The familiar tactic filled Kris with certainty. To prevent any following damage done to the Dark World, the battle would commence with either trying to tire out the enemy and get Ralsei to use Pacify to spare it, or use different sorts of actions to comfort it. There was also the path of violence, where Kris commanded Susie to use Rude Buster, and where he and Ralsei would add ticking damage to help lower any remaining health. But, either way, the fight would be won.

Kris needed to think smart. Not smart like everyone else, where they can solve homework problems without issue. Clever smart. The kind of smart that came with the person, or that developed over the years from playing prank after prank to people around Hometown.

Supposedly, Kris being clever smart was the reason why he was the leader. Ralsei was intelligent, and Susie was strong. Kris was strategic and sly and clever. All of them were different, but being different helped the dynamics of the team. They all complimented each other.

First move. It was their turn. Kris thought about his action, inspecting the enemy from even this far. He tried to pick apart any intriguing detail that would benefit them.

Ralsei took a short glance at him that Kris caught. The Prince wasn't sure what to do either at the moment. None of them have encountered something like this before, and unlike the rest, they'd never witnessed this form of insanity tearing apart a Darkner. Yet, there was a solution. There always was a solution.

Kris watched Susie as she flexed her hands along the handle of her battle axe.

Then he knew what to do.

He chose an action and hoped that it wouldn't cost his friend's life. It seemed like the best one at that moment, and it all determined on how well it worked out in the not-so-distant future.

Kris stabbed his sword down into the ground, grimacing only for the slightest moment when the beautiful rocks died out their glowing. He arranged himself, breathing in and out for a few moments, gathering his thoughts as quickly as he could without wasting precious time. Doing acts was something a little risky, and he learned that from experience. Every fight required a different action, and every fight one would work better than the other.

Dragging a foot forward, he pointed a finger at the Darkner, forcing his soul to force the intention to act.

"What happens to robots after they go defunct?"

Everyone looked at him.

"They rust in peace!"

Kris wasn't sure that worked. Even Susie grimaced. "Uhh... That was horrible," she said.

Key to Kris's intent, Ralsei began casting a spell, gathering up the magic surrounding them. "Try to tell them more jokes! I need some time for this."

"Ugh, alright." After a quick glare at Kris, Susie slugged her axe over one of her shoulders. "Uhhh... What did the robot say to the other?"

The transformed Darkner didn't say anything. Just flashed.

"I'm a... Robot..." Kris himself grimaced this time. Susie snapped her head to his direction. "You are going to pay for making me say that later!"

Kris smiled, angling himself as the enemy started to charge up an attack. He pulled his feet back and tore his sword up from the ground, flashing it at the Darkner. The entire area turned into shadows, the only ones visible being the team and their attacker. Kris's soul glowed a gentle red above his chest, paired with Susie and Ralsei.

Small flashes of lightning appeared in the distance, crashing closer and closer. One large ray broke into smaller ones, heading straight towards them all. Kris spun around to dodge one, and reflected one back with the blade of his sword. Susie tore through the ground as she forced her axe to spin like a pinwheel, defending Ralsei as he collected more and more energy to cast that spell. Each and every strike was another coordinated dance, and quickly Kris was starting to understand the pattern. Patterns like in a puzzle, like in a video game.

"Bullet pattern, watch out!" Ralsei warned, eyes clenched closed as he focused.

Sure enough, a bullet pattern was next, just as the prince predicted. Kris ducked underneath a few of them, using his sword as a continuous shield and slicing through some of the bullets. The bullets vanished into small magical dust particles, glittering and floating around his feet.

"How does a monster die?"

Asriel scratched behind his ear, his horns only a year or two from growing in. He looked visibly uncomfortable with the upbringing of that question. "Uhm... Uhh..."

Kris grabbed his arm and pulled. He pulled gently. Then again. He wanted to know. "How do they die if they don't bleed?" Kris pleaded.

"You know how monsters have different souls than humans?"

Kris nodded. He was eager to understand this small difference from these two different species. He knew that humans had a soul that was right-side up and colored, and that monsters' souls were upside-down and white. White like Asriel's fur. But that was the only thing he knew at this age.

Asriel, three years older than him and almost about to start his last year of elementary school, already knew so much more about these things than Kris. It pained him, but he knew that the reason why nobody told him these things yet was because it would make him understand completely just how different humans and monsters were. It would make Kris understand that he was an oddity in their own little monster village. But at this time, he didn't care.

"You also know how monsters are made of pure magic?"

"Yeah, I know that!"

"Well, it has to do with that." Asriel gripped Kris's hand as they walked down the trail to the sandy shore. The ocean felt good against Kris's skin, nice and cold against the summer sun.

"Do they turn into magic?" Kris asked.

Asriel stayed silent. Kris looked up at him.

Asriel opened his mouth, then closed it. His green eyes looked over in the distance, where the sun was just starting to touch the ocean's watery surface into sunset. They went here sometimes when their parents were too busy with helping people around the town. The way the sun touched the water at sunset- it was their own little secret.

"I don't know if I'm supposed to tell you this yet, and it's maybe not what you thought it would be..."

Kris watched intensely.

"A-and it's sort of sad, now thinking about it-"

Kris frowned and pulled on his brother's arm again. "Just tell me!"

"Fine!" Asriel yanked his arm away, annoyed. "But don't go running to Mom or Dad if you get upset over it!"

Then they stood there for a while, watching the gentle shifting of the waves washing up onto the sand. The water came close to their feet before going back into the deep. Little crabs scurried around them, scared of the giants.

Asriel didn't look at Kris. "They dust. Kinda... Kinda like vanishing. When they die, they just kinda dissolve into white dust and flow away with the wind."

Kris looked down at the sand. He could be standing on a dead monster without even knowing. The thought didn't frighten him, but more of made him even more curious.

"Then what do they bury in the graveyard?" he asked.

Asriel seemed surprised by the question. "Huh?"

"What do they bury in the graveyard?" Kris repeated. "If there's no body, then what do they bury?"

"Probably a casket full of the monster's favorite items or the clothes they died in or something like that."

"Oh."

"Yeah, not very pretty."

Kris lifted his head up and, as expected, saw the beautiful colors of the sun reflecting against the ocean. He pointed over to it, smiling. "But that is."

He watched as his brother smiled, eyes turning warm and soft. "Yeah, it is."

"More lightning!"

Kris immediately pulled away from the memory. He heeded Ralsei's warning and turned his sword in the shield in the act to defend. The lightning bounced right off, sending a shiver across Kris's skin as the brief contact came and went. Back to a sword, he thought for a moment before making another decision.

"Susie."

The purple monster turned her head to Kris at the sound of her name.

Kris gestured to the barely visible cliff with the point of his blade. "'Round the Darkner around there and try to avoid as many attacks as you can."

Susie looked shocked. "What?"

"Guide the Darkner way from the perimeter of the castle to keep the others safe," Kris explained, trying to make it quick and simple. He deflected more bullets as the Darkner was working up another attack pattern. A new one. One that Kris knew could hurt pretty badly if anybody got hit by it. Especially Ralsei.

"Wh-Hey! Like hell if I'm going to leave you two here to fight for yourselves!"

"Herd it."

"NO! Didn't you hear what I said-"

"Just do it!"

Against her own wanting, Susie groaned and complied. She forced her axe to vanish with a flick of her arm and put her hands against her snout. "HEY YOU DAMNED DIPSHIT-"

The infected Darkner turned to her, rage flickering in its eyes. It made an enraged sound, pulling its arms out of the earth and swinging them towards her. Susie dodged just in time, almost getting hurt, but recovered just instantly after and ran from it, pushing its boundaries and causing it to follow her. It would probably kill her if it caught up, given that Susie's current healing abilities weren't as strong as Ralsei's.

Kris hoped she would forgive him.

Kris turned to Ralsei. Golden swirls of magic flowed around his fur, the tail of his red scarf blowing in the air. The concentration was evident on the prince's face, and the casting of a new spell that Ralsei didn't know was tricky. Kris cycled through his mind as the magic cackled in the air, and his soul felt like fire within his chest as the power from the fountain made way into the heart of the Prince of the Dark. This was something they've talked about before anyways, and Ralsei had been studying it for a while when he was left alone after Kris and Susie had traveled back to their own world.

The world seemed to slow. Time seemed to freeze and even the air lowered down and the gems in the ground stopped flickering as they did. The flames that could be seen lighting the town by the castle's mouth stopped their flickering, but didn't die. Just stopped. It was like someone had pressed a pause button on a game, going away for a moment until they came back to continue.

Ralsei furrowed his brow, hands clasping together as he worked on the spell. The sounds stopped flooding into Kris's ears. The only thing he could hear was the magic crackling along Ralsei's fur, turning him from white, to black, and then to gold.

Slowly, the prince pulled his hands apart, and the magic stopped flowing. Each of the strains vanished in the sky, sparkling like stars against the black sky.

A firework blew up in the sky, and Kris had trouble trying to pull his eyes away from it. The bowl sat in his lap, empty although the inside was loosely layered with melted chocolate ice cream. While his legs felt cold and frozen with the limited movement from the past hours, he felt warm inside his chest. Warm and happy. Secretly, he wished he could save this moment forever and that he could relive it as many times as he wished. The comfortable weather, the bursts of color, the sweet treat, and his family, all crowded with him together on the roof of the Holiday estate. Even Noelle and Dess were there too, wearing ear mufflers because of their more acute hearing.

He moved his legs slightly and the tingling pain of the nerves being asleep shot up his limbs. It was painful, and he winced softly, but it was worth it as he was able to, if not slowly, transition into a more comfortable position.

"More ice cream anybody?" called Rudy's voice from the other side of the roof. He frequently went up and down to help with the fireworks and to get delicious delicacies from the house. Kris heard his footsteps as he walked along the roof, asking each person individually. And finally, as if perfectly calculated, "Kris?"

Kris couldn't turn his head.

"Kris?"

He couldn't look away. His eyes were glued to the shining whites and yellows and greens and purples and blues.

"Kris?"

The sound of Rudy's voice blurred in his ears as another firework erupted in the sky. Noelle was sitting next to him, and in an instant motion, tapped Kris on the shoulder. He turned to her, and then responded to her simple next gesture, to her father.

Rudy smiled at him, patient as always. "Kris, do you want more ice cream?"

Kris looked at the mostly empty bowl placed squarely in his lap. He thought for a second, looking intently down at it, then shook his head. Kris held it in his hands as Rudy took it gently and headed back down into the house to wash it. He would join them back up on the roof shortly after.

Noelle turned to look at Kris, little deer ears secured underneath that muffler. Despite it, she could still hear so much better than him. "I thought you would want more than that since you love chocolate so much!"

Her voice was soft as it was high. When they got older, it got lower, but not by much. It was true to her personality as someone who was as sweet and heartwarming as the celebration her family was named after. Also, she somehow always smelled like cinnamon and gingerbread. Kris wasn't sure of how, but he liked that about her.

Kris swung his legs in front of him. "My Mom's going to offer pie when we get home. She normally wants us to be comfortable after we go to bed."

"But not too comfortable, right?"

Kris nodded. "She still wants us to get up in the morning."

Noelle sighed. "I'm almost a little sad that school's already about to start. I mean... I do like school, and Ms. Alphys is a fantastic teacher, but there's this nice freedom that we have when we don't have school. You agree, right?"

Kris nodded again.

"At the same time," Noelle continued, "I'm excited to know what we're going to learn! Maybe we'll finally touch the war this time!"

"The war?" Kris asked, attention caught.

"The war. You know..."

"No."

"Oh. Uhm... Well, maybe we'll learn about it, and then you'll know!"

Kris wasn't sure he wanted to know, given how Noelle didn't specify what this specific 'war' was. When she was passionate about something, she talked and talked and talked about it until she ran out of breath or words. There was this feeling Kris got when she didn't talk more about it despite mentioning it. It was almost like this was a forbidden topic.

Almost like a 'Promise forever' secret.