Archive of Our Own

Susie had been thinking about a lot of stuff recently.

She hated it. All that thinking made her head hurt. Of course, there wasn't much she could really do about it. The thoughts just flowed on and on like a stream. Or a backed up city street full of poorly drawn cars that all have legs for some reason.

That was one of the main things clogging up her mind. Uh, not the poorly drawn cars with legs thing. Well, kind of. It was the Dark Worlds as a whole.

By Susie’s account, they were 3 for 3 on having fun during these supposedly perilous and potentially world ending adventures. Of course their adventures weren't ever a walk in the park. Their whole party was getting their asses handed to them here in the TV world. It's just that, if they are saving the world, shouldn't there be some greater threat here? It's not like any of this is real anyways-

… That was another thing. Susie hated that line of thinking.

Of course the dark worlds and their inhabitants were real. From the top of the list down, she could see Kris and Ralsei and the completely meh video game they were playing. She could feel the stiff as hell couch they were all sitting on pressing against her back. She could hear the game’s admittedly kinda bumpin’ soundtrack and Tenna’s ‘funny’ and completely unwanted commentary. She could faintly smell the musk of the couch and Kris and Ralsei’s respective scents, all overpowered by Tenna’s tacky body cologne. She could even taste… uh… God, aren't video gaming sessions supposed to have snacks? 

The point is, she shouldn't be able to see and feel and hear and smell and not really taste all of that if it wasn't real. 

This place was real. 

The Dark Worlds were real. 

Ralsei was real.

… And he was also really bad at video games. 

“Why are you going back up here?” Susie asked as the screen transitioned to the walkway just below Lover’s Peak. To her, it looked like the prince had no idea where he was going.

Ralsei stopped moving the character he was controlling. “I-I just wanted to check to see if anything had changed! Should I, um… not do that?” 

Susie looked over at Ralsei. Tenna had left the room to take some sort of call, leaving Kris and Ralsei next to her. The prince’s controller rested comfortably on his lap. He stared up at her expectantly as he fidgeted with his scarf. Susie thought it was… a little cute.

“I, uh…” Susie glanced at the game screen, seeing Kris, who was controlling her game version, running around ripping up plants for points. “Just- do whatever you want dude! You're the leader now, you choose where we go!”

“O-ok, ok!” Ralsei relented, grabbing his controller and moving up to the next screen.

Susie had initially swapped around the controllers just to mess with everyone, but now… she didn't really mind this. Sure, she wasn't really doing much now. Ralsei’s game counterpart wasn't nearly as useful as the real one- and he was 100% real, mind you. 101%, even. Because he's 1 hell of a guy.

… God, Ralsei’s sickly sweet attitude was really rubbing off on her.

Anyway, while Ralsei’s game character wasn't good for much beyond being as throwable as the real deal, Susie didn't mind letting Ralsei take the reins. He seemed so proud and accomplished with himself for doing the most basic things, and despite that she wanted to and often did make fun of him, it also just made her smile like a big dumb goofy idiot for some reason???

As Kris moved Susie’s game counterpart around, pulling up weeds like some kind of human-controlled robot, Ralsei took a few pictures of their characters and the surrounding area for no disconcernable reason.

“Lanino looks so sad and… lonely.” Ralsei muttered, snapping a picture of the… sun? Wait, no, he's a moon. 

“If he's so sad, why're you takin’ a picture of him?” Susie asked. She didn't really care about whatever relationship drama was going on with the weather duo, but Ralsei seemed to, so she at least pretended to give a crap for his sake. 

Ralsei shrugged. “I suppose I just thought he'd enjoy the attention.” He smiled. “Besides! Doesn't he look great in that photo?”

“He looks like a half eaten wheel of cheese.” 

“Well-” Ralsei cut himself off. It looked like he was seriously pondering the thought as he squinted at the game sprite with such intensity Susie could've sworn the screen was about to crack. 

Just when Ralsei felt like he was about to decipher the now greyscale glob of pixels, Kris, controlling Susie’s game version, picked up Lanino, walked over to the edge of the shore, and tossed him into the water. 

“K-kris!” Ralsei yelled, surprised. The prince let out a sigh of relief once Lanino resurfaced with a life-preserver that had materialized into existence around his chest because logic doesn't exist in dark worlds or video games. Guess that makes this anti-logic².

Susie punched Kris’s arm, smirking all the while. “Nice job, Kris.”

Susie moved Ralsei’s game version over to her own pixelated counterpart as if to pat Kris on the back. Kris then immediately turned around and picked up Ralsei’s game stand-in.

“Wha- KRIS, DON'T YOU DARE!” Susie yelled, reaching over to try to wrangle the controller out of Kris’s hands.

Ralsei shook his head, amused. “Wouldn't be the first time “I've” been dunked in water in this game.”

Kris set game-Ralsei down only to immediately pick it back up again. Were they just doing that to see if either of them had something to say about it?

Instead of tossing her in the water like everyone expected, Kris moved game-Susie down and lined up the shot, tossing game-Ralsei onto the now unobstructed… heart-pad? Love-pad? Was there even a name for those two heart things on the ground?

“K-kris?” Ralsei stuttered, not knowing how to interpret Kris moving his game counterpart onto one of the hearts. 

“Kris, what're you even tryin’ to do here?” Susie asked. She tried to move the character she was controlling, but for some reason, no matter what buttons she pressed, nothing was happening. Ralsei’s game version was stuck, locked in place on the love-pad.

Susie slouched over in her seat. Her controller slipped from her hands and clattered onto the floor. She had no motivation to pick it back up. “Ok, look. I'm usually all for doing what you aren't supposed to and stuff, but I think you might've ACTUALLY broken the game.”

Ralsei nodded in agreement. “Susie’s right. How about we just wait for Tenna to come back and-”

Apparently being too impatient to let all the dialog finish, Kris, their face blank as ever, walked game-Susie over to the other love-pad next to game-Ralsei and made her step onto it. 

With a compressed splat noise, the rainbow bridge appeared.

Now it was Ralsei’s turn for his controller to fall on the floor. Both he and Susie stared at the screen in utter bewilderment. They’d regained control of the game characters, but that was the last thing on their minds right now. 

“W-when two lovers meet at Lover’s Peak,” Ralsei quoted to himself as he receded into his scarf, his blush virtually indistinguishable from said scarf. “The… the Rainbow Bridge-”

“I heard what he said, dude.” Susie cut him off, her voice cracking. “Kris. Did you, uh, know this would happen?”

Kris looked at her with a face that portrayed absolutely nothing and explained even less.

Susie blinked. “I… What? I-I don't-”

“Aaaaand WE'RE BACK! Sorry about that folks, I-”

Tenna had barely gotten his butt in the seat when he looked up and saw what was going on on the game screen. 

“... Excuse me one second.”

The show host hopped up off the couch and stepped off to the side of the couch, holding a finger to his head as he made a call. 

“Mike. How are they done already?” Tenna said in a low yet steadily building tone. “This wasn't a part of the script. We had the plot all planned out and everything. HOW’D THIS HAPPEN, MIKE?”

Susie and Ralsei continued to stare. First at Tenna, whose face was completely black (as in, his screen was blank). Then the game screen, which had changed to further along the rainbow as Kris had, at some point, grabbed Ralsei's controller and continued pressing onwards. Finally, gradually, they looked at each other. 

The blush on Ralsei’s face was almost indistinguishable from his scarf. Susie tilted her head down so as much of her face was obscured as possible, because sweet angel, even she wasn't gonna let herself live this down.

Lovers. 

Now that was a thought. 

A thought that, strangely, neither of them could bring themselves to hate.

“You ? What do you mean you !?” Tenna yelled at his unseen lackey. “WE'VE GOT RAFTS, NOTS YOU MORON!!!”

They were friends. There was no denying that much. They joked with each other, fought alongside each other. Well, so did Kris. But the time they spent at the carnival in Cyber City was some of the most fun the both of them had ever had. That and all these games on TV.

Susie felt alright to be herself around Ralsei, and she gave Ralsei the hope to figure out who he even was. Everything between them felt so… comfortable. Natural. Like they could just exist together with no real expectations for what they “had” to be.

“How am I supposed to fill time now!?” The show host bemoaned. “Oh, they’re already at the pyramid!”

Lovers might not be the word Susie or Ralsei would use, but it wasn't entirely wrong. 

There was something there. Something that was so natural, so unassuming, that neither the prince nor monster realized it until they were here, being called out live on TV. 

And it wasn't even on purpose. 

The carnival… it was kind of like a date, wasn't it?

“Can't you at least Kris?” Tenna muttered, just about begging to the human that clearly couldn't care less. “Maybe take a minute to eat an ice cream and ?”

Susie’s offer for Ralsei to go to the festival hadn’t been romantic. Beyond the lighthearted and playful teasing that they reveled in, they held a certain respect for each other as friends. 

But in light of the Lover’s Peak thing, Susie’s conflicted thoughts and feelings on Ralsei’s stupidly cute face made all of her other thoughts shut up. Ralsei, meanwhile, wondered if he should even have such thoughts and was flustered at the prospect of even being loved in the first place. 

It was such an alien concept to both of them.

Tenna continued talking into his antennae. “What do you MEAN there's relationship drama happening backstage? Get the cameras back there, GET THE FILM ROLLING!” 

Lovers. It wasn't quite accurate, but… it was a nice thought.

“Hey. Ralsei?” Susie whispered.

 The prince looked up at her, his eyes searching for something.

Susie’s own eyes scanned the couch cushions as if the words she was trying to find would be written out there. “I just… I was thinking. After this we could… go to the café and-”

“A-ANYWAYS FOLKS!” Tenna’s voice boomed with his usual cadence, cutting off whatever thought Susie was trying to voice. “It's time for our heroes’ FINAL CHALLENGE, JUST THROUGH THIS DOOR- and they already entered it. Great. MIKE! GET THE CONTESTANTS READY FOR THE !”

Susie and Ralsei's heads whipped around towards the show host. “Wait, what-”