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Coming out of Castle Town felt different than normal. Almost wrong.
They didn't usually land flat on their face, for one. Despite everything, Kris usually had decent balance, enough that they could provide a showy display to satisfy the soul and those around them.
But for some reason their body felt strange.
It was difficult to put a finger on, especially because their body so rarely felt like it was their own recently. It wasn't that same out-of-body experience they got whenever the soul had full control over them; something that they didn't feel right now, shockingly. Perhaps the soul was a bit dazed or something. Instead, their body felt larger, with an overall vibe that they couldn't describe, and had never experienced before.
Attempting to ground themself in the typical way, Kris slowly opened and closed their hands, nearly jumping to their feet when they felt the prick of claws digging into their palms.
They did, however, shoot onto their hands and knees, although that made their head spin, forcing them to squeeze their eyes shut longer than normal. Long hair fell past their shoulders and obstructed their face, surrounding what felt like a longer-than-normal nose.
Their stomach lurched, and they dared to open their eyes, spots briefly filling their vision as their eyes drank it in.
Dark purple hair at the edge of their sight.
Long dark sleeves that were tattered and worn in some places.
Large purple hands braced against the school tile.
The pancakes Susie ate for breakfast that morning were threatening to rear their ugly head as the world spun all around them.
There was no way this was happening.
They sat upright, over top their calves, and lifted those four-fingered hands to their face. Claws and fingertips brushed against a long snout, but they soon pressed firmly against the face that they now wore. Those fingers would squash, stretch, and poke, just to make sure this wasn’t some sort of dream.
This was bad.
This was really bad.
And could mean only one thing.
Dread filling them to their core, Kris slowly turned to their right, bangs briefly obscuring their vision. They eventually spotted their own body lying face down on the ground.
‘Stay unconscious!’ they prayed.
Susie's--Kris'--body slowly began to stir.
‘Don't wake up until I can fix this…!’
Susie's fingers twitched.
Kris' stomach sank.
Gasping for air, Susie began to struggle. It was clear that she was trying to move her body, but it was defying her with every opportunity. It left her body pathetically twitching on the ground.
“Kris,” She croaked, face still planted on the ground. “Kris, are you there? Why do I sound--I feel so--ugh! What's going on?!” Panic was filling her voice--Kris' voice--with every single word. It grew a little shrill as everything started to register. “I can't move! Crap! Crap, I can’t MOVE!”
It was far worse than Kris thought.
Somehow Kris’ body still had the soul, giving it to Susie.
…
In some cruel joke, that may have been for the better, actually…
Gritting their teeth, Kris dared themself to speak. "Don't panic, Susie," they growled, sounding a little more intense than they intended. Susie's voice was so deep, so rumbly, it was almost difficult to speak with. “I'm going to figure this out.”
Frankly, they had no idea what to do. They had never encountered something like this, and they couldn't imagine what could possibly cause this in the first place.
Carol couldn't know.
Carol could never know.
They had a sinking feeling that it would be impossible to avoid that. They would do their best.
“What the heck!?” Susie bellowed, struggling more now. "Why do you sound like me, and why do I sound like..." She froze, blood clearly running cold, and oddly, Kris was feeling the same way. "What is going on?!"
Kris approached, scooching closer on their knees. “I don't know,” they remarked in a defeated way, “But I'm going to need you to not freak out, okay?”
“How do you expect me not to?! How are you so freaking calm?!”
They didn't feel calm.
But they always had to keep their emotions in check. Year after year of training, meditating and squashing themself to take on the soul they promised to house. To not let on. To not worry anyone.
…
Maybe it helped that it didn't feel difficult to move for once, like they didn't have to defy a higher being to do what they wanted, or endure the world's most intense session of numbness to get anything done on their own.
Trying to be careful of the claws that they now had, Kris flipped Susie over onto her back. She grunted and bared her teeth as her shoulder hit the tile. Her eyes widened almost immediately, her expression beyond shocked.
“What the--”
Kris thought of a few things that they could say to break the tension, many of which were stupid things that the soul would most likely force them to say, and some things were a little bit too corny or too far.
“You better watch out,” They sneered with a crooked smile, “There's a new bad girl in town.”
Susie scoffed.
Her eyes were still wide, flicking across what was supposed to be her own face, but her breathing had at least somewhat leveled. That was good enough for Kris, at least for now.
“What have we gotten ourselves into this time?” Kris sighed.
“A huge mess, is what!” Susie replied, “Gosh, my reputation!” she laughed, “Can’t believe the town weirdo is gonna ruin it!”
“Or improve it.” smirked Kris.
However, they frowned, staring long and hard at Susie's chest.
They weren't looking forward to this, but they weren't really entirely sure what else to do. The soul wasn't working, for some reason. A lot of potential reasons came to mind, most of which chilled them to their core, so they would try to not think about those for now. It was probably just asleep.
They breathed in long through their nose.
They didn't want to do this for a multitude of reasons. They really didn't want to do this. It would expose everything to Susie, it would freak her out, and it could compromise a lot of things if they didn't do it right.
But they really had no other ideas.
"Sorry, Susie," they grunted. "This is going to hurt. But it might help."
“What?” Before she could ask anything else, Kris lifted their right hand into the air and then slammed it down onto Susie's chest.
She screamed.
It hurt them almost twice as much as it normally did to do this to themself.
Susie's larger fingers made it a little harder, but Kris wanted to do this as quickly as possible.
They found the soul and wrapped their fingers all the way around it. The thing was completely dwarfed by their hand now, and was almost completely consumed.
Eyes winched shut, and with a sharp and short breath, they pulled the soul out with another bloodcurdling scream from Susie. They were glad the school was empty, and even though it was their own voice, it hurt to hear Susie scream like that.
The soul pulsed in their hand, which was a good sign, but it also didn't move. It didn't so much as squirm.
…Concerning.
Shallow breathing brought Kris' attention back to Susie, who was looking pale and bedraggled. Her eyes were fixed on Kris' hand and the red light that had seeped through their fingers.
"What. Is. That." she wheezed with heavy falls of her chest.
Kris lowered their arm, still focused on Susie.
"My soul," they said.
Susie shot upright, hand flying for Kris' jacket collar. She drew them closer, eyes wild and teeth bared. She swore loudly, "What do you mean?!" she screeched. "What do you mean, 'your soul'?! You can't just pull it out and put it back in! That’s not how this works, you moron! What if you killed yourself doing that?! Huh?! What if you killed ME?!"
Her other hand flew to her chest, gripping the spot where the soul had just been yanked from. However, all she would find was just a tear in the sweater, normally held shut with a couple of pins. There would be no scarring on her chest, no matter how much it felt like there should be.
She seemed to become aware of that fact as her gaze slowly drifted to her chest and her hand. She held it open, palm up, as if expecting it to be covered in blood. Then her eyes drifted to the hand that Kris held the soul in, still gripping it with an iron force, as if it might spring to life at any second. She wouldn't find any blood there, either.
“It's– rejecting you.” Kris spurted very quickly, coming up with an excuse on the spot. Their snout scrunched up immediately. Regrettably, Susie wouldn't last long without a soul in her chest. They couldn’t keep it from her forever. But once it was awake and put back in her body, she wouldn't have control over it anymore.
And they did not want to know how the soul would react.
Susie's face paled again, but she bared her teeth, her crooked, crooked teeth, in a wry smile, “Isn't that the story of my life?” She grumbled, "So it only wants to be in control of one person? That it?”
Maybe that excuse would be enough.
“I guess so,” Kris mumbled, “But it rarely ever listened to me. Stupid thing. Even if I put it back in, it might not be very cooperative.” Their voice lowered even further alongside their face, “At all.”
They didn't know how long that explanation would suffice.
Susie's own face scrunched up in a weird way, a strange expression that they had never seen on their own face, even when they would sit in front of the hallway mirror with Asriel, making faces into it. “The heck does THAT mean??”
“...Teenage hormones.”
“What?? The fu– you know what, nevermind, I'm chalking that up as a ‘weird Kris thing.’”
Kris grinned wryly, “Get ready for a LOT of weird Kris things.”
“Only if you're ready for weird Susie things.” Susie rolled her eyes, but managed a smile. Kris did, too.
Eventually she let go of their collar and nudged their shoulder with her fist. "Dang, it sucks to be a human, huh?" she laughed, almost in a stiff way. She then eyed the soul again. "So when are you going to put it back in? I don't think humans are supposed to be without a soul for very long. Or. You know. Monsters, either. I feel, like, super numb. I can move, but..." She looked down to her hands and opened and closed them on her lap, a motion that Kris was unfortunately very familiar with.
Kris' stomach twisted, knotting itself in a way that made Susie's breakfast threaten them once again.
Susie jolted suddenly. "Dude," she cried, lunging towards Kris' hand, "Don't hold it so tight, idiot! You clearly don't know my strength! You're gonna pulp your own soul!"
Feeling a chill, Kris loosened their fingers around it, letting go completely when Susie's hands tugged them. She then cupped the soul in her hands, holding it as though it were some sort of sacred treasure. It made them feel a little bitter seeing her treat that thing so kindly.
Not like they could say anything about it.
“I think it needs a minute,” Kris said, immediately trapping the soul between both their hands before Susie could do anything with it. “It’s asleep, or something. Maybe from us swapping bodies. You know how I always sleep through class? Let’s just wait.”
Susie made another face. It was difficult for Kris to read it. She smiled and nudged their shoulder with her fist again, and it was only then that Kris realized that she was probably punching with more force, it was just harder to tell in Susie's scaled body.
"You trying to psych me out or something? It's just a soul," she smiled one of her iconic Susie smiles. Kris felt so conflicted about it. That expression was Susie's, no matter how weird it looked on their dumb little human face, and for that fact alone, it almost made them not hate their face.
Almost.
“Anyway, dude, that was pretty metal.” She laughed, “Ripping your own soul out like that? Straight out of a horror movie!”
“We gotta pitch that as a Blood Crushers sequel.”
Susie laughed once again. It was strange hearing her iconic laugh interpreted through their own voice. Their own laugh was weird and creepy, or at least that's what a lot of people had told them. To Kris, this laugh was a lot better.
“Dude, that would be awesome! Maybe we can make a film like that when all this is over, huh?”
When all this was over…
Kris didn't realize that they were smiling until just then, and any warmth in their face had trickled out.
They opened their hands just a peek and peered inside. The heart was glowing in between their palms, still pulsing, but it remained still. It buzzed slightly. They recognized that as “snoring,” indicating that the stupid thing was asleep. Unbelievable.
As much as they hated that soul, they did need it, not just for Susie trapped in their body.
“Anyway,” Susie spoke up, almost making Kris jump. “That whole freak show almost made me forget that I'm in the wrong body,” she tried to spring to her feet, but her legs clearly didn’t want to cooperate. She still managed to get upright, teetering a little bit. “What is going on?”
“No clue.” Kris replied flatly.
Susie groaned, her shoulders slumping and her head falling back. "That's just great. Since when does leaving the Dark World do this to us?"
Kris stood, passed the soul into one hand, and thrust the other overtop Susie's head, making her squat a little under the force. “I don't know, but it's pretty cool being a monster for once.”
It wasn’t just cool.
It was thrilling.
It was taking a lot for them to keep their cool about it, actually…
Susie snorted, trying to brush their hand off but failing. "It ain't all that it's cracked up to be." Eyes widening for a beat, she scoffed, "I mean, as a human, you've got blood in you! Getting that everywhere? That’s what I call fun."
Her voice seemed to be a little bit off in saying that. Kris couldn't help but cock an eyebrow.
Finally managing to push Kris' hand away, Susie stuffed her hands into her pants' pockets, still slumped over slightly. It wasn't that odd of a pose for Kris' body, “Alright, so what do we do about it? Terrorize the town for a bit? Freak your mom out? Alphys would be a good option!”
“That does sound like fun.” Kris mused, a little distant.
Turning toward the closet door, however, Susie frowned. "Although we probably should figure out a way to swap us back. You think Ralsei would know anything?" She flicked a thumb toward the closet before starting for it.
Heart nearly launching itself out of their chest, Kris grabbed Susie's arm, relinquishing their grip a little bit when she cried out in pain.
“That's a bad idea.”
Susie's head whipped toward them, her hair flicking around her face and obscuring it briefly. Her expression soon settled into a wiry smile, pulling back her lips. "Dude, don't say it like that. What, do you think if we go into the Dark World like this, it'll be permanent?"
“Maybe.” Kris croaked. Susie's eyes widened.
There was also the fact that they couldn't go into the Dark World without a soul.
Even if they put it back into Susie's body, the implication of what could happen to their soulless body was enough to send chills to their very core. Going in there like this very well could make it permanent.
“I doubt Ralsei would know anything about it anyway,” they added.
Susie groaned again. “Okay, as fun as this concept is, it kind of sucks. What happens if there's a Dark Fountain?”
Adding to Kris' worries was the fact that Carol planned for a Fountain in the church. They wondered if they could postpone that in any way…
“Oh crap!” Susie exclaimed, slapping her palm against her forehead, "Noelle! We're supposed to meet with her, aren't we? What’re we gonna to do about that?”
Kris blinked, then they shrugged, “Pretend to be each other?
"Oh yeah, I'll do real great at that," Susie snorted. "I'm a great actor. I definitely didn't get flunked out of drama class at my last school."
“I don't know, you're pretty good at ACTing in the Dark World.”
“That's different!”
“All you've got to do is walk around like a zombie,” Kris smirked, “And all I've got to do is stomp around and threaten to bite people's faces.”
"Hey!" Susie exclaimed, “I haven't done that in,” she paused, smiling awkwardly with her lips pursed, “Okay, it hasn't been that long, but a few hours, at least!”
Kris laughed, their creepy little laugh sounding almost haunting with Susie's voice.
It had been so long since they laughed. Genuinely. Freely.
It almost didn't feel right.
They really forgot what freedom felt like.
“We gotta, though. We still need to look for clues for the bunker…” Susie dragged her hands down her face, groaning into her palms. “Man, this whole thing got a lot more complicated…”
It would have been nice if Susie forgot about the code through this whole fiasco, but she was a lot smarter than that, and they knew it. "We can still look, I guess." Kris noted. Susie nodded in reply.
There was a short pause.
"Do you think Noelle is going to notice?"
Another pause. Kris snorted.
"We're totally screwed."
The both of them laughed. It was nice to fill the hall with laughter. It took some of the bite off, and eased over a bit of the turmoil that Kris was going through internally. Which, all things considered, they were hiding fairly well.
After catching her breath, Susie put her hands on her hips. Tilting her head slightly to one side, she peered at the hand the soul was in. "So what do we do about your soul?" She nudged her head towards it.
Kris cupped their hands again, and slowly peeked inside. It seemed to be a little more awake than before, but it was much worse than them waking up on a school day--sluggish, groggy, and not at all cooperative. They grunted, "Well, I got one idea."
Clutching their soul in one hand, they reeled back their arm, and before Susie could react, they threw the soul against the ground. "Wake up, idiot!" they shrieked, voice echoing through the entirety of the school. The soul bounced like a red rubber ball.
But instead of falling back to the ground, it hung in the air, eerie as it always was.
"What the heck's wrong with you?!" Susie gawked shrilly. She pulled back her bangs with her palm, eyes wide as saucers.
Kris shrugged. "Well, it worked, didn't it? Thing’s awake, now." They tried to chuckle casually, but Susie's expression made them shrink back a little, scratching a claw at the end of their snout. "Anyway, get ready."
"Dude, what the he– wait, get ready for what?"
Kris didn't have the chance to reply, and Susie didn't have the chance to prepare. The soul made an immediate beeline for who it thought was its vessel. The hallway flashed red. Susie made a strange, strained sound, and went completely rigid. Kris felt a lump in their throat and was ready to spring toward Susie to pull the soul back out.
But Susie stood straight.
"To Noelle's," she stated flatly, her voice sounding almost… projected. Kris couldn't help but make a face. Was that really what they sounded like to everyone else?
That was really creepy. More creepy than normal for them.
"Yep," they replied, putting on a little bit of bravado. "Lead the way, Kris!" The tone they put forth should hopefully convey a level of sarcasm for Susie, but only enough that the soul would hopefully not notice.
Since the two of them had wandered through the town earlier that afternoon after service, the soul seemed to be satisfied with exploration, and was prompt to make way for Noelle's house. However, following behind her, Kris couldn't help but notice how stiff and strange Susie's movements were. That wasn't just the fact that she was being possessed by some form of higher being, it was because she was actively trying to fight against it, and was completely unable. She also made strange sounds now and again, a clear indication that she wanted to speak up and ask questions– questions that Kris was nowhere near ready to answer…
They felt sick to their stomach. Those pancakes were threatening them again, and so too was the sundae that Susie ate at the diner. It was such an awful, foul feeling, forcing her to endure that thing's control, especially when she didn't understand it. Maybe they should have explained it in full, given her some sort of indication of how things were going to play out from here… But how could they explain it to her without exposing and jeopardizing everything?
Well, there wasn't much choice in the matter now…
The Holiday estate gate came into view. Susie stood in front of it, her heels scraping against the pavement as she attempted to find a way to open the gate, to no success. She then approached, arms outstretched, as if she were going to climb it.
Kris rested their chin over top her head, stopping her. They couldn’t help but smile doing this--if they were going to be in this situation, and even if guilt ate every inch of their body, they were going to have fun with it! They pressed the button on the right side of the gate.
"Hello?" Noelle's voice peeped through the speaker, a little bit crusty and cracky.
"Sup, Noelle! Your friends are here!" Kris exclaimed into it.
"Oh, hi, Susie! I'll be right there!"
Kris backed away and shoved their hands into their jacket pockets. They wanted to say something to Susie, something encouraging or reassuring, but very few things came to mind--nothing that would help, anyway. They barely had time to formulate a complete sentence before Noelle opened the gate and bounded towards them.
"You guys are kind of late!" Noelle said, using a tone that sounded like she was trying to heckle them.
Kris shrugged. "Sorry, I had to get a bite to eat at the diner."
Noelle blinked. "Oh, well, um…” they could see red poking through her cheeks as her eyes drifted away, “Wow… You went together…? Uh, but! You could have said something! I would’ve had a whole three course meal prepared at my house, fahahaha!"
"Oh man…" Kris heard Susie say.
"Well, if you're still hungry, Susie, I have snacks made." Noelle twirled a lock of hair in one finger, "I almost thought that I was going to be the late one because of it!" She laughed.
"Oh sick, snacks." Kris said, putting on their best impression of Susie, "Maybe this study session isn't going to be as bad as I thought."
Noelle smiled, and motioned for the two of them to follow, and as soon as they stepped through the gate, it closed behind them. Once the mansion appeared through the parting pine trees, Kris swore they heard Susie gasp and utter an impressed, “Whoa, it’s huge.”
Taking this as a hint, Kris looked up at the home, which they had been to dozens and dozens of times, and did their best to look impressed with wide eyes and a whistle. Noelle's head whipped around at this, but she smiled brightly.
"Welcome to my humble abode, Susie!" Noelle chirped. Susie scoffed in-between them. "You've never been here, so would you like for me to show you around?"
Noelle really seemed to be taking the initiative today. Kris couldn't help but feel conflicted about it, and they weren't really sure why. Weird…
"Yeah, why not?" they replied.
"Good opportunity to search for clues." Susie added, almost making Kris jump. Noelle blinked a few times, but didn't seem to think anything of it, probably just shrugging it off as a Kris-being-weird kind of thing. But they themself couldn't help but be impressed–Susie seemed to be getting a decent grip on this already.
Inside the house, Kris was surprised at how much they felt the nip of Carol's preferred temperature. Perhaps it was because they weren't used to it anymore, or perhaps it was because Susie, being a reptile, was a little more susceptible to it. Still, they suppressed a shudder and continued to act impressed.
"Dang, nice digs."
That in particular made Susie elbow them in the gut. Kris blinked in shock, missing Noelle say "welcome to my ho-ho-home!"
Although she had started a little more confident than usual, the deer was clearly starting to let her nerves get to her now that Susie was in her house with her. She fiddled her hands together, twiddling her thumbs at her skirts. "How should we do this?" she asked. "Should we start upstairs and then make our way back down for our study group?"
"Sounds good to me." Kris replied. Susie nodded as well.
Noelle did a quick tour of the entire house, first showing off her room. Susie was quick to play with her computer, although Noelle didn't really seem to mind, even as Kris changed her browser home page to the cool skateboard game. That got a strong response out of Susie.
Before they left, Kris couldn't help but point at the Christmas cactus sitting beside the door. "Nice cactus," they said. "Does it have a name?" hoping to show off its impressive name to Susie.
Noelle smiled awkwardly. “Oh, yeah," she sounded disappointed in a way. "Berdly named it ‘Tsuntsun'…”
Kris made the most sour face they could possibly imagine. They couldn't believe that she would let Berdly rename it like that! They were just on the cusp of making a comment when Susie spoke up.
"Why isn’t it named Krismas?"
Kris relaxed and managed to snort. At least Susie got them.
"Oh, I think I remember us calling it that for a while," Noelle remarked, tilting her head slightly. "Yeah, we did! It's way better than Tsuntsun anyway, faha!" She laughed.
Passing by Dess’ room, Susie reached for the knob and gave it a turn, managing to open it a crack before Noelle caught her.
"Kris, don't you remember? That room's off-limits…" She smiled at Susie. "Sorry, we can't go in here. My mom really hates guests going in." She turned away a little, a crease furrowing her brow. "I don't like going in there much myself…"
She hurried the tour along, showing off her mother's heart pillow collection, one of which Susie shoved into Kris' chest, then into her own, with a short laugh. Without missing a beat, she then reached to open the door to Carol's bedroom.
"Why are you trying to get into my parents' room?" Noelle asked.
Susie turned and clearly wanted to say something, but was struggling to find her voice. So she instead turned her eyes to Kris, giving them a silent plea.
Chewing the inside of their cheek, Kris grunted, "We're looking for something that your mom might have."
Noelle nodded slowly, another lock of hair twirling around her index finger. "Oh, right, Kris did mention something like that at church." She smiled weakly, clearly unable to push past her fear of her own mother. "Sorry, my mom would kill me if she found out that I was looking through her stuff."
Susie nodded. "Right, sorry." A surprisingly easy deterrent for now.
At any rate, Kris knew where the code was. Keeping her away from it might be a challenge unless she--or rather, the soul--took what Noelle said about Dess' room to heart.
Well, that was the problem. They knew the soul wouldn't.
Back to the tour, before Noelle could indicate the bathroom, Susie opened the door, startling Asgore, who was cleaning inside. Quickly trying to cover their discomfort, Kris joked, "What, Kris, you gotta pee that bad?? I understand if you gotta go, but I don't think you need the help of Noelle and me!"
Susie managed to give them a glare, but they could tell that it was playful. They laughed.
"Oh, you don't have to tease them like that, Susie!" Noelle said, although she was also clearly trying to hide her own laughter. She reached to close the door. "Pardon me, Mr. Dreemurr. I'm just showing Susie around.
Asgore smiled and waved blithely. "Have a good time, kids."
On the ground floor, they were shown the kitchen and were finally taken to the couch. Kris knew that there was also a basement, but that was completely irrelevant to their search, so they didn't say anything as they plopped their rear onto the couch. Thinking it was fitting for Susie, they draped their arms over the back of it as casually as possible.
Once both Susie and Noelle got comfortable, Noelle started, "Umm, so… what are your projects about?"
However, before either Kris or Susie could respond, Noelle's phone rang. She excused herself and turned slightly away, lifting the phone to her ear. Kris could distinctly hear Berdly’s voice through the receiver.
Kris ignored it for the most part until Noelle's discomfort about him inviting her to the festival came up. They could see Susie in the corner of their eye attempting to get up and stop this from happening, so Kris took the hint and plucked the phone directly out of Noelle's grasp. The reindeer made a startled squeak, but she didn't do anything to stop who she thought was Susie from singing into the phone.
“Oh, it's the wrong number!~ The wrong number song!~ We're very, very sorry that you got it wrong!~”
“What?? Susie?!” Berdly squawked on the other end, but before he could say anything else, Kris hung up and gently tossed the phone onto the table. Susie managed to guffaw, and Noelle was doing her best to stifle an equally loud laugh, covering her mouth with both hands.
"You don't have to say yes to him if you don't want to." Kris shrugged casually. They threw their arms over the back of the couch again, feeling a little bit chuffed.
"I didn't know you knew the wrong number song too, Susie." Noelle managed to regain some of her composure, though they could still hear the laughter in her voice. "Kris used to sing that on the phone all the time whenever my mom called the Dreemurr house."
Susie laughed again, thankfully coming across as a fond recollection. In turn, Kris gently nudged her with an elbow. "A real prankster, huh? Maybe we can focus our project on pranks, or something."
Noelle smiled. "Yeah, I guess you could do that, couldn't you?"
"Heck yeah," Susie chuckled. "However," she got up. "I actually need to use the bathroom." and with that, she excused herself.
Kris blinked and watched her go upstairs. She feigned going towards the bathroom, but they knew exactly what she was going to do. Their jaw tightened, and their hands balled into fists, scratching the couch's fabric with their long, sharp claws. Before they could come up with an excuse to impede Susie's search, Noelle spoke up.
"You know, I wish I had the courage to tell Birdly no myself." She laughed. "Thanks for cutting him off, but," she twiddles her thumbs. "I guess I should tell him no myself, shouldn't I?"
"Blow him a raspberry for me, too!" Kris joked.
Noelle snorted and laughed. "Oh gosh, I don't think I can do that! But there are a few choice words and actions I'd like to commit to him."
"Next time we play dodgeball, we're gonna gang up on him."
"You would do that with me?" Noelle chimed, her eyes bright and nearly sparkling.
Kris shrugged. "Sure, why not?" Maybe that was going a little far, they couldn't tell. But it was nice to be casual around Noelle again, even if they weren't quite themself right now.
"You know, Su--" Kris caught themself, "Kris and I were thinking of going to the festival together tomorrow. Why don't you join us? We can wreak some havoc as a threesome."
Noelle seemed to blush, hands covering her mouth. "Really? I-I mean, yeah, I'd love to!" she exclaimed, leaning closer. "I'm so glad you asked! I don't think I would ever have the confidence to ask you in return..."
Kris gently nudged her shoulder with a fist. "Come on, you got to be cool."
Noelle shrunk back a little, still smiling. "Gosh, you know there's a bunch of stuff that we could do together, isn't there?" Noelle mused, "And, you know… Maybe even Kris could join for some things," she corrected quickly.
"If you wanna hang out, all you have to do is ask."
Noelle's eyes widened, hands to her cheek. "Gosh, I--" she smiled slowly, the corners of her mouth twitching. "Gosh, I really should, huh?" She twiddled with her hair again, curling a lock around her fingers, nearly tying it into knots. "D-do you like horror movies?" she asked anxiously.
"Heck yeah! Especially monster movies!" Kris replied, recalling Susie's excitement for the monster marathon the night before. Of course, they didn't really know exactly what Susie liked, but she did mention Blood Crushers. "You know, Kris and I are thinking of making a Blood Crusher sequel."
Noelle's face lit up even more. "Excheese me?! You love that series too?! That's one of my favorites!"
Susie smiled. "That's killer! Maybe we could ask Kris and see if they want to include you in our sequel."
"Too bad that can't be our project, huh? The three of us making a group together– that would be amazing."
"Wouldn't it, though? I think you ought to ditch Berdly completely!"
Noelle laughed, and seemed to calm down and relax significantly. Kris couldn't help but feel a little bad knowing that she wasn't talking to the real Susie, but maybe the three of them could be friends at the end of all this, briefly forgetting what the future was likely to hold for them. The thought of hanging out with Noelle like normal, like they used to, gave them a feeling of hope. A feeling of hope that they shouldn't cling too hard to, but would help drive them all the same.
The two of them continued to talk freely, the topic moving to the video series where an ICE-E bucket was murderous. She pulled out her phone, and the two of them started to watch one of the videos, but then…
Susie came out of Dess’ room.
So caught up in talking with Noelle, Kris almost forgot, just for a beat, what they were here for, and they called up the stairs, “Hey Kris, you finally get everything outta your system?”
But their blood ran cold when they saw what was in Susie's hand. She made her way down the stairs, clutching the neck of a bright orange guitar. Noelle gasped.
"Kris!" she exclaimed, "You should know better than to go into Dess’ room!"
Springing off of the couch, Kris made a beeline for Susie, smiling as brightly as they could. "Whoa, nice guitar!" they exclaimed. Before anyone could say anything else, they pulled the guitar as gently as they could out of Susie's hand. She stood there with a neutral expression, her hand still held open in the air for a few moments.
Noelle was at their side almost immediately, fretting as she always did. Pushing her bangs out of her face, she attempted to reach for the guitar, but folded her hands together in front of her chest, the corners of her lips twitching into a smile.
"P-please be careful with that, Susie," She finally managed to stutter, "It's really important." Wide-eyed, she turned her face away a little bit, but her eyes were planted on the guitar. "Although it has been a while since I've seen it, much less heard anybody play…" she muttered into her hand.
"Susie should play it." Susie suddenly announced.
Kris' lips pulled back around their teeth, and they shot her what they hoped was an effective glare--mostly directed at the soul. They were feeling cornered, but they knew that Susie probably wanted them to see the code. She had no clue, so they couldn't hold her at fault.
But if Susie got a good look at this guitar, then there was no doubt that the soul had already committed the code to memory.
So there was no getting out of this one.
"Seriously?" they grunted. "Next thing I know, you'll ask me to play piano."
"No!" Noelle cried, "I mean– yes! That would be… I mean, I think I would really like to hear you play, Susie! Well, uh… It doesn't really matter who plays it… I just want to hear it again." She turned toward the actual Susie, "Don't you have good memories about this, Kris? About Dess playing guitar for us while we sat around in a circle, with Asriel humming along?"
Susie's expression didn't change, although Kris almost swore they saw a twitch at the corner of her mouth. She slowly nodded instead. "Susie should play." Susie reiterated, strangely with more inflection than Kris was expecting.
Did she actually want to hear them play? They sighed.
“Sure. Your ears’ funeral, though!”
The three of them plopped onto the living room couch. Kris carefully cradled the guitar in their lap, holding it like a precious treasure. They stared at the guitar, then lifted their head, glancing between Susie and Noelle.
"You got any requests?" they grumbled with an awkward smile.
"Not that I can think of," Noelle replied.
"Wonderwall." Susie said dryly, a smirk poking through.
"Anyway, here's Wonderwall." Kris joked, trying to sound semi-serious. They strummed a few chords, decidedly not Wonderwall, recalling the guitar lessons they'd had with Dess.
Noelle leaned into the couch beside them, and Susie remained attentive, eyes watching the guitar as Kris strummed a few more chords. Susie seemed to lean in toward them after a while.
While Susie's fingers were a bit too large for Kris' liking when it came to playing an instrument, her claws were a nice replacement for a guitar pick. They played a few more chords, a few of which that didn't sound quite right, and relaxation washed over them. They closed their eyes and leaned towards Susie as they continued to strum, something sounding almost like a song filling the air.
However, this was cut short when a fourth very large individual suddenly sat on the couch, pushing the three of them together. Kris’ hand twitched as their claws scraped noisily against the strings.
Kris blinked rapidly, eyes wide when they fell upon Asgore.
"Howdy," the bearded monster hummed. "Hope you don't mind me joining in. I would like to get a bite to eat before Carol gets here, if you don't mind."
The currently squashed reindeer smiled gently, although the crease in her brow indicated she was a little irritated with Asgore for interrupting them. "Oh, help yourself." She nodded toward the tray, which Asgore immediately picked up and started eating off of, "But my mom won’t be here for another few hours."
"Really?" Asgore said between bites, politely finishing chewing before he continued, "I just saw her outside."
There was a brief pause where all three teens stared at Asgore. Noelle suddenly bristled and jumped to her feet, looking absolutely mortified. She frantically looked between the door and the guitar and Kris' hands, looking like a deer in headlights. "Oh no, oh no!" she cried. "Susie, I think you should–" she went to reach for the guitar, but it was too late.
The door slammed open.
The room temperature plummeted by a few degrees, and Kris couldn't help but shiver.
Carol swept in like a blizzard.
Kris was used to her stone-cold, harsh, and bitter expressions. And yet, as she stared at them in Susie's body, holding Dess' guitar, potentially learning the secret code, it was like nothing else-- the world was coming to an end, harkened by an ice age the likes of which the world had never seen.
Noelle attempted to intervene, but Carol was already on Kris. “Get. Your hands. Off. That. Guitar.” Before they knew it, it was ripped from their hands, scraping hard against their palms. Carol checked the guitar over, seemingly to make sure that Kris hadn't damaged it, but in reality she was checking to make sure that the code was still there, untouched and unknown.
Carol walked away, gripping the guitar firmly in one hand. Once again, Noelle attempted to smooth out the situation, but she tripped over her words and couldn't find her footing, starting over again multiple times before Carol cut her off.
"Noelle. Kitchen. Now."
Noelle hesitated. Kris could tell that she wanted to say more, but she eventually obliged, head hanging low as she slowly stepped toward the kitchen door.
"What's your problem!?" Susie exclaimed.
Carol shot a glare over her shoulder. "What's this?" she hissed.
Kris stepped in before anything more could be said between the two. "Hey, listen up," they explained. "I was just doing what she asked! Who cares if we have a little bit of innocent fun?"
"Noelle didn't do anything wrong." Susie added.
The entire room felt frozen over at this point. Even Susie fell utterly silent underneath Carol's glare. "Leave." She snarled in her chillingly cool, level-headed way. She pointed toward the door. "You. Are not. Welcome. Leave."
Kris returned the glare as best as they could, but the heat of their anger was chilled underneath Carol's own. "You know what? I don't care," they growled, “Because guess who’s going to hang out with Noelle tomorrow!" They thrust a thumb to their chest, and they swore they heard Susie cough out a laugh, “That’s right!”
Carol's expression faltered. But the ice storm returned in a snap, and she roared, "Leave, or I will have Dreemurr remove you by force!"
Kris smiled. "You know there's nothing you can do about it! You can stuff it, Mayor!" and they confidently stomped out of the mansion, holding their head high.
That felt good.
They could never stand up to Carol like that! And to make her so angry, and be able to get away with it? What a fantastic feeling!
Still full of energy, they stomped around the garden outside, contemplating kicking over some decorations and plants, although they didn't want to get Noelle into further trouble. After a few minutes, Asgore stepped outside, giving them a warm smile as he sat down on the ground and continued eating off the platter.
They stared inside, waiting for Susie to join them. They could hear a bit of shouting, but couldn't make anything out. The pit returned to their stomach, wondering what exactly was going on in there. Did Susie accidentally reveal anything? They hoped not… But they figured that Susie had more than enough sense to hold her tongue… They hoped.
Finally, Susie emerged. Her face was a little red, but it was hard to read what exactly she was feeling after all that, as the soul blocked so many of her emotions. She spat on the ground before joining their side.
"Freaking Carol," Kris growled, "Can't believe her, huh?"
Susie curled back her lips, nose scrunching with anger, “Told her to stuff it, too.”
"Oh, she's lovely when you get to know her," Asgore hummed.
Kris couldn't help but roll their eyes. Susie scoffed.
Asgore couldn’t resist giving who he thought was Kris a few pats on the head, and Kris was surprised she didn't move away.
"So what are you up to now?" he asked.
Kris hesitated. "Oh, you know… Stuff."
"Of course, of course, always getting up to stuff. Are you going to head home?"
"Probably."
"Of course, home is where the heart is," he hummed. He looked at the tray he was holding, then held it out toward the both of them. "May I offer either of you a cheese cracker?"
"Yes!" Susie exclaimed.
Asgore beamed, "So much energy! I haven't seen that in ages." He looked so pleased. Kris couldn't help but feel a little bad that it wasn't actually Kris who was reacting that way.
All the same, the bearded monster placed the tray on the ground, and the two of them promptly got on their hands and knees and started eating it like a couple of wild animals. Kris was surprised at how much they ate themself; they knew that Susie was always hungry, but now that they were eating, that was never more apparent than now.
With the tray emptied, Susie stiffened, stood, and said, "Let's try that code." Her voice was chillingly projected again. Kris didn't like that, but followed after her without a word.
There wasn't much conversation after leaving the Holiday estate. Kris knew that there was no deterring the soul--seeing they could even get Susie off the trail in the first place.
They could almost see her elation and determination sparking off of her body as she walked with purpose toward the shelter. She was far more expressive than Kris ever was with the soul… Granted, that was due to them squashing their emotions as much as they could. But they knew firsthand just how much the soul could subdue.
Many options ran through their head. Various plans to try and stop this from happening, to convince Susie otherwise, and to try and pry the soul from her chest before they got past the church. But literally any idea they had they had, they could predict would result in Susie hating them.
And frankly, Kris wasn't entirely sure that they could handle that.
They reached the shelter before they knew it. They felt a little winded by that fact. They stiffly stood beside Susie as she punched the numbers into the panel. Clenching their fists so tight, they were starting to worry that they would start to draw blood from them with Susie's monster claws.
One.
Kris swallowed the lump in their throat.
Two.
They felt like they couldn’t breathe for a moment.
Two.
They inhaled loudly and flicked their eyes toward the sky in an empty prayer.
Five.
Kris snapped their eyes shut, bracing themself for the worst, for the smell of darkness to wash over their senses, for a loud droning to erupt from the doors.
For a swift and harsh punishment.
But nothing happened.
The sound of Susie punching the steel door and grunting made them flutter their eyes open.
Relief.
Someone had changed the password; probably Carol. They were fairly sure she had cameras installed in her estate…
"Didn't work?" Kris asked gruffly, despite already knowing the answer, trying desperately to hide their relief.
Susie hissed out a few swears through her teeth, stiffly and with great effort. She pounded her fist against the door again. Softer this time, but still with the same level of rage as the first.
"Dess," Kris started, "has been gone for a long time." They spoke slowly. "It's possible that the shelter code has been changed since then."
Suzie growled, making them shrink back as they expected her to yell.
However, instead she whispered harshly.
"What are we going to do now…?"
Kris wondered if that was from the soul, or if she had managed to say that on her own. They figured it didn't really matter as they opened their mouth to speak.
However, their heart nearly leapt from their chest once again when they saw Susie drawing her hand back, readying it to plunge into her chest. Kris jolted, throwing their hands out of their pockets and around Susie before she could act on her plan.
"Put me down!" she shouted breathlessly. Kris could tell she wanted to squirm and fight back, but there wasn't much that she could do without the soul's permission. She didn't fall limp, but it didn't take her long to stop struggling.
Kris started to run for the school. "Not here, not here…!" They whispered into her hair as soon as they were out of earshot of the shelter. "You can't do that here…!" They were struggling to keep the panic out of their voice, but they were relieved when Susie finally did go limp.
They rushed into the school, practically bursting through the doors.
They released Susie, and she immediately collapsed onto her knees. She reeled her arm again, signaling Kris to rush into Toriel's classroom. They could hear her grunting and shouting in the hallway as she worked to pull the soul out of her body.
The distinctive sound crashed upon Kris' ears, and their large hands fumbled with a stack of drinking cups, trying to get just two. They instead grabbed the whole stack, dropping a large number of them on the floor as they scrambled back into the hallway. There Susie was, holding the soul above her head and panting. Sweat dripped from her cheeks as her hair fell in front of her face.
Kris wasted no time. They managed to pry two cups apart and trap the soul between them. It felt like their entire body was pulsing. Throbbing with anticipation as sweat dripped down their own cheek. Breathing carefully, they went back into Toriel's classroom. Making sure that the soul was only in one cup, they grabbed the heaviest books they could find and trapped the soul inside. They were all small and children-sized, so it wasn't as if they were very heavy. Actually, every single book in the kindergarten library ought to do the trick…
When they exited the classroom, Susie was glaring at them.
They froze in their tracks. They stared down at her on the ground with wide eyes and clenched fists.
She breathed in.
Then she breathed out.
"Is that why you act so weird!?" She shouted through gasps of air. "Is that why you're almost never consistent?!" Her shoulders were drawn back as she sat up, fingers tightening around the fabric of her pants.
Kris' chest tightened as Susie drew in a strained, pained breath.
"Is that why you're nice to me? Because you HAVE to be?!" She asked sharply, creating a spear that thrust itself directly into Kris' chest. “Because that thing MAKES you?!”
"No…" they whimpered.
"Then WHY?!" she bellowed, finding her voice. "Why haven't you told me about it?! You know how much I HATE not knowing the whole deal! You know how much I hate secrets and lying!"
Kris fell to their knees.
"I know!" they wailed, "I wanted to!" they croaked, squeezing their eyes shut, "But I couldn't--I can’t!" They shook their head. "I would have told you everything after the Cyber World if I could have! I would have told you everything after Ralsei explained his situation, but I can't!" Their voice carried through the school, followed by the echo of them slamming their fist into the tile. It cracked a little bit under the force, although they barely felt it.
Susie was agonizingly silent for a beat. They could feel her eyes bearing into them, burning hot and freezing cold at the same time. They inhaled through their teeth. Why was her silence more painful than any word she could say?!
So Kris broke the silence before she could. “Every time that I can be myself, I am. Anytime I can be nice to you, I will be! Every joke, every jab--that's as much of me as I can manage! I swear! I try to influence the soul to let me say the things I want, but they don't always do it! Stupid thing, I hate it!” They shook their head, face buried in their hair. "I'm going to be honest with you, Susie. I haven't had a friend--a best friend--like you since--" they swallowed dryly, biting their lower lip, their sharp teeth poking harshly into it, "Since Asriel!” ‘Since Dess,’ they'd wanted to add.
They choked on another gasp, and lifted their head, trying to look her directly in the eye. She too was looking away, but snapped to attention when she noticed Kris move. Her face was twisted with an emotion they couldn't read.
“I care about you more than anything right now!” They cried, “But I made a promise…!”
Mouth slightly agape, Susie stared at them. She was clearly trying to process all this information, but her silence was still agonizing. Her mouth slowly closed, and through the gaps in her bangs, they could see her brow creasing. "Is all this because of Carol?" she asked.
Kris' heart stopped cold in their chest. “How did you--”
“She said something weird to me before I left the mansion…” Susie continued. Her sitting position relaxed slightly, and folded her arms, “She said that I was always welcome there, even after I told her off. But it wasn't as if she was talking to me, I guess? It was like she was talking to someone else. Or… Something.”
Kris was quiet, but as their head dipped, they slowly nodded, and they could hear Susie sigh.
“Is that soul even yours? It's like it's some kind of freakish otherworldly thing! Like, what kind of soul controls you like a puppet?!”
Kris' eyes met hers for just a second. “No, it isn't. Before you ask, even if I wanted to talk to you about it, I couldn't.” Their voice cracked slightly, a little more than they would have liked, but it was a pretty clear indication of how uncomfortable this made them.
Susie seemed to accept this, even if she made a weird face. They could hear her shuffling over to them. Her hand was placed over top of one of their fingers. Slowly snaking its way into their palm, she gripped their hand firmly.
“You know, I thought I'd be way more mad about this. And, I mean, I guess I kind of am,” she chuckled stiffly, shrugging, “But you know what, Kris? I trust you. You and Ralsei are people I can trust the most. Y’know, I've never had friends like you, so no matter what, no matter what you are or what that soul is or what Carol's making you do…”
Her other hand went to their cheek, lifting their chin so they could make eye contact. Their eyes burned as they met hers, and a lump formed in their throat. She smiled toothily, creasing her nose and her cheeks in a darling way that they had never seen before. Even if it was their own nasty little face, their heart swelled.
“Not only are we a team, but we're best friends. You got that?” Sitting up slightly, she bumped her forehead against Kris'.
They were so relieved.
Deep down they always knew that Susie would be understanding and forgiving; she always seemed to be. She was so painfully nice, but there was that deep, dark fear that consumed their mind and constricted their chest that she would reject them--that she would hate them.
"Man, though! You must have a real dang good reason to go through all this!" she exclaimed, sitting back down. Although she removed her hand from their cheek, she didn't let go of their hand, “So that's another good reason to trust you. I mean, who would willingly be dragged around like a freaking puppet? But whenever all this is over with, you’d better give me the whole deal, alright? Spare no detail! I need to understand just how depraved Carol is to make you do all that crap!”
“Thank you, Susie…” They whispered.
She nudged them with her fist, “Don't mention it. What are friends for anyway, besides gossip? Give me enough and I'll fill up an entire tabloid to ruin that woman's career!” the two of them laughed, “Anyway, what is up with that thing checking out everything else before the thing you actually want to look at?!”
Kris rolled their eyes, feeling a bit of catharsis upon that being mentioned. "Oh my gosh, it's so nosey! It's so–it's way too thorough for its own good. It's like it's playing a point-and-click adventure or something!"
“Or a friggin’ RPG! Man!” Susie cackled. "Can't believe that thing! Like, why are we sorting through all of Dess' drawers when it's so obvious that the guitar was important? It was like it was purposefully saving that for last!"
"It was the thing with the code, wasn't it?"
Susie huffed, "I guess so. But who cares about her weed! I wanna look at the guitar!”
Kris snorted loudly, “Oh no, you found that? Don't let Carol know!”
Susie grinned, showing all of her teeth, “Oh you better believe I'm letting her know!”
Kris pretended to be dramatically worried for what would happen, resulting in a brief tussle between the two of them. It was astounding how easily they could overpower their own body with Susie's strength, but naturally, when it came to Susie, they were gentle.
“Whatever,” Susie laughed while catching her breath. “What should we do now?” Surprisingly, she took their hand in hers once more. They tightened their fingers around hers.
Kris sighed, long and drawn out, relieving some of the pressure that had built up in their chest. They wanted to sit like this in silence forever, but they knew that they had limited time. There was a Dark World to take care of, and they knew it, so despite themself, despite their wishes, and despite their strongest desires, they eventually spoke up.
“Guess we got to fix this whole body swap thing, huh?”
Susie puffed a little. "Yeah, I guess so." She clearly was trying to make herself sound a little bit more energetic. After all that, Kris could only imagine that she would need time to fully process this situation. "So… What do we gotta do?" she asked.
“I know I said that it would probably be a bad idea, but Castle Town would probably be the best place to start… Like, we swapped bodies leaving, right? Might work if we go in and out again. I dunno.” They got up, and even Susie seemed hesitant before letting go of their hand. Once it was relinquished, they quickly darted into Toriel's classroom and grabbed the cup the soul was in. As soon as they were in range of Susie, they released the soul, which promptly re-entered its vessel.
“Hey, wanna check up on Castle Town real quick?” Kris asked with a smirk, “Maybe Ralsei has a cake ready for us, or something! Or we could have some more tea!"
The soul controlling Susie seemed to stare at Kris in an oddly scrutinizing way, but eventually it allowed Susie to nod, and she led them both into the Dark World.
Ralsei was immediately there, but instead of looking ready to greet them, he seemed just about ready to leave. He jumped, his entire form bristling in shock.
“Oh– Kris, Susie…!”He exclaimed, his voice cracking, “What are you- I didn't expect you to return to Castle Town so soon!" He put on a smile, however, a worried crease was in his brow.
Kris stepped around Susie and grabbed Ralsei by the arm, dragging him off to the left.
“Susie, what?”
“Okay, listen up. Somehow, Susie and I swapped bodies.” Kris explained with urgency.
Ralsei looked as though he were going to pass out, as if his white fur could look any paler. His mouth hung open, and his eyes widened to the point where it looked like they were going to gush forth with tears.
"Don't freak out, okay?" Kris tried to reassure him, although Susie's gruff voice and the panic building underneath the surface didn't really help matters. “We figured that since leaving Castle Town was what did it, going in and coming back out would fix it.”
Ralsei gripped both of Kris' arms with startling strength, his little claws digging into Kris' scaled skin. The darkner's arms trembled, as did his entire body, and tears were finally poking through the corners of his eyes. "Please tell me this will be fixed," he said. "Please."
Kris looked down at him with pity, their shoulders falling ever so slightly. They understood why he would be so worried. This wasn't a part of the prophecy, they knew, but this sort of thing--this sudden change--could jeopardize so many things… Not to mention, it was alarming.
They leaned down and wrapped their arms tightly around Ralsei, pulling him in as close as they could. "It's going to be okay, it'll work out," they whispered, pushing their snout slightly into his velvety, floppy ears.
Ralsei trembled, but slowly nodded. “I'll trust you, Kris.”
Just as Kris pulled away and their hands were still on Ralsei’s shoulders, Susie burst into the scene with Lancer on her shoulders.
“Hey, toothpaste boy!” Lancer shouted as energetically as ever, completely unaware of the situation at hand. “Kris and I want to try something– we want to see how big a stack Susie can hold on her shoulders!”
Kris smiled toothily, giving their best imitation of Susie's laugh. They were starting to get a bit better at it, as indicated by Susie's grin. "Heck yeah, that sounds like a great time!" They turn to Ralsei, still smiling. "Alright, toothpaste boy, let's give it a shot!" They squatted so Ralsei could climb up onto their shoulders.
Ralsei hesitated, sniffing and rubbing his eyes dry. He put on a smile, although Kris could tell it was a little forced. He squeaked and climbed up onto Kris' shoulders, and in turn, so too did Susie, who already had Lancer on her shoulders. When they stood, Kris was surprised to find how light everyone was. Susie was truly strong, although part of it was that darkners didn't weigh that much, pure and simple.
“Alright! Let's terrorize the town!!" they bellowed.
Lancer and Susie whooped and cheered, signaling them to charge. Of course they knew that they didn't have much time, but a little play wouldn't hurt…!
After a few whirlwind minutes of running through Castle Town and nearly bowling over every single darkner, Kris finally had their fill. Not only did they get to stand up against Carol for a brief moment, but they also got to experience what it was like to be a strong monster. That was a lot of fun, and it was a little sad they had to let all that go.
All the same, they lowered Ralsei. Susie and Lancer fell to the ground in a fit of laughter. They gave Ralsei one more hug, and told him that they would see him in the Dark World. Hooking Susie's neck in the crook of their arm, they waved goodbye to Castle Town and left through the pillar of light.
They fell back into the hallway with one knee down, but regardless, they stuck the landing as they always did. They breathed in, then breathed out. Stiffness washed over them, and as they slowly stood, not of their own volition, they realized that they were back in their own body.
Their disappointment was immeasurable, but it wasn't as if they could keep Susie's body away from her. They just wished that they didn't have to deal with this stupid soul…
And most of all, they wished that they could be a monster full-time.
Susie stood up and stretched out her arms. She couldn't hide the relief on her face as she did so, but when she dropped her arms, one of them landed around Kris' shoulders. The arm's weight was comforting.
"Next time we got to see if I can stack more darkners on my shoulders," she laughed. Kris managed a smile, and she smiled wider in return.
Releasing Kris' shoulders, she stepped back and allowed them to take the lead. "Well, I guess we better take care of that Fountain that Ralsei was worried about at the church, right?"
Kris nodded in reply, and without another word, the soul led them toward the church.
It was nice while it lasted.
Everything was said and done with the Dark Fountain. The two of them were beyond fatigued, not just from the triple Dark World, not just from the Titan, but also from swapping bodies earlier.
Kris was ready to go home, although they weren't really sure what they would find; they were pretty sure that Toriel was home, but one could never be certain.
The two of them were nearly silent while they walked through Hometown. However, Susie gave Kris a gentle nudge as they turned towards their house. She flicked one thumb and tilted her head toward the lake.
“Hey, it's been a long day. Why don't we chill out by the lake for a minute?”
It was still raining, albeit a light sprinkle, but it wasn't as if she and Kris couldn't get any more soaked. A little bit of dread trickled into them as the soul seemed to contemplate going home, however it graced them with a quick respite. They nodded and led Susie toward the lakeside.
They both sat down at the shore, the grass squelching up against Kris' pants. They stared out blankly across the lake as Susie sat down. Quiet blanketed them as they listened to waves caressed by the wind, and the pitter-patter of rain through the surrounding trees. They were consumed by the overwhelming smell of water and the coolness of night, and the weather took some of the tension off of Kris' shoulders.
It was a miracle that they had made it this far, that they had managed to make a day like today work. They sighed softly into their hair, which had fallen over their face in thick, wet clumps.
Slowly their eyes turned towards Susie. She was sitting hunched over with her hands in front of her, a thumb tracing its claw over the creases of her other hand.
She didn't seem to notice them staring, thankfully, but she did speak up eventually.
“All this feels so big.” Her voice was uncharacteristically soft, but after everything, that made an awful lot of sense. She inhaled through her nose and puffed out. "It makes everything else feel so small in comparison." She turned toward them, a soft smile tugging at her lips, showing off just a sliver of teeth in the moonlight. “I don't know how much this will matter in the grand scheme of things, but since you had to reveal your big secret, I may as well reveal mine, huh? Only fair.”
Kris perked up a little more than they intended, eliciting a response of "You don't have to get that excited!" from Susie. Two options lay out in front of them, however: "Go for it,” and “You don't have to tell me anything."
They were grateful that the soul was a beast of curiosity. The words spilled out of them quickly: "Go for it."
“You don't have to be that eager, either!” Susie laughed, trying to make her voice sound a little intimidating as she gently nudged Kris' shoulder. Kris managed to smile.
Susie propped her arms against the ground and leaned back, staring up at the sky. Her hair fell behind her shoulders, revealing more of her face and allowing Kris to look at her eyes.
She took in another deep breath.
The wait felt agonizing.
“I'm half human.”
Kris felt as though the world was falling out from underneath them. Their jaw dropped by a slight degree, and their eyes widened just enough that one could actually see the color of their irises.
The two options that lay out before them were "There's no way," and "Are you serious?" The soul seemed to be just as flustered as they were because it hesitated before responding--or perhaps it was trying to think of an appropriate thing to say.
“There's no way,” they eventually said. Frankly, they were in utter disbelief as well.
Humans and monsters could…
…How was that fair…
Being half human, she sure looked convincingly like a monster, though… How was that fair?!
Why couldn't they be half monster?!
"Unfortunately, there is a way," Susie grunted. "One parent's a monster, and the other's a human. They always refused to tell me how they managed to get together, even when they were seeing each other. We lived together in a human town for a while, but that got awkward. My parents split up at some point and I kept moving between each house. Financial troubles and laziness made them have to move constantly. I never really found a place that I felt was home."
“I never fit in with humans for obvious reasons. I never fit in with monsters because they almost always seemed to know something was off about me.” She tilted her head toward Kris, “So I started acting more and more like a monster in scary movies, not just as a shield for being made fun of, but to make sure everyone knows that I am a monster.”
Kris barely had the chance to process anything, to think about how they felt, or what kind of response they could have, before the soul made them say, "I'm sorry."
The purple monster leaned over, grinning toothily, and bonked her head against Kris'. "I don't want your apology, and you better not try again, or else I'm going to throw you into the lake!"
Kris managed to smile.
"You don't have to say anything," Susie continued, her voice soft as she stared out across the lake again. “I know you probably have a lot of thoughts in your head. I doubt you're gonna be able to say any of it,” She huffed, drawing her knees to her chest. She crossed her arms over her knees and rested her chin against them. “It's my problem, you know.”
There was a beat of silence.
“But if you ever need to talk to me in private, just let me know, okay? Don't feel like you have to,” she made a face, trying to think of the right words, “‘be online',” she awkwardly made air quotes with her claws, “Around me.” She smirked at them, "Just make sure to put yourself back together now and again. I don't want you to stop breathing on me."
Kris nodded stiffly.
Silence again.
The human shrank back a little bit, thinking.
They were so jealous it hurt.
But there was no way they could hold it against her.
Finally, they had a better picture to put to “You’re not responsible for the circumstances of your birth.” It was hard to accept for themself. Susie probably felt the same way.
Maybe together…
Their mind drifted elsewhere.
A lot of things made sense: why she refused to let anyone see her parents, why she didn't want Kris coming to her apartment.
… Why her knuckles bled after she punched that glass pane of the prophecy…
They hadn't thought about it at the time, as Susie once said herself, “everyone bleeds, right?”
But thinking back, Kris realized that in all their years of living with monsters, they had never seen one bleed. Not when Toriel accidentally cut her thumb when getting distracted while cooking, not when Asgore got caught up in a gang fight while he was the police chief, and not when Asriel scraped his knee against the pavement after beefing it on his skateboard.
Kris couldn't remove their eyes from her.
The wind blowing through her hair, the way her claws wrapped around her bicep, the reflection of the moon against the purple scales of her snout, her slowly blinking yellow eyes between fringes of hair, the slow rise and fall of her shoulders…
After minutes upon minutes of staring, Susie's eyes flicked over toward Kris. A smile scrunched up her snout, and she narrowed her eyes. “What? I got something on my face?”
All of a sudden, the soul gave them permission to say what was on their mind. Kris' heart lurched.
There was so much that they wanted to tell her. They wanted to give her the whole picture, tell her the whole story, and give her every piece of information that they knew after throwing the soul into the lake to fish out later.
But instead their jaw clenched, and their lips tightened.
“…Huh? …Why are you talking… With your mouth closed?”
No--
No, there was one thing that they could tell her, and it didn't matter if the soul heard or not.
Their mouth snapped open, they gasped for air, and they said, "What was written on the window in the diner--" they paused. "I meant it."
Susie blinked rapidly as she sat up, her hand slowly lowering to her side. She stared at them with wide-eyed perplexity, but after another blink, that wry smile returned to her face. She scooted closer to them on the ground, bumped their shoulder with hers, and roughly put her chin on top of their head.
“So, you think Susie rules, huh?” she chuckled.
Kris blinked.
But warmth filled their chest.
“You know what?”
Kris didn't move.
“I think Kris rules, too.”
The two of them, human and monster, leaned into each other's forms for ages, embracing each other's warmth. They were soaked to the bone, filled with dread for what the future held--but in those few minutes, no matter what would come tonight, tomorrow, or the days after that, Kris felt like maybe things would be okay.
Maybe things would work out.
If something like Susie could exist. If someone like Susie could exist; kind, thoughtful and generous, thinking so fondly of someone like them…
Maybe…
The prophecy… could change.