Part One
Pawprints in the Snow

Ralsei's breath was stolen away from him at the blinding sight. He tried to call Kris over to come and see what he was looking at, but the combination of the cold air biting into him and the sheer beauty of the landscape sprawled out before them rendered him utterly lost for words. He had never seen such a monolithic, unbroken whiteness before. It seemed to glisten and twinkle even in the darkness, banishing all shadows. Sometimes the wind would shear a dusting of powder from its surface and whip it up into a captivating flurry, a glittering squall, before scattering it all back upon the ground like icing sugar upon a Christmas cake.

'Explains the cold,' said Kris, who'd come up beside him. 'You never seen snow before?'

'It's… it's beautiful, Kris…' he managed, marvelling at the trail of vapour his breath left in the air, like wisps of smoke from the maw of a dragon. He reached a paw out to pat the substance Kris called snow, the white of his fur almost blending in with it. As his paw pads made contact with it, a shock of cold ran up his arm and he withdrew it at once with an affronted cry.

'C-c-cold…!' he uttered, wrapping his paw in his scarf and rubbing it to try and warm it back up.

Kris laughed, though the sound wasn't malicious. 'Yeah, snow's cold.' They looked down at Ralsei's feet. 'Uhh… you gonna be okay proceeding all barefoot like that…?'

The goat boy looked down and gave a sheepish little laugh. 'Do you know something, Kris, I never, um… thought I'd have to worry about it until now, haha. B-but I'm sure it will be fine!'

He put on his bravest face, wide smile and sparkling eyes, which immediately shrivelled away to nothing the instant his bare foot sank into the snow. Kris laughed again.

'Err… perhaps if we just… run as fast as we can through it?' he ventured. 'There might be somewhere we could purchase some boots, or perhaps the continuous motion would, um, warm us up enough that it doesn't matter…?'

'Or I could carry you across,' said Kris.

Ralsei's face turned crimson at once, mind racing with the thought of being suspended between the human's arms… Piggyback, fireman's lift… bridal carry…?!

'Uh, n-nothatwon'tbenecessary!' he spluttered, striding forward into the snow and now apparently immune to its chill. 'ComeonKrislet'sgoalready!'

They laughed a third time and followed him out into the snowscape. Winding him up was just too easy sometimes.

Luckily, Ralsei's guess that there was a village nearby was borne out. It was a quaint little place, just a small cluster of cutesy houses dusted with snow, like something off the front of a Christmas card. Its residents were friendly enough, as well, though Kris had to stop themself from staring too much at them – difficult to do when most of them resembled floating parkas without anybody wearing them, with a yawning darkness where a face should be. All sorts of decorative charms dangled from their hood, sleeves and tails, jangling pleasantly together as they moved. Indeed, those jangling noises appeared to be how they communicated, for they didn't respond with words when Kris flagged one down. Luckily, however, Ralsei was able to interpret, and got a pretty good idea of the situation.

Must be a darkner thing, they supposed.

'Seems this world's been locked in an eternal winter,' he explained to Kris. 'According to the Parkorpus I was speaking to—'

'Sorry, Par-what?' said Kris, making a face.

'Parkorpus. That's what these darkners are called,' explained Ralsei with his characteristic patience. 'Anyway, they say that a being of great power has taken residence on top of that mountain there,' he pointed out towards the lone peak off in the distance, a nebulous corona of icy energy swirling around it and down towards the plains far below, 'and that's what's causing this cold snap.'

'I mean, yeah, I could've told you that,' said the human offhandedly. 'Kinda obvious when you think about it.'

'Oh. Really?' asked the goat. 'I would never have guessed.'

Kris was about to roll their eyes, but then it quickly occurred to them that the fluffy boy was likely being entirely sincere. So they just nodded and left it at that.

One trip to the store later, the prince was decked out in woolly gloves and boots – pastel pink, to match his scarf. He'd also bought a spearmint green bobble hat, with flaps on either side to cover his long, floppy ears.

'H… how do I l-look, Kris…?' he asked hesitantly as he modelled them for his companion.

The human gave it some thought, and replied with a thumbs-up and a small smile. And it took everything in the little fluffy boy not to melt into a blushing little puddle at the affirmation.

They also browsed a small sweet shop, marvelling at the lovingly-crafted confections, mouth-watering aromas and unique twists on classic candy – peppermint monsters, chilli chocolate squares, cardamon and orange pastries, coffee and walnut meringues… they took one of everything, Ralsei stowing everything away neatly to keep Kris from scarfing everything all at once. The store owner seemed pleased, and jangled their approval as he paid for their treats.

So equipped, they set out into the snowy plains, following the path leading towards the great mountain. The road they followed was dotted with the occasional evergreen tree, a fir or a conifer or a pine, each one frosted with snow and ice and shimmering like diamond dust. The air was deliciously cool and crisp in their lungs, smelling faintly of pine leaves and sticky sap. Every now and then they would catch a small glow of colour in the air, as multicoloured fireflies flitted from tree to tree, tracing effervescent rainbows through the dark world sky. Kris got the feeling that Noelle would like it here, for some strange reason.

A fresh batch of snow was falling as they travelled, fragile flakes drifting gently to the ground and filling the air in a mesmerising dance. Every now and then Ralsei would reach out with one gloved hand, catching a flake in his palm and admiring its flawless symmetry, its cold, stark beauty like a flower hewn from clearest crystal. Out of the corner of their eye, Kris watched this childlike fascination with some amusement.

'Look here, Kris!' he exclaimed all of a sudden, thrusting his hand towards their face. There, a snowflake was gently melting into the fabric of his glove.

'…yeah?' they asked, unsure what exactly they were supposed to be looking for.

'It's completely different to all the other snowflakes, don't you see?' he explained. 'It's like each and every one was lovingly crafted to be completely unique, and then scattered down to the earth for us to enjoy. Isn't that a lovely thought, Kris…?'

'I suppose it is,' they replied quietly. Course, the prince could see wonder and joy in a mouldy pile of leaf-litter, so this didn't really mean all that much. But they had to admit, his boundless enthusiasm for the world and everything in it was… charming, in its way.

'So do you, um, get much snow?' he asked. 'I-in the light world, I mean.'

'Sometimes,' they replied. 'Azzy and I would make snow-monsters, and have snowball fights, and try to ice-skate on the lake. We'd go for hot chocolates too, down at QC's. She does the best hot chocolates, warm and rich… and we'd just watch the snow pile up outside while we were all warm and snug inside.'

'Sounds wonderful,' said Ralsei dreamily.

And yes, Kris had to agree it was. The first few winters with their brother, back when they were a complete family, were some of the best times of their life. Just thinking about it now almost brought it all back, and a warm smile crept onto their face at the memory. But there was a jolt of pain and sorrow there too, and they had to rub their eyes with their sleeve to stop the tears from budding there, hot against their chilly face.

'Yeah, it was… okay, I guess,' they said.

'So… how exactly did you make a snow-monster?' asked the prince, trying to picture it in his head. 'Was your brother able to animate it with magic, or…?'

Kris snorted rather inelegantly at the image. 'No, we don't have magic in the light world. We built one, sort-of clumping the snow together.'

'C-could you show me?'

'Sure,' they replied, kneeling down to gather up some snow and patting it together into a ball shape. The delicate crunch and crinkle it made as it was compacted, and the cool, fresh smell it gave off, reinforced their memory of those times, and for a second the tears threatened to come back again. But those were quickly forgotten as Kris realised they could have a little fun with this.

'Oh, I see!' said the prince. 'By gathering it up into a ball, it sort of sticks together, and then you can build things with it! Is that right?'

The human nodded, continuing to shape their mound of snow into a small, compact orb. Packing in more snow, nice and firm, with just enough give that it'd blast apart when thrown sufficiently hard…

'I wanna try, Kris!' said Ralsei, dropping to his knees and scooping up as much snow as his little arms could muster, patting it down and shaping it as best he could. 'Ooh, this is very satisfying, isn't it? It goes all crinkly and crunchy when you—'

WHUMP!

Kris drew their arm back, watching their carefully-crafted snowball slam straight into its target and explode into a fine powder, exactly as they'd meant for it to. Asriel might have had them beat in most other areas, but when it came to crafting snowballs, Kris stood in a league all their own.

Ralsei tottered and fell over, the force of the impact and the subsequent scattering of snow stunning him and making him cough and splutter in surprise.

'K… Kris…?!' he choked, scrabbling to his feet. 'Wh-what did you do that for…?'

They grinned at him, already preparing a second snowball. 'You never had a snowball fight before, Ralsei?'

'N…no, I… can't say that I have—'

WHUMP.

Another direct hit. Nice to know that Kris hadn't lost their touch at all. But when the dust cleared, they could see that the prince's scarf had reared up to defend its wearer, protecting him from much of the blast.

'Well, that's not fair,' they said, mere seconds before Ralsei threw his own snowball. And whether it was because he was using magic to guide it, or that he was just that good of a shot, the projectile spun and curved through the air to smack Kris straight across their left cheek, stinging them with its frosty chill and sending them sprawling.

The prince laughed. 'I think you'll find me an eager student, however!'

And then when Kris recovered, and they looked over to Ralsei in disbelief, they saw to their growing horror a… a swarm – there was no other word for it, a literal swarm -of floating snowballs rising up behind him, all created and levitated using his magic. And it was beginning to dawn on Kris that they may have made a terrible mistake.

Ralsei threw his hand forward, launching a salvo of snowballs towards the human. Their battle instincts taking control, Kris called their shield to hand and darted forward, weaving through the volley with a practiced speed and finesse. The prince flicked his other hand forward, and the rest of his snowballs homed in on their target, but his adversary was already out of their path, and they missed by mere inches, and now there were no more snowballs, and Kris was almost upon him.

Ralsei flicked his wrist upwards this time, and his scarf scythed through the snow in front of him, kicking up a blinding, glittering storm of powdery frost. Kris powered through with shield held aloft, protecting themself from the worst of the assault. But when they punched through the cloud, Ralsei was nowhere to be seen. They whipped around, eyes scanning the snowscape for traces of green and red, but it was as if he had completely vanished.

'Over here, Kris!'

There he was, arms raised up and lifting a massive snowball above his head. No way… when did have time to make that monstrosity?! Even with his magical abilities, he couldn't possibly have compacted that much snow in such a short space of time…

But there was no time to question the practicalities, because with a gleeful yell, the prince sent the massive orb screaming towards them. No time to dodge, they'd be clipped by the thing's sheer size. So instead, Kris's shield changed shape, becoming a silvery sword that radiated with a snowy white light. They planted their feet, grit their teeth, and swung downwards with all of their might, cleaving the snow-boulder in two as it flew past.

'Amazing, Kris!' Ralsei gushed, as yet more snow began to coalesce above his head. 'But there's plenty more where that came from, I'm afraid!'

The human grimaced. That last swing had taken a lot out of them, no way they could do it again. And there was no time to launch a counter snowball, either, the snow would take too long to properly compact. They glanced behind them, inspiration striking.

Unless they simply took advantage of Ralsei's hard work.

'Running away, are we?' said the prince, his grin spreading from ear to ear. 'I thought you enjoyed these snowball fights, Kris!'

They doubled back to one of the snow-boulder's broken halves, plunging their gauntleted hand into it and breaking off a nice hard clump of snow, testing its heft. Yes, this would do perfectly.

Kris spun on their heel, and in the same motion, they made their shot, sending the snowball spinning straight for Ralsei's beaming face. And by the time he realised what was going on, it was far too late to do anything about it.

WHUMP!

'Aaaagh!'

Ralsei stumbled, and with his concentration broken, the growing snowball above his head couldn't hold together, resulting in a massive snowdrift that flattened the prince and buried him completely.

Kris clicked their fingers in triumph… but when a few moments passed and they couldn't detect any movement, they quickly grew concerned, and then almost panicked, as they realised they may have seriously hurt their friend. Casting their weapon aside, they dashed forward, fell to their knees and began digging franticly at the snow with their fingers.

'Ralsei!' they called, searching for any trace of pink or green amid the blinding whiteness. 'Hey Ralsei, you okay? I'm gonna get you out of there, alright?'

They kept digging, cursing themself for their incessant need to prank when things got too uncomfortable, too real. And cursing themself for not seeing that he was just playing along to indulge them. Because he didn't… do this sort of stuff, did he? He didn't particularly enjoy the rough-and-tumble like Susie did, and he didn't have the real fortitude to put up with it for long like Azzy could… and they were foolish for thinking that, even for a single second…

They spied a shock of red sticking out of the snow, recognising the fibre of Ralsei's scarf. Kris grasped at the fabric, and was surprised when it coiled tightly around their arm in response. They yanked at it, summoning every last ounce of their strength to rescue their friend from under the heavy snowdrift. And against all expectations, the mound began to shift. The bobble of his green hat surfaced, shortly followed by the light blush of his small horns, the frame of his cola-bottle glasses, and his scrunched up face, eyes screwed shut and snout wrinkled in discomfort. A gloved hand freed itself, and Kris grabbed hold of that as well, and with one last tug, the rest of the prince was liberated from his chilly prison.

'Ralsei,' they said, putting a hand to his fluffy cheek – it was as cold as ice. 'Ralsei, are you hurt? C'mon, wake up… I'm sorry, I should've been more careful… I shouldn't've let us get carried away… please, just tell me you're okay…'

The little goat boy gave a feeble cough, and Kris gently lifted his head upright, rubbing his forehead and cheeks to try and warm him up again. One eye began to open, the vivid pink of his iris striking against his ivory-white fur, and they leaned in to examine it, their hair falling away and exposing their own ruby red eyes, locking onto each other instantly.

'That's it,' they smiled softly, a gratifying warmth washing through them. 'Look at me, alright? I'm here Ralsei, everything's gonna be okay now. You're gonna be okay…'

'K… Kris…?' the prince bleated softly. 'Is… is that…?'

A hand reached up and brushed the human's hair away, allowing Ralsei to gaze up dreamily into their striking eyes. Kris stared back, caught off-guard by the sudden intensity of the moment, how close they were, the gentleness of his touch and the shudder of his warm breath across their cool cheek.

This wasn't…

'You…' he whispered. 'They're… so beautiful… so sparkly… like shining rubies…'

This… wasn't supposed to happen.

'D… do you really…' they stammered, feeling the flare of blood rise to their face. '…really mean that…?'

This couldn't be happening. Not now. Not… not like this.

His smile widened, his face became flushed with happiness, and his eyes sparkled like gemstones.

'Kris… I… I…'

It felt like they might never draw breath again. The world outside fell away, and time seemed to slow to a crawl, as they watched the prince's lips begin to work, listened out for the words that they knew must be coming next, the words they never wanted to hear anyone ever say, and the words that they never wanted to hear more than in this crystalised, eternal instant.

They closed their eyes, almost on instinct…

And then…

…

WHUMPF.

Sudden, shocking cold hit them square in the face and they cried aloud, feeling coarse, wet snow being rubbed into their nose and mouth, clumping together in their hair and melting into the collar of their battle armour. Kris leapt to their feet, wiping away the meltwater with their shoulder cape as best they could, sneezing and blowing to try and get it out of their nostrils and off their lips.

'…Ralsei, what the hell…?'

They opened one eye to see him stare back at them, one eye closed and tongue sticking out in a mischievous manner. His right hand was absolutely caked in snow from where he must have hurled it at their face.

'Sorry, I just couldn't resist!' he giggled. 'I believe that makes us even now, huh Kris?'

They stared at him with something approaching admiration, alongside a healthy dose of utter shock. He hadn't been kidding about being an eager student, had he…?

'I… guess you're right,' they replied after it had all sunk in. 'So… you're okay then?'

Ralsei hauled himself to his feet, lifting up his hat and emptying it of the snow that had collected inside it. 'Well, I'm a bit chilly, but other than that, I feel great!'

'You… you sure?'

'Yep!' he gave them a sweet little smile. 'I had a lot of fun there, Kris! Thank you very much.'

'Uhh… you're welcome, I guess.'

And so once they had finished dusting themselves off, and split a peppermint monster between them to recover some of their energy, they set out again as if nothing had happened. And in the back of their mind, Kris played out that scene over and again, wondering if any of that had actually happened, or what it could have possibly meant.

They'd just been… looking out for a friend, right? They were concerned for his wellbeing. That's all it had been, right? But the soft pink of those glistening eyes would not leave their thoughts, and the promise they had held in that moment…

Where had that feeling come from…?

What would have happened, if he hadn't…?

Could everything really have changed, just like that…?

Author's Note:

Here's something completely different. By which I mean, something exactly the same as most everything else I've written. Except… not :P

So yeah, this story is unique among my other works for a couple reasons. The plan is to have three chapters of this, sort of like a mini-series to go alongside my various Ralsei-centric one-shots. And also, aside from "The Night Before The End of the World" , this is probably going to be my most overtly romantic story here. No massive character studies, no deconstructions on the nature of love and obsession – just a straight-shooting story featuring our two favourite little people having an adventure and falling in love with each other. Let's see how I can derail this one, shall we? XD

Now, you probably have a lot of questions. Questions like, "Where's Susie while all this is happening?" or "Where is this Dark World located in relation to the Light World?" and "How can you have a winter-themed dark world/story and not include Noelle freaking Holiday?" and also "How does the SOUL factor into this?"

The answers to these questions are… unsatisfactory. Or to put it another way, I've decided they don't matter, so I'm not addressing them lol. I just wanted to write a cute fluffy story with Fluffy Boy in it, and… yeah. But if you can think of good answers to any of the above, by all means let me know about them! Headcannons and fan-theories are always fun, part of the reason I got so involved with this community in the first place :D

So yeah, there it is. Part Two to follow… sometime in the future. Let me know how you folks find it so far, I'm always receptive to feedback and stuff :)