History Webcomic / PaperTrail

* TheHeavy: The Knight seems to be this. By Page 67, [[spoiler: they claim that they're "not the one holding the

* YourPrincessIsInAnotherCastle: By Chapter 63, all of Lancer's subjects have been recovered, and the fountains of darkness have been purified. Quest accomplished...only, it isn't. [[spoiler:Asriel's last journal entry implies that the Fun Gang will need to confront their hometown's dark past.]]

'''Paper Trail''' is a ''VideoGame/{{Deltarune}}'' fan comic created by [[https://lynxgriffin.tumblr.com/ Lynxgriffin]]. It functions as a fan-made sequel to the game and follows the adventures of Kris, Susie and Ralsei as they once again venture through the Dark World.

* BreakTheCutie: The recovered entries from Asriel's journal reveal, one part at a time, how the Dreemurr's biological son was gradually broken down by the stress of caring for an unstable Kris, then watching as his parents grew apart before divorcing. Then, as of Page 63, the last entry shows that [[spoiler:Toriel revealed the dark secret of what happened 66 years ago. Whatever it was, it was such an AwfulTruth that Asriel came to ''hate'' his hometown and parents.]]

-->''''[[spoiler:Asriel]]'''': ...And the worst part is....I can't do anything about it, or everyone will...it'll all be over.

-->''''Asriel'''': [[spoiler:Mom told me about the bunker.]]

-->'''Ralsei:''' Even in the darkest places...you were never alone.

* ArmorPiercingQuestion: [[spoiler:the fused form of Ralsei]] drops one on Kris on Page 60.

** Later, on Page 60, the whole gang pulls this on [[spoiler:Kris, letting them know that even if they're not sure of their own morality, or whether they have any will outside the SOUL, they're not alone. Kris' friends will always be there to help]].

* SixthRanger: [[spoiler:Noelle ends up joining the team later in the story.]]

* DyingAsYourself: [[spoiler: Kris attempts to do this during their FreakOut, as killing themselves would at least be ''their'' decision, not the SOUL's. They eventually stop when Susie interferes, but more because dying would just mean reviving at their last save point, not because they've snapped out of it.]]

* FreakOut: Kris ultimately suffers one when they're forced to confess their existential crisis on the Hot Seat. [[spoiler: When Noelle and them end up in an underground cave due to the floor collapsing, Kris loses it and repeatedly slams themselves against walls in an effort to kill themselves.]]
* FusionDance: [[spoiler: Ralsei and Lairse (along with, it's implied, the rest of the Asriel figments encountered thus far) fuse into one being to save the rest of the FUN gang from the depths of the "Hell"-path.]]

* FusionDance: [[spoiler: Ralsei and Lairse fuse into one being to save the rest of the FUN gang from the depths of the "Hell"-path.]]

* YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre: When Susie breaks down after admitting her past sins, Lancer hoists her over his shoulder and tells her that he's her friend, and he won't abandon her.

* DyingAsMyself: [[spoiler: Kris attempts to do this during their FreakOut, as killing themselves would at least be ''their'' decision, not the SOUL's. They eventually stop when Susie interferes, but more because dying would just mean reviving at their last save point, not because they've snapped out of it.]]

* YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre: After Susie breaks down after admitting her past sins, Lancer hoists her over his shoulder and tells her that he's her friend, and he won't abandon her.

** The Knight for some reason terrifies Kris and is responsible for the Spade King's rise to power before his defeat by the Fun Gang. Him suddenly appearing is what causes Kris to panic enough to pull Lancer and Ralsei into the Light World. But we never see him actually ''do'' anything that could be classified as evil. [[spoiler: After the Fun Gang's first death with Noelle in the party, he approaches Kris in the Game Over-screen with an item to help them later on. But when they try to refuse it, he makes it clear that he was talking to the SOUL, not them and that he doesn't care one bit about what they want.]]
** As of Page 58, ''[[spoiler:Toriel]]'', of all people, is a suspect of this trope. At this point, it isn't clear what went down, but [[spoiler:Sans implies that she and the other elder monsters not only murdered a town full of humans (in self-defense, if Toriel's claims are anything to go by), but took said town as their own and somehow erased all memory of the prior inhabitants]].

* DarkIsNotEvil: While a lot of the Darkners may look intimidating, none of them are truly evil per sé. Most can be pacified by [=ACTing=] a certain way and even Yisho, the one Darkner who ''has'' to be defeated through violence, turns out to only have been grumpy due to suffering from an egg stuck inside of him and hops away giddily once it's finally out.

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* DarkIsNotEvil: While a lot of the Darkners may look intimidating, none of them are truly evil per sé. Most can be pacified by [=ACTing=] a certain way and even Yisho, the one Darkner who ''has'' to be defeated through violence, turns out to only have been grumpy due to suffering from an egg stuck inside of him and hops away giddily once it's finally out.

** The Knight for some reason terrifies Kris and is responsible for the Spade King's rise to power before his defeat by the Fun Gang. Him suddenly appearing is what causes Kris to panic enough to pull Lancer and Ralsei into the Light World. But we never see him actually ''do'' anything that could be classified as evil. [[spoiler After the Fun Gang's first death with Noelle in the party, he approaches Kris in the Game Over-screen with an item to help them later on. But when they try to refuse it, he makes it clear that he was talking to the SOUL, not them and that he doesn't care one bit about what they want.]]

** For a good while the comic leaves it ambiguous if Kris really is the good person their friends believe them to be or if it's actually the SOUL doing all the heroics, while Kris's real personality is more sinister. [[spoiler: During their confession on the Hot Seat, Kris themselves admit that ''they don't know''. Since the SOUL has been possessing and making decisions for them for as long as they can remember, they never really got to find out who they really are and whether or not they're actually a good person or just do the things they do to elicit reactions.]]
** The SOUL itself is kind of a head-scratcher. On multiple occasions it pilots Kris's body against their will and interferes in their decision-making without Kris having asked or wanting it to do so. But so far it doesn't seem like it means Kris or their friends any harm. On the contrary, every time it pops up, it's apparently trying to help.[[spoiler: Kris themselves suspects the SOUL sees the world around it as a game and wants to keep "playing" with everyone, admitting that they thought about just destroying their home and relationships to see if that would get rid of it.]]
** The Knight for some reason terrifies Kris and is responsible for the Spade King's rise to power before his defeat by the Fun Gang. Him suddenly appearing is what causes Kris to panic enough to pull Lancer and Ralsei into the Light World. But we never see him actually ''do'' anything that could be classified as evil. [[spoiler: After the Fun Gang's first death with Noelle in the party, he approaches Kris in the Game Over-screen with an item to help them later on. But when they try to refuse it, he makes it clear that he was talking to the SOUL, not them and that he doesn't care one bit about what they want.]]

* GetOut: At the culmination of her argument with [[spoiler: none other than Sans]] in page 58, Toriel makes it ''very'' clear she's had enough.

* WhamLine: [[spoiler: After a nice little chat in the diner, Sans suddenly gives Toriel his famous empty eye-socket DeathGlare and starts interrogating her about something that happened sixty-six and a half years ago.]]

** As of Page 58, ''[[spoiler:Toriel]]'', of all people, is a suspect of this trope. At this point, it isn't clear what went down, but [[spoiler:Sans implies that she and the other elder monsters not only murdered a town full of humans (in self-defense, if Toriel's claims are anything to go by), but took said down as their own and somehow erased all memory of the prior inhabitants]].

* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: [[spoiler:As Kris explains in the church Dark World, they just want the SOUL to ''leave them '''alone''''', and they're afraid that one day, that desire may lead them to do terrible things. Kris talks about getting rid of "everything it wants to play with", including their friends and family, and finally confesses that they've been thinking about just burning their home to the ground so there's no place to "play", just to see if the SOUL will leave them alone.]]

** For a good while the comic leaves it ambiguous if Kris really is the good person their friends believe them to be or if it's actually the SOUL doing all the heroics, while Kris's real personality is actually more sinister. [[spoiler: During their confession on the Hot Seat, Kris themselves admit that ''they don't know''. Since the SOUL has been possessing and making decisions for them for as long as they can remember, they never really got to find out who they really are and whether or not they're actually a good person or just do the things they do to elicit reactions.]]

** For a good while the comic leaves it really ambiguous if Kris really is the good person their friends believe them to be or if it's really the SOUL doing all the heroics, while Kris's real personality is actually more sinister. [[spoiler: During their confession on the Hot Seat, Kris themselves admit that ''they don't know''. Since the SOUL has been possessing and making decisions for them for as long as they can remember, they never really got to find out who they really are and whether or not they're actually a good person or just do the things they do to elicit reactions.]]

** The SOUL itself is kind of a head-scratcher. On multiple occasions it pilots Kris's body against their will and interferes in their decision-making without Kris having asked or wanting it to do so. But so far it doesn't seem like it means Kris or their friends any harm. On the contrary, every time it pop up, it's apparently trying to help.[[spoiler: Kris themselves suspects the SOUL sees the world around it as a game and wants to keep "playing" with everyone, admitting that they thought about just destroying their home and relationships to see if that would get rid of it.]]
** The Knight for some reason terrifies Kris and is responsible for the Spade King's rise to power before his defeat by the Fun Gang. Him suddenly appearing is what causes Kris to panic enough to pull Lancer and Ralsei into the Light World. But we never see him actually ''do''anything that could be classified as evil. [[spoiler: After the Fun Gang's first death with Noelle in the party, he approaches Kris in the Game Over-screen with an item to help them later on. But when they try to refuse it, he makes it clear that he was talking to the SOUL, not them and that he doesn't care one bit about what they want.]]

* AmbiguousSituation: The comic heavily hints that Kris is being possessed by the SOUL in parts of the story, but it's still not clear who or what the SOUL actually are, whether or not they intend to cause harm and why they chose Kris as a host.

* DeathMontage: [[spoiler: The Fun Gang dies over and over again in the fight against Lairse. Eventually Kris gets tired of it and chooses to try and avoid the confrontation altogether.]]

* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: During their travels through the fifth Dark World, the Fun Gang encounters a sign post pointing to "Heaven" on the one and "Hell" on the other path. They unanimously decide to take the "Heaven"-route. [[spoiler: When it becomes clear to Kris that Lairse won't let them pass, they decide to go for the Hell-route instead, much to the dismay of the rest of the party.]]

** Ralsei refuses to tell Kris why he looks so much like Asriel. [[spoiler: Kris becomes fed up with it at some point and calls him out on it. Ralsei tries to defend himself by stating that knowing would possibly hurt Kris.]]

* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: [[spoiler:As Kris explains in the church Dark World, they just want the SOUl to ''leave them '''alone''''', and they're afraid that one day, that desire may lead them to do terrible things. Kris talks about getting rid of "everything it wants to play with", including their friends and family, and finally confesses that they've been thinking about just burning their home to the ground so there's no place to "play", just to see if the SOUL will leave them alone.]]

* AbusiveParents: [[spoiler:The Spade King. The more things change. When confronted in the Dark World in Noelle's house, he wastes no time berating and bullying Lancer, even threatening to put him in the dungeon after he's defeated the Lightners. Thankfully, Lancer finds the courage to stand up to him.]]

** It's heavily implied that Kris vividly remembers being possessed by the SOUL and dreads that it will happen again. For some reason, they're also deathly afraid of the Knight, to the point they were willing to pull Ralsei and Lancer into the Lightner-world (without knowing what would happen) rather than trying to fight him when he first appears.

* InterspeciesFriendship: Twofold in the story. Kris has one with Susie, who is a monster, while both Susie and Kris share one with the Darkners Ralsei and Lancer.

* WhiteMage: [[spoiler:When brought to the Dark World, Noelle becomes a mage whose primary focus is on healing and protection.]]

** Ralsei, Eslira and Irales are prone to this when upset. Which, for Irales, is pretty much all the time.