[intro] EVERY DOOR A WINDOW

[hauntedxholy]

Kris Dreemurr has had a pretty long day.

The sort of day that people could probably make really weird game demos about. The sort of day that feels like it came out of Aesop and the Grimm brothers' surrogate lovechild's feverdream. Or whatever. Long day. They're tired. Time to yeet a soul.

Or like, that was the plan. As soon as they get home and open the door to their room, they lose their balance on the edge of literally *nothing* and end up falling- falling-- oof. Ok. Not falling anymore.

In a kitchen.

Not their kitchen.

Their skin is its usual color, but they're in their Dark World regalia, which is either a good or a bad sign. There's no one else around, though, and there are a few baskets full of fresh-looking fruit and bread and stuff on the counters.........

Fuck it! Time to raid a pantry.

Comments

[dustless]

So Kris has one, too. Suspicion and relief both ratchet up--at least now they don't need to dance around the subject of death too much. "It's not like a normal SAVE. You die, you come back three days later, an' everybody remembers. So try not to do that, or kill anybody," they say mildly.

Shrug. "I miss some friends, but they're prob'ly happy where they are. The Underground's empty now. Got family here now. You?" Are you going to miss yours? Frisk guesses that's why they asked.

[hauntedxholy]

Wait. This kid actually deals with SAVEs, too? Maybe they should be more focused on that whole three day resurrection thing, but Kris' priorities have been screwed for a long time now.

There's no answer to Frisk's question forthcoming. Kris might even get to answer it for themself. Are they gonna miss their family?

Haven't they been missing them for ages now already?

"...I guess."

The Ball of Junk is still in their pocket. Scraps of erasers and stickers that used to be something else, but for some reason haven't reverted back like Kris has. They set it onto the counter and nudge it back and forth between their hands before putting it back. For safekeeping. "Not... not trying t'be nosy. Sorry." They pause. "Not trying to kill or be killed, either."

[dustless]

Frisk watches it without understanding, except that a lot of that stuff looks modern.

It'd make sense if Kris is nervous. Fidgeting.

They flop back against the table and keep eating, looking at the food instead of staring straight on. Better to be silly-safe Frisk and not dodging-danger Frisk.

They go still, though, and their stomach flops with those words. "It's okay," they say, soft. "I get asked a lot of stuff. And sometimes I ask lots of stuff, too. So...d'you know Flowey? Th--or--know Asriel?"

[hauntedxholy]

Kris doesn't seem to have the same reservations about staring in Frisk's direction. They've had a good amount of practice with that. They didn't earn the "creepy kid" title for nothing.

And--

Well. They could freak out about Asriel's popularity seeming to stretch even THIS far, but...

At least they know they've never heard of 'Flowey' before. "Az..." They look at Frisk a little more closely. "...How d'you know my brother?"

[dustless]

Their head jolts back up. "Your brother?" they ask incredulously.

Okay, that's an overreaction, and they bury their face in their hands to cough a bit. They're not as sick as they used to be, but pink blood hacking still happens and it's still gross. Not something they want to explain.

Once that calms down, they force their voice back to normal. "We, um, we're friends. We met after I fell." Kris doesn't look like a Chara. Aside from the hair. There are lots of weird worlds out there, though, so... "Did you...ever go by 'Chara'? Or, um, want to?"

[hauntedxholy]

Yeah, Kris really wasn't expecting a reaction like that.

They wait as Frisk regains their own bearings. Are silent for several moments after, letting the question hang in the air for a few seconds as they figure out what to say.

"...Fell?" A hand goes into their pocket, closing back around the ball of junk. Fell... in the Dark World? Or...in that 'underground'? How would Frisk have met Asriel there? They're missing something. Nothing new. " 'm Kris. Only...only Kris."

Most of the time.

"When you..." Urgh, talking is always so much harder like this. "When you said...this place is a hub. Other worlds 'n stuff. Did you mean like the- the Fountain? The Dark World?"

[dustless]

Okay. O-kay. "...Okay." That's...weird and not entirely helpful, but better than having to deal with awkward stomach-flopping whenever an old name mighta came up. Playing pretend codenames might not work with someone who's probably older than them.

"Don't know what the Dark World is. Don't think anyone I know said anything 'bout it, anyways. There's fountains--in a huge garden--here, but that's just for decorations and drinking."

Well, not really for drinking, but that's never stopped them.

"There's lots of us from worlds with monsters in them, though. Um...are Toriel an' Asgore--how are they?" Maybe knowing if they're on friendly terms or very much not will give them a clue onto circumstances. Or if...they're alive.

[hauntedxholy]

Cool. Cool cool. So, Frisk has never been to the Dark World then, which makes things both interesting and...a lot more confusing. Kris is -- has been -- officially lost.

Though suddenly having their parents namedropped has Kris staring at Frisk in silence for another couple of seconds.

"Uh. Dad's...fine. Mom's...excited, 'cuz Az is visiting soon. Do you..." Wait. "Do you want to see?" Wait, what.

[dustless]

Visiting? "Where'd he go? Where--what?" Frisk straightens up, standing fully. Old habits have them shoving their bread and their jars into the nearest basket to carry around and save.

"Whatcha mean?" Oh, yuck, sounds like Flowey. "Wh--what d'you mean? There's no way to leave the Castle," they say uncertainly. Didn't Frisk already tell them that, or did they just think they did?

[hauntedxholy]

"Asriel's coming back from university next week. Mom would be happy to have you 'til then, if you want to say hi." They walk over to the pantry, and as they take their out of their pocket to open the door, the ball of junk comes out with it and falls to the ground.

And when they open the door, there's only darkness.

"Maybe you could even get Papyrus out of his room," they say. "I worry about that dude."

[dustless]

"University? Like, college? The one I know's too little for that." Or way too old, but Kris doesn't know about Flowey, so.

They push off and tail Kris anxiously. Not 'cause they're remotely expecting anything to happen--they're getting restless, and really just want to start a tour of the castle like they usually do for new people.

"The hell's that?" Frisk stops just about at their side, squinting into the dark. "An' why's Papyrus in his room?" They have a brother who's a Papyrus; he's a higher priority than weird appearing shadow doors.

[hauntedxholy]

"Yeah. My brother's a year older'n me, so he just left a couple months ago."

They stick a hand through. As soon as it passes what would've been the pantry's threshold, their hand disappears, swallowed by the dark, and they pull it back out a second later. "It's a door. Back to my house. And uh, I dunno. I haven't been able to ask him."

Kris has a bad feeling about this. Like, mega bad. "So what d'you say? Your choice."

[dustless]

That's something to think about. An Asriel who got to grow up.

But not a Chara. They hold the basket tightly against their chest.

"Well..."

It probably won't work. If it does...if it does...

Maybe they'll be able to find a way back for everybody. Maybe they won't be able to come back at all. Maybe they'll forget everything.

They forget to breathe, staring into the black.

Maybe.

Not trying for a good end won't do anything. Turn around, pretend it never happened, and if Kris is gone they'll regret it for the rest of their life. Which, in the Castle, just might be forever.

Frisk's supposed to be a teenager now.

   Yes             No
♥ Yes             No

"Sure."

Furtively glancing up at Kris's face, just once...

...They step forward.

AW YEAH HERE WE GO

[hauntedxholy]

They remain silent as Frisk thinks. Remain stoic when Frisk looks to them. Don't move as Frisk steps through the door.

Why can't Kris stop them?

Unlike Frisk, Kris' choices haven't seemed to matter in any world. A moment later they're stepping into the void themself. And in the space between worlds -- between SAVEs, between HOPE/DREAMS/LIGHT/DARK -- Frisk might hear the fading echoes of a song, if they're listening. It might even sound familiar.


...
...
...



They end up in Kris' room. The house is quiet with nighttime, and Kris themself is sprawled over the floor next to their bed, back in their usual sweater. They don't move.

[dustless]

"Oh my god," Frisk whispers, paralyzed in the center of the room.

This isn't the Castle. The Castle doesn't have carpets like this. Or lamps that need electricity. Or glowing star stickers on the walls.

Kris is on the floor. They're not wearing armor. They're maybehurt, they need help up.

Frisk can't move.

The Castle is home, the Castle is a prison.

"Kris," they croak. "K-Kris. Y-you...a-are you 'kay?"

Frisk's not.

They're smiling, shakily. They're crying, quietly.

[hauntedxholy]

Oh, right.

This isn't a dream.

Every part of their body strains as they climb to their knees, and they grit their teeth against the reply waiting on their tongue- nope. No. Nah! Testing the grip of their hand, they press it against the chest of their sweater, and reach--

in--

"GKGGKH," they say, and then as the weird fuckin parasite soul thing flashes in their grip, "uh, yeah, peachy." They glance over at Frisk's face, looking away quickly when they see the tears there.

[dustless]

The smile is off their face in a snap.

They barely hear their own shriek of "KRIS!"

They want to say DON'T DO THAT or ask HOW CAN YOU TOUCH YOUR OWN SOUL, only their throat can't take yelling. Burying their face in the crook of their arm to smother the disgusting hacking, they stagger forward in primal, terrified instinct. Oh no oh no oh no oh no oh no--

[hauntedxholy]

They don't know how they're gonna explain this to Mom. It's not like there are any otherOH SHIT WHAT THE FUCK

Startled, they toss the soul into the cage where it belongs and scrabble to their feet, trying to meet Frisk halfway. "SHHH SH SH it- it's okay, Frisk-"

They kind of take Frisk by the shoulders, trying to steady them. Oh god, why are they coughing so much. That sounds bad. Why is this happening. Their body is still heavy, still numb, which makes it hard to tell how strong their grip is. "Y-you nnneed to calm down," they whisper. If they can't, Kris might have to get their mom. Glancing at the door, they wonder if she might not be on her way already.

[dustless]

Oh no oh no oh oh okay, they're not dead or anything, but what's going on. Frisk is shaking against their fingers. It kind of hurts where they're holding. They don't care about that.

Their head tips forward. It's hard to stop coughing when they can't calm down. Way too much just happened in the last thirty seconds than they can fully process. They were never supposed to leave, a SOUL is to live, how and why the hell did they do that.

They do manage it, after a horrible time that feels like hours but is probably about a minute. By the time they can look up to stare at Kris wildly, the white around Frisk's gold irises are shot utterly pink.

[hauntedxholy]

This is awful. This just plain old sucks. Kris is really not...good...with people, even at the best of times, and this really isn't the best time for either of them. Are they supposed to say something here? Is there a procedure for this??? All they can do is flounder, kind of, and support Frisk's weight when they need it. Which--

Oh, heaven below, that pink just does not look good. "Uh." They glance at the door and back again. "Maybe a stupid question, but are- are you like, okay?"

[dustless]

Frisk turns their head to look at the SOUL in the--cage.

Why is there a cage.

They breathe a few long, scratchy breaths. They're still crying, too, and that's just another distant layer of gross. They are not taking their world being turned upside-down twice in a row well! Why couldn't they just've gotten stabbed or something, that's something they could be handling just fine.

"Me? What 'bout you?" they rasp, frantically looking between Kris and the cage.

[hauntedxholy]

Kris follows their gaze to the... oh right.

When they're sure that Frisk isn't about to topple over the second they let go, Kris heads over to their bed, hastily stripping off one of the blankets and kind of rambling the entire time. "Oh I'm great nnnow that- that I got that off my chest. Ha, get it, cuz- look, it's fine." See, now there's a blanket over it. Like it doesn't exist! All good. "I can explain later, but mmy mom's probably about to come check on--"

Aand those are footsteps. Cool! They're back at Frisk's side just in time for the knock at their door.

"Kris, are you alright? I thought I heard-" Toriel opens the door, still wearing the clothes she wore to teach today. "Oh dear! What in the world?"

[dustless]

Their mouth's open, rows of fangs glinting, to try asking another series of possibly-nonsensical questions--and then they hear mom and stuff's moving fast and the door opens.

Toriel. Been a long time since they saw her. Any her. This'd be nice under different circumstances.

Frisk yanks the basket up in front of their face, which hides their mouth and some of their eyes. Not enough to hide their view of Toriel and her face, to see if she's going to freak out. Last thing they need, but they can bolt and regroup if they have to.

"...Hi," they say. It's all they can get out without their voice doing something weird.

Can't think of any conversation topics now, anyways.

[hauntedxholy]

So. Things just keep happening, they guess. Kris takes a step forward.

"Uh, Mom," they say, "this is Frisk. Frisk, this is...my Mom. W-we, uh, there's a- the- fuck-" Yep, that's not working. They take another step forward and switch to using their hands. They don't know if Frisk can understand, but if they can, they'd see Kris sign something like, Sorry and they're my friend and need a place to stay for a bit and like, super tired right now, wow.

Toriel's expression grows more and more bewildered. But when Kris is finished, she looks between them and the smaller anxious child standing in the middle of the room, and a warm smile grows across her face.

"Kris, you should have told me you have a human friend. I would've had you invite them over much sooner!" She directs the smile at Frisk next. "I know it is very late, but is there anything I can get for you?"

[dustless]

They get some of it from the edge of their vision. They've gotten a lot of practice with sign at the castle.

"Um?" They actually would like something to drink now. What they want more, though, is for Toriel to go away. They like her and they were friends, but Kris and their SOUL is something that screams more important right now.

So they shake their head quickly. "No. Thanks," they mutter.

It's good Kris can sign, 'cause they're not going to be able to talk after this.