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They had done it. The second Fountain was turned off, balance had been restored, and Kris and Susie had gone home. Ralsei was ecstatic. As he stood where they left him behind, though, his happiness waned, as if water had been dumped on the fire in his heart. What now? Did anything about his own situation change? Knowing that Lancer had kingly duties to attend to, he decided to take his leave.
The walk from the one castle to the other was like his life, lonely and all too slow. No! He shouldn’t succumb to cynicism. There was no need, not after all this time holding strong, not after the recent success. Now that the second Fountain was gone things would change for the better. All he needed was a little more patience.
The castle town was exactly as he left it, empty and dark. Sighing, he strolled around, impatiently looking to see if anything was different. As he thought, there was nothing. Instant gratification would not be given to him, no, he would need to wait a little bit more. If anything happened at all, that is.
Thus, he returned to his home, the castle which loomed above it all, the Fountain within reaching above and into the darkness. The front doors creaked as he opened them, faint light spilling into the pitch-black foyer. Shuffling along, footsteps echoing off the stone walls, he went straight to his bedroom and fell into his bed. The room and bed within were massive, ornate, and comfy, befitting a prince such as him. And yet, he couldn’t bring himself to feel grateful. Curling up under the covers, he fell into a dreamless slumber.
He woke up the next morning with a terrible case of bed head on his fur. It took some time to comb it back to a presentable condition, but he appreciated the activity. Once he was done and had put on his hat, the weight of his loneliness consumed him. He went to the library, full of any book he could ever want to read. But he already had read them all. He went to the garden, full of any flower he could want to smell. But he already had smelled them all. Finally, he went to the kitchen, and it was there an idea struck him.
Ralsei resolved to bake a cake. He told his friends he would make some, after all. As he got out the cookbook and gathered the ingredients, the milk, the eggs, the butter, the flour, etc., mixing them one by one in a bowl, he began reflecting on recent events and the people involved.
Kris was an enigma. They stared at the world through their thick bangs, seemingly apathetic to everything, barely speaking a word. But, conversely, they were adept at ACTing, finding ways to peacefully placate enemies at a moment’s notice. They were patient with Susie during her outbursts and Lancer whenever he tried another ‘evil plan’. And, occasionally, without warning, they would hug him. Ralsei wasn’t judging though, he had no complaints. He certainly considered Kris a good friend, his best friend, his first real one in his entire life. They taught him about hugging! He was glad Kris was one of the first people he met.
And Susie, well, she came around, as he thought she would. It took some work from both parties, but he knew she grew to think of him highly even if she never showed it. He even learned a thing or two from her. She never agreed to stop making fun of him, but, he had to be honest, he craved even that right now. As he mixed the cake batter, he could barely contain his excitement. He shouldn’t be so pouty. Even if he never saw them again, he had made two friends!
The kitchen door slammed open. “Yo, what’s up my main man?!”
Oh, make that three!
Ignoring the question of how he got there, Ralsei greeted his new guest happily. “Hello Lancer, what a pleasant surprise! I’ve just started baking this cake and have been, um- how do you say it- hanging out?” he said as he poured the batter into a small, circular pan.
Lancer looked around. “By yourself?”
He shrugged as he put the pan into the oven. “…I suppose. What brings you down here?”
“Being a king is hard, I need to relax ya know? And what better way to do it than seeing my sweet little goat buddy!”
Ralsei blushed. “So… you just let yourself in? To see me?”
“I am a king!” He stuck out his tongue.
“Heh…fair enough… I really should lock the front door, though.”
Lancer scanned the counter’s contents. “You’re making a cake, huh? Sweet! Can I help?”
“Of course you can! Well, I already finished the batter. But after that’s baked, you can help with the icing!” Ralsei replied.
“Ooooooooo!” Lancer began to shake in anticipation. “How long until that?”
“Hmmm…” Ralsei looked at a clock on the wall. “30 more minutes in the oven, and then 15 minutes of cooling in the fridge.”
“Awwww…” Lancer sighed, flopping on to his back dramatically.
“No need to worry, Lancer! Until then, the two of us can…” Ralsei began to say while looking around frantically, seeing nothing interesting, “…chat!” He gave a nervous smile.
“Waiting sucks…” Lancer pouted.
“Heh, it does…” Ralsei agreed. “Anyway… how is it being a king?”
“Fine, I guessed,” Lancer sighed. “Definitely not as fun as being a bad guy, but what can you do? At least Lesser Dad helps me with stuff.”
“Lesser Dad?”
“Rouxls Kaard.” Ralsei still looked confused. “That puzzle guy.”
His eyes widened. “Oh! How is he?”
The two continued their conversation, talking about all kinds of things. Ralsei had many years’ worth of conversation topics he thought up to burn through after all. When Lancer told the story of how he played a prank on Rouxls by filling his shoppe with worms, but it ended up backfiring because the duke was so ecstatic about said worms, Ralsei began to tear up he was laughing so hard.
“Uh, is smoke supposed to be coming out of there?”
He gasped. The cake! He had lost track of time completely. He hurried to the oven, hastily slipping on oven mitts as he did, coughing and waving away the smoke as he pulled out the pan. The top of the cake was singed black, but it wasn’t as bad as it could’ve been. Still, he was deeply disappointed. He had never burnt a cake before, let alone in front of a friend.
“Sorry, Lancer… The cake is ruined…” he muttered as he placed it on the counter top.
Lancer sniffed it. “How? Seems good to me.”
Ralsei was shocked. “Really?! But… it’s burnt.”
“Well, it looks pretty cool burnt!”
He doubted Lancer had ever seen a cake before. “So… you want to keep it?”
“Can’t let it go to waste, can we?”
“Well… if that’s what you want, it’s what we’ll do!” He put it in the fridge. “Now, we wait for it to cool.”
Silence befell the kitchen.
Of course, Lancer was the one to end it. “…Do you miss them?”
Ralsei knew what he was talking about. “…Yes.”
“Same… You think they’ll ever come back?”
“I’d like to hope so. If they don’t, I wouldn’t blame them. The methods for getting here can be a little… tricky.”
“Well, at least we have each other!”
Ralsei nodded earnestly, but he felt a little melancholic. They did have each other, but would Lancer have time for him, being a king and all? That seemed selfish to think, the world doesn’t revolve around him and his wants after all, but he couldn’t shake it. “A king and a prince… heh, it makes it sound like we’re father and son.”
“Oh yeah, I keep forgetting you’re a prince. What are you prince of, anyway?”
“I… I honestly don’t know. I always assumed it was the kingdom, but I guess it’s the town outside? I’ve never done anything princely before, besides our recent adventure, or had any subjects.”
“Hmm, you should try to revolt against my rule!”
“W-What?”
“Yeah, it’ll make things more fun! We can even take turns. You revolt against me, then I revolt against you. We just gotta give each other a heads up so it can transition smoothly.”
Ralsei didn’t know how to respond to that.
“…I think the cake should be almost cooled enough by now, let’s choose the icing!”
Ralsei opened a cabinet. Lancer gasped. It was a treasure trove! Icing of all flavors and colors filled it to the brim, many of which had already been opened. Clearly, Ralsei had made plenty of cakes before.
“OK, which one do you prefer-“
Before Ralsei could finish his question, Lancer grabbed a container of chocolate icing and began shoveling it into his mouth with his bare hands.
Ralsei released a tiny gasp. “L-Lancer!”
Lancer paused to face him, face and teeth caked in icing. “Yeah?”
“That’s for the cake, you’re not supposed to eat it!”
“Says who?”
“Says me! Give it here, please.” Lancer did as he was told. Peering into the container, most of the icing was consumed. How did he do it so fast? “…Guess we’ll be using vanilla?”
“Fine with me!”
Taking the cake out of the fridge and wielding a frosting spatula, Ralsei began to generously spread vanilla icing over the pastry, covering the black and brown with white. Ralsei handed Lancer another spatula and, together, the two finished quickly. One side had a disproportionate amount of icing compared to the other.
“Looks great, can we eat it now?” Lancer asked.
“Eat it? But we aren’t done yet!” Ralsei teased, taking out a piping bag and filling it with green icing, his favorite color. “With this, we can write anything we want on the cake.”
Lancer was clearly excited by the possibilities. “Wow… what message should we write? Oh, I know!” Gesturing him closer, Lancer whispered his suggestion into Ralsei’s ear. The prince blushed.
“S-Sounds wonderful!”
Giggling like a couple of school children, they put down the message, taking turns for each word. Lancer’s handiwork was scratchy, almost ineligible compared to Ralsei’s fancy text. But it didn’t matter, they both knew what it said: Lancer + Ralsei: BFFs Forever!
“Perfect!” Lancer exclaimed.
“It technically says ‘forever’ twice.”
“Hey, double the time.”
Ralsei giggled. “I suppose that’s true.”
“Now, for the rest of the icing!” Lancer said. Ignoring Ralsei’s protests, he took the piping bag and began squeezing the rest of the frosting into his mouth. As Ralsei reached to take it away, Lancer aimed it at his face.
“This is a holdup! Give me all your things!” He flashed an icing-stained smile.
Ralsei raised his hands. “L-Lancer? What-“
Lancer squirted the icing. The first thing Ralsei thought was that it was going to take a while to clean out of his fur. The second was that he needed cover, and quick. He ran for the kitchen table.
“Get back here, you should be dead!”
Thinking quickly, Ralsei grabbed a spatula and a container of vanilla icing before crawling under the table. Tactics flashed through his head. ACTing didn’t seem it would work, this would need to be a battle. Lancer had the superior weapon, but he was much more well versed in the art of icing warfare. Dipping the spatula, henceforth known as ‘the Icing Sword’, in the container, he scooped out a large mound of the sugary ammunition. Lancer’s footsteps were growing louder.
“Stay back, Lancer! I don’t want to have to do this!”
“Fool! You won’t have time to do…” Lancer began, pulling back a chair and aiming the newly christened ‘Icing Gun’, “anything!” Before Lancer could take a shot, icing splattered all over his face. “Oh, so that’s how it’s gonna be, huh?”
Ralsei laughed nervously. “T-There’s more where that came from!”
Lancer retaliated, getting icing on Ralsei’s scarf, and the battle was on. Icing was everywhere, but Ralsei couldn’t bring himself to care. He was having the time of his life.
Due to Lancer’s fondness for using the thing, it wasn’t long until the Icing Gun ran out of ammo. Ralsei laughed as he cornered his groveling enemy and raised the Icing Sword.
Lancer stopped his cowering briefly. “Ask if I have any last words!”
Ralsei shrugged. “OK! Any last words?”
Lancer pretended to spit at his feet.
“…Well played.”
He tapped Lancer lightly on the forehead, a little dollop marking the spot. “I win! Yes!” Ralsei yelled, pumping his arms excitedly. He noticed Lancer staring at him slack-jawed. “Ahem… how about we eat that cake?”
Lancer composed himself, holding back laughter. “…Sure!”
Ignoring the mess they caused, they both approached their creation. The burnt cake was covered in sloppy white icing and barely legible text. To any normal person, it would be an abomination. To them, however, it was awe-inspiring, a beautiful, flawed little triumph.
“Well? Shall we dig in?”
He cut a slice for both him and Lancer. Taking a fork, he began to eat it. Despite the misshapen icing and the burnt batter and the frankly terrible taste, the cake was one of the best things Ralsei had ever eaten. It felt like years were building to this point, when he could finally share the fruit of his labors with another. He ate one slice and wanted to cry, whether it was from the taste or his emotions he didn’t know. Lancer, however, would finish one slice, then another, then another. Soon enough, it was gone completely.
Lancer burped. “You make a mean cake, Ralsei!”
“It was mean, in the most literal sense of the word,” he joked, the burnt aftertaste still on his tongue. They laughed.
Lancer’s laughter trailed off. “Well… I’ve gotta leave soon. Can’t keep Lesser Dad in charge forever.”
Ralsei’s heart plummeted. “Leave? Oh… OK.”
Lancer recognized the face of disappointment, he had made it plenty of times before. “Not to worry, dude! I had a lotta fun so I’ll definitely be inviting myself in some more. Besides, you have the same privileges for my place.”
“R-Really?”
“Yup, come over whenever. Maybe start a revolt, I won’t stop you. Anyway, see ya! Thanks for the cake and epic frosting battles!” Lancer stuck out his tongue and waved. As quickly as he appeared, he was gone.
“Goodbye, my friend!” Ralsei waved farewell excitedly. Once Lancer was gone, he took in the state of the kitchen. It was a mess, frosting in places it very much should not be. He spent the next few hours scrubbing it from top to bottom before cleaning himself and his clothes. His fur still felt sticky, but he was fine with that. No one said fun never had a price. When he was done all that, he sat at the kitchen table and stared at the clock. What now? Wait for when Lancer wanted to ‘hang out’ again, he supposed. It was just a shame Kris and Susie couldn’t join them. He read his cake cookbook from cover to cover for perhaps the thousandth time in his life before going to bed.
The next morning, he was woken up by loud, continual knocking on the door. He ran to it as fast as he could. Was it Lancer? He deeply hoped it was.
He opened the door. It was Lancer, but not just him. He was accompanied by two very familiar Lighteners. Ralsei could barely believe it.
“Hey, nerd. Miss us?”
“Kris! Susie!”
He immediately remembered what Kris taught him about hugging and put it to good use.
"Now, how about those cakes you promised us?"