Chapter 16

The Dark Angel

The way was blocked by a horde of desperate Darkners. The moment they had heard and felt the Krankpus' agonized screams, they had all come charging up the lanes. The heroes were battling to save them all and rescue Christmas! They couldn't let them be alone in this hour of need! They had been selfish for not helping out more. Even if the Krankpus could demolish any of them with a simple swipe of his claws, they could not stand back and be cowards.

There was nothing Christmassy about that!

It was to their absolute shock and happy wonder to find Kris, Susie, and Ralsei walking down the road. Beaten up and tired, but still alive and remarkably happy. Though their expressions quickly mirrored the same confusion and awe that the Darkners felt in that moment. The masses surged forward, enveloping the heroes in hugs and cries of relief.

"You made it! Your survived!"

"Wait! Where's the Krankpus?"

"Man, the weather has been awful! You three are soaked and frozen to the bone!"

"It'd be nice to get a beanie," Susie said before sneezing.

"Hi! I've got plenty of gear for you guys!" a squirrel squeaked. " 30% off for defeating the Krankpus!"

"And where's the evidence for that?" one Darkner demanded.

"Don't be a killjoy!"

"Yeah! Didn't you feel the oppressive atmosphere suddenly leave? It was like weight lifting right off our shoulders!"

"Get these heroes some hot chocolate!"

"Actually, could we get some hot apple cider, please?" Ralsei asked.

Then heroes were swarmed and pampered. They were toweled down, dressed in fresh jackets, hats, and scarves. Mugs of hot cider were pushed into their hands as people cheered for them. It was not the exact shopping trip Kris had in mind, but they took the opportunity to purchase more materials from the squirrels to make up for what they had to use against the Krankpus.

But if that was the second to last boss, what was the Angel going to be like?

Well, it wasn't like they hadn't fought god-like beings before.

There was a sudden flash of lightning followed by an instant crack and boom of thunder. The sky grew dark once again and the storm picked up. Susie grumbled, "Ah hell, here we go again! And right after I got dried and warm!"

Forks of lightning cleaved the sky. The wind picked up and icicles began growing along the tree's branches. A counter magic spell washed over everyone, breaking Jolly's spell on the roads. Snow immediately began accumulating all along the road. Kris and Susie both felt that the blessing granted to them by young Asriel had passed. They had used up their gifted magic when fighting the Krankpus. Ralsei's sword, on the other hand, flared with brilliant, white flames.

"It's like the sword is reacting to that magic," Ralsei observed.

"That spell came from the Angel," Jolly said with horrified awe.

"Yeah, the Fallen Angel," Susie muttered.

Kris signaled that it was time to move forward. Tne three friends began climbing the final stretch of road. The rest of the Darkners followed, huddling together against the storm. Susie wondered why they were even coming. The Lantern Road twisted around to the very peak of the tree. There, the Angel sat on the top-most branch, looking down at them.

A peculiar glow obscured the Angel's features. Folded wings hugged its glittered body, clothed in flowing, off-white robes. Shining, fuzzy hands grasped two candles giving off their own ethereal light which illuminated the surroundings. The magical light fed the lights and glowing ornaments decorating the great tree.

This is what fed and powered the Angel's Tree. It also felt incredibly wrong. Kris could not shake off the creepy feeling emanating from the Angel. The Fallen Angel as Susie had pointed out.

"AH, LIGHTNERS AND DARKNERS! MERRY CHRISTMAS!" the Angel said heartily. Its voice sounded more masculine than anything, but there was a thunderous undertone interwoven with a women's chorus, accentuating every word.

"CONGRATULATIONS KRIS, SUSIE, AND RALSEI, PRINCE OF THE DARK! YOU HAVE DONE WELL TO CLIMB UP MY TREE AND OVERCOME EVERY OBSTACLE. WITH EACH TRIUMPH, YOU HAVE FACED AN ASPECT OF CHRISTMAS THAT IS A STUMBLING BLOCK TO MANY! TOO MANY PEOPLE THESE DAYS NO LONGER HAVE THE SEASON'S SPIRIT BURNING WITHIN THEIR HEARTS. BUT YOU HAVE KINDLED IT WITH YOUR DEEDS. IT SHINES AS BRIGHT AS YOUR DETERMINATION!"

The power of overcoming Christmas shined bright within Kris. Ralsei's sword continued to grow in brilliance. He held it gingerly before him, as if worried that it was going to start burning him.

"Don't worry, Ralsei. We're going to bring an end to this guy," Susie said quietly.

"NOW, LET US CELEBRATE YOUR VICTORY AND THE GLORIES OF THE SEASON BY EXCHANGING GIFTS," the Angel declared. "YOU WILL GIVE ME A GIFT, AND I WILL GRANT EACH OF YOU THE THING YOU MOST DESIRE. AND THAT DOES NOT INCLUDE BEING ABLE TO GO HOME AND ENJOY CHRISTMAS WITH YOUR LOVED ONES."

"It's a trap," Susie muttered.

Ralsei paled and gasped, "I think they're after the book that Mr. Boom wrote! Oh no… If that's true…"

"Then this whole mission has been one great setup," Susie said, disgusted. "The Fallen Angel wanted us to go through all the effort to get the book and make sure it was restored so that they would their hands on it. Gerson would have made sure that the Fallen Angel couldn't get it. And the other bosses and Darkners were supposed to stop them. Ah hell…"

Kris nodded grimly. The heroes had done the villain's work.

The Angel had stopped speaking while they conferred in whispers, but it was clear that they had overheard everything, because they continued tersely, "IF YOU HAND OVER THE KEY THAT GERSON BOOM GAVE YOU, I WILL ENSURE THAT YOU THREE RECEIVE ALL THE GIFTS YOU COULD EVER WANT! THAT IS THE POWER THAT IS AT MY FINGERTIPS! BUT CHRISTMAS IS A TIME FOR GIVING, AND YOU CANNOT GET UNTIL YOU HAVE GIVEN."

"Screw that!" Susie shouted up at the Angel. "We're onto you now! We're not handing over the key!"

"THEN IT WILL BE A DISMAL HOLIDAY FOR ALL OF YOU, AND EVERYONE YOU LOVE," the Angel said in a cold, booming voice.

"Oh yeah? Well, come and get it if you can," Susie challenged, readying her axe. "Everyone here sees you for who you are. You have lost! We're going to kick your ass up and down this tree and seal your Dark Fountain!"

"I'D LOVE TO SEE YOU TRY!"

Its great wings extended to the sky and with a mighty flap, the Angel took off. Laser beams emitted from the candles and fell on the heroes. Kris, Susie, and Ralsei all jumped to dodge. The laser beams cut through the branches and blasted them off the rest of the Angel's Tree. The pine needles caught fire and even began melting all the snow and ice. The Darkners cried out in agony and surged to put out the fires.

"Don't worry! We'll take care of the fires!"

"Focus on the Angel!"

"Kick his holy ass!"

"Gah! What is this kind of power!"

"Go!" Jolly ordered. "We'll cover things here and help you out as we can!"

The turtledove ornaments flapped together and swarmed the heroes, picking them up by their shoulders and granting them the gift of flight.

"Woah! This is incredible!" Ralsei gushed.

Susie looked a little green. "Urg… I'm not sure about this!"

Too late. Kris pointed the way, and off the heroes flew.

The Angel waved their hand and the growing icicles swiveled to follow Kris and the others' flight. They rocketed after them like homing missiles. The turtledoves angled to let the heroes fend off the projectiles. Kris swung their sword, shattering the icicles, but still taking some damage. The same happened for Ralsei and Susie.

"This guy has some crazy moves," Susie was forced to acknowledge.

"Watch out! He's far from done," Ralsei warned.

The Angel clapped his candles together and formed a barrier of light around itself. Ralsei's eyes flashed, and he said, "Kris, I need an opening! I feel like only my sword will be able to break through that false light."

Susie still slashed against the barrier and received a blast of energy that shot her and her turtledoves back.

"Ouch… Okay, I understand. Kris!"

Kris was already streaking to attack as well. The Angel followed their movements. They weaved around the boss, trying to dizzy them. The Angel turned their attention back to Ralsei and shot off more laser beams. Kris dove and caught one blast with their shield, taking half damage, which nearly killed them.

The distraction was enough and Ralsei got through. Susie sped up to Kris and made sure they ate some chocolate to recover HP. With a flash of lightning and deafening roar of thunder, the barrier was slashed open. The Angel in all their fuzziness was exposed. Fire was ready to leap out of their hands when suddenly-

SPLUT! SPLUT! SPLUT! SPLUT! SPLUT! SPLUT!

Six geese laying eggs fired them like cannonballs into the Angel's face. The egg cooked quickly with their flames alight. In frustration, the Angel tore at their face, and the false light was torn away as well. A great pigman monster was exposed, tusks and all.

"YOU WILL PAY FOR THIS INSOLENCE!" he screamed in rage.

"Fallen Angel? More like stuck pig!" Susie taunted, hurling Kris before her. They scored an easy slash across the pigman, and Susie followed through by smashing him in the face with her axe's head. The boss's head was spinning and ringing.

He shook himself back to lucidity and raised his candles. With an inaudible chant, he caused stars to fall through the storm clouds and crash upon the heroes and gathered Darkners. He danced around in the sky as well, firing more laser beams, cutting deep into the tree and igniting more fires. Meanwhile, Kris, Susie, and Ralsei did their best to dance and fly out of the way. They were still getting used to their turtledoves and were taking a fair amount of damage from the cascading stars.

"My birds aren't looking too good," Susie said, worried.

The citizens of the Angel's Tree were beside themselves with fright and urgency. They needed to put out the flames and make sure that their branches were not weakened so much that they all fell to the distant earth below.

"Kris! We need to make sure that this guy stops destroying that tree!" Susie shouted. "We can't let him ruin Christmas!"

"OH, NOW YOU BELIEVE IN THAT NONSENSE! YOU DENSE DRAGON! I'LL DECK YOUR HALLS TO DOOMSDAY AND RUIN YOUR PATHETIC, NAÏVE-!"

Ralsei cut him off, charging again. The pigman barked and beat his wings, flying upwards and out of the way. With each flap of their great wings, they sent down bladed feathers to slash up Ralsei. The Dark Prince took much damage and fainted. Kris ordered Susie to unleash a Rude Buster to cover them. They zipped over to Ralsei and inserted a revive mint to bring him back as an arc of destructive energy smashed into the false Angel.

The pigman clapped his candles together again and reformed his protective barrier. More icicles began firing from the tree's boughs, attempting to impale the heroes.

"This isn't good," Susie hissed. "We need a plan, Kris!"

Unfortunately, all of this action was too much to come up with a solid plan. The false light was also messing up with Kris' ability to read and study the situation. There was no good way to ACT, only to fight. Not to mention how disorienting it was to fly around with these turtledoves.

Thankfully, they were not alone. The rat conductor whipped together his orchestra, which was joined by twelve drummers and eleven pipers. The music invigorated the heroes and their birds, causing them to fly faster and strike harder. Speeding past in imperceptible blurs, the pigman did not catch Ralsei slicing once more through his barrier. Susie and Kris struck from behind, carving deeply into the false angel wings.

"AAAARRRRRRGGGGG! YOU TWO WILL PAY FOR THAT!"

The geese once again tried launching their eggs, but he was too high for them to hit. He conjured a burning aurora which wiped out the turtledoves. Kris, Susie, and Ralsei had to descend. Once more stars fell from the heavens, pursuing them. He rained down even more laser beams, devastating the Angel's Tree. A real conflagration was underway. The music stopped and nearly everyone was busy trying to save the tree and their home.

But not all hope was lost. Six swans swimming through the darkness picked up the heroes and gracefully sailed them back into the battle. Jolly also threw to them two candle decorations, shouting, "Use these to take away his weapons!"

"Got it!" Susie said, saluting with her axe.

The pigman reformed his barrier for the third time, pouring the aurora down on the ascending heroes. Thankfully, the swans were the right choice. They swam through the waves of light as if they were gentle ripples in a pond. Magma flowed next from the pigman's protective orb, falling right for them.

"Let me cut the way through for you!" Susie said, hacking with her axe. She chopped so ferociously that she broke the magma's trajectory, knocking it far away from the Angel's Tree. Her swan carried her and guided the others right up to the Angel.

"DAMMIT! HOW WAS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE!"

"Never underestimate sheet determination, stupidity, and these buff arms!" Susie cried, flexing. "Get him, Ralsei!"

"On it, Susie!"

The Dark Prince once again broke the barrier with his incredible sword. Susie and Kris unleashed empowered attacks, using up the teams accumulated TP. The pigman became disoriented, but it got even worse. The other swans swarmed him and tore at his wings, defeathering him. Horrid honks and squawks made his ears bleed. The False Angel was finally forced back down to the tree.

Kris and Susie took the opportunity to touch the candle ornaments to pigman's stolen candles. They siphoned off more of the false light. They ignited and the pigman's fuzzy aura significantly weakened, though he still shone brightly.

He glanced down at his extinguished candles, shocked. All three heroes took the opportunity to get in pot shots. While Kris and Susie managed to batter him a little, Ralsei's bright sword did real damage, searing away some of his robes.

"ARG! CURSE ASRIEL FOR GIVING YOU THAT WEAPON," the pigman grunted.

Susie smirked at Kris and said, "You know what? I don't think this guy is used to fighting! He tried to get us to do all the dirty work, but without his big moves, he actually super weak!"

"WEAK? I'LL SHOW YOU WEAK!"

Lightning sprang from the storm clouds and struck his doused candles, transforming them into electrical swords. He crossed his new blades and snarled in her direction. She just smiled back at his smugly. He was confused as to why, but then his feet touched the tree. He was grounded. The swans honked happily, their job done.

Kris signaled to Susie and Ralsei and they recommenced their assault. True to Susie's observation, the pigman had no real idea about how to fight. His weapons were fearsome, but he was too clumsy to land a clean blow on any of them. Kris and Susie whacked and distracted him, guarding Ralsei as the Dark Prince continued carving up the False Angel with his burning sword.

Finally, the fuzzy aura of false light broke and the pigman shrank in size. His swords went poof and disappeared. And with that, his immense power holding back the Dark Fountain shattered, and it sprang from the top of the Angel's Tree once more.

"Noooo! This wasn't how things were supposed to go!" the pigman oinked in distress.

"Dang, your voice is way weaker and high-pitched than I anticipated," Susie said. "But I guess this means that you're beaten."

"You wish," the pigman snorted.

Jolly appeared behind them all, helping Asriel's ornament to crown the Angel's Tree. He transformed into a black star and became the source of the Fountain. While Susie and Kris oohed and awed, Ralsei ran past them and the boss, and plunged the burning sword into the star. It transformed from black to brilliant white, banishing the darkness that the invader had brought to corrupt this Dark World. The light washed over the entire tree and restored it, healing all the damage that the boss had done.

"Squeeee! No! Why? Why? Why!? This can't be happening!"

"Look dude, I don't know who you are, but this is getting super repetitive," Susie yawned. "You're beaten, and we're dragging your ass back to the Light World!"

"No," the pigman grunted, eying Kris hungrily. "We're just getting started!"

He lunged for Kris.

Kris simply sidestepped the attack. Susie swung her axe into the pigman's butt and propelled him into open space. With a final squeal, he went careening over the side of the Angel's Tree and fell into the storm, vanishing.

The three friends shared a look as the Susie, "Wow… That was way more anticlimactic than I was expecting. Should we go down and check for his body?"

Kris shook their head. No, it was time to end this adventure. It had been a crazy Christmas so far, and it was time to calm down and return home.

"I agree, Kris. Seal the Fountain and bring peace to this world!" Ralsei said. "Then we can figure out what is going on here and how we can prevent this guy and any others from getting their hands on Gerson Boom's book."

Susie looked back at everyone else and shouted, "Thank you for everyone's help! And Merry Christmas!"

Many cries of Merry Christmas greeted her words. Kris thanks everyone for their help and went among them, shaking hands and personally acknowledging some of the people who had helped them. It was a little shocking that the restoring light from the star had not healed the people from Darkville, but they all looked happy. Everyone was back on the Angel's Tree and grateful to have their place.

Christmas was saved!

Smiling, Susie took Kris' hand and led them up to the Dark Fountain. Reaching out with their soul and will, Kris began closing the Fountain and with a blast of light, they were transported back home.

The chill of the outside was the first thing they felt, followed by the tight hug that Kris and Susie were in. The next thing they noticed was how dark it was. Then they heard Toriel snoring in her chair. They were back home in the Dreemurr house. The lights were all out, but distant lights from the streetlamps did gleam through the falling snow and living room window to faintly reflect off the Christmas tree ornaments.

Once their eyes adjusted to the lack of light, the teens looked at each other. Kris smirked, realizing where they were. Under the mistletoe hung over the door. They stood on tiptoes and kissed Susie on the lips.

"Merry Christmas, Susie."

She beamed back at him and kissed them back. "Merry Christmas, Kris."