Chapter Text
Kris was submerged in a cold drought, mummified in cloth and fabric before they were awakened by the door knocking in the early hours of the morning.
A soft voice slipped through the slit at the bottom of the door. The dulcet tones were elated and ever so joyous for another meandering day. The sun slid through the cracks in the blinds without invitation as the teen wished it would drizzle with rain already.
The room was shared between siblings. The left side was dazzled with details. Glow in the dark stars swept along the back wall and across the ceiling, a shelf sat high above the bed which warped in the centre as the newly polished trophies sat triumphant and sparkling.
The other side was bare. The wall paper peeled in the corner of the ceiling like a wilting rose. Dust was the only item that adorned the shelf.
Swinging their legs over their bed, they stood up, already dressed in crumpled jeans and a sweater that had faded in the sunshine.
Feet dragging along the patchy carpet and towards the stairs, a searing sense of unease seeped into the nonconformist child.
Kris' fingers dug onto the banister. The heart beat did not drum in thunderous applause. It hummed near silently as their chest laid flat against their unmoving lungs.
The night came with a terrible price, a price they couldn't afford. So there was a different transaction.
A Deal Gone Wrong.
Candles arranged around the cycle, symbols etched in chalk as melted wax pooled into the floorboards of the attic. Kris had sat in the very centre as their acquaintance flicked through crinkled pages and a deck of cards.
"A premonition," Catti answered softly holding up a tarot card in her white paws, "A sign that a those who walk among stars stalk your path. He has cast his mark."
Kris was tired of a vast burden and wished to be rid of it. How they wished Asriel was here.
Brown boots landed on the cold tiles with a thud taking their final step. Kris stood quietly glancing into the kitchen.
Spices filled the room with their pleasant stench and the trashcan emitted a floral scent.
The smell of pastry wafted from the kitchen. A pie sat on a cooling rack by the windowsill, guarded by wax coloured figures made of oak and binded twigs.
Kris never really understood the tradition. "Wouldn't it be better for kindling?" they murmured as a child before being chastised by their neighbours.
The living room was vacant of visitors and the TV was unplugged. It was quite an old television set. Boxy and built like half a fridge, the black screen curved outwards almost as if it were an eye shrouded by blindness.
Asgore, their dad, used to love watching the television during the dark nights and mornings.
Being quiet enough, they'd sneak on in down and join him, watch films of years long gone and with real human faces, just imagine that...
Now not even static resided within the screen. Good, Kris thought. They didn't like to see the faces of the others.
Kris exited the house, the door closing behind them as their mother stood beside the family car.
Their mother was well-dressed, customary for any self-respecting teacher. She wore thin framed glasses and a lilac jacket, plain sweater and a purple knee high dress.
They both entered the vehicle, belts buckled as Toriel spoke eagerly with a relaxed smile. "It's a beautiful day today is it not? I hope it stays this way when Asriel visits next week..."
There was a pained silence before Toriel shattered it with a chuckle," But I do wonder...after the excitement of university, will he enjoy coming back to this little town? "
♠️♥️♣️
Hometown was a model of mediocrity.
Just a perfect lil town with no flaws at all.
A perfect town for all Monster residents. It was a quaint place.
It had a church and a shop and apartments and whatever else was customary for a town such as this.
The town's folk waved as the van drove past them, this monotonous loop bored the human to submission.The vehicle chugged along and the Monsters outside greeted them with chincy smiles and charagrin grins.
It was a painful cycle.
Kris could cry if it weren't for the spray-cans and chocolate bars that were tucked away in their locker. They could break the cycle with their rebellion. Until the cops would kick their ass back home. Undyne was lenient thankfully.
Hometown was, overall, a refuge for the strange. Kris was the only human that lived here but everyone else was as equally as odd.
Catti was one that sided with witchcraft and the dark arts as one would imagine. Her sketchpads were filled with pentagrams, angel wings and star signs.
Noelle was intoxicated with Christmas cheer on every single day.
And Susie...
Well...she was quiet. Even quieter than Kris. No-one spoke to her and she spoke to no-one.
Most expected Susie's existence to be a rumour, a ruse if it weren't for the fact she went to Kris' class every morning.
The doors would be slammed open with the bottom of her boot as she slunk towards her desk, letting out a snarl if anyone objected to her downtrodden demeanor. She left their substitute teacher quaking in her lab coat.
Kris was still waiting for their Halloween pencil. It was snatched, chewed and spat on, the lead filling snapping like bone in Susie's maw.
The van parked directly outside the school in the smallest car parking space imaginable. The doors to the building was crimsonand the bricks were sandstone. The path leading to the entrance was well kept with mowed grass and flowers were freshly planted around the green hedging.
They both got out of the car and Toriel held onto Kris' hand as she led them into the school. Less than a few steps later, she turned and encompassed their child in a warm embrace as they remained stalk still.
"Have a good day my child. Stay out of trouble if you can." Toriel remarked with a smile and a wink. Patting their shoulder she stood up, turned and walked down the corridor to the kindergarten.
Kris slunk away in the opposite direction, walking past their locked locker and other lockers with locked locks into their class.
The door clicked open. Naturally everyone's head's turned to them as the human entered.
The yellow scaled lizard in an ill fitting labatory coat smiled with crooked buckteeth "K-Kris!" Dr Alphys stammered as she adjusted her glasses whilst trying to write on the board with a broken stick of chalk. "We didn't think y-you'd be coming in today..." she added with a nasally chuckle.
Kris could tell by her tone that she'd need to do more printing and rearranging of the classroom. She was a sweet teacher with a nervous lisp. Alphys was a down to earth Monster who kept prattling on and on about metaphors relating to her dorky hobbies that usually derailed each lesson in numerous ways.
She scratched behind the three triangular spikes on her head and with an uneasy smile on her short snout Alphys' added,
"We're, uhm, sorting out whose going to be working on the upcoming group projects today! Pair up with anyone you want, so g-good luck!"
Kris drifted from student to student, desk to desk in order to find a free partner.
Catti was first up. Rocking a heavy metal band shirt and golden piercings in her feline ears. She waved off Kris as she tapped away at a phone.
"Taken." she smiled coyly.
Kris lurched towards their next option, Jockington. He was a groovy goober snake with a crocodile nose and some snazzy shades and football cap.
His movements are as snappy as a jump cut and as vibrant as his green scales."Kris, you know me and Catti are always partners! Ever since our first gym class we've been an unstoppable duo!"
Kris really didn't know why they even bothered to ask. "Such a bummer, dude. But don't worry brah, there's gotta be someone willing to vibe with you. You're super chill!"
Kris tried to smile but couldn't be bothered to do so.
Again, they searched the class for anyone willing to help. Snowy was obnoxious even for a Snowdrakes' standards, sneering their beak away and snivelling at their drole attempts at humour.
Tem, the resident cat-dog and artist doodled away whilst an hard-boiled egg sat on her desk. "SoRwes kRisP! Tem AlReadY has PaRtner!", she patted the emotional support egg in glee.
The classroom selection was beginning to wear thin, there was only three people left.
Monster Teen was a fellow student on the non-binary spectrum usually referred by 'they's' and them's' and an occasional 'he'.
Better known as MT, otherwise nicknamed 'Monty", they were an armless yellow reptile with a mohawk of spikes, wearing a crucifix over top an orange shirt.
"Aw man Kris! I wouldn't have to partner up with Snowy if you were here! He keeps trying to speak to me like a cowboy!" They bemoaned.
Berdly sat front and centre in the mostly bare room. "How's the third smartest student today, hmmm?" he chirped.
The blue feathered monster sat smugly in the front row, pens and pencils ordered alphabetical and sharpened.
"I quite pity you Kristopher, perhaps if you hadn't dilly-dallied, you would have had a chance to by my very own peon!" Berdly scratched his chin thoughtfully for a short moment.
"Wait, Kris! Maybe your skills may prove valuable for this assignment....NOT! I actually want an A+!" His face crumpled like paper as he snorted.
Kris felt a fleeing sensation. The joy of strangulation. But being put in jail wasn't in the cards for today.
Last but not least was Noelle. The deer offered another tacky offering, a pencil with Christmas lights that twinkled when it was turned on and off.
"H-huh? A group of three? I mean, sure Kris fa-ha-ha! As long as there's no pranking involved I won't s-say no!" Her arm shot up quickly as she stammered out a question before Berdly interjected immediately.
"Absolutely not! Abort, abort! We're fine by ourselves I assure you Noelle!" Berdly spoke with a shrill.
Before Alphys could but in, the door slammed open, the hinges rattling.
Susie entered with a grimace across her snout, "...Am I late?"
"N-not at all!" Alphys answered meekly, "U-uhm, your project partner is going to be Kris for the next week or so!" , the teacher quickly resolved Kris' conundrum.
"Great." Susie grumbled.
♠️♦️♣️
The next thing Kris knew was that they were outside the classroom, shoved against a locker and an airtight grip was crushing their shoulder.
Susie's hands were clammy and slick with sweat. She gripped Kris' shoulder tightly before it slid towards their neck, bunching up their sweater collar as the human dangled a full foot from the floor.
"Don't gimme that look..." her teeth were clenched, "...we all know what you're thinking, you got me! You caught me, you've got me red handed." the purple snouted student said chuckling.
"But I suppose, this is a lil' bit silly ain't it? Me? Expelled? For stealing some chalk?"
The lockers' cool surface made the human shudder as they were pressed up against the row of tall metal cabinets.
"Maybe I'll go for a classic, shove ya into one of these lockers, keep you quiet for a while."
Kris' hands clenched as the rest of their body remained limp, hanging as if they was no life residing in their flesh.
Susie snickered. "Seems a bit cliché...." she scratched her chin for a moment, "Well, considering you're holding the trigger, don't ya think it be more appropriate if I got expelled for some real carnage?"
She licked her lips.
"So Kris, how do you feel....about losing your face?" Her head dipped as she snarled revealing her rotten yellow teeth.
Kris crashed to the tiled floor, their head ricocheting off the metal door and its locking mechanism as they dropped to the floor.
Susie stuffed her claws into her pockets. "Nah. That wouldn't be fair on ya mom. Don't want her arranging a funeral."
Kris cradled their left arm as they slid up the rusted locker exterior. Their ears rang, felt their skin peeling like decades worth of old paint, sweat slithering down their spine.
They took a step before stumbling to their knees. Susie turned back and sneered.
"Quit it, don't be a crybaby.", she snorted as she slunk down the corridor and turned left towards the supply closet. Alphys needed chalk to start class, apparently.
Kris clutched their shoulder as sharp pangs lingered across their skin beneath their jumper. Even its thick and firm wool couldn't shield every tumble and crash they suffered.
Susie brushed white specks from her chapped lips, her tongue dry, coated in an off white paste. Her saliva soaking into the remains of the chalk she wolfed down without second thought.
♣️♦️♠️
Years ago...Light and Darkness were without balance.
The door of the abandoned closet slammed open, the beige yellow walls of the corridor becoming shrouded in a blue shimmering shades.
The human took a step back and the monster swallowed her fears. They trudged forward.
The ground cracked and shook, paper flew, and two teens fell. The human falling as easily as the flutters of paper surrounding them whilst the monster reached out, hoping to grab onto anything, anything at all.
Now traversing the land, they united with a Prince from the Dark that proclaimed that they must heal the wounds scarred into the earth by a mourning tyrant.
The prince foretold the two heroes of the Legend.
The Legend of Deltarune.
He spoke these words with hasty breath and loose nerves.
For millennia, light and dark lived-in harmony...
But if this harmony was to shatter...a terrible calamity would ensue...
The sky would run black with terror...
The ground would crack with fear and with her heart pounding...the Earth would draw her final breathe...
Only then, from the world's edge and filled with light, three heroes would arrive...
A Human, A Monster, and a Prince of the Dark...
Only they could seal the fountains...
Restore balance to light and dark and banish the Angel's Heaven for the world to be saved.
With these words, they listened intently.
"Delta Warriors! Won't you accept your destiny...?" The Prince of the Dark requested.
"Nah." Susie finally answered and the prince's face fell slack beneath his shrouded cloaked form. "Me? Some kinda hero? Puh-lease, ya got the wrong person."
"B-but Susie-!", the Prince stuttered, "without you, the prophecy-"
Susie turned to Kris with a snarky expression, "If you wanna play pretend with this schmuck, by all means but I'm going to find my way home, my way." she pointed to herself.
"H-hold on just a moment, wait-!" the Prince fumbled as Susie turned away from the blubbering member of royalty.
Wheezing ensued, a spiralling and buzzing laughter filled the chamber as a bike skidded and crashed into the Prince of Darkness, sending him flying away via a bit-crushed, royalty-free explosion.
"Ho-ho-ho!" the rider grinned as he nudged the kick-stand into position. "The Lightners are already running away and they didn't even know I was here! My dad is gonna make me son of the month!"
"Who the hell are you?!" Susie said with sweat rolling down her face, recoiling away from the blast of smoke and fire.
"I'm...", the spade faced rider spun on his bike and pointed to the sky, "...the bad guy!" He smiled at the pair of Lightners before frowning. "Ain't you guys...gonna say anything?"
Kris and Susie looked at each other before looking back at this supposed enemy.This guy, whoever they were, was way too soft to be a villain. Kris was reminded of a marshmallow as they looked at the spade wearing foe.
"Usually, ya say your name, not your, uh, occupation." Susie answered.
The young spade slapped his face with a resounding smack. "Of course I messed up my villains entrance! Blargh! Now I gotta blow up the other prince again!"
"I'd rather not be blown up again!", the hooded storyteller bleated.
"Hey man, ya didn't mess up anything. Your motorbike explosion was pretty cool, I guess..." she complimented. The hell does a ten year old get a motor bike and I don't?
"Oh! This is just a pedal bike!" he proclaimed as he kicked out a pair of stabilisers.
"Then why is it spluttering out of the exhaust?", Susie pointed at the fire at the back of the bike.
"I set the thing on fire!" he announced happily, "I'm not old enough to get a proper one, but that's enough chit-chat! I, Prince Lancer, will stop your escapades to seal my father's glorious Dark Fountain and stop you from returning home via my castle in the weast!"
Lancer did a wheelie on his flaming chariot blurting out the rest of his nefarious scheme. "And I have a two step plan to stop you! First, I thrash you! Second, you lose!"
Susie snickered, "Heh, that idea ain't half bad, kid."
Lancer smiled brightly, "It is?"
"Yeah dude." Susie's expression shifted into a terrifying snarl with dripping teeth and her eyes cast in shadows by her hair, "...Mind if we use it on you instead?"
"Oh ho ho! Let the gauntlet begin!" Lancer smiled revving his lack of engines, "Prepare for a great thrashing you clowns!"