u/Lignagirroc

Just throwing this out there before Ch. 5 hits.

During the festival, drama will happen with Noelle and Susie, and probably the other kids too. After the dark world, Susie will have Noelle at the forefront of her mind and we will rush to the hospital.

Rudy is worse off than he's been letting on, and at the beginning of the chapter(pre dark world), he's looking pretty rough.

Whatever happens with Asgore will only make things worse and will push him over the edge, and might even reveal some details about what happened to Dess that Asgore and Carol have been keeping from him.

Rudy will finally let go and Noelle will witness this right in front of us. She'll ask us what she should do. But no matter what, your choices don't matter.

She smiles.

She remembers Queen's speech. She focuses her will. She stabs the earth. The fountain is opened and the screen becomes enveloped in darkness.

We hear the sound of ice shock.

And roll credits.

Credit to this post for the picture.

Also I know that Rudy dying/Noelle opening a dark world in response isn't exactly new or anything, this theory is specifically about it being the cliffhanger for chapter 5 and the specific framing around the situation.