Chapter Text
The familiar hustle and bustle of the school cafeteria was the same whether you were human or monster, it seemed. No matter where you sat you could hear hear every person in the room loudly chatting or loudly eating the mediocre food they were served. Somewhere in this maze of tables sat Kris, the only noteworthy thing about them being that they were the only human in the entire school. Otherwise they remained completely inconspicuous and unremarkable: just the way Kris preferred it.
"Oh yeah! Prom's coming up in a couple weeks isn't it?" Noelle chirped, somehow always greeting the school day with a smile.
"Yo... don't remind me, haha..." said Monster Kid sitting next to her. "I dunno what's worse: asking someone to the prom, or the prom itself."
"Definitely the asking part for me. I get so nervous, so I always end up going alone. I think the prom itself is pretty fun, though!" She turned to Kris, who was sitting across from the two of them. "What about you, Kris? Got any plans for the prom?"
Kris looked up briefly, eyes perpetually obscured by their unkempt hair. They silently shook their head before returning their gaze downward to their empty tray. Any food in front of Kris tended to disappear quickly, but unfortunately that left them with little else to do but absentmindedly stab and poke the tray with a spork until lunch ended. The two monsters sitting in front of Kris were used to their quiet, slightly creepy demeanor.
"Heh, looks like none of us have much of an idea what to do then." Noelle chuckled. "Y'know, if none of us have dates or anything, we could all just go together! Just have some fun as a group!"
"Haha, what? Dude, that's lame. That's almost as lame going to prom with your mom! Uh... no offense, Kris." MK smiled awkwardly.
Kris shrugged, knowing full well how lame that one prom in middle school was. Their mom thought it would be a good way to get them to socialize. It... didn't quite work out that way.
"Anyway... going to prom with friends is super embarassing! Might as well not even go."
"Oh come on, it might be fun! We could-"
SLAM!
A tray full of food was unceremoniously dropped onto the table. Standing before it was the purple people eater herself, the towering beast making a dramatic entrance as usual. The teens shook in fear (and a bit of fluster, in Noelle's case) as she loomed over them. Except for Kris. The human smiled when she appeared, something that doesn't often grace their face.
"Sup, nerds." The beast uttered in her low, gravely voice.
"Y-yo..." Monster Kid trembled.
"H-h-h-hello!" Noelle blushed.
"Hi, Susie." Kris said calmly.
"Mind if I sit here?"
"Uh, w-well-"
"'Course ya don't." Susie interrupted before plopping down onto the seat next to Kris.
As soon as she sat down, Susie draped one of her massive arms around the human's shoulders. Kris drooped a little under its weight, but otherwise didn't seem to mind. This was just a thing that Susie did. Its been that way ever since they became friends after the Dark World incident a few days back. Whether they were walking, talking, or just sitting next to each other, Susie always seemed to be leaning on Kris in some way. She seemed to be a very... physical person, to say the least. Maybe she does it to assert dominance, maybe she just likes holding people. Kris had no idea. They hadn't thought to ask.
"You two sure have gotten... close lately!" Noelle pointed out, just a little bit jealous.
"Y-yeah, I thought you two hated each other!" MK added. "Now you're acting like best buds!"
"Eh, don't think about it too hard." Susie replied, using her other arm to shovel food into her maw. "Let's just say we, uh... found common ground."
Kris nodded, still smiling faintly.
"Well, I'm glad you two are getting along!" Noelle said cheerily. "I think that's great!"
"And weird." MK said bluntly. Noelle nudged him in disapproval.
"Whatever, we're friends now, big deal. Just go back to whatever you were talking about before."
"Uh, o-oh yeah! We were trying to figure out what to do for prom! Are... a-are you going to prom, S-Susie?" Noelle asked bashfully.
"Noooooooope. Not a chance." Susie said as she gulped down another mass of foodstuff.
"Oh... b-but we were thinking of g-going as a group! If... if-if you wanted to join us!"
"What? Yo, that was your idea!" MK chimed in. "I still think its lame as heck! Proms are supposed to be for couples, which means you're supposed to ask someone out, but all of us suck at that!" He slammed his face on the table and groaned. "Prom sucks, man."
To everyone's surprise, Susie let out a laugh. That bellowing, barking laugh of hers.
"What are you talking about?! Why settle for that when you've got the flirt master right here?" She said, motioning towards Kris. The human's content smile suddenly disappeared.
Noelle and MK looked at each other in confusion.
"Uh... ha... haha, very funny, Susie." Noelle chuckled nervously.
"Wha- I'm serious! You mean you guys didn't know? I've seen 'em win people over with a single line! I gotta say, I was impressed. And that ain't an easy thing to do."
Kris frowned.
"Are you for real?" MK lifted his head off the table. "Yo, Kris! Have you been holding out on us? Are you saying you could actually get us dates?"
"Um... S-Susie, I don't..." Kris tried to speak.
"Sure they could." Susie unintentionally interrupted, unable to hear their quiet voice. "I bet this guy could coach both of you dweebs in no time! Right, Kris?" She turned to the human with a toothy grin.
Suddenly all eyes were on Kris. The monsters looked at them expectantly. The human froze in place like a statue, trembling slightly. Their heart began racing, their hidden eyes darted back and forth.
"I-I-I... uh... w-w-we... I c-can't..." Any semblance of words struggled to escape Kris' mouth. The ones that did were timid and shaky.
"I... I have to go."
They quickly pulled Susie's arm off of themself, got up, and ran straight out of the cafeteria. The trio of monsters looked on in bewilderment. Susie looked the most baffled of all of them.
"I'll... I'll go get them." She said quietly.
Exiting the cafeteria, her eyes searched up and down the hallway. She heard the sound of a door slamming shut. It was one of the school's front doors. She followed the trail outside. The air was cold and crisp, autumn was already well underway. Susie looked around, scanning for Kris. No sign of them. Nothing but the surrounding woods, trees covered with the color-changing leaves of fall.
Suddenly, she saw movement behind one of the trees. She went towards it and peeked around the trunk. Sure enough there was Kris sitting on the leafy ground, arms wrapped around their curled legs, staring down at nothing.
"There you are! Kris, what the heck happened back there?"
The human stayed silent for a moment. A long moment.
"Kris?"
They looked up at Susie. Their expression was as unreadable as always, all that was visible was a frown.
"Susie..." They finally spoke. "Have you ever been forced to be something you're not?"
"Forced...? Is someone forcing you to do something? Are you getting blackmailed?! Who is it, I'll kick their ass!!!" She emphasized by punching her own palm.
"N-no, that's not-" Kris sighed, hanging their head again. "Forget it. You wouldn't understand."
Susie winced at that. She was still pretty new to this whole """friend""" thing. She didn't want to admit it, but she had no idea what she was doing. Still, she was preeeeetty sure you're not supposed to leave a friend alone to mope.
She sat down next to them.
"Hey. I know I'm not really good at any of... this yet." She made vague motions with her hand between the two of them. "And I can guarantee any advice I have would be terrible. But, uh..." She scratched the back of her head. "If... if something's eating at you, then I wanna know about it."
Another long silence. Kris lifted their head slightly.
"The... th-the person you saw in the Dark World... the leader of the party of heroes, that... that wasn't me."
"What? Then... who was it?"
"I don't really know." Kris rubbed their arm anxiously. "I don't know if its a someone or a something. But that whole day, they were in control of my actions."
"Is it... is it here right now?" Susie asked.
Actually it was still in Kris' room, locked up in that rusty birdcage. But they didn't want to tell her about that. Or anyone, for that matter.
"No." They simply said.
Susie was expecting Kris' problem to be normal teenage angst stuff. A school crush, a bully (not her this time), something like that. Not... whatever this is. To be honest, she wasn't sure if this entity they spoke of was real or some kind of metaphor. She didn't know how to respond.
"...You don't believe me, right?" Kris said in response to her unusual quietness.
"N-no, I do!" She had no reason not to. "I mean hey, it was only a few days ago that we fell from a closet into another world! So, y'know, this isn't so strange compared to that!" She chuckled lightly. "It's just... a lot to take in."
Kris nodded.
"It's... not like they made me do anything bad. We came through that adventure pretty successful. But that just wasn't me. The quiet guy who sits alone, the creepy kid across the street, the spineless freak who can barely even speak in front of people, let alone flirt... That's the real me..."
Susie stayed silent listening to all this, but she was in disbelief. This was all the total opposite of the stoic, charismatic leader she witnessed in the other world.
"I'm no hero." Kris continued. "I'm nothing. I barely even feel anything. Most of the time I'm just... empty inside. The only time I really felt alive was when I was with m-..." Kris gulped, their throat choked up even mentioning this. "M-m-my brother..."
Though she used to bully them often, she actually didn't know much about Kris. Despite being the lone human in town, they were always overshadowed by their family. Their mother, the most beloved teacher in school. Their father, the gentle giant of the neighborhood. And their brother, Asriel, the straight-A ultra popular athelete. Though Susie did recall that, back when Asriel was still in town, Kris was practically always glued to him.
Susie grimaced, coming to a conclusion that she didn't like.
"So... what? Are you saying the real Kris wouldn't wanna be friends with someone like me?"
"NO!" Kris suddenly shouted, catching Susie off-guard. It was the first time she ever heard them raise their voice. Embarrassed, Kris returned to their curled position.
"No, that's not it." Kris said, back to their quiet, raspy voice. "The reason I didn't want to tell you any of this is because... b-because I was scared. Scared that you w-wouldn't like me anymore. That you wouldn't want to be friends with a freak like me. The real me."
Tears appeared from underneath the human's bangs, rolling down their cheeks. Their lip quivered, their normally emotionless face twisted in sadness and shame.
Oh crap, they're crying! How do you deal with crying?! I have no idea what I'm doing here!!! C'mon, Susie, think of something!!!
She thought of something. She hoped it was the right something. Hesitating for a moment, she wrapped an arm around Kris' body, but this was different than what she usually did. Rather than lean on the human, she pulled them in and held them tight. This was... affectionate, no doubt about it. That's what surprised Kris the most.
Kris started to relax a little in this new yet familiar embrace.
"Alright so... I'm not gonna pretend I know what you're going through, but lemme ask ya something." She scratched her chin apprehensively. "When we were down there, was this thing like... controlling everything you did? Did you have no ability do do anything?"
"Uh... n-not exactly." Kris replied, whiping the tears from their face. "It was more like... they made all the decisions for me. Where to go. What to do. Then I just... did it."
"Okay, okay, I getcha. So tell me this. When it told you to compliment the enemy, did it tell you how to do it?"
"Well... no. I-I guess I did that part myself."
"When me and Lancer fought you guys and you were trying to convince us to stay with you, did it tell you what to say?"
"No... that was me."
"And when it told you to flirt with the enemies, who came up with the flirts?"
"I did..." Krist started to raise their head.
"At the end of our battle with the King, when he was about to thrash me..." She paused. She wasn't sure if this part was really Kris' doing or not, but she felt in her gut it must have been. "Who was it that immediately pulled out their shield and protected me?"
"Me..." Kris held onto Susie's broad arm, clutching her sleeve as they remembered that moment. Acting so quickly and reflexively was not something Kris was known for. Yet that day, seeing their battered friend on the floor, they acted on their own.
"See what I'm getting at?!" She chuckled and shook the human excitedly. "That thing, whatever it is, may have been calling the shots. But YOU were the one doing the all dirty work!"
Kris pondered this silently. They had always been so focused on how much they hated being controlled, they never considered how much of their own personality shined through.
"Know what I think?" Susie continued. "I think you're not giving yourself enough credit! I think YOU'RE the reason we made it through the Dark World as good as we did. Not that other thing."
"You... you really think so?" Kris said softly, a faint feeling of hope suddenly rising in them. "Do you think I can be like that out here too...?"
"Sure ya can! It's still the same you! And besides..." Susie's voice became unexpectedly gentle. "If you - the real you - still wants to be friends with me after all the crap I did then... well, that's all I need to know." She flashed the human a toothy grin.
Over the years Kris had learned to fear that smile, as it was usually followed by some thorough bullying. But now they loved it. They wanted to see more of it.
Kris was about to speak, but was interrupted by a sudden coughing fit.
"You alright, dude?"
"Yeah... sorry..." They said in between the last few sputters. "It's just been a long time since I've talked that much. Still getting used to it."
The human let out a relieved sigh and let their head fall back, leaning into Susie's shoulder. They turned their head up towards her and, for once, a wide ear-to-ear smile graced their face. Their eyes were just faintly visible behind the strands of hair.
"It felt nice. Thanks, Susie."
Susie found herself accidentally gawking at the human's face. The creepy quiet kid suddenly looked... cute????? She quickly shook the thought out of her head and the stunned look off of her face.
"Uh, y-yeah!!! No problem!!" She turned away, flustered. "Heh... looks like I finally did something right for once, huh?"
She loosened her hold on Kris and stood up, holding out her hand to them. Kris took it, their hand dwarfed by hers, and pulled themself up.
"C'mon, let's head back. We're probably late for class again, and people will start getting suspicious if we keep disappearing like that."
Kris nodded, still smiling. For the first time since Asriel left, they felt just a little less empty inside.