Kris and Undyne peered into the Darkner Town, it's inhabitants seemed non-friendly but also non-hostile. The inhabitants looked like true monsters, being made either out of blinding light or too darkened to even be registered as a being. Everything about this place reeked bad news.
They cautiously entered the town, as they had nowhere else to traverse to.
"So uh, how long do we have to stay here?" Undyne said trying her best to avoid eye contact with the people there.
Kris just kept walking straight ahead through the broad road of the darkened town, the only thing illuminating their way was the glowing light blue decor that appeared as street lights and shingles.
"Just...don't look any of them in the eyes..." said Kris with his casual nonchalant and laid back voice.
"Easy for you to say, heh. Your hair covers your eyes, well, it's only half as hard for me. I only have one eye!" Undyne and Kris both started to have a good laugh about it.
Undyne had quickly changed her mind about this guy, maybe he had caught her at a bad time orinigally. She had felt bad about her attempt at threatening earlier for information.
"Hey, dude...Sorry about earlier, it's just that the fall and my back. Plus the blue Lancer guy that knocked me down after getting my guard down...I was just really aggravated at the whole thing you know?" Undyne said scratching the back of her head.
Kris just raised his palm to her as she kept walking, signaling her to stop talking.
"It's alright, no one is happy to be down here. Not even my partner...you know...you remind me a lot like her, just more mature and refined." Kris then put his hand away and back to straddling the handle of his sheathed sword that was tucked on his waist on his right side.
"Really? Heh. Well, you don't remind me at all about my captain, my friend that's down here with yours. She is a lot more brash and ballsy, she only thinks when it's about fighting or money or morals." Undyne then proceeded to walk his her hands behind her head in a casual way. The more they talked, the more she was less frightened about this place.
Although they were both at around half their usual health and stamina, she still felt much safer just talking out her pains and gripes with this guy. He was a good listener.
"Really? Well uh...thanks. I assume you guys are pirates, am I wrong?" Kris tried to say it without implying that he was afraid or disliked pirates, because he didn't, but his awkwardness might imply that in his voice.
"Yeah! We just started about two and half weeks ago I believe. We've been through a lot recently, fighting Navy Captains, fighting soon-to-be Warlords, almost getting completely pressed by Vortanya. Life has been strange." Undyne said with almost the same calm demeanor as he had been. Kris wasn't the least bit surprised.
"Ah! I'm glad to be in capable hands then. I've been in charge of doing this hero thing ever since my brother was forcefully removed from his title. Susie, my friend, just does this with me because she wants to escape her life at home and vent on it by destroying and killing evil monsters. She has it rough at home." Kris didn't falter in his steps as he said all of that, Undyne was amazed. This Susie girl that's with Muffet, she'd like to know more about her.
"If you don't mind me asking...what did she have to go through at home?" Undyne tried to squeeze out that information, more out of concern than trying to nosy.
Kris, however, didn't say anything.
He sighed and kept walking in silence.
The town's people slowly back away as they felt the new vibe Kris and Undyne had. It wasn't bloodlust, but a level of seriousness and readied tension that it made them weak just to look at.
Undyne knew what that had meant...instead of sympathy, she felt empathy.
Kris spotted a staircase near the end of the town that spiraled down into a purple and crimson room. He tilted his head towards the staircase to indicate to Undyne that their next move is heading down.
Undyne nodded swiftly and walked behind him as they began the descended. She had expected more confrontation from the townspeople, although she had understood that Kris was trying to knock this out of the way as soon as possible. The more time they waste, the more the Chaos King gets to expand, so they had to avoid any confrontation that they can. She admired his hustle.
Once they began going down the long spiral down Kris sighed.
"I...didn't want to say it around those people..." Kris uttered solemnly.
Undyne grunted in assurance.
"It's alright dude, I get it." Undyne closed her eye, ready to imagine what he might about to say.
"You see, I came from a loving home. Well, half family...I was adopted by Toriel at a young age, around five. I had a older brother that loved me, and a younger sister that looked up to me and my brother...but Susie...her household. Was only filled with hurt...I wouldn't have believed it until I saw it myself..." Kris just stopped walked and sat on the steps.
Undyne stopped too, she didn't question it and just propped herself on the wall with her eye closed and arms crossed. She had her back to the wall with one leg keeping her angled on the wall.
"You see..." Kris
(Flashback)
Kris said goodbye to his loving mother and two siblings. His family consisted of a goat woman, a goat older brother, and a human younger sister. He always appreciated the heart his mother had, to do something like that.
He was off to meat his friend Susie, they were both born and raised on the same island but only met each other during highschool.
They orinigally hated each other...well, Susie Susie orinigally hated him. Until that one day where they were forced to be together in detention afterschool. Both of them weren't necessarily good willed students, it pained them to even just do homework.
Kris decided to spark up a conversation with her and suggested that they'd make fun of the heroes in these children's books. Susie, looking for a way to vent agreed with him for once, she thought it might be fun. Like that, they bonded over joke and joke, getting a real feel of each other's character.
They'd then picked up this book called "The Legend of Deltarune", and instead of making fun of it...they were enthralled. As if that book called out to them, they read the whole book together in silence. They couldn't finish the whole book, because they heard the teacher about to come back from the hall to tell them that their detention was over. So Susie tucked the book underneath her purple sweater and walked out with it.
When they got outside, they spoke about each other briefly, getting to know each other's names and most importantly how fun that time had been. She started to like his guts afterwards and told him that she'd be down to read the rest of the book together another day.
Susie was popular bad girl, but she simultaneously wasn't known to have close friends, maybe even friends in general. Half because they would get scared of her almost upon eye contact, if she did show her eyes underneath her bangs. The other half because she would actively push people away.
She also seemed to wear the same clothes every day, she kept them clean yeah, but just the same outfit for the whole year so far. So when she actively wanted to hangout with Kris some more he seemed a bit skeptical. Regardless, he was Determined to finish the book with her.
What enthralled them the most about the book was the fact it seemed like it was written for them specifically, like they were supposed to be the legends in the book. It was uncanny, the resemblances the book displayed that complimented them.
It had been a few days since then, a Friday, Susie went up to him during their chemistry class that they shared and told him to meet her at a certain address. It seemed to be the local parks address.
He had been excited to receive that information.
Now here he was, leaving his house in fresh new clothes after saying goodbye to his family for a short while. He figure he'd be back around nightfall, so he left around 4:00. The sun wasn't setting till 7:00. More than enough time to read the book.
He had gotten to the park in a rush hoping he'd see her and find a spot to sit down and read. However, it had been a half an hour since he sat and he still didn't see her.
He still patiently waited for her, maybe she was getting overly ready for this.
It had been about an hour and a half and he didn't move an inch from his spot. However, he was livid. She had stood him up.
"Goddamnit! Why did I ever believe that she'd be nice to me?! She's never nice! And here I thought me and her were finally getting along! I'm leaving!" Kris picked up his bag and his custom lunch he had made specifically for Susie. He had heard that her kind like...chalk? He wasn't entirely sure but he kept seeing her it in school behind the teacher's back.
Now that he thought about it, she ate everything that was edible but wasn't lethal enough to kill her. She was always the first one there for lunch.
He had stormed up back through the shortcut he would take whenever he was over his time limit and had to come back home quick. Kris was cursing up a storm on his way back.
His cursing was abruptly cut off by the sounds of yelling and crashing. Man and woman grunts?
Kris had stopped in his tracks and listened more to the noise coming from inside this house, it was a old broken down house, the outside was muddy and it smelled of burnt rubber and rats. Definently a super struggling family was residing here.
However, he couldn't find a reason to not eavesdrop, just so that of the situation got out of hand, he'd go and help the woman, because it was clear...that a woman was getting abused in there.
Kris clenched his fist at the sound of a man's bare knuckles slammed down against the women's face and the screams she made and the growling anger made his toes curl. His whole body was tensing trying not to intervene, he wanted to but couldn't until he saw the man bare or the situation got super out of hand, he wasn't going to help.
The words they were saying were incredibly muffled, he couldn't make it out until the door slammed open and the sound of a body falling was heard into the darkness of the night.
"No daughter of mine is hanging out with some boy like a slut! Get your ass back inside!" The man clenched his fist harder looking down at his daughter from the steps.
Kris peeked over the little cement wall that was apart of the neighboring house to spy a little. He tried to get a look at the situation and saw something he'd wish he's never see.
"Stop holding that stupid ass book! 'Reading with a guy friend' my ass! There's no way I'm letting a guy make his way with my daughter! You think I'm a idiot-!" The man said yelling from the porch.
Kris just saw it. Susie. She was heavily brushed, missing a few teeth and she had...new clothes. They didn't seem her style. She had wore new clothes to meet him with...
"I HATE YOU!! I WISH MOM HAD STAYED! NOT YOU!" Susie said yelling at her father in blind rage. Her black her ruffling in the night breeze.
"Your mom didn't want you anyways! She had you at a young age! She didn't want to make another 'mistake'!! Now get your bimbo ass upstairs or I'll beat the shit out of you!" Her father started to slowly walk towards her with his fist still clenched.
From here Kris could smell him, he smelled of alcohol, feces, cigarette ash and bloodlust. Kris was fuming with rage. Susie was not any of the things he said she was, and she was enduring all of this just to be with him.
Susie just sat there on the lawn soil, clenching the book in an upright fetal position.
"YOU STARVE ME AT HOME! YOU SPEND ALL THE MONEY ON YOUR BULLSHIT BEER AND CIGARETTES!! THERE'S NEVER ANYTHING IN THE FRIDGE! I HAVE TO EAT OBJECTS AT SCHOOL! YOU DON'T EVEN BUY ME NEW CLOTHES!! I HAVE BEEN WEARING THE SAME THING TO SCHOOL FOR SEVEN YEARS!!! I HATE YOU!!" Susie screamed into the night.
"Shut up bitch!! Be grateful I stood with you!" Her dad was getting closer to her.
Kris was filled with...
Determination!
Kris punched the corner of the concrete wall, it busted open his knuckles but managed to chip off some of the concrete.
This alerted her dad and he froze in place. Susie turned around and she was shocked too.
The pain he endured was unbearable, but he sucked it up, because the pain she was feeling, will always be worse.
Kris got to see her eyes, they lit up yellow and her smile turned into a grin of pleasure. This warmed his heart...and fueled his Determination even more. Kris' eyes were shown too as a response, a chilling blood red fueled and powered by his will to be Determined.
He picked up the rock with his non-bloodied and with his bloodied hand, he pointed a finger gun at him, like the way the main character pointed at the enemies in the book they read together. Susie got fueled too. Her eyes emitting a burning yellow, seeing her friend fighting for her even when he barely knew her at all...filled her with a sense of Justice!
Kris, also filled with rage, uncontrollably channeled all of his Determination into a the piece of concrete he was holding.
Susie uncontrollably, driven by emotion, channeled all of her justice into the book. The dad backed up in fear of their intentions.
Kris aimed at his face.
"Hey, asshole! She's going with me, now! I'll take care of her, I'll feed her! Susie this whole time has been misunderstood her whole life because of your shitty parenting! As the only person who gives a damn, I can say that Susie deserves a lot..." Kris cocked back his arm with the rock infused with all his Determination.
Kris...hey! Susie thought as she looked up at her dad again. She quickly got up on her feet and swiped the book upwards as hard as she could to catch him off guard.
"...But she doesn't deserve you!" Kris then tossed the rock, upon tossing it, it caused a little shockwave that shook the dad. In his fear he saw Susie getting up.
"GET OUT OF MY LIFE!!" Susie proceeded to uppercut her dad with the book, leaving his neck exposed, the rock Kris tossed was lodged deep into his exposed neck, killing him instantaneously in a huge spurt of blood.
Kris and Susie were quickly filled with dread.
"...d-dude...w-w-we just...dude..." Susie was slowly walking backwards from the bleeding man on the floor.
Kris was scared too, he was only planning to knock him out with the rock...he didn't know that he had that much of a throwing arm.
Susie was stammering while quickly picking up her pace backing up. She wasn't sad nor scared. Most of her was relieved that he was dead, she had many satisfying fantasies of doing this to her father. But she hadn't believed it would actually happen. She was more in a chaotic disbelief and hysteria than remorseful. She was known for being strong both physically and mentally and indifferent to the deaths of others, she was just stuck.
Where did she go from here...all she was planning today was an outting with a guy she knew.
Kris then grabbed both her shoulders and turned her around. Which was something of a feat on his own, he was scrawnier and smaller than her, but he turned her around as if she weighed nothing.
Kris and Susie stared into each others glowing eyes, still burning their passion of their soul's belief, underneath a full moon and its moonlight.
Just looking into his eyes was slowly calming her nerves and consciousness, somehow his Determination was rubbing off on her.
"We can't turn back. We have to run from here as far as we can. I'm Determined that we can make it, do you believe we can. I'm hitching our futures on this book." Kris said shaking her shoulders slightly and glancing at the "Legend of Deltarune".
"T-the book? What do you mean?" Susie was slowly getting her nerves back, enough to talk.
"Look. The cops will be here any minute, I'm sure someone called the cops already because of the noise. That book, if it's truly linked to us-" Kris said as he lifted both his and her bangs, showing a colorful fire in their eyes
"If it truly is, then there's a future for us that's not here. We can make ourselves heroes, so maybe then our charges will be cancelled and we can live a normal life again. We just have to trust that book!" Kris was speaking more deep and serious than he ever did in his life. Susie felt this and gulped.
She knew that he was spouting nonsense and hopes, but the more he spoke, the more Determined she got, and she really didn't have any other choice. And frankly, if there was anyone she could think of being partners in crime with...it'd with him. Hearing him speak about taking care of her...made her feel a certain way. Taking into account their new glowing eyes they never possessed before and how the book portrayed it...she was sure that this was going to her life for now on.
Atleast it was something new and away from that hell hole. She was fine with it.
She took a deep breath.
"I'm...willing to trust the book...how is your folks going to be with you gone and hearing the news?" Susie said in concern.
Kris was quiet in thought.
"I'm...not truly apart of their family anyways...I was a bad egg in the family. If my mom had to get rid of one of us it'd most definently be me. I was never good at school, I never got any achievements or trophies like my older brother, even my own birth parents didn't want me or my sister...I'm better off just leaving...for once...I feel like making my own choices!" Kris said with his eyes glowing and darker but brighter red.
Susie felt his vibe and saw into his eyes and she knew that he had made his mind, that he was truly determined.
"Dude...you would've been fine if I had pushed you out my life...but you've been the early person who cared. You're a better person than you think..." Susie's stomach growled ferociously.
After hearing what she said earlier, he felt bad with the special lunch he made Susie, it was a chalk sandwich, she had alot of sharp teeth so it was perfectly designed for her. However, he thought she had naturally liked chalk.
He took out of his bag a decently long sandwich and a chalk sandwich, even the bread and inside was just chalk.
Susie sighed a depressed sigh.
Kris then shoved the long sandwich to her chest, she grabbed it out of instinct. Kris took the chalk sandwich.
"Kris..." Susie started to cry soft sobs.
"No tears! And I don't want to hear anything about me or what I want. We both never had friends growing up and till now, we both have been outcasted by our city because we were different-" Kris took a bite out of the girthy chalk sandwich, some of his teeth chips and his gums were bleeding.
"Kris...please...take the sandwich-" Susie tried giving him the long sandwich but Kris just took another bite and chewed miserably. He started crying painful tears but still gave her the same stare.
"Susie! The book says that the two out of the three heroes of light would meet before meeting the third, and they possess everything we have...we both want a happier life, where we can take out our anger on society in a healthy way. I couldn't stand seeing someone as special and meaningful get hurt on my watch and called words that didn't describe you at all!" Kris said as he took another bite of the chalk sandwich, screaming into it as he bite down and chewed.
Susie just held the sandwich promptly, quiet and speechless.
"H-how would you describe me-" Susie was expressing the same tears that Kris was.
"AS A GREAT PARTNER! IVE ALREADY DECIDED THAT I RATHER SPEND THE REST OF MY LIFE WITH YOU THAN WITH ANYONE ELSE!! DO YOU AGREE?! AS A HERO OF LIGHT, WILL YOU EMBARK WITH ME?!" Kris said with a mouth of blood, broken teeth, and chalk bits. She could tell that he jaw had given out a few bits ago.
Susie was blown away.
This kid had only met her for few days and he had already decided on this fate for them. She felt as if...this was destined, she always imagined a knight in shining armor to take her away from her house and bring her a better life. And here he stood enduring pain for her because he couldn't see her in even more pain.
Her tears stopped, she grinned and smacked the chalk sandwich out of his hands. Her eyes bringing promises and hopes and dreams.
"Hell yeah dude. Anything you say. Now, let's get the hell out of here before the cops show up...and we are sharing this sandwich! No ifs ands or buts...heroes of light pals...?" Susie reassured him before bringing up her fist for a fist bump of approval.
Kris looked up to her and smile.
"...Heroes of Light pals." He completed the fist bump.
The sounds of people popping the corner were heard. They knew that must be the cops on foot.
They looked at each other and ran away, opening the book and reading to each other the rest the book. Kris knew of a fishing boat that him and his older brother would always go on to fish every summer. They would take that off the island and set sail to complete the prophecy.
(Flashback End)
Undyne still had eyes closed as he finished the story...she didn't want to see the look on his face as he told it.
"After that, me and her found this deserted island of wild beast and decided to practice out new found hero soul abilities until we were ready to attempt completing the prophecy." Kris said as he stood up, stretching his legs to attempt going back down the stares.
Undyne opened her eyes.
"We're friends but...she's also the only person I have left. We may joke around with each other and play around brutally, but if anyone were to do anything to her after I promised and declared her safety...well...I wouldn't mind being a villain for once." His voice was cold and stern.
Undyne nodded and proceeded to walk down the stairs with him. It was quiet on the way down.
Undyne then started to laugh.
He turned around sharply.
"What's so funny?" Kris questioned.
"My captain would want to recruit you if had said it to her. Now I see some similarities between you and her, both of you were outcasted by your birth parents and by your community at a young age, having only a friend as family. Seeing as how your soul matches on of her old friends and how strong you are, I just found it funny how she'd recruit you immediately after telling the story." Undyne said wiping a slight tear from her eye.
Kris gave a small chuckle.
"Here I thought pirates were heartless." Kris said with a new change of heart.
"Just our crew! A whole crew of heroic pirates would be kinda ironic wouldn't it? She'd definitely want you and your friend Susie. You wouldn't mind that would you?" Undyne nudged his shoulder. Now walking beside him and not behind him.
Kris gave a genuine hearty laugh.
"If that means that we can kick bad guy ass with more friends at our side, then I'm all for it. What would that make us though?" Kris questioned again.
Undyne patted his head.
"It'd make us a crew of passionate people finding a better tomorrow for all parties involved." Undyne chirped with a toothy grin.
Kris smiled.
"I guess that's what makes a hero."