Archive of Our Own ^beta

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“Psst dude” Susie whacked them in the back of the head with her notebook. Her notebook wasn’t even filled with notes from the class, probably just doodles and large chunks of paper ripped out from making paper airplanes or paper food (that she actually ate without thinking to share).

Kris just groaned in response. “You slept through class again dude.” Susie said with a shrug. They rolled their eyes. “Tell me something I don’t know.” Susie laughed. “Whatever dude, wanna go see what Ralsei’s up too?” Kris shrugged. The soul chose for them. “No, too tired.” That wasn’t really what they wanted but for once, they didn’t even struggle against this option. To be honest, they were tired. Tired of all the stupid prophecy hero stuff. Tired of the promise they’d made. They weren’t looking forward to the rest of the week.

“Oh. Uh. Well, I’m going to check on him anyways. See you later I guess- WAIT LOOK DUDE!” Susie’s eyes widened and she practically flew to the window. Kris went to see what she was so excited about, but they couldn’t really tell. “What’s so great about the window?” Susie turned to them and frantically shook them. “DUDE DO YOU NOT SEE IT? THE SHOOTING STAR!? MAKE A WISH DUMBASS!” They rolled their eyes again and laughed. If Kris rolled their eyes anymore they would surely pop out of their sockets. “Fine whatever. It’s not that big of a deal-“ Susie glared at them. 

“Yes it is. Now shut up and let me wish!” Susie dramatically, clasped her hands together and closed her eyes. She murmured something under her breath. Kris sighed. You know what. Whatever. Wishing on a star is only lame when you do it by yourself. And besides, I got nothing to lose. They copied whatever Susie was doing and they thought really hard about their wish. I wish for a break. A whole day to myself where the heroes of the prophecy didn’t meet, fight King, or anyone else. No dumb adventures. No waking up early. No soul. Just a break. 

They didn’t feel any different. What did they even expect? For some magical voice to tell them their wish would come true or something? Yeah right. Wishes don’t come true. That’s the sad reality. Kris looked over at Susie, who had dozed off mid wish. They decided to get revenge for earlier and hit her on the head with her notebook. “OUCH HEY WHAT’S THE BIG IDEA- Oh shoot. I MISSED MY WISH!? DAMMIT! Oh well, let’s just go home. Wishing on stars is lame anyways.” Kris followed Susie as she grumbled angrily, kicking rocks on the way home. They said their goodbyes and Kris could finally go to sleep, knowing that unfortunately, nothing would change.

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Kris… Kris…

Kris heard a strange voice in their head. Were they dreaming? That’s weird. Usually, they just slip into unconscious and somehow exist again in the morning. No dreams usually…

“Who’s there?” Kris shouted into the void. The voiced laughed.

You made a wish… would you like it to come true….?

This was definitely some weird lucid dream. They remembered a simpler time, when Noelle had a phase where she’d keep trying to lucid dream. She’d gotten close, but never actually had a lucid dream. They decided to play along. “Uh… sure… What’s the catch?”

You will have a day all to yourself… No soul… No prophecy… No problems… No one to bother you… freedom… 

But you won’t be able to go back to normal until you find-

“For just a day? Deal.” This was definitely not real. Might as well have fun with it before their alarm went off or their mom physically shook them awake.

Then it is done… when you wish for it to end… simply read the scroll…

Kris felt like they were falling out of the sky before waking up with a jolt. What a weird dream. Oh well. 

Toriel came in the room and opened their blinds. “Kris! Time for school! I don’t want you to be late again, sweetie.” They groaned but got out of bed and changed quickly. Nothing had changed. Or, at least, that’s what they thought…

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When they got to school, things started to feel awfully… weird. For starters, Susie wasn’t waiting for them by their locker. She hadn’t been this late in a while, maybe she woke up late or something? Broken alarm? Traffic? Ha! Traffic in hometown. The thought made Kris laugh. No one really needed a car there, just two legs and a destination. They walked into the classroom to see Alphys giving instructions for- a group project? Didn’t they already have a group project to procrastinate on? Oh well. Maybe it’s different or something…? 

“Oh hi Kris! We were just getting into pairs for a project! Feel free to uh- look around and uh- find a partner!” Alphys said, meakly as ever. They just nodded in response and began to walk around. Wait. This wasn’t just wishful thinking- they really had gone back in time. And wait- what happened to the soul? Kris no longer felt like a puppet or a prisoner in their own mind- were they- free? HA! No way… it actually worked! They were so happy they could just skip with joy- well no. Because they had a reputation to uphold, but still. 

They grinned as they shuffled right past their classmates to their seat, putting their legs on the desk and their arms behind their head. They could finally sit back and relax. Well- at least until Susie came. After choosing her for the group project they wouldn’t go to the closet and they could just go home and do whatever. 

What were they going to do when they got home from school? Finally learn how to bake pie? Take up knitting then give up halfway through? Play Dragon Blazers? Call their brother? The possibilities were endless. Goodbye prophey! Goodbye stupid soul! Hello freedom! Hello to being a normal teenager! Well at least until the end of the day- they did have to get back to fulfilling the prophecy and keeping their promise. But for now- that wasn’t their problem!

Susie then barged into class, just like she had the last time Kris had to live through this day.

“Oh hi Susie- we were just-“ It was funny to relive this interaction between their teacher and their best friend.

“Am I late?” Kris had never seen her as scary though and to be honest- seeing this again made it harder not to burst out cackling like a hyena. 

As Susie and Alphys talked, Kris turned their focus to the reactions of their other classmates. Noelle was staring at Susie dreamily and Berdly just sat there with his arms crossed, rolling his eyes before going back to drawing himself as- whatever the hell it was, all Kris could tell was that it had over exaggerated muscles and nipples. Catti and Jockington were playing rock paper scissors, Temmie was- being temmie, and everyone else was scared out of their mind. Kris of course, was just themself, but smug out of their mind knowing that they knew everything that was about to happen.

“What are you sitting there smirking about weirdo!?” Susie said, immediately after sitting down. Kris just laughed and didn’t respond. They must’ve looked really crazy and maybe even schizophrenic laughing to themself while staring at the ceiling because of how Susie looked at them with utter confusion. “Are you- good dude? Who dropped you as a kid…” She mumbled that last part. Kris just shrugged and turned to smile directly at Noelle, who was still staring at Susie. Embarrassed at being caught, Noelle, turned around and tried to hide her face with her hand. This was too fun.

“Now- wait where did all the chalk go? I could’ve sworn I had just gotten a pack…” Kris couldn’t hold it in anymore. They burst out laughing. Alphys turned around to glare at them. “Well since that’s so funny to you Kris Dreamurr, then why don’t you go by yourself to get some more from the supply closet?” Kris, still laughing, nodded and got up, only to fall out of their chair. The whole class was staring at them, concerned but also a bit- well- scared? Kris didn’t blame them, they were acting completely different than they usually did and that was understandably scary to people who often forget about Kris’s existence.

They brushed themselves off before walking out of the classroom, finally free to continue laughing. They hadn’t laughed this much in years! It was insane. Best. Day. Ever! They decided they didn’t need to go to the closet today, Ralsei was better off without them and checking in on him would probably ruin the point of the break anyways. Yeah. Whatever.

So instead, they went to Susie’s locker, where they knew she had stashed away all the chalk she could find. When they checked their locker, most of the packs had already been chewed up, but one was left untouched- probably the one Alphys had lost that morning. They grabbed it and walked back in the classroom. Thankfully, everyone was too busy working on their projects to notice, so they just slipped in, handed the chalk to Alphys, and sat next to Susie.

“Just so we’re clear, you’re doing our group project, capiche?” Kris smirked and shook their head. Unsurprisingly, Susie seemed surprised by this and got mad. “WHAT DO YOU MEAN NO?- I’ll- I’ll rip your face off if you don’t!” Kris could tell she had run out of insults and threats. “It’s called a group project for a reason dude.” Susie physically jumped out of her seat, almost falling out of her chair. “WAIT- HOLD UP- YOU CAN TALK!?” Kris lost it again and wheezed so hard they knocked the wind out of themselves. They nodded in agreement, still trying to regain their composure. “Well- WHY DIDN’T YOU SAY SO!?” Susie’s tough persona had cracked a little. Maybe she’d be their friend again faster than they’d thought.

——

The minute the bell rang to signal the end of the day, Kris jumped out of their seat and sprinted out of the classroom. No adventure! No dark fountain! No nothing!!! They flopped onto their bed with such a force that they heard a crackle. Wait- that wasn’t the bed. They checked under themselves to find a- piece of paper- a scroll or something? Weird. They decided to take a look just in case it was something important.

It read:

A wish granted for a hero so true

Soon will make them feel very blue

For only a day was what they asked

But until true love’s act,

For a week it shall last

And if true love isn’t found,

Forever they will stay here

As the same day goes round and round

What. So there was a catch. A pretty big one. Well. Now what? They didn’t have a true love? How would they even- A WEEK WASN’T ENOUGH TIME FOR THAT! But it got them thinking- who was their one true love? And if they couldn’t get some sort of act from them.. they’d be trapped? 

Was it Susie? Nah, they’d realized that a while ago. Noelle? Maybe? Maybe not? Things between them were complicated to say the least. Berdly? Please no. Ralsei? Well uh- They weren’t too sure about how they felt about him either. Or how he felt about them. Who else? They couldn’t think of anyone. Wait. Did they have to just try everyone until they found the right one? And they only had four days left!? How was this fair. This was ridiculous. Oh well. They’d start tomorrow. Today, they’d just rest a bit.

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Kris woke up to their mom’s voice yet again. So it was real. They’d keep repeating this day unless they broke the curse by the end of the week. Not counting this one, they had 3 days left- unless the weekend counted too. They didn’t really want to try their luck anymore so they decided it was best to start trying as soon as possible.

Why did the thing that would break the spell have to be an “act of true love”? Come on! How lame was that? Dang it, were they really stuck with such a fate? But who could be their so called “true love”? I can list off Susie and Berdly. Susie cause she’s definitely not. And Berdly because I can. So that leaves… like my whole class… and literally everyone else my age… shit. But like for now, I’ll just try people in my area or something.

They arrived at school and unsurprisingly, everything and everyone was the same as yesterday. They didn’t laugh this time as they took their seat. Instead they scoured the classroom for potential love interests. Catti? Nah. Temmie. Nope. Jockington? Probably not. Noelle?

Wait that could be a possibility. They’d known her forever and it would be really awkward but they’d do whatever it took so that they could escape being trapped in a time loop permanently. They walked over to Noelle, who had been staring at Susie, probably daydreaming about- whatever the hell it Noelle liked to dream of. 

She snapped out of her daze as Kris walked over to her. “Hi Kris! Do you have a partner for the project? You could always work with Berdly or me-“ Berdly shook his head with disdain. “No, dear Noelle, that would break our duo into a trio, hence slowing down our intellectual activity and ruining our chances at receiving an A++” Noelle lowered her head, defeated. She was about to say something when Kris said something that surprised even themself.

“Then go work with someone else Berdly. I think Susie’s available.” Berdly was flabbergasted. He opened his mouth to argue but he couldn’t think of anything so he just walked away, dejected. Kris almost felt bad for the guy. Almost. Maybe if Noelle wasn’t their “one true love” or whatever, they’d let them stay partners for the project. Anyways. This would be awkward… now they’d have to flirt with someone they used to see as a sibling… 

They took a seat next to Noelle and scooched their desk closer to hers. “Um so- Kris- what are you thinking?” Kris smirked at her. “About you.” She turned a bit red but also looked a bit weirded out. “Uh- I meant for the group project.” Kris nodded. “I know. I was just a bit distracted…” They leaned their head into their hand on the desk, letting their hair fall sloppily off one of their ruby red eyes. 

They’d never had perfect hair, it was a bit curly at some point, but they’d just never had the energy to style it now that they were older and more independent, so they just brushed it out and let it look straight. It didn’t look bad though, apparently, because most compliments they received were directed at their hair.

Noelle was starting to get a bit flustered at Kris staring at her like that. “Kris what are you doing- can we focus on the project?” They nodded. Noelle cleared her throat and looked away. “Anyways. So for our project I was thinking we could do it on the invention of the lightbulb and include a working model with a diagram explaining how lightbulbs work.” Kris just nodded again and smiled. “So that’s a yes? We can do it on the lightbulb?”

“Yeah. Sure, snowflake.” Noelle seemed even more flustered- or was she creeped out? It was hard to tell. Once when there were very little, their school had hosted a winter show and Noelle had been cast as a snowflake instead of the angel she had so desperately wanted. Kris had felt bad for her and tried to cheer her up by making jokes about snowflakes. Ever since then, they’d call her that from time to time to annoy her, but this time, using it as a pet name felt- a bit wrong to be honest. But they had to push that nagging feeling aside if they were every going to escape this stupid time loop.

“Um, Kris- are you ok? You seem a bit- zoned out to say the least.” Kris cleared their throat. “No I’m good. Just thinking about how nice it was to be close to you again.” There. That would get her.

“UM WHAT- Lets just meet up at the library today and get the stuff we need to research the project…” Kris nodded. Maybe this wouldn’t work. As they walked away from their seat they tripped over a chair. Great. Not again. After a moment, they realized they hadn’t hit the ground. “Oh my gosh! Kris are you alright!” Noelle had caught them. Did this count as an “act of true love” or whatever? That might’ve worked. Yeah. Yeah. Totally. The scroll didn’t really specify. So. Uh. Now they could go home after the project knowing that unfortunately Noelle was their “true love”, but they’d be back to normal the next day.

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After a long and extremely awkward research session with their former childhood friend, Kris was exhausted. Their feet felt like they were stuck in blocks of cement, every step more difficult than the other. Finally, they made it home, greeted their mom with a grunt, and jumped into bed, not even bothering to change their clothes. Soon, their eyelids grew heavy and they couldn’t stop themself from drifting into unconsciousness.