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AND THEN. WHEN ALL HOPE
IS LOST FOR THE TALE
THE FINAL TRAGEDY UNVEILS.
FOR TO SAVE THE WORLDS,
WE LAST OF ALL SAY
"KRIS!"
She screams their name, her breath coming in desperate, heaving gasps like she's surfaced from the darkest depths of a stormy ocean. She stares into a blinding, spinning nothing in light-headed shock. Even now, she doesn't want to believe it. She can't believe it.
"Dear... would you please quiet down?"
The familiar voice snaps her back into reality. She's... on her back. Vision blurred from crying. Lying in a puddle of her own tears and snot.
Susie is on her bed, in her room, or what passes for such a thing. The same as it was.
Instead of slamming the door open, muscling in like she owns the place, or just not showing up to school at all, Susie fumbles with the handle and shoulders the door open almost meekly. She shuffles into the room with a look on her face like she's aged thirty years overnight.
"S... Susie?" Alphys stammers. "I- I mean... Hi, Susie! Is... everything okay?"
She grumbles noncommittally. She doesn't notice that Kris looks like they've been waiting for her until they rush over to grab her by the hand and announce to the class that they'll be project partners.
Their movements are organic. A little bit sloppy. Not the stiff motions of the other. Their voice is their own and not the distant sound of something else speaking through them.
"Kris!?" Alphys looks between them, bewildered. The rest of the class react with different variations of incredulity, pity, and utter bafflement. The chatter dies down quickly as they both just stand there and stare at each other, and for several uncomfortable seconds, nobody in the room says a word.
She all but whispers something about "talking about this later", walks to the blackboard, and busies herself looking for a piece of chalk that isn't there.
"...H-has anyone seen the chalk?"
"We'll check the supply closet," Kris and Susie say in unison. Their sudden inseparability and the sheer unapproachable weariness emanating from the both of them stuns everyone in the room into another excruciating silence.
Finally, MK speaks up. "...Yo, are you guys good?"
Hell no, Kris says. Alphys looks like she's about to say something when they both leave without another word, still leading each other by the hand.
Susie faintly hears Alphys whispering, "That just happened."
"They can kiss our asses," Susie mutters.
They stand in front of the supply closet.
"Kris... you remember," Susie says. It's both a statement and a question.
The look in Kris's eyes, exactly the same as the look in her own, says everything she needs to know. Still, she grips them by the shoulders like a lifeline. She has to be absolutely certain.
"The Dark Worlds... Officer Undyne?"
Dess, Kris says, and they both know. Castle Town.
They both look to the door to the supply closet.
Susie flings them open.
It's dark.
Just a plain old supply closet. There's not much to look at.
The light switch is found quickly, the room lit by a dim bulb that flickers occasionally. Wordlessly, they both shut themselves inside the closet. Kris leans back against the door and slides down to sit on the floor, and Susie sits down after them. It's old and filthy, but neither of them could care less.
"We really did it," Susie says.
For about thirty seconds, they both silently mull over their adventures, or at least Susie thinks Kris might be doing that. They're hunched over and staring at their hands now, flexing their fingers like they're just now learning that they have them.
Susie starts to shiver. Her breath speeds up. Then, she slams her fist into the floor as hard as she can and screams.
It's a scream she's been holding in since she woke up this morning, whisked away from fate at the last second. Since she realized the full, ugly truth of what was at stake in their adventures. Since she saw the prophecy Ralsei tried to hide from her. Maybe even since the day she was born. She screams all her bottled-up anger and fear and guilt and pain until she can't anymore, until there's no air left in her lungs and she collapses into a sobbing, wheezing heap on the dusty floor. Just because it's over doesn't mean any of it was okay.
She hears a strange whining noise next to her and realizes that Kris is breaking down, too. Their quiet sobs are mixed with heavy, shuddering breaths that only grow quicker and quicker, and when she looks up, even she can tell that they're having a complete meltdown. Their eyes are wild and they clamp their flat human teeth down on their left thumb like a vice as they hyperventilate, not drawing blood but looking like they're about to. Distressed noises escape them with every other breath.
"Kris! Kris, hey! Look at me!" She reaches up and tugs on their sleeve in a panic to try and get them to let go, or even just get their attention, or anything. When they don't react, she tries jamming her fingers in their mouth instead. "H-here, bite my hand instead!"
Kris's eyes focus on Susie's hand. They finally let go of their injured thumb. Then, after a few long seconds, they raise their other hand and sock her in the shoulder.
"Ow," she says. They're both still crying, but now they're smiling a little bit. They both sit in each other's presence, comforted by the knowledge that they're not alone. Susie silently reminisces about the fun they had and the friends they made, and she grieves, too. For the friends they lost, and maybe for the people they used to be. Before the Dark Worlds, her biggest problems were where her next meal would come from and when she'd end up moving away again.
...Ralsei, Kris says. They wipe their hands on their pants and briefly cradle their bitten thumb.
"Ralsei," Susie repeats, and something inside her wants to scream all over again, but she's already so drained that she's just empty now. "What-..."
Kris holds something up.
"...Oh," Susie says.
They hold it close to their chest and close their eyes. They're both silent for a while, mourning.
Thank you, Kris whispers to the object in their hands.
Susie remembers what Ralsei said to reassure the both of them in the last peaceful moment they all shared. She remembers what they learned during the adventures they had together.
"C-... Can I see him?"
Kris doesn't respond right away. She's about to pretend she never said anything when they slowly scoot forward and hold him out.
They tell her to be careful. He's old.
She accepts the culmination of Ralsei's being with trembling hands. Distantly, she wonders if he can feel her touch from wherever he is.
"I'm glad I met you," she tells him, and then hands him back to Kris. They tuck him away back where he was and give him the slowest, softest pat with their fingertips.
It's quiet again.
Kris holds their arms out, seeking comfort.
Hug?
"Hug."
"Umm... Kris? Susie? Are you in there? It's been-..."
That's how Noelle finds her estranged childhood friend and the school mean girl in the ancient supply closet, holding each other like they're the last two people on Earth and both glaring at her with eyes that have seen hell.
"...-half an hour..."
Susie fishes the missing piece of chalk out of her jacket and throws it at Noelle. It bounces off her forehead when she tries to catch it and she scrambles to grab it.
"Tell Alphys we're ditching class," she says.