Archive of Our Own ^beta

Before all of this, if someone told Kris there would come a time where they would meet Berdly and feel the urge to break down sobbing from sheer relief, they would look at that person as if they’d grown two heads.

I guess the Dark World really is full of surprises, They thought, holding back bitter laughter.

Maybe it would all stop now that Berdly was here, Kris dared to hope. Kris hated Berdly, but how they felt didn’t matter to the SOUL. Maybe the SOUL had taken a liking to him. Maybe the thought of killing Berdly would throw it into a crisis of conscience. Maybe, just maybe, that would be the push it needed to decide to stop doing all of this. Kris knew they’d never get control back, save for those sacred moments when they found the strength to tear the SOUL out from their chest, but wanting people to live wasn’t so much to ask, was it?

Even though they knew that chance was slim, Kris clung to that hope like their life depended on it. They needed as much hope as they could get, after all, or else they would go mad.

“Noelle! There you are!” Berdly called out. Usually the sound of his smug, nasally voice gave Kris the urge to stick a pencil directly into their eardrum to see if that might make it halfway bearable, but now all they could think about was how he seemed… genuinely happy to see Noelle.

Kris’ relief soon turned to dread.

“Just in time! We can both go back to Queen and… Noelle?”

His face fell as he caught sight of her properly. Kris knew he was beginning to realise that something was horribly, horribly wrong. If the dozens of frozen Darkners scattered across the city wasn’t enough indication.

Kris shifted their gaze towards Noelle and saw that she wasn’t looking at them nor Berdly, but down at her tightly clasped together hands, at the Thorn Ring. There were still small patches of dried blood on her sleeve from when the thorns had stuck themselves into her finger and ripped through the flesh, but the bleeding itself had stopped. Her hands were shaking. Was it from the cold, the pain, or fear? Kris couldn’t tell. Her blonde hair was covering her face, so they couldn’t read her expression.

“Kris,” Noelle’s voice was barely a whisper, so quiet that at first Kris thought they had imagined it. “It looks like another enemy. Should I freeze them..?”

“N… Noelle? Noelle, it’s me, don’t you recognise me?” Kris looked back at Berdly. Their dread turned to panic. They felt their entire body tense up as they broke out into a cold sweat. Please, get the fuck out of here! I don’t know what I might do next! They knew it was futile, but they tried to scream at Berdly. But, of course, their throat tightened and their jaw locked itself shut before they could get the words out. As it always did.

Noelle gasped. Kris saw her eyes light up with recognition, then widen in fear.

“B… Berdly!?”

“Noelle, are you okay..? What… What are you doing with Kris..?”

“I’m just… We’re just… Getting… Stronger…” Her wavering voice faltered, as if she didn’t quite know how to explain herself.

“Getting stronger… How? Kris, what are you doing?”

Kris fixed their gaze onto Berdly desperately.

Please, please run as fast as you can…They pleaded silently, praying to God to let him hear them. Kris hadn’t prayed like that since they were a little kid, never having shared the piousness of their mother and brother. But they needed someone to help them. Anyone.

Proceed.

Like a ventriloquist dummy, their jaw fell open as they uttered the words in a quiet but harsh, commanding monotone completely unlike their own.

“Wh… What? Proceed… Where..? Noelle, what are they talking about?”

I don’t care where you go just please please run away and don’t look back I don’t know what this thing is going to make us do next and I’m terrified dear God I’m terrified.

“Th-that’s it, Kris!” Kris could hear the fear in his voice in spite of how hard he tried to sound tough. “I don’t know what you’re doing, but if you’re hurting my friend Noelle,” He whipped out his weapon, “Then I have no choice but to stop you by force! Kris, ready yourself!”

“W-wait, Berdly, stop!” Noelle cried out suddenly. “Run away!”

Please!

The battle begun.

. . .

Once again, Kris was a slave to the SOUL. A puppet on a string. They payed little attention to what was going on, or what Berdly or Noelle were doing. It didn’t matter whether they did or not, anyway. The SOUL always took care of battles. They no longer prayed to God, either. Truth be told, they weren’t sure they believed in him anymore. Either He really was cruel enough to let this happen, or he didn’t exist.

Or maybe what happened in the bunker had damned Kris for eternity.

Kris cast their eyes to the sky, taking in the darkness that surrounded them. They felt… Something. A feeling they couldn’t quite articulate. It almost felt as if they were being watched.

…Are you listening..?

Kris realised there was a God after all. But it wasn’t the one they’d heard about in church.

My name is Kris… You, uh, probably knew that anyway, considering… Everything…

Kris remembered borrowing a big book of Lovecraft’s stories from the library about a year ago. They’d stayed up all night reading it, fascinated by tales of all powerful beings that existed on an entirely different wavelength, beings that lowly mortals like them couldn’t even begin to understand.

L-listen, I’m not a hundred percent sure if you can hear me— Hell, I barely even know what you ARE — but…

Kris heard crackling as Noelle made a shield of ice rise up before her to protect herself. The TP metre was rising fast.

… But I figured I-I’d try, you know? Fuck, I… I-if Berdly dies, then I’ll get into a Hell of a lot of trouble. You know that, right? They’ll know I was an accomplice. Then I’ll end up in juvie. Then what’ll happen? There’ll be nothing interesting for you to do. No more Dark World, no more adventures. They might even put me in solitary confinement… Kris wasn’t sure if they actually did that in juvie, but it didn’t matter.

So you understand why you can’t let that happen? Please, we’re… w-we’re just kids… I’ve got a mom who worries herself sick over me, Noelle’s got a dad in hospital, and Berdly’s got parents who adore him. Please, just do this one small thing for me, and I promise, I’ll never tear the SOUL out again!

Suddenly, Kris felt weak. Losing their footing, they fell to the ground, their head slumped forward. Their HP had gone down to zero.

Had it worked..? They thought hazily. Faintly, they heard Berdly’s voice.

“N-Noelle! Look! Kris is down! Now’s your chance to come back over here!”

Yes, this was it. Their prayer had been heard. Oh, their prayer had been heard! With the little bit of strength they had left, Kris let out a shaky sigh of relief.

But there was nothing but silence from Noelle’s end.

“…N…Noelle..?”

Wait.

“I can… Still hear… Their voice…” She muttered, her voice a soft, trembling whisper.

No.

“S…Snowgrave..? I… I don’t know that spell…”

What is she talking about!?

“I’m telling you, I… I… I don’t know what you’re talking about…”

S-she must be crazy! We made a deal, didn’t we? Didn’t we!?

“I’m telling you, stop! I-I don’t know what you’re talking about!”

PLEASE GIVE ME A SIGN YOU HEARD ME!

“Fine. You want to see what happens so bad? Watch what happens when I cast a spell I don’t know!”

Noelle cast Snowgrave, and…

Kris couldn’t really remember what happened between her casting the spell, and what happened afterwards. It was fascinating, what a person’s mind could do to protect itself from going mad. All they remembered was the bitter, biting cold. The all-encompassing blizzard. Pure, blinding white.

Before Kris knew it, it was over. Now there were only two.

“…What… What happened..?” Noelle mumbled. Just from the sound of her voice, Kris knew she was out of it once more.

Kris couldn’t bring themself to look at her.

“There was so much snow, I couldn’t see anything…”

Kris said nothing.

“I… I don’t feel so good… I think… I’m going to go home…” Kris listened to the clicking of her footsteps as she slowly, shakily ambled away.

They couldn’t stay on the ground forever.

Kris got up, dusted themself down and raised their head. That was when they saw it.

They shouldn’t have looked, they shouldn’t have looked, they shouldn’t have looked. They could feel their stomach swirling and knew if they didn’t get out of here fast, that feeling would get the better of them.

They saw a giant block of ice towering over them.

And inside the block of ice was a faint silhouette.

Unable to move.

Or scream.

Or do anything.

The SOUL made them linger by it for a moment or two, studying it. Only for a few seconds, but that was still too long for their liking. Then they turned and quickly left the scene.

It was time for them to proceed.

Kris hoped their God was happy.