Chapter Text
The pain wasn’t unbearable. Kris had felt far worse.
They had felt their body break. Had felt it burn, bubble and bruise.
They had felt the suffocating stench of ozone burning their nostrils as the Knight loomed above them, sword placed purposefully on their shoulder. The slimy darkness that wept from the Knight's body still made their innards itch. Their shoulder still burned from its touch.
But despite all they had endured thus far, the wiggling parasite in their chest remained still the worst pain of all.
A swing of a sword or blast from a bullet could heal and eventually fade into memory. The ever-present itch rooted in their body, on the other hand, could not.
They had shoved the soul back inside their chest late at night. It pressed itself against the birdcage like a dog begging to be let out and Kris obliged (not like they had a choice). The soul, uncaring of the noise their mother and her friend had been making, piloted them straight to bed and under the covers.
When morning had come, achy limbs moved stiff as cardboard as Kris’s body rose by itself. The worming something in their chest bobbled and hummed with energy inside of them, brimming with a naive curiosity that made their blood boil. It tugged them along like a lazy puppet, inspecting and staring at the same objects lining their brother’s half of the room, acting surprised when nothing had changed overnight.
Their soul vibrated inside them, humming out a note both curious and fearful in tone.
Kris had learned how it showed emotions over the time it had been controlling them. The soul would hum and sing in an oddly mechanical way, as if the sounds were played out of a music box. It bobbled up and down when it was happy, like an apple in water. When irritated, the constant humming drummed up in tempo and felt like a massage chair had lodged itself in their chest. If it was worried, the song grew tepid. It would skip in a familiar rhythm, ba-dump, ba-dump, ba-dump…
They recognized that beating from their own soul—the one that used to belong to them. But no matter how hard they screamed or tore at their chest, they knew now that the roles had reversed.
Kris did not own a Soul. The Soul owned them.
Oblivious to their thoughts, it tugged them towards the doorknob. A quick da-dum and ringing voice in their brain told them to head downstairs and to the festival.
Kris obeyed, of course.
They had lost the ability to choose a long time ago.
___________________________________
“HEY! Over here, nerd!!!”
Susie threw both arms in the air and flailed them around, just to make certain that Kris would see from under their stupid thick bangs. The human in question turned towards her voice, and even at a distance she caught the dumb little smile growing on their face.
Susie hadn’t quite made it to the center of the festival yet, instead hanging closer to the outskirts of town where Kris and Noelle lived. The roads around town, usually so sparsely used, had enough cars rolling down for her to bother using the sidewalk. A fucking miracle, in her opinion.
With their usual stiff gait, Kris awkwardly jogged down to meet her. They gave her a smirk, “Hey.”
“Sup’, dumbass. You ready to hit the road?”
They took a solid second to respond, as the weirdo always did. Then, they tilted their head with a mischievous grin. “Are you forgetting something?”
Susie blinked.
Kris jerked their head over to the ornate gateway at the end of the road.
“Oh shit! Noelle!!!” She exclaimed.
She whipped her head towards Kris and gripped their shoulders with her claws. She jerked them back and forth, with Kris accepting their fate and letting themself get shaken like a soda can. “Dude!!! We totally need to, like, jailbreak her or something! Cuz, like, her mom fuckin’ hates me, or some shit, so we gotta sneak her out!” She stopped her jiggling to instead start dragging Kris towards the gate, their body nearly limp in her grasp. “Can you jump a fence?”
Kris suddenly dug in their heels, making her jerk to a stop. Susie turned to face them and snarled until she noticed that Kris had taken their phone out of their pocket. They wiggled it around in the air.
“Do you need, like, a BooTube tutorial on fence hopping or something?” She asked. “Cuz’ I can totally just show you how, dude.”
Making large and exaggerated motions, Kris navigated past their home screen and toward their empty contact list. Expressionless, they typed in what she assumed was Noelle’s number and sent a text.
“Come outside. Susies here”
She growled, “You didn’t have to tell her that!”
They considered her for a moment before typing something else.
“She told me that she rlly wnted me to tell u that. Btw”
“Asshole!” Susie shoved their whole head down and snatched the phone from their hands. They lazily tried to grab it, but her superior height kept it from their sticky grasps. They gave her a half-hearted raspberry for her efforts as she frantically pawed at the tiny screen in her grip.
“shed id NOT tell me too tell u thatthiknsdfm”
A surprise attack from Kris caused her claw to smear across the screen, sending nothing more than a jumbled text to Noelle.
“Now look at what you’ve done, jackass!”
Ignoring her entirely, Kris turned their attention to their newly recovered phone. They stared at the screen for a solid few seconds, face blank. Then, they tilted their head slightly and took a sharp left from the house gate.
Susie huffed, “Where the hell are you going?”
No reply. Her only confirmation they had even heard her plights was the fact they waited for her to catch up before continuing down the mysterious road.
They lead her through thickets of autumn-coloured leaves and uncut grass, ducking underneath brambles and bushes that clearly weren’t meant to be traversed.
They were slower than usual, she noticed. Their steps seemed laboured.
Eventually, the two came across a small entrance in between a garden hedge. The branches were clearly broken and bent at odd angles—a perfect little doorway built by desire to get to the other side.
Not even sparing a glance behind, Kris bent down to crawl through. Their figure was gobbled by the leaves quickly, and for a moment Susie couldn’t see them on the other side—until a wiggling human hand shot out of the hole and beckoned her to come through.
Susie huffed. “You’re so goddamn weird,” she muttered under her breath as she got down on her knees to push herself through. It was a much tighter fit, and she didn’t escape without a few new scrapes on her scales, but she eventually pulled herself out to the other side of the hedge. She grumbled and tried to brush off leaves and dirt from her clothes. Risking a glance up, Kris was already standing with a slight smirk on their dumb face.
She growled at them. Kris turned around to keep leading her forward, careless of her plights.
Even from the wrong side of the house, the Holiday’s garden was still a sight to behold. Perfect pine trees and holly bushes lined every inch of the property without so much as a branch out of place. Kris took a harsh turn to avoid the front of the house, instead slinking towards the backyard.
The mansion’s back was far less cared for than the front, it seemed.
Twigs and overgrown grass tickled Susie’s boots as she followed Kris on their strange path forward. Her eyes glazed over half-buried baseball diamonds rotting into the soil and plastic playsets brimming with cobwebs. Risking a glance towards Kris, she noticed that their head was hung low—their bangs brushing their nose. A hollow feeling nestled itself in her gut at the sight of the abandoned yard. Luckily, she didn’t have to stare at it for much longer, as Kris came to a sudden stop.
Susie nearly bumped into them but halted herself just before they collided. Kris turned their chin up to the sky, and Susie followed their gaze.
There was a window.
If she strained her eyes, she could barely make out cute little snowflakes on the walls inside.
Her confusion and wonder were swiftly broken when a rock launched itself with startling accuracy up towards said window, sounding out a hollow thunk as it collided. Her head whipped towards Kris, who was already primed and ready with another pebble.
“DUDE!!!” She shouted. They turned to look at her.
Susie snatched the stone from their grip. “Don’t throw rocks at Noelle’s window…” she began. Then, a snarl grew across her maw as she chucked the rock straight up with enough force to almost crack it. “Without telling me first!!! This is fun as hell!!!”
Kris gave her a small smile and bent down to start piling pebbles in her hands like they were reloading a cannon. Her aim wasn’t quite as spot-on as their own, but she still managed a satisfying thunk with most of her throws. She was halfway through chucking a soap-bar-sized stone at the window until it swung open violently, deflecting the projectile and protecting the rather angry reindeer poking her head out.
“KRIS!!!” Noelle shouted. “If you don’t stop throwing rocks at my window, I’m gonna come down there and shove one down your throat—”
Halfway through her spiel, Noelle and Susie locked eyes. Sheepishly, Susie hid her fistful of pebbles behind her back and waved with her other hand.
“Oh.” Noelle muttered, so soft that Susie only made it out through reading her lips. Demeanour instantly shifted; Noelle began to run her hands through her pretty blonde hair, looking anywhere except in Susie’s direction. “Uhm! Hi Susie!” She squeaked.
“Hey, Noelle!” Susie responded. She could feel her scales begin to heat up. “We’re, uh… Going to the festival! Wanna come?”
Noelle’s ears perked up. She smiled so wide that Susie was nearly blinded by how bright it was. Continuing to run her hands through her golden locks, Noelle bit the edge of her lip. “O-Oh! The festival- wow, I like, totally forgot about it. Totally. But uh- yeah, I mean, if you want to go! With! Me! I’d like that!!!” She said, and for the first time Susie noticed that she was in a rather nice dress that day.
“Sweet.” Susie said in response. She tried to nonchalantly lean on Kris’s shoulder, but the bastard had apparently snuck off at some point- leaving her to instead trip on air and stumble right in front of the pretty reindeer up above. She heard quiet giggling and turned to glare at the culprit. “Shut up! You saw nothing!!!”
Noelle laughed harder, the fur on her cheeks flushing into a mahogany hue.
Eventually, Noelle sobered her expression. A sad look crossed her face as she slumped down on the windowsill, still playing with her yellow hair. “Well, I do really want to go with you but…”
She sighed.
“I swear my mom has been circling me like a hawk... She’s usually strict, sure, but… I don’t know. I think something is really getting to her to make her this paranoid about me… And… I-I don’t think I’d be able to sneak by her. I can’t exactly jump, y’know?” She chuckled sadly.
“I could catch you?” Susie said, holding out her arms in offering.
Noelle laughed again, “Fahaha! I don't think that's a good idea!”
“What! Scared I'll drop you or something?”
Noelle averted her gaze, “A… A l-little?”
Susie scoffed. “Well don’t be. Obviously I’d catch ya’, dumbass.”
A harsh red blush burned underneath Noelle’s fur. She pulled on two thick strands of hair and tugged at them as if they were a makeshift stress ball. Biting her lip, she looked to the other side, “You promise…?”
“Promise.” Susie said. The sincerity in her voice surprised even herself.
Noelle gulped, throat bobbing. Gingerly, she hooked a hoof over the windowsill, wide eyes trained on the dizzying ground below her. Her sight crawled up the grass and eventually landed on Susie’s open arms. She sucked in a breath and threw her other leg over. Now balanced on the window’s thin edge, a droplet of sweat beaded off her forehead.
“Uhm… I-I’m gonna d-do it!!!” She said, limbs stiffer than a scarecrow.
Seconds passed. Noelle had not moved.
“I’m gonna j-jump!” She squealed.
More seconds went by. Susie’s arms had begun to tire.
There was a lull in the conversation- a moment where Noelle had closed her eyes and taken in a sharp breath. She shimmied further down the window’s ledge, hooves resting on the white brick of the McMansion’s walls.
She bit her lip and finally went to leap-
“Here.” Kris said, startling Susie out of her scales. Noelle similarly startled and fumbled her launch from the windowsill. She stumbled halfway forward before quickly grabbing the window’s sides to keep herself from falling. Her eyes were wide as saucers.
Tossing a quick glance up to make sure Noelle hadn’t fallen, Susie then whipped her head to Kris who was now besides her. “DUDE. You can’t just sneak up on people like that, asshole!!!” She shouted, punching the side of their arm.
Kris didn’t react to her barrage, and instead just shifted a whole-ass ladder from their hands and onto the ground. “Noelle,” Kris said, ignoring Susie completely.
Noelle, who looked seconds away from barfing, squeaked out a weak, “y-yeah?”
“I found Rudy’s ladder.” Kris said. Susie was still punching their shoulder, and she was fairly sure it must’ve bruised. “Also, your shed lock is still broken.”
Noelle snorted, “Yeah, because Dess had to break in when you got stuck in a tree!!!”
To Susie’s surprise, a rare smile crossed Kris’s face. “And now I broke in to get you out of a window. Equivalent exchange.” As they finished talking, Kris propped the ladder against the mansion wall and extended it up towards the window. Noelle eyed the object with an expression somewhere between relief and irritation.
Hesitantly, Noelle finally placed a shaky hoof on the ladder’s first step and began to slowly climb down. Susie kept her arms open and waiting. A small prickle of anxiety shot down her spine seeing Noelle balance on such thin hooves- but her concerns were quickly squashed as Noelle gracefully hopped off the rungs and landed safely on the overgrown yard.
“Sweet,” Susie muttered, “so is it finally festival time?” she said, looking behind Noelle to Kris.
Kris got about halfway through a nod before they stopped suddenly, like someone pressed pause on their movements. Posture straightening, they shook their head aggressively and mouthed, ‘code.’
Her eyes widened. She nodded.
As soon as their mouth stopped moving, Kris began to switch between slumping and standing straight- as if they couldn't quite decide. She turned away, unphased by their odd behaviour.
Susie turned to Noelle, feigning nonchalance. "Uh, actually—I think I might've left something at your place when your mom kicked us out... Could I, uh, go and grab it?" Susie said. She risked a glance Kris's way and internally cringed at the pained expression on their face.
"Uhm.” Noelle blinked owlishly. “That's probably a bad idea because my mom is, like, inside? That’s… That's why I almost jumped out of a window…?"
Her scales flushed hot. "Yeah. Right. Guess that makes sense..."
A poignant pause nestled itself in-between them. Kris coughed.
"Are we going now?" They mumbled.
Noelle's whole body perked up. "Oh!!! Yes! The festival, let's go!!!" She squeaked. Hooves tearing up bits of grass, Noelle hurried towards Susie and hooked her arm around her own. With a gentle tug, she began to urge the two of them forward. "C'mon! Let's go before my mom notices, fahaha!"
___________________________________
Kris wanted to enjoy the festival; they really did.
Despite their... complicated opinions on the woman, Carol truly did know how to go all-out. Every street corner was accented with multicoloured buttercups, no doubt grown by their dad. Each storefront and restaurant were cleaned and polished to a near sickening degree. Not a speck on QC's windows or even a vomit-filled pizza box outside of ICE-E’s sullied the perfect ribbons and balloons tied to every trellis and telephone pole.
Noelle and Susie wandered a few steps ahead of them on the sidewalk. Noelle hadn't unhooked her arm the whole time they'd been walking, and Kris could only guess whether or not it was on purpose. The sight of her made the gnawing in their gut grow ever more hollow.
The soul, unbound by Kris's own troubles, sang a twittering song in their chest. It pulled them along like a toddler pulled their mother, eager naivete sending them bounding towards the pop-up booths and overpriced candy stalls pressed in every nook Hometown had to spare. They didn't bother fighting against the soul's wishes—they had to preserve their energy, after all.
No matter how much cotton candy rotted their teeth, or how big Susie's smile was as she looked behind at them, none of it helped balm the dread sunken in their stomach. They were lucky Carol was standing guard in her house; it gave them an easy out to pull Susie's attention away from the code buried inside Dess's old guitar. Even still, they knew well what was going to happen later that day.
The day wouldn’t end with a ferris wheel ride and firework show, it would end with a Fountain, a Dark World. It would end in a soul growing just a bit stronger. With Ralsei's resolve becoming just a bit weaker.
Secretly, deep down, a part of them prayed that Susie was right. That with enough determination, anything could change.
“HEY! Hurry up or we’re gonna leave ya’ behind, nerd!” She called out to them. Kris’s limbs moved of their own accord, picking up their languid pace to step in time with Susie and Noelle. They caught the ladder’s eyes, and she gave them a shy smile. Of their own will, they managed a smile back.
Susie’s infectious grin couldn’t drown out the much louder part of them, though. The part of them that had accepted their fate a long time ago. The part of them still saw her face in Carol's cold gaze. The part of them which conceded that Ralsei, no matter how much he smiled like their brother, wouldn't be real.
The louder part that decided she was more important than any Darkner.
“Umm, Kris? Are you okay? You’re staring.” Noelle asked. It would’ve startled Kris if they were in charge of their own body. She was still smiling at them, her tone more playful than concerned.
“There’s cotton candy on your shirt,” Kris said.
Noelle looked down. Kris flicked her nose back up, earning themself a bright red glow from it in response. She squealed and covered her snout with her hands, shooting them a glare. “KRIS!”
They snickered, dodging just in time as Noelle tried to go in for revenge against their own nose. The three continued down the flower-covered roads like that, Susie joining in on the impromptu tag session on Kris’s team as they both tried to see just how bright Noelle’s nose could shine. By the time they got to the part of town with all the rides, her snout looked more like a spotlight than a deer’s nose.
The rides themselves were the usual fare for a small-town festival—some crunchy twirl-a-whirls that screeched with every spin, a bouncy castle, and some that threw you up and around until you hurled.
Kris was reminded of pressuring Noelle into one of the former, once.
Neither Carol nor the janitorial staff was rather happy with them after that.
Snickering at the memory, Kris nudged Noelle's elbow. She tilted her head curiously. Kris, in response, pointed towards the upside-down ride, a mischievous grin pulling at their cheeks.
Noelle huffed, “Kris! Seriously, the Nausea-o-Matic? I'm not going on that thing—”
“The Nausea-o-Matic?!?” Susie interjected. “Sick, dude!!! Let's eat a whole funnel cake and see if it makes us hurl!”
Fur flushed a mahogany brown, Noelle squeaked. “Uh-um… I m-mean, yeah! Sure!”
Kris shot her a knowing look. She stuck out her tongue.
The three wandered towards the greasy food stalls, nestled just before their father’s shop. Asgore himself was manning a different stand a little ways away, the shabby stall overflowing with heavy bulbs and pristine petals. Susie and Noelle got in line for the funnel cakes, debating between themselves whether to go for the Chocolate Matcha Mocha Mayo Crap Your Pants Extreme or the Ultra Mega Super Deluxe Lemon Imbued Pastry Concept Deluxe.
While Kris personally wanted the Fried Butter Stick Dipped In Raw Sugar Cubes, the soul didn't seem too inclined to pitch in its opinion, so Kris didn't bother wasting their energy. Instead they let their eyes wander around as the soul kept their feet rooted in place.
Their gaze brushed over stalls and games and rides before settling on the Flower King.
Or more, who was in front of it.
Mayor Carol Holiday stood impatiently at the front doors, periodically checking her phone. Kris barely had time to wonder how long she'd been out of the house when she made eye contact with them.
A cold hand crawled up their spine.
Fighting against the will controlling them, Kris forced one foot in front of the other and slipped away before their companions could notice.
___________________________________
“Just put it somewhere. Your father won't be here today, so it shouldn't matter exactly where.” Carol stated as she pushed open Flower King's glass doors.
The further they went, the harder the struggle. Every time they pushed, the soul pushed back twice as hard. Every time they stepped, they nearly tripped.
With gritted teeth, Kris eventually climbed up to the top floor of the shop, Carol’s hooves clicking just behind. Seven flowers sat perfectly preserved in their cases. Perfectly contained in clear caskets, suspended in time.
Kris sucked in a breath.
They jammed their hand deep into their own chest. Pushing down, down, down. Past what anyone would seem natural, past what anyone would be willing to do. Their chest pulsed in pain, frantically beating to remove the intruder. Kris flexed their fingers and gripped upon something solid. It shifted and squirmed within their grasp like a worm in a bird's beak.
They tore.
Crimson burst from their chest, bloody and fleeting and pulsating. Screaming pain blossomed in them, but they hobbled along the floor despite it. Frantic fingers gripped the glass containing a golden flower and lifted it up. Mustering their rage into their arm, they slammed the soul deep into the container.
It hobbled fruitlessly.
Kris managed to smile.
“I have always liked these,” Carol said, circling around the newly trapped soul like a vulture. Her cold eyes narrowed as it banged against the glass. With so much of the container taken by the golden buttercup, the soul pressed itself against the pane. “It’s a rather elegant way to preserve them.”
Kris made a grunt, not putting in the effort to agree. Personally, they found it off putting. It was just one more reminder of the life they lost.
Carol was oblivious to their plights, and instead began to walk down to the stairs. “Meet me outside the shop.”
With a heavy head, Kris forced themself to nod.
__________________________________
Carol tapped an impatient hoof. Kris hobbled forward, struggling to reorient to owning their body. They slumped themself against the flower shop’s back wall and reminded themself that they had to breathe by themself again. Carol waited for them to orient, her permanent scowl not changing for a moment.
They flexed each of their fingers. They ran a tongue around the inside of their mouth. They took in a deep breath, and looked up at her through a curtain of bangs. “... What… d’ya need?” They coughed.
“I don’t like how good you’ve gotten at doing that, Kris.” Carol said in lieu of an answer, or even greeting.
Kris blinked, their eyelashes sticking to the crust on their eyes. “... At what?”
Carol’s eye twitched. She sighed like she was disappointed in them, pinching her brow. “At tearing that thing out.” She explained. “It shouldn’t be that easy.”
Biting back their words, Kris instead huffed. “Why are you complaining…? Makes all of…” They gestured lazily around the two of them, their arms stiff as cardboard. “This… easier.” Kris said. Each syllable felt forced, but as they went the words came just a little smoother as they settled into complete control.
Their only response was a haughty sigh as Carol rubbed her temple. Wordlessly, she rummaged through a satin blue purse swung on her shoulder and produced a mint flavoured protein bar and a bottle of water. She barely held them out for a second before Kris descended on them like a vulture, tearing through the packaging with their teeth, desperate to fill their empty stomach.
She started to speak as they ravaged the protein bar, “What I mean is that I don’t want you to be good at tearing out your soul. It should be painful.” Her glare could cut steel, but Kris was only half paying attention between rabid bites. “And the fact that you can do it so quickly tells me that you’ve been taking it out more than you should.” She finished.
Kris chugged half the bottle in a single swig, stray droplets dribbling down their chin. They lowered the water from their mouth, wiping it with their sweater sleeve. “I’m fine without it. I’m… I’m not like you. I don’t turn to dust.”
“Kris Dremurr.” Carol hissed. Kris fought the urge to hide in their sweater.
“...Yeah?”
“I do not want you taking the soul out unless strictly necessary, do you understand that?” She asked, arms crossed.
“... Yeah.”
She levelled them a disbelieving look but eventually let the topic go with one last sigh. Her temple pinched. “Good. But there is something else we need to discuss.”
Kris shrugged their shoulders. “Shoot.”
“The next fountain will be in your father’s shop.”
They fought back the urge to cringe. A frown pulled at the corners of their lips, and they cocked their head to the side, “Today?”
“Yes, today.”
Kris bit the inside of their mouth. “... There are a lot of people today.”
To their surprise, Carol’s expression shifted to one of mutual frustration. She huffed. “I’m aware. But apparently Asgore showed up in some prophecy panels, so that’s what she… what the Knight has decided will be its next target.” Carol spat out the name through gritted teeth. “Despite how… inconvenient it will be for the rest of us.”
They nearly laughed. They probably would’ve if they weren’t so focused on keeping their head upright. Instead, a tiny chuckle huffed out of their throat. “Can I at least ride the Ferris wheel first…?”
Carol glared.
Kris smiled devilishly. “Yeah, I shouldn’t.” They grinned. “I wouldn’t want to interrupt Noelle and Susie.”
It took everything in them to not cackle at the way Carol’s eyes bulged. “They’re here?” She hissed. “I told her—and she—” She took in a harsh breath, sucking in through her teeth. “That child will be the death of me, I swear.” Eventually, she managed to calm herself. “I’ll deal with that later. We have more pressing matters.”
“Yeah, like the broken lock on your shed.” Kris said. “You should really get that checked out. Someone could steal a whole ladder.”
Carol’s tired scowl could cut through glass. She glared at them. “You’re rather lucky that I am rather busy today, Kris Dremurr. Otherwise me and your mother would be having quite the conversation.”
Kris snorted. They were tempted to mention that their mom wouldn’t bother listening to her, but they figured that would breach the realm of playfulness and delve into the actual issues nestled deep in their tangled web of families. Instead, they simply shrugged. “Is that everything?”
The woman rubbed her forehead. “Yes. That’s everything I wished to discuss.”
“Sick.” Kris said. They turned on their heels, body stiff and rusty. Focusing intensely on placing one foot in front of the other, they went to walk away and back towards where their soul was trapped.
“And Kris?” Carol said.
They let out a curious hum.
“Do be careful in the Dark World.” She stated. “I can’t lose another…” Carol took a deep breath. “We can’t lose now.”
‘I can’t lose another kid,’ Kris filled in the blanks. Their empty chest tugged, and they gave a short sound of confirmation as they continued to walk back to the shop.
Their legs were leaden as they dragged them across the white sidewalks. The exertion from the previous night’s adventure had taken its toll—one they felt as their head spun with every step. Their energy was fading quickly. They had to get their soul back before they risked passing out completely.
Slacken arms raised to push open Flower King’s glass doors, the effort winding Kris in the process. They eventually broke through into their father’s brightly lit foyer. Staggering, they stumbled forward up the stairs, struggling through every step.
The dim lighting of the top floor was a welcome change compared to the headache-inducing fluorescences below, even if sweat began to line Kris’s face. They stumbled forward to the flowers trapped in their crystal containers. Looking up, however, struck a cold line of dread through their chest.
Six cases sat undisturbed.
The seventh was crumbled at the floor. A golden flower still stood proudly where the case once was.
And there was no soul to be found.