Chapter 21: New Wounds

"Grievous injury, palpable fear..."

-The Ancestor (Darkest Dungeon)

Kris remained slumped against the wall of his cell. He hadn't moved at all; it hurt to even breathe. He was somewhat content with his situation, but he feared for his friends' safety.

'Why would they go along with him?' he wondered. 'What are they thinking?'

He had all but resigned himself to his fate. Unless Ralsei had some sort of incredible plan, there was no foreseeable way out of this situation.

"Oh, don't give up on me now, Kris," Chara chided. "We still have so much to do."

"Oh, goddamnit..." He hissed as a wave of pain spread through his body. "Can't you just let me die in peace?"

"I can't let you die alone, can I?"

"Hey, don't let me stop you."

"I'm with you to the bitter end, partner." If she could, she would've grinned.

"Lucky me." Slowly, he laid on his side, gasping in pain as he did so. "On the bright side... if I die here, you're coming with me."

"So you're just content to sit here and wait to die?"

"Pretty much, yeah."

"All because I'll die with you?"

"Yep."

"Hm. Whatever happened to your determination..."

"Hey, obviously I don't want to die. I'm just saying..." he winced, "...I can die happy knowing you won't hurt anyone."

"Oh, get over yourself. There's nothing noble about sitting down and dying."

"I prefer to think of it as a heroic sacrifice."

"Come on, Kris. Are you really gonna let yourself be killed like this? What about your friends? Don't you care about them?"

"If you haven't noticed, there's not a whole lot I can do." He coughed weakly. "There's no way I can take the Knight right now. I feel like I'm gonna pass out..."

"You have a healer, don't you? I'd hate to think what would happen to him if you didn't do anything..."

"Don't put those thoughts in my head..."

"Don't tell me you aren't worried about him, Kris. You know about his past. If he was so unwanted then, why would anything have changed?"

"I'm not listening to this." It was difficult for him to hide his concern.

"The Knight's been pretty cruel to him. How much do you think he hates him? How about Gaster? He can't be too happy with such a huge project just running away."

"I'm sure things'll turn out well," he lied.

She ignored him, "I'm not even sure who he should be more afraid of. On one hand, the Knight doesn't seem like the kind of person to tolerate deserters like Ralsei. On the other hand, who knows how Gaster feels about him. He'll probably be pretty displeased, to say the least."

"You know, if you're trying to scare me into making a suicidal prison break..." Kris shifted into a kneeling position, struggling not to scream as his body was wracked with agony.

He breathed deep before continuing, "...Let me tell you, you're doing a hell of a job."

"So how about it, partner? Are you willing to do something other than wait to die?"

"Well, what am I supposed to do? Even if Ralsei can heal me, how am I gonna beat the Knight?"

"You can let me handle that. And while you're at it, you can just let me handle everything else."

"Nice try." Languidly, he dragged himself toward the cell door, each movement hurting more than the last. He stifled a cry of pain as he pulled himself up, leaning against the wall for support.

"Alright, question two," he breathed heavily. "How do you think I'm getting out of here?"

"...I haven't actually given that much thought."

"Of course you haven't. Isn't that great..."

"Come on, there has to be some way out of here. Think."

Experimentally, he fiddled with the door handle for a bit. The door clicked. He pushed against it, and to his surprise, it swung open without resistance.

"...Alright." He was dumbfounded.

"He left the door unlocked. I am viscerally angry."

"Well, at least I don't need some elaborate escape plan now." He took a step forward and nearly collapsed to the ground. It took great effort for him to remain upright.

"Now I just need a battle plan..."

Susie slammed her fist repeatedly into the cell door, pausing only to give it an occasional kick. It remained closed without so much as a dent.

"Susie, I really don't think you'll be able to break the door down," Noelle said.

"Well, we can't just sit here and do nothing, so if you've got a better idea, I'd love to hear it."

"I don't think there's anything we can do... I think Ralsei's our only hope."

"I gotta admit, I don't have a whole lot of faith in this plan of his. What's he gonna do on his own, heal himself threateningly?"

"I don't know, but... I have faith in him."

"Well, I guess that's as good as it gets right now." Susie stepped away from the door and sat down beside Noelle.

"What do you think will happen to us?" Noelle asked, shifting a little closer to her.

"You mean if Ralsei's plan doesn't work out? Hell if I know." She threw her arm around her without thinking about it.

"They only want Kris and Ralsei... Do you think they'll just let us go?"

"Maybe. Or, maybe they'll say, 'no witnesses' and just ice us too. Either way, future prospects are looking a little dim."

Noelle leaned into Susie. "Whatever Ralsei's doing, I'm sure it'll work out."

"I wish I was as optimistic as you."

"I wish I was as confident as you."

"Well, you're doing a pretty good job so far. You'll get there."

"Thanks." She smiled.

A silence fell over the two, and Noelle soon found herself lost in her own thoughts. She strongly considered telling Susie how she felt about her. The idea made her nervous, but she also feared the possibility of never getting to tell her. She cursed herself for being so afraid of rejection.

After much deliberation, she came to the conclusion that she'd regret staying silent more than the alternative.

"Susie, I..." she stuttered, "I have to tell you something..."

Before she could say another word, the door swung open and Kris stumbled into their cell, breathing heavily.

"Hey... how's it going?" he gave a crooked grin.

"Kris!" Noelle immediately rushed to help him stay upright.

"Dude, how'd you get out of your cell?" Susie asked.

Kris chuckled, wincing slightly. "He just left the door unlocked."

"Are you serious? We could've just walked out any time?"

"Probably."

Noelle threw Kris' arm over her shoulder. "Okay, what do we do now?"

"It's pretty simple, really. We just fight the Knight, don't die horribly, and convince Gaster to help us out."

"And how do you suppose we do that?" Susie tilted her head to the side. "We don't have any weapons."

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it."

"Well, the bridge is coming up pretty damn fast. We need a plan, brother."

"I don't know, maybe the Knight's still holding our weapons. We might have to steal them back."

"How are we going to do that?" Noelle wondered. "You can barely stand up on your own..."

"I'm kinda banking on Ralsei being able to help. I'm pretty sure all roads to victory lead through him."

Susie nodded and stepped out of the cell. "Well, I don't see much reason to wait around, so let's get on with this trainwreck."

"Have some faith, Susie," Kris followed her, supported by Noelle. "We've got, like, a 3% chance of success!"

"That's a 97% chance of failure."

"So you're telling me there's a chance."

"Only technically."

"Well," Gaster stood, "if we're going through with this plan, I need to tell everyone. And probably run a few tests."

He walked to the containment area, and let out a shriek of terror when the door was suddenly kicked open, nearly flying off its hinges. He fearfully retreated to his desk.

"We're here to ruin everything!" Susie announced, cracking her knuckles.

Sariel was taken aback. "How did they get out of their..." he sighed, suddenly realizing. He turned to Gaster.

"Sir, did you forget to lock their cell doors?"

"What? Of course not," he shifted uncomfortably. "I didn't forget, I just... didn't remember."

"Permission to speak freely?"

"Go ahead."

"You are an idiot."

"I know."

Ralsei rushed to Kris' side, casting a healing spell. "Kris, are you okay?"

He shrugged, "All things considered? No, not really."

Susie stomped toward Sariel, murder in her eyes. "Alright, you bastard, I hope you're ready for the reckoning!"

Sariel made no effort to arm himself. "If you can control your rage for the briefest of moments, hellion, the situation has changed. Allow us to explain."

"Why, so you can sucker punch me in the jaw? Not happening."

"Susie, stop," Ralsei pleaded. "They're going to help us now."

"Wait, what?"

"Ralsei brought some new information to light," Gaster explained. "He made a pretty good case for trying to separate Chara from... Kris, non-lethally. If it really is as simple as Ralsei made it seem, we should be able to pull this off."

"So, what, we're just supposed to trust this guy not to stab us in the back?"

"Sounds a little too perfect to me," Kris added.

Sariel removed his mask and placed it on the desk. "I have agreed to spare your life while this plan unfolds. I am a man of my word."

"He won't attack you until the apocalypse actually starts," Gaster said. "That's a promise."

Susie didn't seem convinced. She turned to her companions, "What do you guys think?"

"I think we should give him the benefit of a doubt," Noelle said.

"Honestly, me too," Kris agreed. "He doesn't seem like the bamboozling type."

"We can trust him," Ralsei stated.

Susie turned back to Sariel, "Alright, fine. But I'll be watching you."

"Fair enough," he nodded. "But know this: if the situation dictates it, I will not hesitate to strike you down, human."

"Alright, I guess that makes sense," Kris said.

"Excellent," Gaster clapped his hands together. "Now that everyone's on the same page, I better get to work."

"Is there anything we can do to help?" Ralsei asked.

Gaster flipped through his notes as he spoke. "On the science side of things, probably not... But, if you really want to help, you and Sariel could deal with the madness plague in the Seventh Region."

"That's a little out of our wheelhouse, don't you think?" Susie remarked.

"Don't worry, it's not like curing a disease in the traditional sense. It's more of an... extermination job, really."

"How's killing something supposed to cure a madness plague?"

"Well, it's what you'll be killing that matters."

"Alright, what are we gonna be killing, then?" Kris asked.

"The hive mind living under Downpour."

"The what, now?"

"A plant-based lifeform that lives in the tunnels beneath Downpour. It infected the city by releasing spores into the water that make everyone bend to its will. The first step to curing them is killing the hive mind."

"Where did something like that come from?" Noelle asked.

Gaster grimaced. "I'm ashamed to say it was one of my failed attempts to synthesize a soul. It lost its mind and ran off to Downpour. I'm not sure why it's assimilating people into its neural network, but it has to be stopped."

"Why didn't you do anything about it sooner?" Kris questioned.

Sariel entered the conversation, "I once led a team into Downpour to exterminate it. We were met with incredible failure, and my entire team was assimilated. I was forced to cut down former comrades to escape."

"...I see. If you couldn't kill it, what chance to we have?"

"I will admit, you are surprisingly skilled in battle. Perhaps even skilled enough to slay this abomination once and for all. I am willing to lead you into battle."

"Wait a minute, now," Susie chided. "We're not taking orders from you."

"I implore you to reconsider. I did not win fame and glory through combat prowess alone. I commanded a full platoon of the kingdom's greatest soldiers. I am a very capable leader."

"Great, then you'll do great as second in command. We follow Kris' lead."

"Alright, both of you, play nice," Gaster urged. "Kris can keep leading you, but I recommend you at least consider Sariel's suggestions. He's literally engineered to be the perfect warrior."

Susie narrowed her eyes. "Fine."

"Hell, having an actual tactician can't really hurt, can it?" Kris commented.

"Very well," Sariel affixed his mask. "I suppose we are a team now. What are your names?"

"I'm Kris."

"Susie."

"My name's Noelle."

"Understood." Sariel handed each of them their respective weapons. "Shall we depart?"

"Wait a minute," Kris said, "we're gonna need some details about this hive mind."

"I will answer any questions you have on the way. Make any preparations you need, and we will venture forth."

"Well, I think we're as ready as we're gonna be."

"Then let us go."

The five of them set off toward Downpour, a sense of tense camaraderie among them.