human, but not quite right in a world of monsters. Yet knowing they’d helped save that world, three separate times, gave them a sense of peace. Almost normalcy. And normal felt good.
Their thoughts were interrupted when Susie waved at them from across the way, her voice carrying over the noise. She stood by the popcorn stand with Noelle and Berdly, the trio surrounded by the smell of butter.
Noelle looked cozy in her soft shorts and leg warmers, the old scarf Toriel had knitted her years ago wrapped snugly around her neck. She was radiant. smiling up at Susie like the she had personally hung the moon and stars. Kris’s chest tightened. It’s a shame. They’re cute together.
Berdly was there too, dressed in his usual boy-scout uniform, puffed up with self importance and a dopey smile that betrayed more enthusiasm than skill. He was trying to balance as many popcorn kernels as possible along his beak, failing but never deterring him. Kris sighed. He was annoyuing, sure, but with enough noise and distraction around, tolerating him wasn’t so bad.
“Hi, Kris!” Noelle beamed, her voice bright. She shivered slightly as a gust of wind swept through the festival, and Susie instinctively began to shrug off her jacket for her. Noelle quickly waved her hands to decline.
“No no, you’ll freeze! Cold-blooded and all, remember?”
Susie snorted, her tail flicking playfully. “Fine, fine but don’t say I didn’t offer.”
Both girls turned to Kris, who hovered a few steps away, their hands stuffed into their jeans pocket.
“Hey,” Kris signed, hesitating before adding, “Where are the bathrooms?”
They needed a short break. a moment to breathe to recharge before spending the rest of the day with the lovebirds + Berdly. A riveting combination. Susie pointed behind them toward a row of portable toilets near the trees. “Over there. Don’t get lost or nothin’.”
Kris gave a small nod and made a beeline toward the bathrooms, head low, the noise of the crowd fading.
As soon as Kris disappeared from sight, Noelle looked up at Susie, her voice lowering. “When can we tell them?” she asked, fidgeting with the hem of her shorts.
“Not yet,” Susie replied after a pause. “I mean, we can’t just drop it on them like that.. Patience, babe.” Her gaze lingered in the direction Kris had gone, watching the faint outline of their hunched figure vanish into the crowd. “They look so small in that jumper,” she muttered softly.
“I know, right?” Noelle whispered, looping her arm through Susie’s and leaning her head against her bicep. The contact was comforting, familiar.
The two of them stood quietly for a while, the sounds of the festival swelling around them with music drifting from a distant stage, bells and whistles ringing from the game stalls, the occasional bark of laughter. More and more people were pouring through the gates now.
“So,” Noelle said at last, breaking the comfortable silence, “what do we do first? My mother told me to stay away from the hot dogs, apparently they’re Asgore’s doing fahaha” She laughed, her breath fogging in the cold. “Last year, she swore they were just ‘reheated’ over and over.”
Susie barked out a laugh,. “Yeah, sounds like something he’d do. Dude’s got a heart of gold but awful hygiene standards’
Noelle giggled again, the kind of light, genuine laughter that made Susie’s chest ache in the best way. For a second, she forgot everything: the Dark World, the secrets, the uncertainty that hung between them and Kris. For now, there was just the festival, bright, bustling and full of excitement and fun waiting to happen.
And somewhere inside the stalls, Kris stood in the quiet, staring at their reflection in a bathroom mirror, wondering when everything had changed - and why it suddenly hurt to see Susie smile at someone else.