Kris thought they'd have to take the little soul out again, but as it turned out, Anarchy beat them to it. The moment Kris was alone, they nearly collapsed as their puppeteer frantically threw himself to the other side of the room.

The teenager peered at the red heart in complete confusion. They brought their hand to their chest, feeling agony begin to carve a bloody path into their muscles. * What is it?

"Well, first of all, I don't- I'm sorry. It was supposed to be someone else," he said, tripping over his words. He sounded somewhat distraught, which was about what Kris had expected. "I made a vessel, someone who didn't have their own life, but he..."

* Slow down. Kris's red eyes were fixed on the soul. * What are you talking about?

"A... A vessel of my own. So I could exist here. Like a robot, you know? But the person helping me make it threw it away."

* And now I'm stuck with you instead, Kris finished.

"Yes, but..." They felt his eyes drift to their pocket, where the two-toned glasses they'd gotten from Spamton NEO rested. "I want to work out something with you. I want us both to have our own lives, and I-"

* You saw what happened to him. Their heart was still pounding in their chest. * There's no freedom in this world. Not for us.

Anarchy took in a breath. "That won't happen to you. And before you disagree, let me explain. You've been... separated from me before." They snorted at the way he danced around the subject, but let him continue. "You had some trouble moving, but you didn't straight-up collapse. I don't know if it hurt or not-"

* Of course it hurt. It hurt like nothing in the world. I thought I was dying, they said flatly. * I don't see how you can fix that. Even now, they felt pain in their chest that was slowly building to a crescendo.

"Well... If I'm helping you and listening to you, then you don't even have to get rid of me. I'll take the backseat until we figure something else out," he argued. "I want a life here, but I trust you enough to make decisions, and I *know* finding a new body is possible."

They folded their arms. * And what if I don't trust you?

They felt the soul's frustration. They felt his efforts to force it down, too. "That's... fine. I won't try and force you to trust me. I just- I want to help, and this is the only way I can see how."

* And what is 'this', exactly? I wanna know what I'm getting into.

"Us working out an agreement. Something like... I let you make all the decisions, and you help me find a new vessel. Mutual benefits." They had a sneaking suspicion that, if Anarchy had hands, he would be wringing them. "Or, um, we could do something else. We just need to work something out."

* You're forgetting one veery important thing. You're literally my soul. Without you, I die slowly and painfully. They slouched back onto the door. Suddenly, the small room felt suffocating.

"Oh..." They felt his mood deflate, saw his light dim. "That is a problem. I hadn't thought about that."

* I can tell. Kris stood straight up again. * I respect the gesture, but there really is no freedom for me.

The little soul shook adamantly. "There is. We will figure this out. Does the library have any books about this? We could start there, or maybe look on the int,

* Anarchy. It was the first time they'd addressed him by name, and he seemed to come more awake. * This. Isn't. Possible. I want it to be as much as you do, but it's just not. Can you please drop it?

"I..." He hovered there for a moment. "Okay. I want to talk about this later, but I can do that for now."

Kris didn't answer, holding their hand out. Anarchy floated into it without complaint, letting them throw him under the bathroom sink. They sat down with their back to the door and cried silently.

Hope was so close and yet so far away. There really was no freedom for puppets, was there? They were doomed to live forever under someone else's control or die before they ever got free.

In their pocket, they thought they felt the shades shaking, like Spamton was crying too.