Work Text:
Kris stood, feet on the windowsill, very tempted to try jumping out. The past few days were not what Kris had envisioned and promise or not, it was getting hard to justify sticking to the plan. If they left now, they could probably find Dad’s keys and take the truck out of town. With Undyne out of action, it wasn’t like anyone would care about their lack of a drivers license unless they crashed into a pole. Or maybe they could make a good old fashioned run for it in the rain? Even that would be preferable to listening to the party downstairs…
Biting their lip, they cast a glance to the SOUL in the corner. It was strangely intense, bobbing and trying to get Kris’s attention. What a bother. Kris did not have a speck of patience for the wretched thing. It bounced in a circle, as if happy Kris looked its way. Pathetic.
Kris jumped down to the floor with a bang. They froze for a second, used to Mom coming up to investigate loud suspicious sounds but, of course, no one came. The music blared on and if Kris listened they could make out that skeleton’s laughter.
Kris meant to go back to bed, meant to try to be good, but then they tripped on their phone. Even just looking at it made Kris feel dread. The dark knight, the prophecy, keeping everything from Susie…
Without thinking it through, Kris kicked their cellphone at the SOUL. It crashed into the birdcage with a ringing noise. The wagon rolled backwards in protest.
The SOUL couldn’t look smug but oh, Kris could only imagine the SOUL taunting them, knowing that it couldn’t truly be hurt in the cage. The cage would always take the damage after all.
With a growl, Kris decided with as bad as their night was going, the SOUL was going to have a worse one. The SOUL wasn’t damp and cold, hungry and exhausted, angry and guilty. The puppet master didn’t have to deal with any of its own consequences.
They picked up the birdcage and rattled it around. The SOUL used its admittedly impressive dodging skills to avoid touching any of the bars. Kris opened the cage and reached inside to fish it out by hand.
Despite Kris’s spiteful determination, the SOUL slipped out and flew up out of Kris’s reach.
As Kris glared, they noticed the SOUL’s movement was event stranger than normal. It drifted in deliberate curves that almost looked familiar. Was that…?
“S?” Kris whispered and the SOUL bobbed in an affirmative.
Kris had never tried to communicate with the SOUL directly like this. They didn’t want to. But as the SOUL drew an ‘A’ and an ’N’, Kris paused at the next ’S’ in the message.
“You know something about that guy?” Kris pointed downwards and the SOUL nodded again. “Ok.”
Slowly, with great deliberation, the SOUL spelled out “HAS ONE HP” and Kris couldn’t help but snort.
Was this supposed to be helpful information? If Sans stubbed his foot, he’d be out of the picture? Or was the SOUL offering to help Kris with a murder? That’d sure be a solid defense in court- no, I didn’t kill the man, it was this human SOUL I’m the prophesized cage for. It sneezed on the skeleton while wearing my body.
Yet, the SOUL… it understood Kris hated the man. Kris hadn’t thought the thing even had a concept that Kris was their own person with how utterly it had taken over their life without even the slightest acknowledgment. The SOUL walked around town, somehow having enough time to talk to everyone it ran into but never letting Kris have even a few minutes to control themself. It poked Kris’s nose into everything, like a dog. It barged into Kris’s relationships without knowing any of the history.
It was a miracle (depressing) that Noelle was the only one to realize the difference. Even Mom hadn’t called out the serious change in their behavior.
The SOUL, it had helped several people. To so many Darkners, it was unbelievably kind to like some sort of lame goodie two shoes. It seemed to like solving problems.
If Kris would let it, would the SOUL try to solve their problems?
“So, it’d be an easy fight is what you’re saying?” Kris watched the SOUL closely.
‘NO BUT I KNOW HOW TO WIN’
The music from downstairs changed to a new track. This one was just as annoying as the last one. Mom’s voice carried but Kris couldn’t make out any of the words. They also didn’t want to.
“Tempting.” But they were joking.
Kris sighed. They didn’t actually want to kill anyone. Sometimes the SOUL scared them with how blasé it seemed in battle. Kris was glad that it chose to Act first and foremost this time, but the fact that it could make them Fight made them nervous. What if the SOUL hurt someone for real and didn’t Reset it? There were other timelines, graphite gray copies of where things went differently. No matter how benevolent the SOUL pretended it was, Kris knew otherwise.
Kris couldn’t let it get the wrong idea.
“Don’t. If you make me protect him then I’ll light you on fire.”
‘OK’
Kris sat on their bed, sadly already feeling weak from standing for so long without the Determination of the SOUL. The SOUL danced closer, but still keeping out of Kris’s reach.
Something crashed downstairs, like a dropped plate. Given the laughter that followed, it didn't seem like anyone was hurt. If anything, afterwards, the music seemed louder as if Mom or the skeleton turned it up.
‘?’ it asked. Or maybe it was meant to be a 7 but a question made more sense. Kris waited for it to continue.
‘GO TO C TOWN? SLEEP IN YOUR ROOM?’
Admittedly, that was a better idea than running away into the night. Ralsei probably wouldn’t mind. Sure, that meant they were technically sleeping at school but it’d be quiet. There was food in the Dark World too, maybe they’d have a snack there too.
But, they’d need to let the SOUL take control.
Kris slumped, their bangs hanging limply in their face. Their life was pretty sad when they had to give up their freedom for a few hours of sleep. Kris wondered if the SOUL could even tell the difference between if Kris’s body was dead tired or not- it seemed to control them equally all the same. How could it care then if Kris got to rest? As long as its cage was functional, it should be able to power through tomorrow’s festival.
They swore and then miserably nodded.
The SOUL floated gently into Kris’s outstretched hand and feeling defeated, they plunged it into their chest. As always, it was painful. Their body no longer felt like their own. It was like a sun burning in their chest. It was like losing a hand. It was like not being able to breathe.
The SOUL’s cage wandered back to the window and looked at it. Two choices popped into Kris’s head and they waited for the SOUL to decide.
Find Susie ❤️ Go directly to Castle Town
The SOUL seemed to hesitate for a moment. Kris remembered how crushed Susie had been at seeing Mom like that. They didn’t like that their friend was presumably out on the streets in the storm. Maybe… Maybe the SOUL could find Susie and they could all have a sleepover with Ralsei like they were little kids. It’d be silly but Kris suddenly wanted silly. They missed silly.
Find Susie❤️ Go directly to Castle Town
Kris couldn’t smile but as the SOUL opened their window and crept onto the roof, they felt the slightest bit of approval. Their feet carried them carefully to the ground, with the SOUL platforming down from ledge to wet ledge.
As the SOUL searched the town, Kris started to let themselves doze. All the familiar streets looked the same anyways. They found Susie under the eaves of town hall.
“KRIS? What are you doing out here?”
I was worried about you ❤️ Ralsei’s room needs its furniture
Kris hoped that the SOUL wouldn’t be mushy. Please. Susie was too cool for that.
I was worried about you ❤️Ralsei’s room need its furniture
“Ralsei’s room needs its furniture. It’s too depressing to imagine him trying to sleep in that lame room.” Kris was able to say. The SOUL’s presence tightened its control once more as soon as Kris closed their mouth.
“Oh, that’s right. We closed all those Dark Fountains and defeated that Titan. It’d be pretty sad if all Ralsei had to go back to was his empty room.” Susie said, sitting up and grabbing her jacket she’d been using as a pillow. She kept talking as she donned her purple jacket. “He doesn’t even have a bed in there. How is he supposed to rest up after all that?
“In fact, I bet that wimp is just laying there on the ground thinking about how I’m going to break the prophecy. He has no idea that I’ve got a plan.”
Susie spoke enough for the both of them as she stood up and followed the SOUL to the school. She was decidedly not mentioning anything about why she’d been trying to sleep outside and Kris was glad the SOUL didn’t ask her to go into details. It wasn’t anything Kris hadn’t already expected.
It wasn’t until they had about reached the supply closet when Susie stopped, her voice turning unusually serious.
“Kris, I have to ask- Toriel, is that… normal?” Susie wouldn’t meet their eyes.
Kris kept their face blank and the SOUL didn’t respond either.
“Ok. If you don’t want to talk about it now, that’s fine.” Susie tried to smile but it came out shaky. “I don’t want to talk about it tonight either. Let’s just give the furball his furniture.”
The SOUL led them into the Dark World and they fell down, down, down into the DARK.
Ralsei was very surprised at the two (and an extra) person moving team showing up to his room. Any protests were ignored as Susie spruced up his space. She even managed to find a lava lamp somewhere which was decidedly Cool. The SOUL mostly helped by using Kris’s body to move the furniture around.
Snacks were passed out after Susie’s stomach growled and Ralsei found he could make himself useful by getting food. Susie wouldn’t let him participate in his own room decoration. She cited that if he had wanted to do it himself then he should have already done it.
As a final touch, Susie hung one of Ralsei’s old scarfs like a curtain. She smiled a toothy grin, satisfied.
“Er, uh, thank you!” Ralsei awkwardly surveyed his Totally Improved room. It now had a pillow fort, a sprinkling of spikes, a couple piles of Stuff that might be junk, and a couple piles of Junk that might be stuff. It was a chaotic mess that Asriel would have had a fit over. Kris kind of loved it. “This could have waited for tomorrow. Aren’t you both tired?”
“Nope! Plus, tomorrow’s the festival. We’re already booked. Aren’t you glad we took some time out of our busy schedules for this anyways?”
“You really didn’t have to- Yes! Yes, I am glad.” Ralsei raised his hands in surrender when Susie started showing her teeth. “It’s just it has to be so late. You both have to be tired after, well, everything.”
Kris was tempted to check the time but then remembered they were currently under the control of another SOUL and that they’d never actually grabbed their phone. Whoops. Guess if anyone wanted to contact them, they’d need to wait.
Huh. Now that they thought of it, wasn’t their voicemail still set to a recording of Asriel sitting on a whoopee cushion? Hilarious.
We can sleep in our rooms here ❤️ To the pillow fort
Kris didn’t have a strong inclination towards either. Crashing in Ralsei’s room could be fun but if Kris got their own room then as long as it wasn’t still connected to Susie’s then they could try ripping out the SOUL.
We can sleep in our rooms here ❤️To the pillow fort
Kris took this to mean they had permission to catapult themself into the pillows. Ralsei was taken aback and Susie snicked.
“I’m not moving until morning so the rest of you better be ready for a sleepover.”
Kris used the rest of the slack given to them by the SOUL’s choice to get comfortable. They blocked out Susie’s surprise and Ralsei’s obligatory objections. Eventually the two would get with the program.
Maybe even if Kris didn’t want the SOUL’s help with murder (yet), maybe it would be willing to help with a prank or two. Kris knew where a bathbomb was, or maybe the SOUL had more secret intel about Sans. If the SOUL would help for once then Kris would take it. With as much as the SOUL used them, Kris wasn’t about to be above using the SOUL.
With the thought of the pancake stealer covered in red, in that stupid ketchup left in the fridge, Kris looked forward to their revenge. Sans was going down.
Susie plopped down onto the pillow pile and Ralsei turned off the lava lamp before joining them. His fluffiness added a +10 to the experience.
Sleep ❤️ Sleep
Sleep❤️ Sleep
Kris slept.