Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

the first thing that alerted Kris that alerted Kris to something being wrong, was the floor.

the last thing their groggy mind could recall was falling to sleep (with great dificulty) in their own bed, while listening to Toriel and sans... that part does not need to be remembered.

to their knowledge, no part of their room had a smooth marble floor. nor such a cold draught for that matter.

they slowly, begrudgingly, rose to their feet. it was difficult, it seems their little "heart shaped object" was not here to puppet them about - on the one hand, that means they get to make their own decisions, but moving without it feels so tiring and... where is the soul? is it still in the cage? will Toriel find it when she comes to wake Kris up?

no, there is no use fretting about that now, it's more important to tell what the situation at hand is.

Kris takes a moment to look around, a strong wind is blowing down what seems to be an endless corridor - oscillating between blinding light and pitch black. there is also a door, mighty in it's own right, but made to seem pathetic by the sheer scale of the hallway.

Kris goes to pass through the door, but something catches their eye before they reach the handle. in the ground, near where they were sleeping, there were some circular indents on the floor.

they go over to look at these indents, there were 7 in total, but they couldn't seem to figure out their purpose until...

click, they stepped on a small pressure plate they hadn't noticed before, only a little larger than their foot. the indents began to rise - revealing 7 glass cases, containing 6 human souls.

this was bad news, to put it lightly. 

was someone going around killing humans? was Kris next? was that why they are here, kidnapped in the night to be slaughtered by some maniac?

Kris took a moment to grab their knife from their pocket. they felt wrong trying to use it for self defence but... wait a second, this is the light world! if they get attacked, they can use their knife to create a dark world and escape! (or at least hide)

with their master plan in mind, their resolve was steeled against any potential serial killers, and they opened the door.

what seemed to be a dark and dingy cave met their eyes. not looking good on the homicidometer right now, but things could improve.

there was another doorway, this one illuminated by a golden light. they heard a strangely familiar voice humming the notes to "Burgentruckung", a song their father was fond of.

they ready their knife and walk onwards.

it's a beautiful garden, golden flowers and green vines wind all across the walls and floors. at it's centre stands a mighty throne, and beside it, watering the flowers...

"DAD?!" Kris yells.

Asgore was not expecting this - and turned around in shock to see an awfully familiar, lanky, knife wielding human charge at them.

Kris sees as his face shifts from focused peace, to shock, to a somber frown.

"...dad?"

"why do you call me that, human?" Asgore says, without the cheeriness kris has grown to expect.

"what... what do you mean?" Kris stammers out "it's me, Kris!" 

"i... don't know you, Kris" he says

it wouldn't be inaccurate to say that Kris has had a rough week. they've had an unknown entity possessing their soul, they've been hit with so many magical projectiles they've lost count, they've had to fight against a living TV-shaped manifestation of their family issues, they've had to put up with sans last night, they've had to put up with potentially being kidnapped - and now, for reasons they cannot fathom, their own father has forgotten who they are.

kris is usually a very stoic person, but all of this? it's not unreasonable that they might feel a bit unsteady.

"oh, uh... Kris are you alright? please put the knife down." Asgore pleaded. he damns his sense of empathy, fate has provided a seventh human on a platter for him - too distraught to fight against him... but no matter how hard he tries, he still only sees a confused, innocent, youth. "how about we come into my house, i can make you some tea!"

they walk together, through the church and past the city - until they arrive at the house.

kris takes a seat at the table, as Asgore boils the kettle.

after a while, they ask "where... are we?"

"the underground" Asgore responds, relatively quickly "beneath mount Ebott"

"oh! so we are near hometown!" Kris says, a little more hope in their voice.

"what is this 'hometown' you speak of, Kris? is it where you are from?" asks Asgore.

kris is slightly taken aback "yes, of course it is! and you too!"

he sighs "kris... i do not know you, i have never been to anywhere called 'hometown', i don't know how you know me"

"you've gotta have some kind of memory problem!" Kris insists "do you remember mom, uh, Toriel? what about Asriel?"

"how do you know their names?" he asks

"because i grew up with them! and you! in hometown!" they exclaim.

"kris..." Asgore says, firmly "i feel i must tell you the history of this place... my history"

"a long long ago, humans and monsters lived in peace.

until the humans, in fear of my kind, declared war upon us, and locked us away with a barrier that can only be broken by 7 human souls.

I, king Asgore, and my dear queen Toriel, helped the monster race in it's new subterranean life - and eventually we had a son together, prince Asriel.

not long after, a human fell down into the underground - a young child, much like you, called Chara.

we adopted them, and they got along famously with young Ariel. we were a happy family for some time.

but Chara fell ill one day, buttercup poisoning. they were in agony for weeks, their only wish before their death was to see the flowers of their home village.

on the night they died, Asriel took their soul and passed right through the barrier - letting them see those flowers one last time.

but the humans were still afraid, and they attacked Asriel.

he died quickly after his return..."

Asgore lacked the courage to tell them the rest.

"it's like we're in some kind of messed up fantasy alternate universe!" Kris said.

Kris' brain fired into motion, some details of this story were strange.

the barrier required 7 souls to break, there were 6 souls in the room they entered from - and an empty canister. 

their eyes open wide for a second, and they leap up in the air, driving their knife into the ground.

Chapter Text

Susie awakes in a strange place. it would be pitch black, if not for the strange glowing mushrooms that surround her. the air here is uncomfortably humid, and she can hear water flowing not too far away. the ground beneath her is soft and spongey, like a thick layer of moss.

more importantly, Susie was exhausted. she'd been up until midnight last night in the church dark world, and she'd been playing with Tenna for the entire night before that, too. just her luck that she winds up in what seems to be yet another dark world, just as she was getting some shuteye. 

that's not to say she didn't enjoy these adventures, spending time with Ralsei and Kris was always... wait. Susie last remembered going to bed at her place, and Kris' house was all the way on the other side of town. chances are, Kris wouldn't find this dark world until the morning, if they found it at all. 

dammit... 

well, at least Ralsei will arrive soon, right?

though he usually takes a few minutes to get to a dark world after Susie and Kris do.

how does Ralsei even travel between dark worlds? Kris usually has to bring Lancer and Rouxls in their pocket but Ralsei just seemed to walk-

her inner monologue was cut short by a drop of water landing firmly on her snout. probably best to do the thinking somewhere dryer. and brighter (if that is even the correct word in a dark world).

the strange dark room is a bit of a maze, but it doesn't take her long to find an exit. a stone corridor stretched out before her, with two waterfalls cutting little rivers through it. there were some very old signs carved into the rock - and Susie couldn't help but feel her eye be drawn towards the glowing blue text.

"but this cursed place has no entrances or exits" it said "there is no way a human could come in here, we will remain trapped forever"

"spooky" she said quietly to herself "it's like this place is reading my mind or something..."

she wades a bit further through the murky water, in the dark cavern.

the next sign read "there is only one way to reverse this spell. if a huge power, equivalent to seven human SOULs attacks the barrier."

she had seen kris use their soul to kill (or seal?) the titan yesterday. maybe this barrier thing is made out of the same kinda 'superdarkness' that the titans are.

"hurt, beaten, and fearful for our lives, we surrendered to the humans." said the last plaque "seven of their greatest magicians sealed us underground with a magic spell. anything can enter through the seal, but only beings with a powerful soul can leave"

"what the hell?" the words snuck out of her mouth on their own, echoing through the cave. when did seven whole humans make their way into hometown? how did they know about the dark worlds? how did they 'seal' a dark world away in the first place? and why??

she tried to wrack her brain for any relevant prophecies she saw yesterday but... nothing. this didn't make sense.

Ralsei would probably know what's up, he always does. best to just keep moving until she meets him.

the next room was hardly wider than the corridor preceding it. there was a little wooden box tucked away in the corner, and three passageways. the one to her right had a wooden sign on it done up to look like one of those ancient plaques: "APPLES, TEA AND GLASSES FOR SALE", in a vaguely familiar handwriting style.

it was her first sign this place was even inhabited, so it was probably her best bet to see whoeve-

"OLD MAN?!!?" she shouted out, at the top of her lungs.

"Gya ha ha!" the turtle's hearty laugh echoed through the room "are we really that rare nowadays? what's that saying about jobs where ya die young?"

"I thought you were dead!" she said, exasperated. 

"do i really look that old? Gya ha ha!" the old man reached out a hand to be shaken "the name's Gerson Boom, 'case you were wondering"

nervously she takes his hand "I know your name, I saw it on your hammer - I thought that dust was you!"

this girl was strange. Gerson had initially assumed she was just lost, and he had caught her off guard - but she speaks with a certain level of familiarity, and if she says that she saw his hammer with dust on it... hm... well, stranger things have happened, haven't they?

"would you happen to know the date, kid? i got this new calendar the other day, but the problem is i used up my old one a while back - so i've got no idea what day it is!" he said.

susie opened her mouth briefly to move the conversation onto more relevant matters, but she hesitated. the old man always did stuff like this, acting smart while playing dumb...

"it's... uh..." she got out her phone "september 8th... 202X"

this confirmed what Gerson was suspecting, but not exactly in the way he thought it might.

"well i'll be! I coulda sworn it was still may!" he said, warmly "and another thing... you wouldn't happen to know the way to hotland from here wouldya? i've gotta visit some family soon."

"look, old- Gerson! i don't know where we are, can you tell me how you got here?" a twinge of frustration in her voice.

he thought for a minute "I think the better question, is how you got here."

 "i fell asleep and i woke up in this darkworld, OK!" her voice raised a bit.

"i'd never heard of no 'dark world' mis..." Gerson hoped this message got across to her.

"how don't you- wait..." she was putting 2 and 2 together "there's something else going on here, isn't there. um... what date were you gonna put on that calendar?"

a smile crossed the old turtle's face "why, may 21st, 211X, of course"

Chapter Text

Susie's opinion on lava is very quickly changing. for the longest time, she considered lava a badass alternative for water for almost everything outside of drinking.

you want a moat? fill it with lava! you want a geyser? nah, volcanos are way cooler! you want it to rain? well... you can only dream of what is possible.

Susie is, of course, familiar with the fact that lava was hot (she's not stupid). but she failed to grasp exactly how hot it is.

the platform she and Gerson are stood upon is a good couple dozen meters away from the boiling lake of fire beneath them, and yet, Susie feels as if her scales are about to melt off.

"what the hell are we doing here, old man?" demanded Susie.

"we're on our way to see the king!" Gerson said. despite the extreme heat, he isn't even sweating "whenever time shenanigans are afoot, it's always down to humans - and when you want advice about humans, it's always best to see the king!

"listen old man, I don't really trust what the people here say about humans" susie says, while flapping her T-shirt to get some air through "I know kri- I know a human, and they've never trapped anyone underground, or traveled through time, or done any magic at all!"

"it certainly doesn't seem like they can, it took me a while to figure it out, myself. I fought in that war against them though, and it's the only way half of it made sense." he briefly glanced at Susie's befuddled expression "your human friend, did they ever really fail at anything? anything they couldn't just try again?"

"no... but that's just 'cause they're really good at stuff, like puzzles and fighting!" argued susie, as the pair of them walked over the rickety wooden bridge.

"what about a task that they could retry though? I'm willing to bet they made a fair few attempts" susie noticed that the old man seemed a little less... a little less 'Gya ha ha!' than usual.

despite that, susie did ponder his words as the two of them entered the elevator. kris had never really lost a fair fight before (she wasn't counting the knight of course, that edgelord caught them all off-guard) and yet, when she fought Gerson the hammer of justice, it took kris and her like 40 rematches to finally get that senior citizen his damn haircut! (she had seriously considered just ignoring kris' commands somewhere around the 5th and 19th tries). and they had struggled so much with the guitar while they were just messing around in the green room, but hit almost every note perfectly during the fight with Tenna. and that's all not even considering how badly they played that racing game.

"so you say you're from 90 years ago, but you've seen me dead - how d'ya reckon that works?" the question snapped her out of her train of thought.

"yeah, that's a good point... where i'm from, you've been dead for a while" the elevator stopped "and you definitely didn't live in a huge cave system"

the pair walked back out into the boiling open air "really now? 'cause us monsters have been stuck down here for a good while more than 90-"

suddenly, a stranger and a refreshingly cool breeze rushed right past them, putting susie in a spin.

for Noelle, the temperature of this strange land wasn't a problem at all - she actually preferred warmer weather in general, as her ice magic made overheating nearly impossible. she, however, took considerable issue with the robot.

"WOW, NOELLE HOLIDAY STILL IN THE LEAD WITH- WHAT IS THIS? TWO NEW CONTESTANTS ENTER THE RACE!" shouted what seemed to be a flying minifridge holding a microphone, as it whizzed past Susie and Gerson.

"Noelle? NOELLE, WAIT UP!!" said Susie, before noticing Gerson enter a freakishly quick sprint for someone that elderly.

before she noticed the laser, Susie said "where do you think you're going!?" then she noticed the laser.

it's tough being the only celebrity in an entire civilisation, y'know?

nobody to act as guest stars, nobody to have salacious scandals with, nobody to add drama to the next blockbuster crossover extraordinaire.

sometimes it feels like the thunder is quieter with nobody to steal it.

but luckily, Mettaton has no qualms about silly things like the use of military grade weaponry on unarmed civilians - so he likes to gather a handful of "locally sourced" guest stars at the start of each day.

today in particular, he decided that "MTT SPORTS" was short an instalment or two - so he took his good old fashioned "MK41 ROYAL SCIENCES ALPHYS BLASTER: WHITE" (a particular favourite of his) and found 12 fit looking monsters around hotland.

unfortunately, it seemed he had overestimated their speed, and his 12 star contestants had slowly been whittled down to this one young girl. 

luckily, two more monsters had just made their way onto the track.

"NEW CONTESTANTS, PLEASE SHOUT OUT YOUR NAMES FOR THE AUDIENCE!!" yelled mettaton, holding some microphones down two the two reptiles.

"oh why, I'm Gerso-" he was quickly cut of by susie shouting:

"DON'T TELL THIS TIN CAN YOUR NAME, OLD MAN! HE'S TRYING TO KILL US!"

Susie is not a great runner, it's not that she's slow or anything - she can reach some impressive speed, in fact. but maintaining that speed is another problem, especially in such extreme heat.

she needs to think of a way out of this quickly or else a searing beam of death will cut her down.

she looks back at the laser, trying to see a way through or around it, but it's useless - it's like they attached a wall of solid light to...

to the cameraman? 

she noticed what she didn't before: the laser was mounted on some kind of floating vehicle, alongside a camera and what seemed to be the device's pilot.

Susie's idea was forming...

"HEY! OLD MAN!!" she shouted, she was falling behind "I NEED YOUR, UH... GREEN ATTACK??"

"Gya ha ha!! 'course you'd know about that little trick" the Gerson slowed down to meet her "point me where you need me young'n!"

susie raised a finger towards the cameraman - and Gerson swung his cain, releasing a wave of green energy.

the floating vehicle shuddered and stopped in place.

"CUT TO COMMERCIAL! QUICK! CUT TO COMMERCIAL!!" screamed the robot, as he rushed over to the flying thing.

it took a moment or three for Noelle to realise she could stop running. this was all so confusing.

she thought, initially, that all this was a dream. she had a similarly vivid dream just a day or two ago, but it was all too vivid for that. the air was boiling hot, and no part of the holiday house ever reached above 10°C, even in the summer - there was no way she was having a fever this bad completely at random, and if her house was on fire or something, the smoke alarms would've woken her. additionally, if she was still in bed, she would've frozen to death from all the magic she was using.

she briefly remembered one time where Berdly was around at her place for a sleepover, and had a nightmare so bad that he blew down the TV. they were lucky there was no serious damage,.

but, yes, somehow she had been transported to a burning industrial hellscape - commanded by a robotic TV presenter. 

she briefly considered that she had died in her sleep and wound up in hell or something, until she found Susie. it couldn't be hell if Susie was there.

"hey! Noelle!" susie shouted as she ran up to her "what are you doing here?"

"i don't know! i just woke up here! how did you get here?" it was good to see susie again. she would know what to do, right?

"i just woke up here, same as you. i think we're in the future or something?  i've been talking to this old man-"

"I'm Old!" interrupted Gerson

"yeah..." continued susie "and he says that the king of this place probably knows something"

Gerson starts walking towards another elevator, white steel towering high above them all. Susie follows, and Noelle follows behind her.

"so... it's the future - but there's a king? and people are living inside a volcano... why? what happened? how long has it been?" asked Noelle.

"I've got a faint idea" piped up Gerson, as we waited by the elevator doors "I reckon we're in the future, but not your future - and you're from the past, but not our past"

Susie gives a baffled look, walking over and pressing the elevator's button "how the hell does that make sense?"

"strictly speaking, it doesn't" he says as the three of them step through the door into the refreshing cool air "but it makes even less sense if you two are from the history i've lived through"

a moment of quiet contemplation.

"i'll tell 'ya the story of this place - i'd rather us be on the same page as eachother, after all:

it begins 150 years ago, when humanity declared war on the monster race - it was a slaughter, thousands of monsters died, but not a single human soul was taken.

at the end of it, the remaining few monsters were backed into this cave system, and the humans cast a powerful spell to seal us within forever... or until we gather 7 human souls.

for a good few years, king Asgore-"

"ASGORE?!?" yelped Noelle, catching the reptiles off guard "Asgore Dreemurr??"

"yes... is he important in your world too?" pondered the old man.

"he's Kris' dad!" said Noelle, still shocked at the florist's apparent royalty "he's a family friend!"

"Kris is that human friend, old man" supplied susie.

"Gya ha ha! the plot thickens! I'll drop some more names as i tell this story, see if 'ya recognise anyone else!

where was i?...

ah, yes! Asgore and his wife Toriel spent a while helping the monsters fully move into the underground, founding the great city of new home when they arrived at the end.

it stayed peaceful and calm for a good few years, the royal family even had a son - Asriel.

but eventually a human child fell into the underground, a sweet little thing called Chara. they gave the underground hope that things could be better, for a time.

eventually they got sick, deadly sick - their last wish before they died was to see the flowers of their home village again.

so Asriel took them, passing through the barrier with the power of Chara's soul.

nobody knows what happened that night, on the surface, but by the time Asriel returned - he was critically wounded, and died on the spot.

Toriel and Asgore had lost two children in one night, they were deep in grief.

I tried to tell him not to, but in vengeful fury. Asgore declared war on humanity yet again, any humans who fell into the underground since then would be killed on sight - their souls taken to break the barrier.

Toriel left him not soon after, in disgust

...

then 202X happens, it's a pretty uneventful year - but you two are from there so i thought i'd mention it.

ah...

over the years, various humans made their way into the underground. 6 in total. none of them have survived the king and his guards.

and that brings us up to now!"

the elevator dings, and comes to a stop.

they walk in silence up and into the MTT hotel.

Gerson, Toriel, kris' dad and brother... they were all here. was everyone from hometown here? did Susie and Noelle have counterparts in this world? what about kris? do they exist in this place? if 6 humans died down here... they were probably one of them.

Susie took out a bit of moss from her pocket that she was saving for kris, and tossed it into the garish fountain in the centre of the lounge. she needed to pay her respects to a fallen kris somehow.

Noelle did not know why susie had pocket moss, or the purpose of throwing it in the fountain - she was very confused.

if everyone in hometown exists in this place... then is the opposite true? is that robotic menace hiding somewhere? if susie ever got back, she'd make sure to give the tin can a piece of her mind.

they entered a third, smaller elevator - and walked through the city. the gleaming white buildings gave the impression of sun-bleached bone more than polished marble.

eventually, they found the home of the king.

it was smaller than expected, you could find many homes almost exactly like it in hometown.

Gerson went up to the door, opening it "Flufybuns! someone needs to-" but he was stunned to silence by the pitch blackness within.

at this point, Susie decided it right and proper to say: "ah, shit."

Chapter Text

kris despised this dark world on principle.

over the last four days, they found that they had a bit of a pet peeve when it came to dark worlds - it made absolutely no sense to have such a preference, rationally speaking, but they had it either way. they hated "indoor" dark worlds - they made no sense!

the card kingdom was a full blown kingdom, it was fine. the cyber world had a city and a small countryside, it was ok. but the TV world? how could the entire place be a TV set?? where did the audience go at the end of the day? where did the actors sleep? and the church darkworld wasn't much better, how could an entire society exist inside a library?

it either meant that these places are WAY more artificial than even Ralsei said they were (an idea which Kris refuses to accept), or they are absolute nightmares to inhabit (which just makes them sad for the darkners).

although... considering the anarchic leadership and infrastructure of the two "outdoor" dark worlds, it probably is the case that most of these things are awful to inhabit in one way or another.

the reason all this is relevant is because this whole dark world is a castle, the Darkners here call it "the pale palace", an apt name.

right now, kris is wandering about the "banquet hall" (which was somehow the size of all Hometown). from what they can deduce, this place was made of the kitchen and dining/living room. it was titanic, built of pure white marble. there were countless little darkners scurrying around, teabags probably, providing plates of food to the various squires and knights who came from the further reaches of the palace. it was a lively and friendly atmosphere, which is another reason why kris didn't like it.

in every other dark world (even the "relaxed" ones) there were always, always, some Errant minions coming to stop or kill the fun gang "in the name of whoever pays them". but not here for some reason. all the darkners here keep saying things like "please" and "thank you" and "my apologies", it doesn't feel right.

it was good to know, at least that Asgore... evil Asgore? whatever - it was good to know that he was still struggling against the darkners here.

they crossed paths with him a couple times, but always made sure to stay out of sight - most of the times kris spotted him, he was battling against those teabag/waiter things. though it struck them as strange that they hadn't seen anything to suggest he was harming of them.

hmm... maybe this version of Asgore wasn't as malicious as-

"KRIS! HELP!"  a shout from down the hallway interrupted kris' thoughts, unmistakably Ralsei's voice.

in an instant, they took off, iron boots rhythmically clanking against the stone floor. 

Ralsei was being attacked, and seemed to be loosing badly. there was a soldier in green armour with a truly stupid looking mohawk beating Ralsei with some kind of key-axe.

"HOW DARE YOU TRESPASS UPON OUR HOLY GROUNDS?? DIE WHERE YOU STA-" the soldier was cut short by kris' short cut against the leg.

"GYAGH!! WHAT WRETCHED BEAST FACES-" the soldier halted in her tracks the instant she saw Kris "MY LIEGE? APOLOGIES FOR MY IMPUDENCE, I SHALL SEND MYSELF TO THE DUNGEON POSTHASTE!!!" she snapped some handcuffs onto her own wrists and ran off before anyone could get a word in.

"are you OK?" asked kris, as they helped Ralsei to his feet.

"yes.. Kris" he said, barely able to stand "I will be fine"

after a second to regain his breath, Ralsei asked "Kris, where is this?"

"I'm not sure, i woke up in a weird place" they started walking, while assisting Ralsei with his limping "I think it's like an evil version of our world out there - like, my dad is here, but he doesn't recognise me, and he killed people!"

"what? why? how???" demanded Ralsei, stumbling a bit.

"I don't know, I just found myself in a strange room - and there were human souls in jars! as soon as i figured out that dad... that this Asgore was behind it all, I made a dark world to run away" explained kris.

"how are we going to seal the fountain without him killing you?" Ralsei asked while finally gaining his own footing.

"shit. i forgot we had to do that..." a piece of seemingly innocuous information passed through kris' mind, gripping it with panic "...i don't have the soul"

"what do you mean you don't have the soul?"

"i took it out when i went to bed and i guess it wasn't taken with me to wherever this is!" they gesture wildly around themselves

Ralsei gasped "you took it out to sleep? the soul is a vital organ! that can't be healthy!" 

taken aback, Kris tried to defend themself "hey, don't get on my case for that! it's basically impossible to sleep when you're sharing a body with someone wide awake! plus humans can survive without their souls" 

"no! human souls can survive without a body, not the other way around!" insisted the goat boy

"potato, tomato - i haven't noticed anything bad come from it!" assured Kris

Ralsei placed his hand on his forehead and furrowed his brow, looking downwards "this is all besides the point, how are we going to seal the fountain without the soul?"

a deeply unpleasant thought pushed itself into Kris' mind, and through their teeth "...I could use one of the jar souls"

Ralsei's expression lit up in an instance "that's a brilliant idea Kris! we just need to find a way back out to wherever you started from!"

it took an honestly humiliating amount of time to find the exit of the dark world, the duo had only figured out after the fact that the darkener they chose to guide them was notoriously bad with directions - but eventually they had found their way to the gate.

the wall of pure steel towered far above them, in front of it were two armoured guardians, each with two metal horns that met eachother behind the head.

"HALT!" said one.

"I SPEAK ONLY TRUTH" said the other.

"WHILE I SPEAK ONLY TRUTH" said the first.

kris glanced at Ralsei, with a dubious look on their face.

"oh! this is one of those 'one guard speaks truth, one guard speaks lies' thing - the liar is lying about being a liar!" explained Ralsei "don't worry kris, I know how to solve this! ahem... which way would the other guard claim is the correct way"

kris began "Rals-" 

"WHY DO YOU THINK I'D KNOW? ASK HIM YOURSELF!" interrupted the first guard.

"ISN'T THAT QUESTION A BIT IMPOLITE?" demanded the second.

"Ralsei-"

"well.., uh, what colour is my fur?!" stammered out Ralsei.

"DO YOU THINK WE ARE STUPID?" shouted the guards in unison.

"well, what about-"

"HEY! RALSEI!" yelled kris, from over by the gate "the door is open!"

Ralsei bowed towards the guards "my apologies" before sheepishly hopping over to kris.

"i get that you didn't realise the door was open" thought kris, aloud - as they walked "but why did you ask them what the right way was? there was only one door"

"...that's usually how the puzzle goes..." mumbled Ralsei with his arms closed.

it didn't take the pair long to find the exit. the "reality" of a dark world is fundamentally tied to the antiphotons that saturate it, so on the boarders between light and dark - where the darkness is less dense - there is less reality to go around. the universe cut corners where it could afford to, fewer darkners, fewer random objects, and less details on the walls and floors. it's a bit unnerving honestly.

Kris and Ralsei stood before a searing white chasm, the border.

"i'm not exactly sure of this plan to be honest" said kris, looking downwards into eye-melting white.

Ralsei stood a few feet behind them "you're worried about your d- Asgore, right?"

a nod.

"i'll... see what i can do, Kris" promised Ralsei. 

another nod.

Kris dropped right out of the dark world.

they found themself falling down the stairs.

they considered going back into the dark world for a quick heal prayer - but decided it was too embarrassing.

it didn't take them very long to return to that strange room. or it shouldn't have if they hadn't stopped by the view overlooking that pallid city. if there was an Asgore here, and apparently a Toriel and Asriel too, is there a Susie? a Noelle? a Berdly? it's... probably not worth thinking about.

eventually, though, they found their way back to that infinite corridor. the 7 jars still stood there... one empty, almost hungry...

"eeny... meeny... miny... YOU!" kris pointed at the light blue soul, it's good to have a consistent colour pallet after all.

the glass was tough, but no glass on earth is tough enough to stop a teenager with a bad plan.

they squeezed the blue soul in their hand.

"look, bucko, i wasn't clear enough with my last little... 'guest', so i'm gonna be perfectly transparent with you.

I am not just a body, I am not just a vessel, I am not just a puppet. I am Kris Dreemurr. I am a living, breathing person and i'm letting you in because i need your help.

and at any given point, if you try and hurt my friends - I will not hesitate to rip you out and shatter you like glass.

understood?"

Kris plunged their hand into their ribcage, and felt the soul take root.

the new body felt really weird to Kim. it was way shorter than their original body, they barely knew how to operate arms this stubby. well, more accurately, they barely remembered how to operate arms at all. they had only been alive for 16-ish years, and they'd been stuck as a soul with barely 2 inches of space in any direction for a solid 80 years. movement as a concept was thoroughly alien to them by this point.

the mouth, too, was disagreeable. in life, Kim had never appreciated how complex it was. the jaw was simple (just up and down), and they figured out the lips pretty quickly - but the tongue was a lot to handle, eight whole muscles with not a single bone to speak of, they would clearly need some practice.

eventually, though, they did gain the confidence to say something "I hope you're still in here, Mx Dreemurr" Kim gives a little knock on the new skull "otherwise I'd just be talking to myself..."

they walk a few steps towards another glass jar "I could help you, and trust me I want to - you seem like a real stand up youth - but I can't do it alone" they gently unscrew the top of the container, letting the orange soul fly out and dance around them "I hope you understand how important family is"

despite how adamant Kris was about needing Kim's help, they were rather scant with the details of what they needed help with. the half hour after Kim had obtained their new body mostly consisted of them aimlessly wandering about, and occasionally chasing after that orange soul whenever it got lost somewhere - Kris learned, through the concerned shouting coming from their own mouth, that this other soul was called "Blake".

"you know" pondered Blake aloud, as they walked into the golden light of the church "if you don't have a soul, but you can still move and talk and stuff - does that mean my old body was it's own person too? before I died, I mean... do you think they knew they weren't me? I didn't know I wasn't them until I met you after all..."

"jeez kid, you look like you've been a ghost" Kim performed a full turn in less time than their brain could fathom, to find a skeleton in a blue hoodie behind them "AAAGH!!"

"I must be the first skeleton you've seen, I hear we're wearing meat suits on the surface - but I don't keep up with fashion" said the walking talking halloween decoration.

Kim stood silently, still processing the funny bone man's existence. meanwhile, kris balled up a fist in infinite distain.

"wait a minute, you're Kris right?" asked sans.

"uhh... yea!" responded Kim, before Kris stepped on their own foot "OW! OW! OK, OK - NO, KINDA, IT'S COMPLICATED!"

sans nodded as if this was a perfectly natural response.

"you're in for a handful, kid. it looks like you've got one more world for the saving..." and with a blink, the skeleton was gone.

eventually, Kris managed to guide their new occupant to the dark world gateway.

"this better be where you need me to go" said Kim "because if there is another, scarier, portal into the inky abyss - I make no promises"

and with that, they step though.

Chapter Text

Susie, Noelle and Gerson all gazed into the doorway as it oozed black smoke.

susie clasped her hands together, and looked upwards "ok, so first i wanna say, I'm really sorry Noe-"

"IS THAT A FUCKING DARK WORLD??" screamed Noelle a couple hundred decibels higher than necessary.

"oh, you uh-" stuttered susie

"THAT DREAM WAS REAL?" Noelle grabbed her own antlers "OHMYANGEL THE FERRIS WHEEL" she turned to face susie and kneeled on the floor "IMSORRY IMSORRY IMSORRY IMSORRY"

"whoah, no, no - I should be sorry, Noelle - I tried to convince you it was all a dream..." said susie.

"i'm all for a good apologising" interrupted the old man "but what exactly is a dark world?"

"uhh..." susie tried her best to remember the explanations "if you make things darker than dark, which you can do by stabbing the ground while being really determined, then your imagination will kinda make everything come to life - and it'll make a single room into a whole kingdom! and Ralsei says that none of it's really real - but that just means he's STUPID!" she takes a moment to breathe "Ralsei is a darker i know, he's a good freind but- oh, yeah, the people who live in dark worlds, objects brought to life, those are darkners, by the way"

Gerson stroked his beard thoughtfully "did your human friend tell you about all this?"

"no, I got this off Ralsei, mostly" said Susie

"hmm... you just mentioned 'determination', it's a very important idea in human culture" mused Gerson "or, it was important, 150 years ago - Gya ha ha!"

"Kris knows about as much about human stuff as we do" explained Noelle "they were adopted at a very young age"

"wait a second - if me and you just randomly got taken to this world, Noelle, could kris be here too?" said susie "actually, they HAVE to be here! the only people in hometown who know how to make fountains are you, me, kris and berdly! and berdly still thinks all that stuff was a dream!"

"i have a bad feelin'..." said Gerson, without intonation "that they made that 'dark world' to protect themself..."

"oh..." Noelle's voice sank

"we've gotta go save them!" urged susie

"GYA HA HA! that's the spirit!"declared Gerson as he waltzed his way towards the door

"woah! hey!" said Noelle as she slipped in front of the old man "these things are dangerous, are you sure it's safe for you to come?"

"don't worry about me, miss, but if you're right about the danger..." he pulled a notebook from his pocket "didn't you say that any object would come to life in there?"

Gerson took a single page out of the notebook and began sketching, it was a drawing of a human, ethereally beautiful, wearing a majestic robe adorned with heart patterns. each line was made with mechanical precision, not a single time did the pen err - it was as if the old man knew the location of every single pore and crease on the human's skin, and every single thread in their garb. in the end, it almost looked almost photorealistic.

"i'm disappointed in ye, shell-for-brains" was the first thing the three of them heard when they entered the dark world. it came from the mouth of that same human (well, humanoid, they're a darkner now) from the drawing. their robes - an emerald green, dotted with endless golden medallions and trinkets - billowed in the wind. their hair was pure black, and cascaded all the way down to their waste. but the most striking thing about them were their eyes, it was as if you pulled the idea of 'green' itself into reality, and crammed it into their iris. they captained a wheelchair that resembled more a wheelthrone due to the ornate gold and steel metalwork.

susie was speechless.

"look lad, i'll be honest with ye, 'cause i dinnae want nae kinda yearning delusions" they rested a hand on the old turtle's shoulder "I'm not them, lad, I wouldae hoped ye'd moved on by now"

"you can't blame a man for hoping..." said the old man.

a smile "aye, i suppose not"

"excuse me" butted in Noelle "but who are you?"

"ah, ye can call me Macganii" they said "what be yer name, lass?"

"oh, i'm Noelle, Noelle Holliday - and that's Susie" she said, pointing at the stunned reptile.

"cannie meeting ye, lass" they said, warmly "...say, would ye mind pushing me?"

they trecked for a while into the dark world, passing through ivory hallways with ceilings so high that you could find clouds within. the roots of a great plant dug into the snow white walls, and it's titanic flowers were easily mistaken for suns.

after a few minutes of walking, the four spotted a darkner in copper green armour.

"Shhh!!" urged Noelle as she pushed the party behind a pillar, she had been captured and attacked by far too many little weirdos in the last three weeks by now.

unfortunately, Macganii's wheelchair had decided that now was an appropriate time to develop a squeaky wheel. 

everybody stops.

Noelle looks back. the darkner isn't there.

the sound of a door creaking open.

"INTRUDERS? ON THE PALACE GROUNDS? ENGUARD!" the darkner bursts out from the floor beneath them, axe raised.

immediately, the warrior went for Gerson, passing a painful looking slash across his face and knocking him down.

"NOELLE! FLOOR! NOW!" yelled susie.

in the half second it took for Noelle to process the command, the vicious paladin had already raised her key-axe again - but just in the nick of time, permafrost coated the floor, and susie pushed her assailant away - watching her slide a good 7 meters.

without kris to guide her, susie realised that she wouldn't be able to dodge most of these attacks - she would need a way to end this quickly and cleanly.

a rude buster would do for now, though.

as the crescent of crackling purple energy sailed towards her opponent, susie saw as she plunged her key-axe into the ground. for a brief moment, adrenaline filled each cell of her being - until the darkner turned the axe, and opened the ground up like a door, using it to block the buster.

in the blink of an eye, the darkner dove into her door, vanishing into the floor.

"I think I know how we can beat this guy" proclaimed susie "but i'm gonna need some paper and a pen"

"Gerson aughta have some" said Macganni at rapid speed.

susie rushed over to the old man, with Noelle following close behind - watching as she rifled through the turtle's pockets. for a second, things were calm.  until susie's back opened up like a door!

within was a pitch black, bottomless pit, holding the copper warrior "I'VE GOT YOU NOW, SCUM!" she cried as she lunged her axe towards Noelle... only for nothing to happen.

the axe was caught by a glowing emerald shield of raw magical power "I've got ye, lass!" cheered Macganni from the sideline.

as the shield demanifested, Noelle sent a blast of magic into the axe, encasing the whole thing (including the warrior's hands) in a solid block of ice.

"YOU PATHETIC WORM! YOU FIGHT LIKE AN EEL!!" screamed the darkner as she fell out of Susie's back, weighed down by the huge mass of ice. 

at this, susie finally turned around, revealing a folded sheet of paper with the words "SUSIE RULEZ!" clumsily written upon it - "NOW! THANKS TO MY SUSIE CARD, YOU CAN ONLY ACT!" she declared.

the warrior began dancing. miserably.

"how'd ya dae that, lassie?" asked Macganii.

"I saw someone do it a day or two ago" said susie, while struggling to close the door on her back "I figured that if a loser like him could do it, then I could too"

"wait a second" said Noelle, as she set about healing the old man "if we have access to something like this, we won't need to fight darkners anymore!"

"oh damn, you're right" said susie "I should've been using this yesterday!"

"what happened yesterday?" asked Noelle, as Gerson got to his feet.

"ah, I guess I forgot to tell you" noted susie "the cyber world wasn't the only dark world, i've been to four - not including this one" 

"FOUR?" yelled Noelle, before clasping her hand over her mouth "why didn't you tell anyone??"

"I was... I just... I'm sorry" it was as if susie deflated "Raslei, Kris, Lancer... they're the first REAL friends I've had. and if we'd tried to get other people they would've laughed at us - or made it so we can't see them anymore!"

Gerson placed a hand on her shoulder 

"nah, you'd win"

"-... what?" asked Susie.

"I haven't known you very long, susie, but I know determination when I see it." explained the old man "and if your friends have half the heart you do - then nothing in the world can keep you apart."

"now, are you gonna sit around and all day, or are you gonna prove me right?" he said with a smile.

a little later, as they walked further onwards through the alabaster halls - Noele asked "was all that true, about seeing determination in her?"

"Gya Ha Ha!" Gerson burst out laughing "that isn't nearly as important as whether she believes it's true"