Chapter Text
Have you ever stopped to think about rot?
Decay?
The breakdown of something into its base components?
Cause that’s where a lot of people get it wrong. They only really think about it in terms of living creatures. The thing that happens to all that flesh left around after something dies.
Rocks worn away by erosion, nuclear half-lives, cars rusting, houses coming apart as the wood rots…
Even the stars in the sky wear away.
But it’s not just the physical things in the world that decay.
Even the mind can decay, be it to old age…
Or under stimulation. Like staying in bed for SIXTEEN HOURS instead of going outside while the suns up.
AGAIN.
. . .
Yeah, figures you still haven’t gotten around to giving a shit about me or you, how’s this.
Get the fuck up or you’re going to make your mother late for school again, you lazy asshat.
The soul felt the world come into focus as Kris finally woke up. He wondered if the teen even remembered that his ability to perceive the world was tied to Kris. The soul had certainly mentioned it to Kris at some point, but knowing Kris he likely had done his best to tune it out or simply forgotten because he didn’t care.
Just like when the soul had asked Kris to just put him in the cage instead of chucking him as hard as possible.
Try and explore the world around you ONE TIME and you get treated like a criminal.
The room was now properly in focus, in the strange, disconnected view that the soul had gotten used to over time. Kris was still curled up in his bed, hidden from the soul’s view by the covers.
Not that the soul had expected to get the teen out of bed.
It had been more about just getting him awake enough so the soul would get to see SOMETHING.
Even Kris’s sad excuse for a room was better than the nothingness the soul had to experience when Kris decided to sleep when the soul was awake.
The soul walked, he had to follow the ground so probably the best way to describe it even if he didn’t have actual legs; around the room and looked at the shelves that had basically remained unchanged since he first awoke with Kris. The shelves barren on one side, while laden with awards, knickknacks, and photos on the other side. Well, okay to be fair to Kris there were some empty spots on his brother’s shelves…
Probably because he took those along with him to college to remember good times and impress his friends.
Man, things would be more interesting if Kris had some of those.
Friends or interests.
…perhaps not reading though.
The soul still hadn’t figured out a way to read without Kris’s involvement, and Kris certainly would do his best to exclude the soul. For some reason the words just became gibberish when trying to read them in this weird presence form. He could read them when Kris separated them but it was always into the cage or some other container when Kris did that.
The door to Kris’s room swung open and the soul turned to regard the teen’s mother.
Yep, still a goat monster.
And what did I say? Oh, yeah. You’ve made her late. Again. Dickhead.
The soul didn’t even bother to listen to her as she said some reassuring thing or other to try and coax the moody teen out of his bed. Kris wouldn’t move until she left, because Angel forbid he does something when he is asked to, no that would be reasonable. She threw the blinds open before she left, and the soul drifted over to it.
He couldn’t see out of it, just get the vague impression of a nice day.
Another limiting factor of being shackled to Kris.
The soul missed the sun.
The sound of covers being thrown back alerted the soul to Kris finally deciding to be a person today.
A person who would certainly be sleeping through class, back to the nothing, oh joy of JOYS; but hey at least the soul would get to see a tree or something today.
The young man looked horrible, his hair messy, bags under his dull eyes, and wearing the same clothes as yesterday. Even had his shoes on in bed, the weirdo. The soul said nothing as Kris shambled out of his room, letting his attachment to the teen drag him along the halls of the Dreemurr house.
Well, hall.
No time for a shower, no time for breakfast, at least the distance Kris kept him at prevented the soul from feeling the teen’s hunger as anything more than a dull ache; just straight out the door and into Toriel’s car.
For Kris.
The soul let his awareness be dragged along outside vehicle, taking in the view of the skies and trees while he could. Even the walls of the van were enough to mess with the soul’s ability to sense the world, making everything feel fuzzy and distant, but compared to the hours of nothing it felt great.
Now if only he could figure out how to get the feeling of sitting down while doing this…
The soul got the vague impression of neighbors waving as the van drove past. He could probably identify them if he tried, although there wasn’t really a point since Kris would do everything to stop the soul ever talking to any of them. Toriel was also speaking to Kris, probably something meant to encourage the kid to do anything with his life.
Sisyphus had more of a chance to accomplish his task than her.
Toriel pulled into the single parking space at the school and the world came more in to focus as Kris stepped out of the car. The soul took the moment to appreciate the trees, the grass, the bugs, anything and everything he could as Toriel took Kris’s hand to lead him into the school. The soul debated about gracing Kris with a derisive snicker but decided that enjoying the brief glimmer of freedom he had was more important.
He'd probably have more chances to antagonize his jailer later anyhow.
Instead, he tried to remember… something about birds?
He’d been told about how you could identify them by song once hadn’t he?
He didn’t properly remember it back then either.
And then the doors closed and the soul was in the school.
The soul did his best to sigh, staring at the door as the normal hollow feeling that usually prevailed his existence began to return. Kris was being hugged by Toriel and would drag him over to his classroom in a few moments. And then the lazy deadbeat would pass out and force the soul back to the nothingness.
Was it Kris’s dreams? Was it the soul’s? Surely he had better dreams than that…
The soul began to stew on the indignity of his existence as Kris entered the classroom. The colorful cast of various animal-based monsters… and Temmie, was there. Noelle waved to him, Berdly gave him a haughty smirk, Temmie vibrated as she said hoi, Angel the soul wished he could understand half of what she said it must be fascinating; MK yelled a greeting, the comedian did a bad pun, Catti texted Kris a hello from the buzz of Kris’s phone in his pocket, and Jockington flailed in greeting.
Man, that guy confused the soul.
Oh, and Kris didn’t respond to any of them because who needs friends?
The soul. The soul needed friends.
Kris ignored his teacher Aphids as she greeted him, the soul didn’t really fault him for that one, instead slouching over to his desk and immediately slumping over after accepting a pencil passed back to him from Noelle. Oh, he actually managed to mumble a thanks.
Wow, gold star.
Kris’s hands tensed, letting the soul know he’d manage to needle a nerve. The soul enjoyed his small victory. Not like he got a lot of those.
Neither Kris nor the soul flinched as the door slammed open and the last student skulked into the room. Aphids stammered out some lame warning she’d never have the spine to enforce, Susie stomped her way to her seat, and as Aphids picked up the chalk and began to write on the board the world began to fuzz and fade for the soul.
And…
The soul was back to nothing as Kris fell asleep.
Was this all there was for the soul?
Fighting with Kris over whether they’d get out of bed today?
Getting excited over seeing trees?
Never speaking with anyone besides Kris ever again?
Hell, that was being generous, since Kris did his best to never acknowledge the soul’s existence and the soul had just, for all his bitching and whining, let him do so.
The soul could feel his sense of self crumbling the longer he was stuck here, forgetting the few things he had been able to remember from before he was here.
Did he even remember anything anymore?
…had he ever remembered anything?
He needed to see something.
Anything.
The soul exerted himself.
Kris’s body spasmed, his leg shooting out and slamming into the desk in front of him with a loud bang.
The world snapped into focus as Kris woke up. Noelle and the teacher both screamed at the sudden noise. Berdly’s belongs scattered across the floor as the bird boy squawked in indignation. Susie snickered at the misfortune of the class know-it-all. And all eyes turned to Kris as the disheveled teen was forced to be the center of attention.
The boy mumbled something about a nightmare.
And Berdly retorted.
“Well, you may not care about your education, but some of us are actually trying to do something with our lives. So, if you could regulate your night terrors to the actual night, that would be great.”
The soul felt his mind throw an error at the nerd’s voice.
Had he been tuning people out or had he really been losing more of himself than he thought?
Aphids once again took stuttering control of the class as Kris sank back in on himself. The soul could feel Kris nodding off again and tensed himself in preparation of Kris passing out. Kris tensed in response, letting the soul back off with a sense of satisfaction.
There was going to be fall out for this later, but the soul didn’t care.
He looked forward to it.
The rest of the school day was uneventful.
The soul spent time making sure he was listening to what people said and that he could recognize words, and Kris didn’t fall asleep although the soul was certain he didn’t pay attention either. Aphids dismissed the class and all the other teens piled out, talking to friends or simply trying to leave the building as quickly as possible.
Kris slunk out at his own pace, avoiding contact with his peers as he headed for the exit.
Ah, they were doing this sooner rather than later.
That worked fine for the soul.
Once Kris exited the building the soul exerted himself.
Kris went ridged although his body relaxed as the soul took over.
The soul knew Kris hated this, he’d only ever done it once before when Kris was conscious and that had been a fun night in the cage; and had been trying to respect the fact the body was Kris’s, but things were at a boiling point now. The soul rang Toriel simply telling the goat lady that he, Kris, was going for a walk around town.
And then the soul did just that.
He needed to be in the best state of mind for what was coming up.
And things were so much clearer like this.
The soul said hi to a few people, engaged in a little bit of small talk. He looked around at a few of the buildings that he didn’t really get a chance to see because Kris was a shut-in. The soul wandered over to the lake and gazed at the water for a bit, giving small waves to a few of the people he saw. Most of them seemed confused by the interaction but waved back.
Angel it would be easy for Kris to have a life if he just tried.
The soul turned and walked a short distance past the area cleared for public use into the woods. It sat down with the back of Kris’s body placed against a tree with a clear view of the water. He enjoyed the view for a second, waiting.
And Kris didn’t disappoint.
The teen was trying to stealthily raise his arm to remove the soul from his body. A fluid and practiced movement. One that would culminate in Kris’s hand being plunged into his chest and the soul being yanked out to be rushed to the nearest container that Kris would be able to transport back home.
The soul exerted himself.
Kris’s arm froze in place and a small wave of panic emanated from Kris.
So, he could feel emotions.
I’m starting to lose it Kris.
Kris said nothing.
I need to have something, anything I can… I can… I don’t know!
Kris said nothing.
I can’t just keep sitting here, rotting away. What if I start to fester within you? What if I can’t keep you alive any longer once I’m completely gone?
Kris said nothing, but the soul no longer had to restrain his arm.
I’m not saying you have to give me control. But I can’t just continue to sit here and wither away while you do the bare minimum to qualify as living. Even if I can’t directly interact with things, there’s at least something I can gleam when you do, hopefully enough to keep me from falling apart.
Kris said nothing but lowered his arm, time for the ultimatum.
So, Kris, if you don’t start living your life, I’M GOING TO LIVE IT INSTEAD.
Kris said nothing but tensed.
I refuse to… to stop. To stop being.
Kris said nothing.
Do we have an understanding?
“…yes.”
Alright, then I’ll back off.
The soul could tell Kris was surprised.
Yes Kris, working with me instead of trying to give me a stimulation of solitary confinement makes me want to work with you as well instead of trying think up a new way to insult or screw with you because there’s nothing else for me to DO.
Kris pushed himself up with a snort and a roll of his eyes.
Dillbrain.
Kris walked them home, and the soul remained silent the entire time. Kept as far away from Kris as whatever their bond would allow as well. Kris walked past neighbors waving to him, making a few half-hearted attempts to wave back. The soul didn’t comment.
Toriel greeted Kris when he walked them inside.
“Kris, was your walk pleasant my child?”
Kris shrugged, muttering something about needing a bit of air.
“Well, dinner is ready. I hope the walk helped with your appetite.”
Kris hesitated, but nodded, joining his mother for dinner.
The soul kept his distance during the meal as well, even as the vague sensations of the food drew it closer.
The rest of the night was uneventful, and to the soul’s surprise Kris didn’t rip it out and chuck it in the cage. Instead, he climbed into bed, wearing the exact same clothes.
The soul kept the snide comment about laundry to himself.
Perhaps they really had finally come to an understanding.
Tomorrow likely wouldn’t be interesting but hopefully it’ll be better.