Icebreaker

(A/N: Play A Knight's Reflection)

"Kay, so, I get the Soul part, but not the… everything else part."

"Susie… it's actually… pretty simple."

Kris gripped their Soul tightly and threw it as far as they could behind them, it landing up a few feet away from their head.

"That… thing… is bad."

Susie cringed.

"WOAH! I'm no fucking expert, but don't you need that?!"

Kris gave Susie a very wobbly thumbs up.

"Hggg… Uh… No…? That.. was.. not fun.. to say… the least… Now… for… this ring…"

Kris reached over to their limp arm, recoiled at the feeling of sore muscles, but continued to try and reach their hand regardless. They grabbed onto the Thorn Ring, and pulled on it. The thorns scraped against Kris's skin, even scratching the metal on their gauntlet, albeit very slowly, causing the process to take longer, and only adding to the pain they were in.

"Nggg… Ahh…!"

Susie started to walk back over to Kris and started to extend a hand outward.

"Uh, should I-"

Kris shook their head.

"No.. no! It's… ahh! Fine! Ahh! God, why did… anyone think… putting this damn thing on… was a good idea?!"

Eventually, after several minutes and a ludicrous amount of pain, the ring separated from Kris's finger flesh. They threw the ring, it falling close to where their shield was, it still being stuck in the wall.

"Ha… Ha… …There! I did it..!"

Susie looked at the ring and then back at Kris.

"You, uh, you good there?"

"...Yup." Kris gave a wobbly thumbs up.

"Good. Now, while I'm glad that's finally over, I need some sort of an explanation of ANYTHING that's happened at this point. Literally, ANYTHING."

Susie started tossing her axe back and forth between both of her hands.

"Shit hits the fan, people are dying, we brawl, and finally, on the top of this ass sundae, you rip your whole ass soul out of your goddamn chest! Like, what the fuck?!"

Kris put their palm up as if to tell Susie to calm down.

"Look… Susie, I know this is all… very confusing, but just… follow me. What just happened, everything I said, that power that I had, that… that wasn't me just now. It was… someone else."

Susie stopped tossing her axe around and cautiously tossed it away in a flash, sitting down on the ground shortly after.

"I got that by now. My question is, if that ass wasn't you, who was it?"

Kris looked a bit nervous, and their mouth trembled as they spoke.

"I… I'm… not entirely sure."

Susie did a double take.

"The- the fuck do you mean you don't know?!"

Kris threw a hand up.

"I don't know! It… didn't tell me what it was! Otherwise, I'd tell you!"

"'It'? You mean it's not even a fucking person?! What were you, possessed?!"

"Basically! I couldn't move, could barely talk as it was, and just got my ass kicked, in a fight I didn't want to partake in, by you!"

Susie's lips curled inwards as she bit down on them while leaning on the wall behind her.

"Not really so psyched about that anymore. Hey Kris. Humor me for a sec. How did… that… happen?" She waved her hand around where Kris’s Soul had landed.

Kris shrugged. "Heck if I know. It was a day like any other… I just woke up like usual… and I realized I couldn't move. It was like my whole body had become numb, and I felt this constant low buzzing, like everywhere. Then I heard it. That… thing."

Kris started shivering.

"It spoke to me. Told me that it had things to do, goals to accomplish. It needed my body because it didn't have a body of its own. That I would be a slave to its will for as long as it needs me.  That… there was no negotiating, or talking things though. That… That…”

Susie's concern only grew with every second that she was left without a response. “That what? Come on! You’re killing me here!”

Kris looked down at the ground and frowned.

"...It told me that my choices don't matter. That none of it matters."

Susie's eyes widened as the words brought back memories of a time she would have rather forgotten if she could.

"...You're fucking me."

Kris gave Susie a sad glance.

"...I wish I was."

Susie slammed her fist on the wall she was leaning against. It left a dent in said wall, just like the one Kris was now laying in, only way smaller and more fist-shaped.

"That's so... FUCKING STUPID! GODDAMN FUCKING...!"

Kris gave a half shrug, groaning through the pain it caused them.

"That's… twice now? You've got terrible luck with your lines getting jacked."

Susie then slammed her fist into the ground, leaving yet another fist-shaped crater in her wake.

"You're fucking telling me! First Spade King, and now this douchebag?!"

"Guess you really struck the one-liner goldmine, eh?"

Kris chuckled nervously, their poor attempt to lighten the mood working just as well as one would think. 

Which was not at all, evidenced by Susie's face, which was currently growing more troubled by the second.

"Don't even get me started with this shit! I didn't even... I didn't want to...! I just…"

Susie's hair drifted over her face, covering her face.

She became unusually quiet, her previous tirade having evaporated into nothing but steam.

The only times that Susie was ever quiet that Kris knew of was when she was really upset or conflicted about something. It didn't happen often, so the fact that it was happening now of all times was concerning...

Kris hadn't really known Susie for more than a day at this point, so they had no clue what was really bothering her. It only caused their already big sense of curiosity to only grow three sizes.

Finally, after a stretch of radio silence from Susie, Kris decided to just ask her a simple question.

"...Just what?"

Susie sighed, grit her teeth, and started to scratch at her right arm.

"... People don't like me, Kris."

Kris bit their lip. This was going to go in a really bad direction, and Kris knew it. Susie's reputation was probably the thing they knew the most about her, and that wasn't a good thing. But to hear Susie address it herself, both briefly in their fight, and right now...

...Kris got a really bad feeling about this conversation.

"I'm… unfortunately well aware."

Susie pinched the bridge of her brow.

"Fuck, I mean, I know it's fucking obvious, but it's... worse than you might think. People would and are always accusing me of shit I didn’t do, always assuming the worst of me, when they don't see me do shit!. They believe stupid ass 'theories', like, I beat people up on the regular, or I think bullying people is fun. Usually it's all due to my damn teeth. One glance at the chompers, and it's all, 'oh you're a infernal demon child!'"

To better illustrate her point, Susie flashed her mouthful of sharp, dagger-pointed teeth, but without the usually ferocity or excitement that the display would demand.  

Rather, it looked like she just wanted to close her mouth, but kept it open regardless.

"...The raggedy clothes and my take-no shit from anyone attitude just makes me a huge target for all the assholes and bitches in our world. I get enough shit as it is, so imagine if word got out that I took and then ate a teacher's property, more over the school's property. I'd be fucked down to the goddamn bottom of the well, right there with Little Timmy!"

Susie finally closed her mouth, sighing in an empty-sounding relief.

"And… Well… If I got expelled… then it'd just prove everything they thought right. It'd prove what a terrible kid I was. And then what? What  would I do? What the fuck would happen to me?  …Where the hell would I go?"

Kris frowned. They always assumed that Susie's reputation was greatly exaggerated, but they never would have thought that she thought she was going to get expelled. 

It was just one piece of chalk, right? 

So why did Susie think she'd get such a severe punishment for a crime that wasn't that serious?

Kris tried to not sound too inquisitive or pressuring, for fear that Susie would retract her words, and just brush it off. "Did you really think that you would have gotten expelled for taking and eating chalk of all things? Or that I would have tattled on you?"

Susie huffed, like she was going to laugh because Kris had asked an apparently stupid question.

"Yes and yes! It's the first legitimately intentional bad thing I've actually done! And like I said before, people don't like me! They would have taken any chance to finally get rid of me! And, before we became best buds, I... I thought you were the same way. You're good at planning and shit, and I've seen some times when we were younger when you'd do your pranks. Lot's of those were fucking complicated as shit! Let's not beat around the bush, if you wanted me gone, you would have either found a way, or made one."

Susie started to scratch her arm a little faster.

"I thought, that if I could finally try being scary intentionally, I could get you not to say anything... And I did some fucked up shit."

Susie signed and just rested her head on her non-scratching hand.

"Don't get it twisted, I just spouted bullshit I hoped would shock you enough into not saying anything about the chalk. There's nothing wrong with you and no one's going to get tired of you. You're..."

Susie smiled a little.

"You're Kris, and Kris is a cool ass bro for not saying anything."

Kris wanted to take the compliment, they wanted to just accept what Susie said and moved on.

But Susie's smile disappearing right after she said that made Kris wish they knew even more.

"I... Appreciate the props, but.. Was… was everything the stuff you said was a complete lie?"

Susie had to think about it for a second.

"...Sort of, I guess? At the end of the day, I wasn’t... really thinking too much about it. I just didn't want to get fucking expelled, so I thought of stuff that might really get under your skin. You get thrusted with a crap reputation, and so you try to take every advantage it gives you. Which, from personal experience, is shit all! …But that still doesn’t make it ok, especially since you were dealing with that thing this whole time! " Susie pointed towards Kris's Soul aggressively.

Susie scratched her arm harder and more furiously than before she stopped abruptly, stood up, turned to face Kris, bowed down on her hands and knees, shame evident on her face.

"I... I can't do this... I can't just fix things like this... I..."

Susie then started saying… words, but Kris didn’t know what any of it meant. They could make out a word that sounded like yurashito, or yamashita, or something, but that was about it.

Whatever it was, the whole thing was freaking Kris out a little.

“Sorry Susie, I don’t think I… understood that. Or… what the heck you're doing. So if you explain-”

“You don’t have to. Just know that… this is my way of saying sorry.”

Susie then summoned her axe, quickly brought its edge to her stomach, and…

“SUSIE! What the hell are you doing?!”

Susie stopped right before her axe would have made contact with her skin. She seemed just a little perturbed at being interrupted.

“This is how I have to make things right, dammit! I did something really shitty, so now I have to pay for it!”

Kris starred at Susie in pure horror.

They already gave her enough wounds while they were fighting earlier. The wounds were still relatively fresh, and still bleeding, albeit slowly. And yet, Susie didn't seem to care one bit about her previous injuries, ready to give herself more. 

Even if she wasn't horribly wounded, injuring yourself was really bad. This was a wake up call, Kris didn't know much about Susie before this moment, and they hated themselves for it. It bothered Kris that Susie thought that what she was about to do was apparently the answer to her being scared and worried about her life being over that she took drastic measures.

And bothered was an understatement.

“By disemboweling yourself?!”

Susie stared at Kris with a surprised expression.

“Wha- Hell no, you dummy! Well, that’s how it normally works, but I am not interested in dying today! I'm just gonna make a few cuts, and then we’ll be even!”

Once it occurred to them that Susie was still going to go through with her makeshift ritual, Kris frantically waved both of their arms, pain be damned.

“WHY?! I- I don't understand!"

"That's fine! You don't need to know shit! Now I'll just get back to-"

Kris slammed their hands against the ground which, due to them still being relatively weakened, lessened the impact a bit, but still got Susie's attention nonetheless. 

"How about NO?! How about you don't do that, and I just say 'its okay!' because it is?!”

Susie looked at her axe and back at Kris.

“Are you-”

“YES! YES! Just please! Put the axe away!”

Susie got up and tossed her axe away before sitting down again. She still had a guilty look on her face.

“Um… okay, but… I really am sorry Kris. I-”

Kris frantically waved it off with their good hand.

"It's fine! You were desperate, and scared, and alone. I can't in good mind blame you for feeling the things you felt! Everybody does thing that they regret, me especially! And getting expelled would be rough for anybody, let alone you! Besides, I had a feeling that you weren't exactly being genuine yesterday, call it a hunch, and its all water under the bridge! The important thing is, just please try not to do… whatever that was again please! Ever!"

Susie looked a bit relieved, but also a bit confused.

“I'm glad you're okay Kris, I really am, but what’s the fucking big deal? Like I said, I wouldn’t have died! I know what I'm doing! I think you're freaking out a little.”

“No, because you shouldn’t be thinking of cutting yourself! For any reason! Doing that will only hurt both of us! Please tell me that this isn’t something you think about doing on a usual basis! Or... worse?"

Susie stared at Kris for a while, nervously darting her eyes back and forth between Kris and her arm.

“Oh, uh… Nah. …Nope. Only time. I swear.”

Kris narrowed their eyes, trying to gauge Susie's validity. She still looked ashamed, but that could easily be due to the aftereffects of yesterday's incident.

"You promise?"

Susie finally looked at Kris before giving a pretty shaky "...Yeah".

Kris let out a long sigh, feeling immense relief.

"Good. I'm glad you're okay, Susie. I'd hate it if there were more cuts on you. I gave you enough as it is!"

Susie remained silent while internally bitterly laughing at the word 'okay' and her name being used in the same sentence.

"It's fine."

She then slumped down to the ground and stared off at Kris's Soul in the distance.

"So, um, what else, uh, what else happened? You know, with the, uh, the thing?"

Kris looked over at their Soul. They wished they didn't have to talk about their experience anymore, but they had to take responsibility for this.

Before it was too late to do so.

Kris took in a deep breath, and continued.

"...One of the few things I do know about it is that it's attached to my Soul, somehow. It… said that my Soul was the link between us… and that it was a 'gift'. …Whatever that means. Yesterday was the first time I realized I could rip it out, and even then, I barely even realized how I did it. It was a long day, lots of stuff happened, I was hungry, he was an asshole, said it needed to give my sack of flesh rest, I didn’t matter, yada yada, anyways, one thing led to another, and I'm devouring an entire pie by myself. Completely soulless. And then later, I realized that it really hurts to not have a Soul, put it back in, lost control, and internally screamed for about an hour. So yeah, fun times."

"...Fuck. Sounds excruciating. Wait, I'm sorry,it hurts without your Soul?!”

Kris quickly waved it off. "Eh. It did, but that was last night. This is this afternoon. It’s fine-ish."

Susie turned her head inquisitively.

"Wait wait wait, hold on a sec. What about that whole ‘your Soul was a gift’ part? Didn't you have a Soul when you were born? Cause, as far as I know, everybody's got a Soul when they're born. So, the fact you can rip your's out is fucking weird. Though to be fair, people know shit all about Souls, only that they're there and that's all folks! Did you have one anytime before it barged in, or did you go all fucking loosy goosy?"

Kris shrugged.

"Nobody said I didn't, and I didn't feel excruciating pain before sooo… yeah, pretty sure I've had one since however many years old I am ago. Or as far back as I can remember. Whichever is longer."

Susie sighed in confusion.

"But then how could that fucker 'give' it to you? You know what? Just forget about it. It probably just spews bullshit out of its stolen mouth to get in people's heads. It tried getting in my head, so God knows what it said to you? ... Actually, what the hell does that fucker say in your head anyways? Like, other than the insane body possession shit."

Kris simply stared at the dark sky, the Fountain pulsating all the while in the distance, pushing more and more darkness into the world around them.

"...It likes taunting me. Sometimes it lets me say small things to give me the illusion of freedom, only to jerk it back and probably laugh at my expense. Always making comments in my head about literally everything. Sometimes I'll begin to say something, then it just cuts me off in the middle. It's so infuriating! It's like having a sadistic puppeteering Berdly in my head, all the damn time! I don't know how Noelle deals with it! I'm surprised that she hasn't blown up yet!"

Kris huffed before cracking a sly smile.

"That being said... the jokes on it though, it's ego is its own downfall. Sometimes it just forgets about me talking because it thinks it can stop me from telling anyone my situation. I mean, it can, but I don't think that it was as attentive as it thought it was. I managed to do lots of awesome stuff.

Susie laughed and even flipped off Kris's Soul while doing so.

"Hell yeah, Kris! Fucking disembodied voices got nothing on you! Come on, I have to know! What'd you do?"

Kris just scoffed playfully.

"You know, the most important things, like eating moss, wearing shackles, finding the weirdest people, and even trying to help give your reputation a kick to the balls. Real important business." Kris mimed putting on a pair of shades and made an explosion noise with their mouth.

Susie burst out laughing, albeit with a genuine smile on her face.

"Kris, my dude, I really appreciate that last thing, but there's no body who's gonna believe that! Who would believe that I, dubbed the 'beast of terror', or 'class hellion' would be nice, or not someone who rips people's faces off? I mean, the title's not wrong per say, but it comes with implications that everyone just decides to believe because they all kinda suck. But they can all fuck off with their lives and I'll fuck off with mine!" 

Kris put on a small, but sneaky smile. They knew just what to say to subvert Susie's expectations.

While simultaneously teasing the fuck out of her.

"...Noelle did."

Susie's laughter disappeared as soon as Kris finished their sentence. She thought she might have been hearing things. But it wasn't even a second later when she went over the exclamation again and, yup, Kris had said what they said. 

Kris talked to Noelle about her.

And Susie didn't know why that fact made her shock morph into anger. Or rather anger out of embarrassment.

"Wha- I- ARE YOU SERIOUS?! YOU TALKED TO NOELLE?! ABOUT ME?!"

Susie was trying to look intimidating, but the shock on her face made her mouth hang open, so she sort of looked like an angry Muppet. And Kris happened to really like Muppets...

"...Yup."

...So they persisted.

Susie's hands contorted into choking notions as her face morphed into a quivering snarl.

"WHAT DID YOU TELL HER?! WHAT DID YOU SAY ABOUT ME?!"

Kris had a light chuckle. This was gold. And they struck the jackpot.

"You know, you not actually ripping people's faces off, stuff you like that I knew about, some light teasing at her cause she's hilarious, the works."

Susie's face was getting as hot as her temper, and the choking notions grew more and more forceful. "WHY?! WHY DID YOU DO THAT?!"

"Jeez, you seem a little heated."

Susie adjusted her jacket collar to let air in. "A LITTLE?!-"

"Why do you care if Noelle specifically knows stuff about you? I mean, if it was Catti, or even Berdly, that I get. But Noelle?"

Susie started to stutter up, the heat on her face quickly gathering on to her cheeks. "W-Well, I-I uh, I-I- told you! I didn't, you know, want to get expelled! DUH!"

Unfortunately for her, Kris was not going to fall for Susie's bullshit.

"Noelle? A snitch?"

"Well, um, y-yEAH!"

Kris stared at Susie with a look that all but screamed 'Are you really fucking going with this?'. 

"Dude, c'mon, this is sad. I can personally tell you that she's way cooler than that. Not once did she ever tell anyone about my pranks with the intent to get me in trouble. Ironically, most of the time, I would fumble my own escape plans, and get caught by literally anyone else. Even with the rest of the time, she literally never told on me, so I know you're bullshiting me."

"ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT, FINE! YOU'RE RIGHT! IT'S BULLSHIT! YOU KNOW WHAT ELSE IS BULLSHIT, YOU TELLING NOELLE MY BUSINESS! WITHOUT MY KNOWLEDGE, YOU ASS!"

Kris snorted sarcastically. "What business? The Dark World? She wouldn't have believed me without proof, and, as of yesterday afternoon, I couldn't have given it to her. Besides, I only told her good things, you know. Well, mostly good things, some were neutral at worst, but she took it well."

"WELL?! WHAT DO YOU MEAN WELL?!"

"I mean well, as in, good, great, fantastic, not bad. How great you might ask? Pretty great I'd say! Heck, I even told her that you eat and she didn't even-"

Susie gasped loudly, her voice raising several octaves, and a big, bright, burning red blush now visible on her face. Her eyes widened, and she connected that last sentence to an event that took place earlier that very day.

"IS THAT WHY SHE GAVE ME CHALK TODAY?! BECAuse shE- BECAUSE YOU, YOU TOLD HER, I can't believe you told her wtf, THAT I ATE CHALK?!"

"I would assume, yes."

"DAMN IT KRIS! WHAT THE HELL?! I DON'T EVEN LIKE CHALK!"

Of the barrage of words that Susie was hurling at them, the last few were the only ones that phased Kris any. Confusion immediately set in as Kris gasped over dramatically.

"Wait, you DON'T?!"

"NO! WHY WOULD I LIKE CHALK?! IT'S ALL DUSTY AND HARD, AND IT TASTES EVEN WORSE WHEN IT GOES DOWN MY THROAT!!"

Kris snorted. They tried to remain serious, but they just couldn't.

Kris was glad they were on the ground, cause if they were standing up, they surely wouldn't have been able to keep standing. Oh, they would have collapsed into a laughing fit in an instant. 

The experience was enhanced by Susie's apparent lack of awareness of her words. So she was just watching, clueless to Kris's antics. 

"What the hell is up with your face? What's so funny?"

Susie went over the conversation again in her head...

...And realized in horror that she gave Kris ammo for a hypothetical gun that would shoot her in the brain.

She then subsequently realized that Kris was waiting for her to understand the true meaning behind her words, before getting to aim and shoot.

"That's what she said!"

Susie stared for a moment, eyes twitching, before she facepalmed and started fuming while Kris absolutely cackled in delight.

"WHY ARE YOU LIKE THIS?!"

Kris snapped their fingers at Susie.

"You know my wackiness is my most endearing quality! Plus, you know you like my funny words!"

Susie huffed and looked away.

"...DAMMIT YOU'RE RIGHT! BUT STILL GO FUCK YOURSELF!"

"I always am. Right, that is, I'm always right, not-"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever! I still don't have a real goddamn reason for you telling Noelle shit about me!"

"And you never will! Mwahahaha!" Kris began cackling like a stereotypical witch.

Susie cracked her knuckles together. "I'm sorry, WHAT WAS THAT?!"

Kris stuck their tongue out at Susie mockingly. "You're not getting a straight answer out of me! You'll have to ask her yourself!"

Susie could only growl as Kris laughed and laughed...

...That is, until Kris suddenly twinged in pain. It felt like a really bad cramp, only everywhere. Every joint and limb became a warzone of pain, as even moving felt sticking a knife into their chest.

It was a sign. A sign of bad things to come. This happened before, and Kris should have remembered, or cared. But they didn't. Kris had forgotten all about it, and now they were paying the price.

The only thing they could say in response was;

"...crap."

All of Susie's anger and or embarrassment wiped off her face, and was substituted with concern. "Ah shit! Kris, you alright?!"

Kris gave Susie the ok sign with their hand. Yes, they were lying, but Susie had been through enough, cleaning up their mess.

"Are you sure?!"

Kris started to nod feverishly before twinging again. There was only so much pain Kris could contain before it just came out.

"I knew it! You do need your Soul! I mean, of course you need it, but humans work differently than monsters and you pulled your fucking Soul out, so I thought you would know if it would fucking hurt! Clearly, I was fucking wrong!"

"I… do know what's up. I'm fine… for now."

Susie pulled her hands out and clenched them both roughly.

"FOR. NOW?!"

"Yes, for now! Look, no time for that! Forget about the whole Noelle thing, ask me anything else! Important stuff! Like, saving the world type of important!”

“Why the hell are you rushing?! And what’s with this ‘for now’ shit?!”

Kris groaned and pointed towards their fallen Soul.

“THAT! That’s why! I need that thing in my body or I’m going to die! Or go into a coma, or melt, or something, I don't know! I'm sorry! I should have known this was going to happen, but I... I was just enjoying being a person again instead of being someone's puppet! Laughing and cracking jokes like I used to, hanging out with my cool friend, just... pretending like everything's ok... just for a little while. Apparently though, that's fucking illegal, and the universe is just like, "Oh hiya Kris! Let me kick you in the dick over and over again!" What did I do to deserve this, huh?! Why me?! It's not like I would pass this off onto anyone else, but I just don't understand why it has to be me who hosts that monster! Is it a punishment? For one of my many supposed crimes? Was it hiding under the bed?! Or saying that Ice-E was real?! Or flushing the bath bombs down the toilet over and over again?! Do you know, Susie, cause I'm losing my mind!"

Susie's eyes widened at Kris's sudden outburst.

"Woah, woah, Kris! Clearly, you were lying about being okay! How the fuck do we fix this?!"

Kris started laughing sarcastically, sounding more manic each second.

"FIX IT? That's the beauty of it all, Susie! I don't have a goddamn clue! One of the only things I know about that fucker is that it's attached to me like a damn parasite, and did... something to my Soul! I can last for a while without it, but eventually, I need to shove it back up in my guts, and then the nightmare will begin all over again so I need to do this before my limbs go slack, and I lose control over myself, and that damn voice comes back, and-”

Kris felt a hand on their shoulder. Susie had walked over and stretched her arm down so she could reach Kris.

“Hey. Dude. It’s gonna be okay. We're gonna get that dickhead out of you. I don't have a damn clue how we're going to do it, but we'll figure something out!"

Kris managed to crack a smile and smacked their chest with their hand. They ignored the pain that came with the notion.

"All right then! I'll take you up on your offer! Now, ask away for an undetermined chance of receiving a valuable clue! If you ask me something, I might be able to think properly. Seriously, my head feels like a blender. I guess that's what happens when you get slammed into the ground eh?"

Susie took in an uneasy breath and glanced off to the side. Kris realized that it might still be an issue to Susie that she had to beat the shit out of them.

"Oh. Right."

"Forget it. It's whatever... I guess. Hmm… what to ask… Uh… what did it mean when it said it'd kill everyone you loved again?"

Kris's head looked down at the ground. "...No clue."

"How about it seemingly knowing some... vaguely accurate shit about me?"

Kris shook their head.

"What about that Thorn Ring thing?"

"I bought it from some poor hobo in a dumpster. I think he was some washed up has-been, but I didn't talk to him enough to get much more that. I was judging mostly on looks and the fact he lived in garbage while wearing a suit. It made Noelle wear it before me, but I think you knew that already."

"Right… guy in a dumpster… that makes sense."

Her eyes suddenly lit up as she snapped her fingers.

"I've got it! Does that fucker know about the Knight?!"

A smile emerged on Kris's face, and then it just hung there, unmoving. They held that face for a few seconds.

"The who?"

Susie's face quickly started to accumulate disbelief. The fact that Kris forgot who the Knight of all people was, especially since they had no damn clue who the hell they were, made Susie wrestle with the anger she instinctively was feeling and her slowly diminishing patience.

"The Knight!"

Kris continued to smile, albeit now more sheepishly than before.

"Yeah… see… Here's the thing… I don't really... know who… that… is…?"

Susie was stunned to silence as she simply stared at Kris.

"Are… are they important..?-"

"THEY'RE THE ENTIRE FUCKING REASON ANY OF THIS SHIT IS FUCKING HAPPENING!"

Kris's eyes shot up.

"Oh shit, really?"

Susie facepalmed several times.

"SPADE KING MENTIONED HIM! A WHOLE FUCKING LOT! HE PRACTICALLY KISSED THE GROUND WHERE THE KNIGHT WALKED! THE KNIGHT WAS LIKE HIS GOD AND SHIT!"

Kris scratched their head nervously.

"I sorry, but I don't remember any of this! Who else knew about this Knight guy?!"

Susie sighed very loudly.

"OH I DUNNO, SEAM, SOME OF THE OTHER DARKNERS, JEVIL! FREAKING JEVIL! EVEN HIS INSANE ASS KNEW ABOUT THE KNIGHT MORE THAN YOU DID! ALSO, JEVIL, SHUT THE HELL UP BEFORE YOU SAY A SINGLE WORD, BECAUSE I KNOW YOU'RE GOING TO SAY SOMETHING NOW THAT I BROUGHT YOU UP, BUT I'M GONNA NEED YOU TO NOT. SAY. ANYTHING!"

There was a moment of silence before "ANYTHING, ANYTHING!" rang out of Susie's pocket.

Susie balled up her fists and smacked them against her face as she groaned loudly. She was getting absolutely fucking nowhere.  

"ARE YOU SERIOUS?! C'MON KRIS, THE KNIGHT SHUT THE DOOR ON US WHEN WE FIRST ENTERED THE CLOSET AND WAS THE REASON WHY WE FELL INTO THE DARK WORLD! THEY ALSO CREATED THIS DARK FOUNTAIN, AND TRAPPED NOELLE AND BERDLY INSIDE!"

Kris waved their hands to get Susie to stop her angry ranting. "Wait, when was any of that confirmed?!"

"IT WASN'T, BUT WHO ELSE WOULD HAVE DONE ALL OF THIS SHIT?!"

"Fair point, but that brings up a bigger question. How are Dark Fountains even opened in the first place?"

Susie stomped her feet on the ground. "AUGH! TOO MANY FUCKING QUESTIONS AND NOT ENOUGH FUCKING ANSWERS! MAYBE YOU JUST PUNCH THE GROUND REALLY HARD OR SOME SHIT?!"

"God, this is-"

(Play: Fallen)

Kris cringed in pain once more and gripped their injured arm tightly. This time, the pain was much more intense.

And unlike the previous time only a few minutes ago, this pain started to linger, more and more by the passing second. It felt like their blood was boiling itself, static was spreading throughout their whole body, all their nerves were going numb, their skin started to buzz and ring, and most importantly, it seemed like the pain was starting to stack on top of itself. Kris could almost feel themselves start to crumple under the weight of the pain. This unique combination of bodily afflictions created a special little hell just for them. Even worse still, Kris could feel their body losing warmth, making them feel as blue as their changed skin.

Lucky them.

Kris couldn't keep up the facade anymore, this was as far as they went as a free person. That revelation started to eat at their calm, which was already getting jackhammered into oblivion.

"NO! NO, NO, NO! NOT… NOW… NOT… NOW!

"FUCK! Kris, are you-"

Susie tried to reach out to Kris but…

"DON'T… COME NEAR ME!" Kris snapped.

Their voice sounded hollow, like if a corpse was still able to talk, but their vocal cords had rotted away.

Susie hated it.

She pulled back as Kris writhed on the ground in pain.

"Can't… ERRG! let… you… come... any closer… I'm… running… out of time…"

Kris slowly pointed a shaking finger towards the path forwards, the one the two of them had previously gone through to properly commence their duel.

"You need to… get out of here… get to… the fountain… Theirs's... a... middle path... it'll take... you... to... Queen's mansion...  AH! TELL… tell…"

Kris could barely get a sentence out without screaming in pain. Just a little longer, they just needed to hold on a little longer.

"...Noelle… I…. I made her… I made her miserable…. I hurt her so much…"

Perhaps it was the intensity of the pain.

Or maybe it was the heartbreak knowing that they hurt someone who was once their friend.

Someone who should have stayed their friend.

Someone who wasn't because Kris was a coward and would rather run from the pain they both shared and leave her all alone without the comfort Kris got.

Someone who only was only in pain because they couldn't repel some disembodied overcocky fuck.

Whatever the reason was, Kris felt tears stream down their face and drip into the ground beneath them.

"Please…! You have to… tell her… that... I'm sorry... Get her... as far away... as possible..." 

Susie could barely stand to keep looking at Kris in such a state.

And yet she kept her eyes open.

"...Jeez, you... don't have to beg so much, you know. …You make it sound like I would fucking say no."

Susie begrudgingly began walking towards the exit. The sight was a massive reprieve from Kris's torture.

"Thank… you…"

Susie abruptly stopped, which put Kris on edge for a moment.

"Don't thank me yet. Cause once I'm finished-"

Susie turned her head back for a moment, looking straight at Kris's eyes with her own.

"-I'm coming back to get that thing out of you."

Hearing that and watching Susie resume walking away brought Kris some peace. Her figure eventually disappeared from view, bringing a smile to Kris's face despite all the pain. 

Kris pitied everyone who just dismissed Susie as some mean girl. They didn't know how exactly she did it, but Susie just made things better. Where would they be without her?

(A/N: Play Darkness Falls)

Kris kept that smile as their eyes started to scrunch up in pain. Their body was now starting to loop back into the other direction. The pain was now becoming dull and drolling, but their body was getting cold, and they started to feel less of... well, anything.

Kris made barely any attempt to keep their eyes open. Now, things were out of their hands.

Then, a familiar but still foreign presence entered their mind.

"You know you can't escape me, right? All I need to do… is wait. And then, and THEN,"  

Kris could practically feel the laughter and excitement emanating from their associate.

“I’ll make surethat you will never break free from me AGAIN.”

Kris just kept smiling.

"Maybe you will… Maybe you won't… But you... sure as hell... aren't going to win… Cause no matter... how hard you try... you can't break her…"

The voice laughed.

"You seriously think she’ll defeat us a second time?! With OUR power...?"

"Heh. ...I know they can. You'll... see it soon."

"Then I guess it's GAMEOVER for poor poor Kris."

"For now… But I'll be back... to continue our quest…  to seal... the fountains... picking up... right where… we left off…"

That smile stayed on Kris's face, as their eyes finally shut.

And then the world was engulfed in darkness.