Soulless

Reconnaissance

Kris woke up sweating and shaking. They felt like their entire body was about to fall apart, and every breath they took was of pained difficulty. They rubbed their beady eyes and slowly got up to sit on the bed, persistently feeling the weight of some unknown origin, both in their head and on their body.

The room was quiet and dim, as is usual this early in the morning. The curtains were still covering the windows, letting only the tiniest amount of light through to illuminate the bedroom. Kris could only hear the faint noise of stuff being moved around in the kitchen, presumably by their mother.

Kris studied their room. Going from their bed, they looked at their clothes drawer: it was filled mostly with striped shirts. Kris didn't really care much for fashion, but they still had their own preferred clothing style, albeit and extremely boring one, as many people would put it. They looked past the closed window,  and caught sight of their only one notable belonging; a rusty bird cage. 

Toriel bought for Kris after they showed some interest in bird-keeping, but that didn't really worked out. Kris pretty much abandoned the hobby after about two days, as the parrot they were supposed to take care of managed to escape. Toriel was so broken up about the bird's escape, meanwhile Kris couldn't care less. The cage remained as a grim reminder of Kris's ineptitude.

..but...looking at the cage now...

Kris felt like they were about to vomit just looking at the rusty thing. They had no idea why...

They decided to tear their gaze away from the cage, and studied the rest of the room. They gazed past the closed window, and their eyes landed on the opposite bed.

Asriel's bed...

 It was made up neatly, and the drawer beside it displayed many awards and congratulations from various ceremonies. Still shaking, Kris got up and walked to the drawer, opening it. Inside, they found a large collection of shirts very similar to their own, alongside some other articles of clothing that looked like it was unused for the most part. For some reason, there was also a shirt with a huge hole present as well.

As Kris studied the drawer and the bed, they started to feel a slight sting somewhere in their body . The sight of their brother's belongings made something in Kris's stomach turn, and the more they observed, the worse it got. Memories and images of years past began flowing into Kris's head...

Asriel, still sitting on his bed when they both were very little, reading some goofy novel like he always did. Kris used to read some of them too, often discussing the events of the novel with their brother afterwards.

...The memories of Asriel laughing at Kris as they completely missed the point of every single one...

...the memories of him apologizing afterwards as he didn't want Kris feeling bad about themselves...

Asriel was a huge pushover. He couldn't bring himself to hurt a fly, and he was so nice to everyone he knew, especially Kris. Even strangers received the most kindest and sometimes most naive treatments from him. He always greeted everyone with a smile, even if some people found Asriel to be annoying.

He couldn't stand to see other people hurt. He always brought every animal he found that was hurt to the clinic as fast as he could. When Asriel was a bit older, he would visit sick monsters in the hospital regularly, even if they barely knew him. He would always help Kris out every time they got stuck with homework or didn't understand something in school.

Kris's expression grew darker.

...he would always comfort Kris if they were bullied or hurt by Susie...