Absolution
Kris woke up in bed. Tiredly he tried pushing himself out but was caught by something. He quickly freed himself and stood up drowsily. He was hungry and so decided to go downstairs and get something to eat. But then he suddenly found himself walking into… a tree? How was he outside?
Rubbing his eyes and actually focusing, he found himself staring up at a Christmas tree? Why was that in his bedroom? He looked around, snowflake wallpaper, tinsel outlining the ceiling and the doe still calmly sleeping beneath the covers. That certainly explained the tree, though he had knocked a few ornaments off and onto the ground.
Well now it was time to see if he could still remember where the Holidays' kept the cereal… after he cleaned up the ornaments.
—
Kris sat at the kitchen counter eating some fancy cereal brand as Noelle walked in.
"Morning angel, had a nice dream?"
"Of course, I dreamt about my favourite knight."
"Well dream no longer for your knight is already here and always by your side."
She gave him a smile and sat down besides him.
"What would I have without you?"
Kris rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
"Hmm, if you try and think of the recent events but without my involvement..."
The deer shook her head
"I can't."
"Well, for one thing, I'd say you'd have fewer uses for handcuffs."
Noelle laughed, rolling her eyes.
"So have you already found the chocolate or will I have to remind you?"
Kris shrugged.
"Don't worry, I don't need chocolate anymore. After all I have something much sweeter right here."
He put his arm around her and pulled her closer.
"Well then Kris, how about I get you your treat?"
"Don't worry, I can get it myself."
Kris pulled her into a kiss.
"Cinnamon, my favourite flavour."
She laughed and blushed at the comment.
"I'll always do the best I can for my Krismas."
"Heh, and you'll always be my favourite holiday."
Noelle nuzzled his cheek.
"So, what will we be doing today?"
She smiled as Kris rubbed her chin with his freehand.
"Can't say, but I'm sure we can find something fun around town."
—
The gate closed as they left the Holiday estate.
"So, where shall we go Kris?"
He put his arm around her.
"I don't mind, as long as it's with you it doesn't matter."
They looked into each other's eyes, smiling. Kris then noticed Noelle' attention shifting to something behind him, he turned and saw nothing but the forest. He turned back to Noelle.
"Did you see something?"
"I'm not sure, I thought I saw… actually, Kris, maybe we could go to your house for a while?"
Kris found it a bit strange but didn't push it.
"Sure, if you want to."
—
Kris walked inside and Noelle followed. The house felt so much emptier than usual, it felt strange…
"So, any particular reason you wanted to come here?"
Noelle closed the door and turned to Kris, she seemed concerned.
"I think someone's following us."
"I thought someone was watching me, I just assumed it was you."
She smiled.
"Who's to say I wasn't also?"
"I couldn't tell, you're just too distracting."
They both laughed.
"But, if you want me to… I could go out and try to catch our follower, then maybe I could…?"
"No, I want to make sure it's related to the dark worlds before we do anything like that."
The doe's ears drooped a bit, she gave Kris a sad look. Kris rolled his eyes.
"Noelle, you know my weakness don't you? Alright, have it your way."
Her face lit back up. Kris smiled.
"Use the window in the bathroom, they shouldn't see you that way."
Noelle nodded and closed the bathroom door behind her. Kris went to the front door and patiently waited. Twenty second later he heard the sounds of footsteps. Quickly opening the door and running through, he saw Noelle standing there looking further down the road.
"Did you find someone?"
She turns back to Kris.
"They ran away before I could catch them, but for a moment I saw a few blue feathers."
They both immediately knew who this was.
"Berdly…"
"Do you think he knows?"
Kris thought for a moment.
"It's possible he's working with Ralsei or plans on ratting us out to Undyne."
The thought hit him.
"Undyne! I forgot about her. Berdly or not, I'd assume she might suspect us."
"Do you think we should deal with her?"
He nodded.
"We will, and without her, there'll be nobody left in Hometown who can stop us."
—
Kris had been waiting outside the police station for a while, ten maybe twenty minutes? He didn't care, it meant Noelle was ready. But finally, he saw Undyne leave the station. Kris began to tail behind her. Some monsters were out here and he wanted to be absolutely sure nobody was around when he made his move.
Following her as she went up the street, eventually it seemed empty, his opportunity. He ran towards Undyne, panting and seeming tired.
"Officer Undyne!"
She turned around and saw the human running stop in front of her.
"Hey, what's the running for punk? Something wrong?"
He took a few breaths.
"Noelle, she… she's in danger."
Her face immediately became serious.
"What?!"
"We were going to meet up in the woods but… she called me while running… I couldn't make it out but I think… someone was chasing her."
Undyne's hand clenched into a fist.
"Dammit! I should've known it would be one of you two punks next."
"Please. Can you help her?"
She pulled out her phone.
"Don't worry, we got a tracker for her phone. Mayor wanted to make sure we didn't have another incident. Just stay here punk, I don't care who this guy is, but if they think they can just go around and pull this stuff under my watch, then they got another thing coming."
And at that she bolted off into the tree line.
—
Undyne checked her phone again. It led her to the beginning of what seems to be a small passage between two hills. By this point she was incredibly deep through the forest, it seemed that Noelle must've ran away from whoever was chasing her. Well if Undyne had a say then that person was gonna pay.
As she continued down the cliffs on her side grew higher and the ground was a slope, slowly going down. But she grew close to Noelle, she began to run ahead.
"Noelle? Hello? Anyone here?"
Going around a corner, she reached the end of the passage. She should've been here but… it was a dead end. She saw some bushes there as well, approaching them, she looked through. Sure enough she found a phone.
Had she dropped it? But how? She might've come here but then what? It's not like there's dust or any other visual remains… had the phone been put here? Could Undyne have been had?
It was just then that she heard the sound of magic behind her and of something hitting the ground. Turning, she had but moments to glimpse the ice boulder hurdling towards her before the impact hit her.
—
Kris ran through the passage, this used to be a fun spot back in the day. He began to slow as he got further in, wanted to be sneaky if he could help it. Eventually, he turned a corner and saw exactly what he wanted to see. Undyne unconscious and Noelle standing by her. Kris couldn't help but smile just from seeing her again.
"Kris!"
She ran over and hugged him. He returned the gesture.
"I see everything went well."
"Yep, the boulder was hard to keep up but I got it eventually. It flew down and hit her Kris, are you happy? Did I do good?"
Kris laughed.
"You did perfectly of course."
Noelle smiled at the praise. Meanwhile, Kris went over to look through Undyne's body.
"Should I finish her?"
"It's of no concern, in this state she'd never get back to town. Now, I just want to find her, aha!"
"Kris? What did you find?"
He smirked.
"Just a solution to our little avian problem."
—
Berdly approached the mysterious bunker in the woods. Undyne had sent him a message saying she wanted to speak to him here, wanting to know if he had seen anything weird with Kris and Noelle. He wasn't sure exactly what he'd tell her, the whole dark world was a bit much, but they had already wanted to get her involved so this was a great opportunity.
But as he circled the mound, there wasn't anything but the mysterious bunker. Why wasn't she here? Was she late…?
Hearing the sounds of someone approaching he quickly turned.
"Officer Undy-?"
He froze in place as he saw Noelle emerge from the trees. Berdly quickly began to turn but found his way blocked by Kris.
"Expecting someone?"
"N-no I was…"
"You we're going to tell her about us, weren't you Berdly?"
"Oh, Noelle, I d-don't know what you're-"
"I'm tired of you Berdly. You've never done anything for me, for Kris or for anyone. It's always about you isn't it? It's time we shut you up for good."
"P-please Noelle, you don't have to…"
He didn't bother finishing, he saw her hands move. This was it… he closed his eyes and awaited his impending fate. He heard the sound of magic…
But nothing happened? It hit something but it wasn't him. He looked to see Kris standing in front of him, having blocked the attack.
"S-stupid bird, had to make me feel bad and step in. Ugh... call me a movie cop, 'cuz I'm coming out of retirement."
Berdly looked at him in confusion.
"Kris?!"
"Can't hold her off for long, run."
"B-but why are-"
"Kris? What are you doing?"
They both turned to Noelle before Kris snapped his head back.
"Fly, you fool!"
Kris spoke through gritted teeth, he didn't need more instructions and took off, even as the two spoke he didn't look back.
—
Ralsei was waiting by the castle entrance alone. All the darkners were currently in a remote part of the cliffs. He hoped there wouldn't be any fighting here but… by this point Ralsei couldn't be sure. Berdly was supposed to be back a while ago. What was taking him so long? Maybe he should just… no wait, someone just came from the light world.
Berdly ran into view, panting from how exhausted he was. Ralsei ran to him concerned.
"Berdly? Are you okay?"
"I-I'm… I'm fine."
"What happened?"
He sat in the ground.
"I-I'm not sure… I was caught by Noelle a-and I thought air was dead but Kris… Kris saved me."
A flicker of hope emerged in Ralsei's face.
"He did?!"
"Yeah, blocked the spell and told me to run."
"Do you know what this means!?"
Ralsei hugged Berdly.
"Kris might be good after all! I knew it! I knew he was always in our side!"
"B-but I had to run. If he fought against Noelle then she might've… "
"No, I'm sure Kris isn't… we have to go then, we have to help him. You have to call-"
"Don't worry, there's no need."
Ralsei turned around.
"Kris!"
The human strode forth. A bit ruffed up but overall in fine condition. Berdly looked in surprise.
"Kris? But I thought you were fighting Noelle?"
His face turned to a frown.
"I did… and I'm afraid I had to… she won't be a problem to you anymore."
Ralsei ran up to Kris
"Oh…Kris I'm so sorry, it must've been so hard to go back on everything you've done, but don't worry, I won't waste this opportunity."
He inspected the human.
"Oh are you hurt? I should've known you might've been injured after defending Berdly."
Kris raised his hands defensively.
"Now look, I'm fine you don't need to heal me or anything."
"Don't worry about it, it's the least I can do."
Ralsei tried to hug Kris to heal him but he kept resisting.
"It'll only take a second."
"I don't need either your hugs or your healing."
Eventually Ralsei penetrated Kris' defences and enwrapped his arms around him and used his magic to heal him.
The Prince suddenly stopped and stumbled back for a moment rubbing his head. Berdly looked at him concerned.
"Is… something wrong?"
"N-no I just… I heard… never mind. If Kris insists he's fine then I won't heal them. But don't worry, we still have another big surprise for you! You can wait here with Berdly while I get her."
He gave a cheerful smile before walking into town towards the castle. The distant talking of Berdly fading. But he kept remembering that… voice. He tried to heal Kris but when he did… it was as if someone shouted at him… "Ralsei!"… but nobody said anything…
As Ralsei walked into the castle courtyard he suddenly stopped as he saw something, a flash of blue, but only for a second. What was that…?
Then he had an idea. He closed his eyes and focused the magic inside of him. Now he saw something more clearly. There was green… green everywhere. Was it the grass Berdly and Susie had spoken about? And he was holding a sword and shield. Then in the distance he saw her. She wasn't in the white dress she wore in the dark world and her skin was a tone darker yet Ralsei could still clearly tell, it was Noelle.
"Kris? What are you doing?"
"What I should've… done before… intervening."
"No… you aren't Kris. You aren't my Kris! What have you done to him!?"
Much to his surprise, Ralsei laughed and seemingly responded.
"Could've… asked you the same."
—
Berdly watched Ralsei walk away. He was still sitting down, everything with Kris and Noelle had drained him both physically and mentally. Being convinced he was about to die is not something he wanted to go through again. He looked up at the human beside him.
"So Kris… I suppose I should thank you for saving me…"
The human shrugged.
"I do have one question though."
Kris nodded. Berdly rubbed the back of his head.
"Now I don't mean to come off as some delusional idiot but… when you spoke I could've sworn you sounded… different?"
He raised an eyebrow in response.
"I know it sounds crazy and all but… it was almost like you were someone else?"
Kris just stared at him silently, Berdly chuckled to himself a bit and looked at the ground.
"Guess I really was just stupid and hearing things."
Before he could look back up Berdly found a foot in his face and he was launched back into the rocky ground. Stunned for a moment he tried to get up but found an arm wrapped around his neck and another blocking his mouth.
"Don't struggle. Just because I'd prefer you alive doesn't mean I will hesitate."
He tried to resist but was unable to throw Kris off. His body began to weaken from the lack of air.
The bird went limp in Kris' arms.
—
Ralsei was on the ground, Noelle stood above him. It had taken not even a minute for this to happen. Every step he took with great difficulty and not once did he even attempt to fight back.
"Give me my Kris back!"
He was struggling, with what he didn't know, but he seemed to be in a desperate battle with himself, until it suddenly stopped. He pushed himself off the ground, into a sitting position, looking up at Noelle again. She looked back at him with cautious, desperate concern.
"Kris?"
He smiled
"Noelle."
She dropped down and hugged him, painfully due to his wounds. He didn't care.
"Kris it's you! I was so worried."
"I don't know what that thing was but I swear to you, I will never again give it a chance to hurt you."
"I could tell that wasn't you, whatever it was… are you sure it won't happen again?"
"It's gone, and if it comes back then I won't let it win."
She looked him in the eyes.
"Are you sure? I don't want to see you hurt."
She used her magic to heal him.
"The only thing I'm worried about is that it would hurt you. But we can worry about it later. Right now, Berdly escaped, but I won't let him get away. We could use him as a tool against that dumb prince and then, we won't have to worry about anyone else, we won't need anyone else."
A footstep rung out and broke Ralsei's focus. Sharply inhaling, he opened his eyes, thoughts flooding through his head.
What was that, it looked like a vision of some kind… was it a vision of Kris…? No, but that would mean…
Another footstep and Ralsei spun around and saw Kris, sword drawn.
"Kris… where's Berdly?"
The human stood completely still, only breathing as his weapon slowly bobbed up and down.
"We don't need to fight, just… where's Berdly?"
"Noelle has him now, I will not let you threaten her."
"Kris please, this isn't you."
His face showed a flicker of rage.
"You sent Toriel to kill us, you don't like what Noelle and I have."
Another voice went out. "No, we didn't."
Kris turned to see a monster exiting the castle. A large purple lizard.
"Susie?! But I thought… you… you're suppose to be"
"Kris, Noelle tried to kill me. She's using you."
"I see… you turned Ralsei against me!"
Susie looked confused at the comment.
"Kris, you've done that yourself!"
"I will not let you take Noelle from me!"
Ralsei tried to regain his attention,
"Kris… you have allowed Noelle to twist your mind until you became the very thing that we set out to stop!"
The sword swung in his direction, mere centimetres from hitting him, making Ralsei take a few steps back.
"Don't lecture me Ralsei, I see through the lies of the prophecy. I do not fear gaining power through violent conflict as you do. I have brought strength, happiness and safety to my lover."
"Your lover?"
"Don't make me kill you Ralsei."
"Kris my allegiance is to my people, to the prophecy!"
He raised his sword in a fighting stance.
"If you're not with me… then you're an enemy."
Susie pulled out her axe.
"I cannot allow this to continue, even if Ralsei will disagree, I will do what I must."
"You will try."
Kris leaped towards Susie swinging down. She managed to move out of the way. By the time she had a chance to swing Kris had already recovered and began making multiple attacks towards her. Susie was barely holding on. Finding herself backed up against a wall, Kris' sword was thrust towards her, she ducked and it went straight into the wall. She was about to retaliate when Kris kneed her in the face, knocking her to the ground.
He raised the sword when a scarf wrapped around it and pulled it back. Ralsei pulled on Kris' sword, he pulled back and a tug of war ensued. Until without warning Kris let go and Ralsei tumbled into the floor. Kris recovered his sword and grabbed the scarf and pulled back, dragging Ralsei across the rocky ground towards him.
Kris saw a blade in the corner of his eye and let go of the scarf to bring his shield up to block Susie's swing. He swung back and she sidestepped however she had no chance to avoid Kris bashing the shield into her chest. Suddenly the latter felt something wrap around his leg. Ralsei pulled and he fell down, face hitting the ground. In response Kris dug his sword into the ground and jolted himself forward, the unexpected movement causing Ralsei to go off balance and stumble forward. Kris quickly leapt up and threw himself backwards ramming his shoulder into Ralsei.
An axe suddenly made contact with his chest, he returned the favour with a thrust hitting Susie's arm and an elbow in the stomach. She stumbled back next to Ralsei who was quickly getting back up. The axe hadn't properly penetrated his armour. It was a minor wound but to Kris it was not even that little more than a scratch. He had gotten much worse than that before. On the other hand, Susie's face was covered in blood, might've broken whatever she considered a nose, and Ralsei's clothes and body was a bit torn up and a bloodied.
Kris didn't hesitate to throw himself between the two, catching them completely off guard. He jumped at Susie who panicked and stumbled back, going completely off balance. He turned to Ralsei and swung at the prince who ducked beneath it, quickly deflecting the attempt to hit him with the scarf. Ralsei was open and the sword raised, ready to strike.
Suddenly Kris began to struggle with something. His teeth clenched and his muscles strained. Ralsei was able to easily avoid the weak strike. Susie saw this and, having regained her composure, went for a swing from behind.
Kris, despite being distracted, heard her footsteps and turned, raising the sword to block the attack. Using this moment of distraction, Ralsei had an idea and quickly jumped on Kris.
Ralsei cast pacify.
Kris spun around and swung, it only cut the prince's hat. He tried to follow up on his first attack but found a heavy sense of weariness overtake him. Despite his efforts, Kris fell to the ground asleep leaving Ralsei and Susie alone.
"W-we did it… he's asleep."
"But now what? I don't suppose you have some sort of magic book that will help him?"
Ralsei sighed.
"No, sadly not."
"Then I suppose… maybe we could… hey wait."
Susie looked at Kris. Maybe she was just seeing things… suddenly he twitched.
"Watch out! He's awake!"
The supposedly sleeping Kris started breathing heavily and coughing.
Susie pushed Ralsei back and put her foot down on Kris' back, pushing him to the floor.
"Kris, listen. I know I already said it before, but I really don't want to hurt you."
His breathing went back to normal and he chuckled.
"I help save Berdbrain and this is the thanks I get? Maybe next time I should just let Noelle do her thing."
Susie pushed down on him harder.
"What the hell are you saying? You're really joking at a time like this?"
"Wait Susie! I think I understand… Berdly was saved by Kris for seemingly no reason, I… saw it somehow. Maybe this is the real Kris?
"Well it's good to see someone here is actually paying attention. So Sherlock, what's the verdict? You gonna let me help or do you want to find out exactly what Noelle's capable of?"
"Uhm, Susie, could you let them go?"
She just gave a look of bewilderment.
"Kris just tried to kill us! And now after a moment of talking we're letting him go?"
"First of all, I'm not Kris. Second, trust me, if you want Kris and Noelle to be relatively normal again you're going to want let me help."
Susie raised an eyebrow.
"You're… not Kris?"
"I'll explain if you let me stand."
Susie looked at Ralsei, he nodded at her and she reluctantly let Kris get up.
"So can either of you explain to me what's going on?"
"I will but first we should go inside. I'd rather get something to eat, none of us are exactly in the best of health at the moment."
"Sure, but I am keeping these."
Susie had taken Kris' sword and shield. They shrugged.
"Understandable."
—
Kris and Susie sat at a table inside the castle. They were waiting for Ralsei to finish his new cake.
"So why can't you just tell me what's going on?"
"Wait until Ralsei's here. I've grown a bit of a distaste for repeating myself."
Susie found Kris… strange, unnerving even. Before he had been so full of emotion, especially his bursts of anger over Noelle. But now? … Kris just seemed almost too calm. As if this was nothing new…
Her thoughts were cut off by Ralsei entering the room.
"I'm back! Don't worry, I brought a slice for you too Susie."
Ralsei gave the two a slice of cake, both slices were quickly scoffed down.
"God it's been too long since I ate something made by you."
Susie gave a confused look before sighing.
"Ralsei's here now, so, what's the deal with you?"
"Alright, but first do either of you have any other immediate questions? Because this will take a while."
"I have a question. Before when I tried to heal Kris, I… I saw something, it was like a fight between Kris and Noelle… and I think it was you controlling him. Do you know what that was?"
"Ah, so that's why you were so cautious of Kris. I've actually seen it happen a few times before but it's a bit weird to explain. To give the simplest explanation, I suppose I'm technically Kris' soul."
Both looked confused.
"B-but how would Kris' soul be separate from him? That's not how humans are suppose to… how?"
Kris was silent for a moment.
"It's… complicated and unnecessary for you to know. But yes, I am for all practical purposes his soul. Before I was the one in control of Kris but then a few things occurred and now I can only really be in control in a situation like this. Though even so, I find it difficult."
"So how were you able to… warn Ralsei? Or whatever that was."
"Well, at the time Ralsei had thought I was in control, which was worrying as I knew what Kris was planning. I've had similar memory occurrences before, I don't understand it myself but it's something with him healing Kris. I'm not sure what exactly triggered it but I suppose I managed to give him what I assume is a memory of the fight."
"I worry what might've happened if you didn't do that… Kris might've…"
"Yeah, trust me I know. But now actually, I'd like to ask a question of my own, Susie, what happened with you?"
She rubbed part of her head,
"Well, Noelle got me good, gave me a bad concussion and everything. But thanks to Ralsei here Berdly decided to follow along. Wait, where's Berdly?"
Seeing Ralsei begin to panic, Kris quickly spoke.
"Alive, but that's as much as I can say. After Ralsei left, Kris knocked him unconscious and threw him into back to the light world. Purpose was to act as a hostage incase our fluffy friend here provided more trouble then expected or something else came up."
Susie stood up.
"We have to go save him. Berdly may be annoying sometimes but he's still our friend, we can't leave him."
"Don't, we can do it later but right now we have a much more imminent problem, Kris."
"But couldn't you just control him?"
"No Susie, they said they couldn't easily control Kris, remember? Maybe you could speak to Kris, show them what Noelle's done and what she's done to him?"
As Susie fell back down tiredly, Kris just laughed.
"That was part of your great plan wasn't it? Getting Kris to realise he's been manipulated into this?"
"Well… we hoped for something like that but… I guess we didn't expect Kris would be… so firm in his beliefs."
"Ralsei, you have no idea how far it goes. Tell me, what do you know about love?"
"I-… I don't really know."
"How about being in love with someone? What do you imagine that's like?"
"Well, I suppose it would be like a happy feeling? Maybe someone that made me feel nice? I don't really know. Why do you ask?"
"Because I want to emphasise just how little you understand here. To say Kris has fallen for Noelle would be an understatement. He knows what he's done, even if he doesn't admit it to himself, deep down he knows and has accepted it as the cost to be with her."
"So then… what do we do about this? I always thought… hoped Kris didn't entirely know what Noelle was doing and that we could…"
"Kris believes all of us to be against him, wanting to somehow stop him from being with Noelle. There is almost nothing anyone here could do to change his mind. However."
Kris waved a phone in his hand.
"I may know someone who can."
—
She watched as he came back into consciousness, he seemed so dazed and confused. It was a bit exciting, this was going to be fun.
"Whe…where am I?"
He tried to stand but realised he was tied to the chair. He struggles a bit before looking into the darkness of the room.
"Hello? Is anyone there?"
He continued to try and wiggle free.
"Can anyone hear me?"
He was about to try and scream for help when a hand came from behind and motioned for him to be quiet.
"Shhhhhh."
An immediate wave of panic hit him as he recognised the voice.
"Don't bother struggling, you won't break those ropes. I learnt a thing or two from Kris last night faha."
The moment the hand stopped covering his mouth Berdly tried to speak but it took him several attempts to properly formulate a sentence.
"Y-You aren't going to b-bury me are you?"
Berdly only heard a laugh from behind him.
"You're funny you know? It was so obvious you knew something."
"It was?"
She giggled.
"Of course, but I figured you'd never do anything meaningful. That your pathetic attempts to try and stop us wouldn't amount to anything more than this, you at my mercy."
He felt a sharp blade press against the back of his head.
"For years you've held me back. At every turn you forced me to help you catch up because you needed to stay in your illusion, your fantasy. You never wanted to be the smartest kid in class, you just wanted to feel like the smartest kid. So how does it feel now Berdly? Do you have some smart retort to that?"
"K-Kris said h-he wanted me a-alive. Surely y-you wouldn't want to d-disappoint him…?"
He just felt the blade's pressure increase.
"Berdly, Berdly, Berdly. Why do you think I have this knife? If I wanted to kill you then I wouldn't need this little kitchen knife, but I can use it to hurt you, so you better not try to irritate me or else I might… slip a bit. You're only useful if Ralsei provides more of a problem then expected or if someone else tries to stop us."
As the knife moved away, he breathed a sigh of relief.
"But don't worry, as long as you play nice then I have no reason to hurt you. After all, I would never want to go against what Kris wants. I love him, everything about him. He's always so nice and funny, whenever we're together I know he'll protect me. And those moment's where Kris goes all commanding and the way he takes charge… he's just amazing."
Berdly silently listened to her ravings, unsure of what to think or do.
"But he isn't here and nobody else will hear you. Nobody will know about just how much of a failure you are."
"F-failure?"
She laughed.
"Of course! You had one job, you and Ralsei were working together, but of course our dear friend can't leave his little magic world so you had to watch us instead. That's what it was all about, wasn't it? You wanted to know what we were doing. Then, you'd eventually bring us over to the world and through your supposed 'friendship' you'd reform or redeem us because you think we're a problem the way we are. But then you made the entire plan come crashing down, you had the easiest role yet you couldn't even get that right."
"N-no! I, I'm not a failure! It wasn't my fault, he would've wanted me to-"
"See Undyne? Berdly, you don't realise, we saw you earlier. Why do you think we had to get Undyne? Now, there's no one else to blame. You've had to rely on others, even on Tuesday, before I had a vision of that day. You were destined to die Berdly, but because of others you lived and even now, you live because of Kris' choice."
There was silence in the room.
"No response? Well, I'll leave you alone then, but don't worry, maybe I'll make another visit with Kris later, Faha."
Noelle left the room leaving Berdly alone with his thoughts.
—
Kris awoke from his magic induced sleep. What had happened? He had taken care of that dumb bird and was going to get... right, Ralsei… Susie had survived. She was jealous wasn't she? Jealous of what he and Noelle shared, she had turned Ralsei against him. By his angel, the moment Kris got out of here he was going to kill them.
'Hey Kris, sure has been a while, huh?'
He immediately stood up and his eyes darted across the room. It was the bedroom Ralsei had made for him.
"Who are you! Show yourself!
'Don't worry Kris, nobody else is here. I suppose it's all just in your head.'
The realisation hit him.
"YOU! You were that thing that tried to attack her!"
'Kris, please listen, nobody here wishes you harm. Ralsei, Susie and I. We genuinely want to help you and Noelle.'
"No! You lie! You all lie! I won't let you hurt her, I won't let you take her from me!"
He saw the door and tried it, sure enough it was locked. There would be no chance that he'd let some measly door get between them now. Kris began to ram the door with his shoulder.
'Look inside, are you really happy with what your doing? Did you really hate Toriel, did you really want to kill Asgore? If you could, would you still kill them?'
"GET OUT OF MY HEAD!"
Using the frustration at that damned voice, one final push made the door give way. He ran out into the hall. Quickly looking around, he searched for the exit. He sprinted down the stairs and passed by the large cauldron.
'Kris, I know you think of me as some horrid demon that wants nothing more then to take away everything you care about but the truth is I have a way out for you.'
He ignored the voice in his head. It was lying, it had to be. It just wanted to hurt her, just like everyone else. He exited the castle and ran into the courtyard.
He saw Susie was talking to Ralsei, he heard him coming and turned to see him. He had no weapons but it didn't matter. He was willing to get his hands dirty if he needed to. Susie saw him and stepped back but Ralsei… wait, why did he seem so tall? And why was he wearing that purple robe? He had never seen something like that before…
As they spoke, Kris realised.
"Kris? Is that you? You've certainly changed a bit, a haircut perhaps? Heh."
The human didn't move. Various conflicting thoughts and feelings swirling within him. Unbeknown to the inner conflict of the person in front of him, Asriel just smiled.
"From the phone call and everything your buddies been telling me, I suppose you've been having a bad time lately. Has mom been driving you up the wall again? Maybe tryna give you that haircut I mentioned. Don't worry I can talk to her about it."
Though utterly silent, a single tear fell out from behind the mask of hair blocking. Asriel immediately lost that smile and grew worried.
"Woah Kris, I haven't seen you cry since years ago… what's wrong?"
His eyes were full of warmth and affection. As Kris looked on silently he heard something in his head.
'Kris, there's a way to fix all of this. I can help you return to a normal life, without having to kill or hurt others.'
As Asriel came closer Kris reached for his side, nothing was there. His brother kneeled in front of him bringing them to a similar height. Kris didn't move.
"Come on, you know you can't hide behind that mess of hair from me. You can tell me what's bothering you."
He still hesitated, the voice in his head spoke again.
'I know how you can be with Noelle in a normal life.'
Kris was still for a second before he threw his arms around his brother. Asriel, initially surprised, quickly returned the hug.
"I thought you hated hugs. Guess it's really serious the huh? Don't worry Kris, your big bro's here now, I'll help you get through whatever this is."
Kris cried and held on tightly. Still unsure of what to think and hoping he had made the right choice.
—
They were all in Kris' bedroom. The three heroes had been explaining everything to Asriel.
"So you've been… controlling? My brother?"
"In a sense yes, though as of late it is difficult for me to do so. Right now I do so with Kris' consent seeing as he's… distracted at the moment."
"Ah, honestly I wouldn't have believed you had I not been standing here in some magic fantasy world with practically a younger doppelgänger of me and the ability to do… this."
A magic sword appeared in his hand, it disappeared a moment later and he turned back to Kris.
"But you still haven't told me, what of the things you mentioned on the phone? Kris breaking down and crying. I'm his brother for angel's sake, we've grown up together, I know he doesn't cry easily."
He looked around, Susie and Ralsei were shrugging or staring to the floor.
"It's a bit of a… complicated situation. Personally I've been waiting for Kris to be ready to talk about it himself but… alright, he thinks he'll try."
They watched as his eyes became unfocused for a moment before returning, he started breathing heavily. Asriel patted Kris on the back.
"You can do it, whatever is hurting you, just tell us alright? No one here wants to see you suffering."
"I… it's… it's Noelle."
Asriel was surprised.
"Noelle? What did she… no, no she wouldn't hurt you would she?"
He didn't like the looks Susie and Ralsei had, but Kris shook his head.
"N-No, she… she'd never hurt me."
"Then what… did she do…?"
Kris hesitated to speak. Susie spoke up.
"We believe she… made him… uhh, Ralsei maybe you'd be able to phrase it better?"
The young goat hesitated for a moment.
"Kris… dusted people."
There was dead silence in the room. It didn't take a genius to realise exactly what Ralsei had meant.
"You… you can't be serious. No, Noelle would never… Kris wouldn't… this has to be some joke of yours… right?"
He got naught but grim looks all around him. Kris' hands shook.
"Oh angel, you really are telling the truth… so Kris really has… Noelle made him… oh gosh, don't tell me… wait, is mom…?"
Kris broke down into tears again.
"Kris… I, Kris I'm so sorry… I should've came here earlier, I should've… Noelle… I swear when I get my hands on her… I'm gonna, I'll make her… but why? Why would she do this?!"
Susie answered his question.
"Well uhh, from both what we've heard from Kris himself and his soul… it seems she… loves Kris to the point of obsession."
"… Kris, is this true?"
The human hesitated for a moment before nodding. What kind of sick joke was the world playing on them all…
"Kris… I understand you care for Noelle, you two have been friends for years, but surely you can see what she has done to you? Kris, stay away from her. I don't want to see you hurt by her anymore."
He noticed Kris' sobbing worsen.
"It's… actually a bit more complicated then that…"
Asriel only grew more concerned from Ralsei's comment.
"How…?"
The Prince gave a nervous smile.
"I'm not really sure how to tell you but… the feelings were mutual."
Asriel was silent. He could only think. What had happened in the last week? Kris and Noelle wasn't some great surprising. Given their history it made sense but… like this? In some twisted murder romance? It made him sick.
"Actually, Kris, do you know where Noelle is right now?"
Kris heard Susie's words and went silent for a moment.
"Noelle should be… god how did I not realise! Okay we need to go to the light world now!"
"What? But what about Ralsei?"
"It doesn't matter, we need to get to the light world. It's been too long, Noelle might try to find out what's taking Kris so long and we do not want to fight her in the dark world."
Asriel was confused.
"Why would the dark world matter? And wouldn't it be better here since, as far as I understand, my look-alike ain't going there."
"The dark world amplifies your magic remember? And trust me, TRUST ME. We do not want to fight Noelle like that. You would stand no chance."
"Well then I suppose we should get out of here before-"
Kris suddenly snapped up, his breathing heavy and his body shaking.
"She's here…"
"You sure?"
Kris nodded. He could feel it inside them, he knew she had come for him…
Asriel quickly got up and ran to the door.
"We'll handle her, Kris, you can stay here or something, just please stay safe."
Before Kris could speak Susie and Ralsei quickly followed after Asriel leaving Kris by himself. Or at least as by himself as he could be.
'They're going to fight her… I thought you said you'd that wouldn't happen. All this time, the only thing you've told me is that the world will reset and that we'd help Noelle. I've saved you all my questions, all my doubts and this is how you treat our agreement?!'
'Look Kris, I can't control everything alright? They won't be a real threat to her and besides, their cooperation shouldn't be necessary for this.'
'It isn't?'
'Would you honestly believe there is any chance that anybody outside of the two of us could talk sense into her?'
'No… no I don't suppose there is.'
'Exactly, the others will buy us some time, nothing more. Kris, we might only have one real chance to get through to her so we need to make what little we can say count.'
'So… how do we help her?'
'Don't worry, I'm sure you can just say, I know the real you is in there somewhere! and she'll be back to normal.'
'Really?'
'No, obviously not. This isn't some dumb movie.'
Kris sighed.
'I just hope they don't hurt her, I know she's greater then all of them but… if they can't die then I'm not sure what'll happen.'
'Oh… right, yeah funny thing about that, currently that isn't exactly true.'
'WHAT?!'
'I don't really have the time to explain, but it is indeed possible for them to die right now.'
'No I… I have to stop this.'
He began to run out of the room and down the castle stairs.
'Kris, it doesn't matter! This entire bloody timeline is going to reset soon.'
'After everything we've done, I don't want more blood on her hands.'
—
Asriel stopped. He saw Noelle standing there across the town. Her fur seemed lighter than he remembered and she wore a white dress. He noticed something green and red on her finger but was more concerned with the blue monster limping at her side. She saw him and smiled, waving at him.
"Oh, hi Azzy! Been a while, huh? Have you seen Kris around? Been looking for him everywhere."
"Noelle… I'm not going to playing along with you, I won't let you hurt Kris again."
Her smile immediately dropped.
"C'mon Azzy, I'll give you a second chance. I just want to know here Kris is, and if you get in the way of that…"
"We have Kris and he won't be used by you again."
Susie and Ralsei ran up besides Asriel. Noelle immediately responded by pushing Berdly to his knees in front of her. Susie brought out her axe.
"Berdly! Let him go Noelle."
"So Berdly was right, he did save you. As much as I'd like to correct my mistake, I want Kris, you want Berdly. I think you can see how both of us can benefit here."
Berdly looked up at them, his face weary and weak. Asriel doubted he would be either physically or mentally prepared to use magic, if he tried anything the Noelle would most likely… but he couldn't let her use Kris again. Before he could speak Susie grabbed his shoulder.
"We can't just say no, she might hurt Berdly."
Asriel reluctantly nodded. He had already sworn to himself that she would never touch Kris again, he didn't care what either of the others thought, but he agreed they had to help Berdly.
"We wish to… discuss this in private first."
She seemed to only grow irritated.
"I want my Kris back. Now."
Fearing for his friends life, Ralsei quickly spoke.
"We don't need to fight! How about you stay here with Berdly and we go back to the castle and grab Kris from his room. Then you can give us Berdly. Alright?"
Noelle's demeanour suddenly changed. In one moment she seemed almost emotionless but now she was… smiling?
"Sure! You can go back and get Kris and I'll just wait here for you."
They turned to head back to the castle. Asriel whispered to the other two.
"You aren't going to seriously consider giving her Kris can you?"
Ralsei sighed.
"Of course not, but we have to save Berdly."
"I don't trust her."
The trio heard a shout from behind them. Asriel quickly turned around to see Noelle. She seemed to be casting a spell!
"Watch out!"
He jumped onto Susie and they both fell to the floor. The spell flew over their heads. He didn't know which one of them it had been aimed at but that didn't matter. Quickly getting up he looked back to see Noelle, she seemed annoyed.
"Unfortunate, well I suppose thanks to this little idiot I'll have to deal with all three of you."
Ralsei was both shocked and confused.
"B-but, what about the exchange? I thought you wanted…"
She laughed at him.
"Faha, you already told me everything I wanted to know. And now,"
Using magic she blocked any path of escape using large walls of ice and snow.
"You won't escape, I'll finally deal with you three. After that, I'll save Kris! And then we'll both be stronger, we'll both be happy and both of us will be together without any of you."
She turned down towards Berdly.
"But that means I have only one last use for you Berdly. I can use you to become stronger."
Ralsei cried out to her.
"No! Noelle, what has Berdly done to deserve this? He's not your enemy, we are."
Despite everything, Berdly laughed a bit.
"Don't worry about me… this should've happened a long time ago. I guess I finally ran out of 1-ups…"
Before anything else could be said, Noelle acted and at point blank range, it took but a moment to happen. Susie clenched her weapon harder.
"Noelle, for Berdly, for Lancer and for everyone else you've hurt. We are going to stop you here and now."
Ralsei stood by her side, unsure yet ready to fight.
Asriel could see the crazed look in Noelle's eye. More than anything, he feared for Kris… what had he done because of her and what more might she do to hurt him? He couldn't let it happen again, he couldn't let her hurt Kris again. He summoned his magic sword to his hand.
—
Kris ran in but found his path blocked by an ice wall.
'Dammit! I can't get though.'
'This is why you don't just run in! Just try to look for a way around.'
'I doubt there is… maybe we could break through. Wait, where's my sword?'
'Susie took your sword earlier, it's most likely in the castle but I'm not sure where.'
'We don't have time to look… Azzy… Noelle…'
—
For a moment, everyone was still. Asriel could see the air from her breathing. It was already chilly and the real fight hadn't even begun yet. It certainly wasn't his first, but this wasn't just some overblown argument or bully.
Suddenly he saw a pink wave fly towards Noelle. There was a flash of white as it slammed into a barrier sending ice fragments everywhere. Asriel saw Susie charging in and quickly went to follow. Noelle stood there unmoving. What was she planning? Why was she-
Asriel's thoughts were cut short by being struck in the chest by a block of ice. It send him staggering back. Struggling to breath, he saw Ralsei running to him.
"Asriel, are you alright?"
"Don't worry about me, I'm fine."
He looked back and saw Susie swing her axe wildly. Noelle stepped back and let her hit the air. Susie went for another strike but was struck in the side by an ice pillar. Her axe went flying out of her hand as she fell over, it landed in the ground next to Asriel. He quickly grabbed it as Ralsei pulled Susie up. Asriel tossed it to Susie and she caught it.
"Well I've let you have your turn, how about I show you what Kris has taught me?"
Asriel turned to Noelle and saw a spell flying towards them. He ducked down as it flew past. He heard a cry from behind him.
"RALSEI!"
Turning around, Asriel found himself face first with a frozen statue. Ralsei's surprised expression staring him in the face.
"No… no, no, no, NO!"
He saw Susie's hands tightened on her axe as her body shook with anger.
"NOELLE! YOU ARE DEAD!"
"Susie, wait!"
His attempts were futile. Susie charged Noelle without thought. Noelle watched, she was almost curious at this display. Taking a leap her, Susie's axe fell with considerable power. However the obvious move was easily avoided and Noelle returned her own attack. Susie went to stand and make another attack when she felt a burst of pain on her leg.
Her left leg had been entirely frozen. Susie tried to break her leg free from the ice but couldn't. Eventually her axe fell from her hand and she fell to the floor from the pain. It hadn't just trapped her leg but cut into it. Noelle looked at Asriel.
"I used to look up to her you know, for her confidence, her coolness, and unlike me, not caring about getting in trouble. I used to think I loved her, but now I know better. Because of Kris, I'm everything I desired in her, because of Kris, I'm stronger."
"Don't you DARE speak of my brother, you used him, you used your old friendship to make him hurt and kill people."
"Asriel… you don't understand. I know Kris better than anyone else. He enjoyed it, he enjoys telling me what to do, he enjoyed telling me to freeze people. We need each other now."
"No, I know Kris would never fall to that. I don't care what you think, if you did care for Kris you wouldn't try to separate him from his friends!"
"He doesn't need them, Kris has me. I think I'll let Kris finish you himself."
Before Asriel could act, Noelle slammed an ice barrier into him, then another, and then another. He felt to the floor and could only look up to her.
She smiled, it sent a chill down his spine. This was it… he had failed everyone… he had failed his brother. Noelle's smile suddenly dropped and she ducked down as a Rude Buster flew above her, it went flying away crashing into the ice wall. She turned away from him. The sound of a spell echoed in his head. The briefest moment of hope crushed in an instant.
His vision darkened as he started losing consciousness, the last thing he heard, someone calling Noelle's name, before darkness overtook him.
—
A hole suddenly burst open in the ice wall.
'What just happened?'
'Doesn't matter, we have a way in. Go, quickly!'
Kris ran to the opening, he ran in through and saw Asriel on the floor, with Noelle standing above him.
"Noelle!"
She turned around.
"Kris?!"
The two locked eyes before running towards each other and embracing one another.
"Kris! I missed you, I thought they had done something to you."
"I missed you too Noelle, I'm glad to be with you again."
She smiled at him.
"Don't worry, even without you I did just as you would've wanted. Susie and Ralsei have been dealt with and now even Azzy is at our mercy. We can be just like you said, together, without anyone else!"
"Look I… I can't live like that anymore."
Her face saddened.
"You… don't love me? Did I do something wrong?"
Kris affectionately rubbed her cheek.
"Noelle, I love you more than anything, but I want to be able to live without this, without killing, without murder, just with you."
She seemed confused as Kris' words, as if nothing he said made sense.
"But Kris… what about everything you told me? Together we're strong, by doing this we get stronger. That feeling of power, don't you love it too? Don't you want to share in it?"
"I never cared for power, I cared only for you, I wanted you to be safe, but now I see that was never needed. I wasn't thinking straight, but now I see we could've been safe with friends and family. Please, you don't need to hurt Azzy, you don't need to hurt anyone."
"… I understand Kris."
Kris smiled.
"Thanks, Noelle."
"It's Asriel, a part of you still cares for him and because of that you want to keep him alive. It was just like before with my father, your feelings hold you back. Don't worry Kris, I know what it's like, you'll feel sad at first but in the end, you'll be stronger. I'll be stronger. We'll both be stronger. I'll do it for you Kris and then we'll be together, and nobody will ever stop us."
She began to turn and walk towards Asriel.
"No! Noelle! That's not- wait!"
Don't worry Kris, we only need each other now."
Moving towards Asriel, Noelle didn't notice Kris' change in expression and posture.
"Noelle."
That voice… she immediately recognised it…
"Kris…?"
At that moment, everyone in the world felt something strange. An ominous sense of dread. Something was happening. It felt as if the world around them shook.
"Noelle, you do not understand the truth."
Her body shook, her breathing grew uneven.
"You… you were the one from the dream… you were the one made me stronger…"
"That dream… do you remember it all? Do you remember the ending?"
Everything was foggy after the bunker… but if it was real… then what did happen? Why did… it didn't make sense.
"N-no…"
"Your sister, do you remember her?"
What were they talking about? Her sister… she had disappeared those many years ago… no, something happened… it was foggy but she remembered something.
"Remember. Remember the vision, remember who truly killed her."
The memories came back. She was completely still and silent as she remembered it so clearly now. She had killed her… Dess was gone because of her… she and Kris split up because of her…
"But I got stronger didn't I? So it was good… it, it had to be good… right?"
The world shook around them.
"Everything you were told was a lie, getting stronger was naught but an excuse to get you to kill, a lie to use you as a tool."
She fell to her knees. She didn't want to believe it… getting stronger had been good… had been best for her… b-but if it said it wasn't then… had she really been a tool? It couldn't be but… if they told her then it had to be true… didn't it?
In those moments reality began to collapse around them, but Noelle was too distracted to care.
"I have seen your future. Down this path your power will grow both great and unstable. One day you will lose control and the only other person you care for will pay the price for your lust for power. Your selfish action will cause you to lose everything you've ever cared about."
Finally, Noelle broke down into tears. And as she did, the world faded to black.
The world was about to reset. They could only hope that whatever they did it got through to her… but suddenly they felt something, a voice spoke in their head. Not in the way Kris' would but rather in a sinister unsettling manner. The words rung out, the moment they heard them they felt a chill. They echoed through their head repeatedly.
This time, you won't escape.
Kris woke up on a Monday morning.
—
One last journey, one last adventure, one last quest until everything ends. What will happen to Kris and Noelle? What secrets will be revealed? Will sans make another bread pun? All this and more in the next, and final, timeline.
I should also apologise for how long this took. Long story short, writers block is a pain and one scene in particular ended up causing a lot of problems. But that's writing sometimes so whatcha gonna do?
Also, as this is new stuff I have never really written before and I want to deliver a good story. I'll be writing the first 3 or 4 parts first before releasing any of them. I just want to ensure that everyone turns out how I want it to be and gives me room to see what works and what doesn't. It will likely be a while until I'm done but at the very least you'll get to enjoy several of them with a much smaller delay in between.
Also, I would like to give an F to r/place and a thank you to all those who helped contributed to the Deltarune art, even if it was but temporary.
