In-betweens.

Lights and Threats

Do things ever change? Or does determination only dwindle down to a silver light, taking away none of the pain, but simply shining on in the quiet darkness?

...

(Disclaimer: I do not own Deltarune or any of its characters.)
...

If they had imagined death to look like anything, it definitely wouldn't have been a blinding white. Maybe black, or warm, sunny colours, like red, orange, yellow. As a human, they hadn't really thought what falling to dust would feel like.

Seems like your journey has come to an end.

Now they felt scattered, weightless and uncomfortably fragile. There was something there, a thought more than a voice ringing through their floating consciousness. It sounded taunting, challenging.

Will you try again?

It didn't want them to persist, it didn't trust them to do the right thing. They were faced with a choice, a chance, their soul floating between the possibilities of a power, a responsibility too heavy to carry but too great to resist. Their will, their very soul was reaching towards yes, because yes they wanted to try again - whatever it was, they wanted to try and do their best and be their best and what were they saying yes to again?

And suddenly everything faded again and the voice - thought, idea, choice? - was gone. Then they were back in front of that throne, next to that sparkling silver light and Susie and Ralsei were right there - only they didn't seem like they had seen this before, been here before.

The following scene practically flew by, like someone had hit skip after already having gone through this. They fought, Susie and Ralsei looked determined to stop the King and be the heroes everyone had been waiting for, but something was missing.

When the King betrayed them they were prepared. Susie was angry, Ralsei was devastated, guilty, probably. But watching their friends and enemy, anticipating everyone's moves, knowing all the little steps and actions in advance, they were only trembling with concentration.

Nothing could go wrong this time.

Not after that.

They weren't sure if Susie or Ralsei realized anything in the frenzy of attacks and everything to do with being heroes - what even was a hero? - but it didn't matter because at that moment they had to move.

Everything stopped and here they were, standing in front of their friends, their team, shield up and ready to do anything. Not long ago they wouldn't have dared standing up to Susie, now they were defending her and antagonizing an even greater foe, heart pounding, but not showing any fear.

Yes, they were scared, but there was a light shining from within them that kept them from giving in.

"K-Kris?" The terrified whisper their monster friend gave made them swallow, the lump in their throat making it harder to breathe by the second. It hadn't been like this the first time. They hadn't been meant to get this far.

The King laughed. Their eyes hardened and their grip tightened on their shield. The feeling of their sword pressing into their back was as reassuring as it was terrifying - they could not think about it. He lifted a hand and, with a dangerous glint in his expression, sent another row of attacks at them, pushing them back and leaving them sprawled on the ground, HP dangerously low. Ralsei might have cried out their name, Susie might have been shaking with rage, but everything seemed kind of blurry.

This was about as far as their plan went and their energy was just about spent.

"You're the leader, aren't you?" He laughed darkly and they tried to get up, to move, get out of the way, but they couldn't. "What, can't even say? ...Let me tell you a secret." The King readied another attack, spade-shaped bullets hanging in mid-air. "Quiet people piss me off." A remnant of the voice that hadn't really been a voice echoed inside their mind, blocking out everything else and filling them with the feeling of having lost more than one battle.

There was a loud noise, someone talking. Were they sitting upright again? Where was the King? Where were their friends? Susie, she was right there, wasn't she? And Ralsei was talking, asking if they were alright? They didn't feel alright, they felt like they shouldn't be here, they should be gone, should be-

Didn't the others remember?

"Kris," someone said, Ralsei probably. They blinked and shook their head in an attempt to clear it. Something about everything didn't seem right - this version of now wasn't correct, this version wasn't meant to exist.

"Eh, leave it," Susie waved him off. "You know they don't really talk."

"I know, but..." Suddenly Ralsei was in front of their face, crouched low on the ground and- why was he so blurry again? "Uh, Kris? Maybe you should-" There was a rustling sound and soon Ralsei was holding something out for them to take. "Here, have something to eat. Your health levels are really low. You... look a bit pale."

"Nah, Kris, don't worry," Susie commented. "You always look like that. You know, pale white like you'd just eaten some chalk."

Now that everything was a bit clearer, they could see Ralsei's confused expression and Susie's smirk. "Why would anyone eat chalk?" Ralsei wondered and Susie just laughed in response. Why were they discussing such unnecessary matters when they had watched them die and come back and-

Didn't they remember?

"That was a pretty neat fight, I say. I mean, no one died, at least," Susie mused.

No one died?

No one died?

Didn't they remember?

When all this was over, they thought, they would tell them.

No one could live alone with this knowledge and not go crazy over time.

The moment passed and soon they had to go home, leaving Ralsei the hopefully not as lonely Prince behind, waking up in the unused classroom. Questions were hanging in the air between them and Susie, but a shared glance and a rushed "Let's go back there tomorrow, okay?" was all that remained.

Undyne didn't believe them, "Sure, Kris, a dark world existing inside the school," didn't seem to sound a that sane and they decided that if nobody believed at least that much, who was going to believe them they had died and come back to live not long ago? For the first time, they had real friends who didn't question their decisions, who would blindly follow them anywhere and yet they had never felt more alone with themselves.

More than once they noticed thoughts crossing their mind, ones that would worry anyone to no end - would they end up back in front of the last shining sparkle they had touched if that car hit them just now-?

And most importantly-

Would anyone remember?

They decided to ban these thoughts, for not only their own sake, but that of their friends and family, as well. Because as far as their curiosity reached, there was always the "what if?" hanging above their head like a threat.

That challenge was one for another day.

They would remember.

...

I suppose you could say this connects to "Lines and Threads" despite the barriers and differences.