Chapter 1

Omens Past, Present, and Future

Susie belched a torrent of flames across the battlefield, kissing Kris. Though they became extra crispy at the cost of half their HP, Kris became filled with the power of love. Heaving their blade in a tremendous upwards swing, Kris cleaved through a bulbous monster bursting from a moving trunk of rotting wood. The creature was sliced cleanly in two, its severed halves bursting into flames thanks to Susie's residual kiss and love.

"Hell yeah! I love this new power!" Susie roared.

"I am so happy that you two are more open with your relationship and that you have incredible boosting powers, Susie, but it uses up so much of our TP," Ralsei pointed out. He danced out of the way just in time before a fleshy, clawed fist smashed into him.

Kris smiled at Susie and flashed her a thumbs up.

The Fun Gang found themselves once again in the middle of a tremendous battle in the hopes of removing the curse that infested the woods surrounding Hometown. These monstrosities were unlike anything they had confronted in any Dark World, not even the weird ones that had plagued them during the winter and summer. For one thing, the new Dark Worlds were far smaller than any of the normal, intricate expanses they had journeyed through. What's more these new Dark Worlds were nothing more than massive brawling pits. An apt description, because this place was an actual pit, or jagged open mine to be exact.

Kris and Susie had gone to the site right after school, but the forest was so thick that it had taken a long hike to reach the spot where they could slip into another Dark World. The Dark Fountain was right at the bottom of the multi-tiered pit and surrounded by hordes of blubbery, pustule-ridden, bloated monsters wearing rotten trees for armor. Glowing, purple eyes leered out of the darkness within all those hollowed trunks and trees.

"Watch out, Kris! These nasty guys are no joke!" Susie warned, shearing away another claw as it struck out for her.

Kris hefted their sword in response and got back to hacking and slashing away. This was another aspect of these new, bizarre Dark Worlds; there was no way any of them could ACT. Granted, they could do whatever they wanted in these spaces, but ACTing brought with it a kind of power and means to reshape the different Dark Worlds and their respective Darkners. It was also a means by which the Fun Gang could learn more of their enemies.

But here, as with the other new places, there was none of that. Even a battle hungry fiend like Susie found the lack of ACTing highly discomforting.

"There's a couple more of them coming down the slope!" Ralsei warned, using his scarf as a whip to shatter one lumbering trunk. The white, ugly monster was exposed and roaring in the prince's face.

Kris sprang off the ruptured chest of a nearby foe and sped through the air to slice through the beast's eyes. Green puss and blood spilled out. Ralsei danced away and avoided the obvious poison. Though, it had not been so obvious to Susie. She had licked some of it earlier on a self-appointed dare. Luckily, Kris had some healing chocolate in their inventory.

"Nice one, Kris! Watch this!" Susie yelled, hauling one of the monsters over her head one-handed. With a grunt, she threw it at the beasts rushing down the pit's side that Ralsei had pointed out. They collided in a massive dust cloud and geyser of green goop.

With a snap and a point of their finger, kris signaled for everyone to advance on the Dark Fountain. The roiling, splintering pillar of watery darkness came from a pit in the ground. It flowed up into the cloudy sky, giving a paltry life to this strange pocket dimension. As the friends advanced, more monsters up at the top of the open mine picked up heavy boulders and lobbed them at the heroes.

"Watch out!" Ralsei shouted.

Susie spun around and slammed her axe into a boulder speeding right for her head. Easily, she swung and knocked it right back the enemy. The heavy stone smashed through one beast's head, causing it to explode. Awful ichor began melting away the wood worn by the other monsters nearby.

Kris was not capable of any such feats. Forced to dance and dodge around, they made their way to the Dark Fountain. Kris reached out with their soul to resonate with the geyser of reality altering power. And just like with the others, it felt like Kris was dipping their entire being into a pool of absolute filth.

There was so much wrong with these Dark Worlds. Their very existence felt forced, unnatural. Even Ralsei saw them as an affront to everything he knew and understood about the balance between the Dark and Light worlds. But thankfully, even with the foul presence coursing through Kris' being, they were able to still shut the fountain off through the power of their soul and determination.

In a flash, Kris and Susie were back in the woods. Ralsei was gone, likely flying back to his own kingdom or however he managed to jump around from Dark World to Dark World. It was night and the dense canopy of branches overhead cut off most of the moon and starlight. Luckily, they had come prepared this time. Kris unslung their backpack and retrieved two flashlights.

"Thanks," Susie said, taking her own flashlight from them. "Ever since that storm, these woods have begun giving me the creeps. It feels like someone is watching me. Are we in a horror movie?"

Kris suggested that the best way to find out was to strip down and start having some sexy fun. Susie pulled them close and purred, "Watch out with those suggestions. You might not be ready."

They assured her that they were always ready and kissed her on the snout.

"Horny teen," Susie said with a smirk, shoving Kris to the ground. She turned around and laid her flashlight's beam on the ground. "There it is, just like the others."

Illuminated in the gloom was a peculiar sigil, carved and burned deep into the ground. It was made of a swirl with a strange star symbol and what appeared to be two distinct runes. The core center of swirl and star remained the same between all the sigils they had found so far, but the runes changed from location to location. And they all still smoked as if they had just been recently made.

More than a week ago, in a freaky storm, twelve forks of lightning slammed into the forest surrounding Hometown. Ever since then, strange shadows by day and horrifying nightmares by night plagued the citizens of Hometown. Most people were doing their best to ignore the obvious, but the teens all knew that something was up.

Since the bizarre storm, Alphy's students had taken turns going out in the forest to find each place where the lightning had hit. It had not been hard to miss when it happened. The entire sky lit up as bright as noon day, with fiery tongues of fire erupting from where the twelve bolts of lightning struck. The police had tried to go out and investigate, but then all the weirdness started happening around town. It was up to the teens to take these matters into their own hands.

Berdly and Jockington had almost gotten themselves lost and consumed in the second pseudo–Dark World when they entered into a cave full of monster-eating spiders. They weren't sure if they were man-eating as well, because Susie made quick work of the place when she came with Kris and Ralsei to conduct a rescue operation.

As a result, the Fun Gang had brought Catti, Noelle, and Monster Kid along for the third twisted pocket dimension, where they battled malformed beings graffitied onto the trees. Warped beings popped out of their 2D constraints and became eldritch abominations in a flash to try and snatch them up. The experience had been so grueling and traumatizing, the kids all needed a break after that raid.

And that was partly why Kris and Susie had come alone.

Susie kicked at it, trying to cover up the sigil, "They. Just. Don't! Disappear!" She snarled and kicked at it even hard, but to no avail. The dirt appeared to burn or blow away before the cursed mark entirely disappeared.

"I think this might have something to do with The Dude," Kris said softly, watching Susie.

"That guy's been absent for months! You really think that beach bod-obsessed guy is coming around now when it's too cold to walk around without a shirt? Well, maybe he likes it. Though I can't say what that would do to his nipples," she snickered.

"Rip them off," Kris muttered, thinking it would be so gratifying to get back at that human, not just for the ridiculousness at the beach but also for distracting their girlfriend.

Kris and Susie had been dealing with the strangest adventures since saving the world from Angels Heaven. As far as they had understood, by saving both Light and Dark worlds, that should have brought balance between the different realities and calmed down the adventures. However, someone had tried to break into the Dreemurr house before Christmas, prompting the Fun Gang to march up a dangerous Christmas Tree and face off against a false angel.

Then just that same summer, Kris and Susie faced off against another strange, sudden Dark World when The Dude had trapped them and all their friends in a crazy, seaside adventure. Strange stories from the past, creatures intent on dying, and The Dude fleeing and escaping for some unknown reason had left everyone confused and shaken.

Now they had to deal with this.

Susie surprised Kris by scooping them up and kissing them. Breaking off the sudden smooch, she said, "You're way cuter when you're not jealous." Kris blushed and nodded in agreement. Flushed as well, Susie grinned fiercely. "Now, let's check that horror movie theory!"

She pitched forward into a low pile of leaves, flattening Kris. Soon, clothes were fluttering on the breeze with the leaves as Susie tested her theory.

Kris was very happy that no monster or axe-wielding maniac killed them while they were half naked.

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"Let me guess… The mark didn't… Vanish?" Catti asked, tapping away on her phone. Kris nodded fervently. "Did you… Take a picture… At least?"

Kris hurriedly produced a grainy picture of the fourth sigil on their phone. Noelle slid over and inspected it. After a moment of squinting and pursing her lips, the reindeer monster shook her head, exasperated.

"You really need a new phone, Kris!"

"Their mother is going to have to approve that," Susie reminded her. "Good luck getting that to happen."

"And on a teacher's salary, too!" Berdly interjected.

Kris would have loved to say that things were going to look up for Asgore any day now, but until he started selling high quality flowers to the city, there was no way their dad was going to make enough money to afford a new phone. And Toriel probably didn't want Kris to have easy access to the internet either. For now, the old phone would have to do!

"This last pseudo-Dark World was really messed up," Susie said, wrinkling her snout. "All the monsters were these puss-filled, messed up things that blew up when they took enough damage. And they rained acid and stuff like that."

Kris added that they also armored themselves with trees and rotting logs.

"Yeah, yeah, and it was in this open mine pit place," Susie shook her head. "Nothing inventive, still no way to ACT like we usually can, and there's still no good way to get rid of the mark out there in the woods!"

"Snowy, Monster Kid, and I are going out there later with some shovels and see if we can't just dig them out," Jockington said, nodding happily to the others.

"Good luck with that!" Jockington said dismissively. "I suspect that this series of cosmic events is meant to completely surpass even Noelle's vaunted intelligence! For an idiot like me, I can't even begin to fathometh what is actually going on!"

"Your Dark Prince… Still doesn't have… Any ideas?" Catti asked.

Kris shook their head.

"Well, drat!" Noelle said, stamping her foot hard on the floor. "What is even the point of all these different worlds? The Dark World is supposed to complement whatever is going on in the lives of the people who cross over from the Light World. And the Darkners are supposed to be a mirror of what and who is in our own. And let's not forget the deeper lessons hidden underneath all the silly and crazy! But there's none of that in any of these places!"

The teens became a little more subdued around Kris' desk. Being veterans of the great quest across seven different Dark Worlds to save everyone from Angels Heaven, and then the events swirling around The Dude during summer vacation, they all knew that something especially dangerous and unbelievable was afoot. And with strange shadows now stalking people throughout town, the scenario was becoming uniquely disturbing.

Upon reflection, Kris and Susie realized that having sex in the middle of the woods while unknown shadows were out and about was probably not the wisest idea.

It was right then, as everyone was growing morose around Kris' desk, the new kid strode into Alphy's classroom: Drake. A cool, dragon monster just like Susie. He was easily the tallest guy in the school. He also wore his black hair long and had a dangling, golden earring. He also sported a black, leather jacket and torn jeans. He always went around with his hands in his pockets.

And an eye glued on Susie.

Striding up easily, confidently, Drake flashed a winning grin and asked, "What's got everyone looking so glum this morning? Did they cancel Halloween or something?"

Temmie melted in his shadow. "Ooohoohoo! Beeg dragon boi is so hawt!" She fanned herself, trying to not faint from the hotness.

Susie on the other hand was not affected in the slightest. In fact, ever since she had found out a few weeks earlier (A record for her on figuring out what other people were feeling!), Susie had pointedly ignored Drake unless she absolutely needed to talk to him. As she had told Kris, "Pretty boys are not my thing, you know? They're too… Pretend? Pretenciouous? Pretentious!"

Kris was still wondering where Susie had learned to use the word pretentious but was comforted by her declaration all the same.

"No, there's just something weird happening around Hometown, man," Jockington said, finally answering Drake's question.

Drake laughed and replied, "We live in a small town. Aren't weird things a part of the natural order and charm of this place?"

"You're the only 'un whoze charmin' here," Temmie sighed.

Berdly, who wasn't a big fan of Drake because Susie wasn't, wrinkled his beak and said derisively, "A lot's been happening recently that is far from charming or sensical. The adults are too preoccupied with their adult things and aren't paying attention, so we have to fix what we can."

"Can I help?" Drake offered,

The teens all shared swift glances between each other. They had agreed since discovering what the storm had done that they would not talk with Drake about the markings, the pseudo-Dark Worlds, never mind the real Dark World accessible through the supply closet, and all the crazy adventures they had been on. Though the class had all come together thanks to the Dark World trying to swallow the Light World and bring about Angels Heaven, and every other crazy and in-depth, soulful thing, that was their special journey.

They weren't sure how the new guy would react to the Dark World. Everyone was still trying to get Drake's measure. Of course, Kris was upset that Drake was openly making googly eyes at their girlfriend. Susie wasn't happy about the attention when she made it very clear that she was in a relationship with Kris. She had even gone out of the way to violently make out with Kris against their locker in front of Drake when he tried asking her out on a date. Berdly was against him, Temmie was for him. And the others were trying to figure the new guy out while being nice.

Noelle was the one to answer him this time. "Drake, I think the best way you can help the situation is to help us have the best Halloween ever! It's not my favorite holiday-"

"Yeah, that would be your father. Right?" Drake said with a wink.

Getting nervous and flushed, Noelle stammered along, "W-Well, y-yes, b-but that's not the p-p-point! Whew! Okay, what I was trying to say is that we're all planning on dressing up, getting as much candy as possible, and getting sick by eating too much of it in one go!"

"I will humbly admit that I was once to proud to go Trick-or-Treating because I thought it was too kiddy," Berdly said dramatically. "But then Susie made me realize that I am a kid that and that everyone should always take the chance to go Trick-or-Treating!"

"Dude! Trick-or-Treating has always been the bomb!" Jockington said exuberantly.

Drake flashed them a grin that Kris couldn't parse out as either humoring, condescending, wicked, or genuinely mirthful. He asked, "Then what is everyone's plans for Trick-or-Treating? Halloween is coming up! I get that people are a little nervous about things that are currently happening around town, so going together would be a good idea! So, are we pairing off-?"

He looked significantly at Susie as Temmie sighed, "Tek me away now!"

"-Or are we going as a class? Do we split up the town, or is there a perfect route that gets us all the candy?"

"Actually, there is!" Snowy exclaimed. The poor guy missed the signals from Catti and Susie for him to shut up. "If you start at the church, Father Alvin gives out juice and candy apples for everyone. The mayor's office gives out obligatory, healthy sweets. And after that, you can wind up throughout the entire town and hit every house if you hurry! You can then end at either the Holidays or Dreemurrs. Kirs and Noelle's families have always have the best homemade snacks to round off the night!"

The new kid nodded along eagerly, clearly making mental notes.

Before anyone else could add anything or try to steer Drake away, Alphys entered the classroom and said, "Wonderful! I love seeing my students getting along and planning to do fun things like spending Halloween together! And thank you for taking Drake along with you!" Susie's yellow eyes rolled into the back of her head.

"Make sure that you also drop by the library as well where I will be doing a reading of my newest anime fanfic, Kitty Mew-Mew and the Darkest Night of the Coolest Halloween Ever: Friendship Overcomes All! Office Undyne and our own town cool guy, Papyrus, will be providing spaghetti and other treats to whoever drops by to listen to my story! Beginning at the 6:30 PM."

There was no need for Alphys to remind them. Indeed, every board and locker was plastered with layer after layer of advertisements for everyone to come and listen to Alphys' new story. While it was great that their teacher had finally found some confidence and her spine, Kris and Susie both agreed that ought to be limits for impressing one's nerdom on others.

"It's kind of killing my desire to binge Our Superhero School and Bloody Demonic Exorcising Siblings," Susie had quietly complained to Kris earlier. "Please Alphys! Don't murder my budding love for anime!"

The class mumbled that they might show up and quickly shuffled to their seats. Alphys beamed with excitement and anticipation. Susie sat behind Kris and kicked their seat hard, as was customary.

"Next time, try to save me from the awkward new guy, dork!"

Kris did their best to hide a smile of their own as the class got started. There would be time later to get away from Drake and make plans to deal with the sigils. Kris covertly scribbled a message to go out to everyone, except for Drake, calling them to Ralsei's after school. But as they passed the folded football to Susie, who soon flicked it over to Noelle, Kris could not escape a curious sensation.

Piercing, glaring, laughing eyes were on them. If Kris didn't know any better that Susie was sitting right behind them, they could have sworn that a murderous monster was looming in their shadow. Sure, that might be an apt description for Susie at times, but this was far. Far. Worse.