Chapter Text
When Berdly snapped awake, it took him more than a second to remember where he was. In the library, not that strange and hectic computer city he had been in moments ago. It had felt so extremely real, like a lucid dream without the control; he found himself extremely relieved when Noelle mumbled something about it all being a dream. Of course it had been a dream, it would be silly to think otherwise. However, it did seem somewhat strange that they had all wok-
“OHMYGODWHATTIMEISIT” Berdly shouted, looking in disbelief at his watch. He was nearly an hour late for his “job” with Mrs. Boom. He thought of poor Mrs. Boom, setting out hymnals and arranging bells without any help, and frantically gathered his things. As he was subconsciously enjoying the texture of his stack of books, he looked up to see Kris and Susie; another massive shock.
Susie had a small smirk, like she knew something he didn’t (impossible), and had her arms crossed. She gave a small “hey” as Berdly looked around in disbelief. The whole ordeal was seeming a bit fuzzy in retrospect, but he didn’t remember her ever approaching him and Noelle during their study sesh. And he certainly didn’t remember Kris being there. Kris accosted him with the same, eerie, dead face they had shown a billion times before, not making the effort to greet either him nor Noelle.
As he and Noelle were hurrying out of the room, Berdly could not help but think about his dream. His eyes were locked on Kris, the human staring back as the mental image of Kris in that silvery, stoic armor rotated in his mind. For whatever reason, he had dreamed about the whole group, with Kris taking up somewhat of a leadership position. That’s what made Berdly sure it was a dream: Kris was not exactly an assertive person. They’re asleep probably 60% of the time Berdly sees them, slumped over in class or at lunch. But, there was something about what he saw in his dream; confident and really quite heroic Kris, working to help him get rid of that weird facehugger wire thing Queen had trapped him in. The image of them marching at the front of the line stuck in his focus, no matter how hard he tried to think about what he needed to grab to prepare to get to church.
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Susie had been following Kris’s slow combing of the town for a while now, finding amusement in all the nooks, crannies, and people Kris seems to find their way to. Checking under every rug, in every cabinet, talking and listening to every single person that was brave enough to speak to the stone face of Kris; it was refreshing for Susie. Gave her a great reason to get out of the apartment. In fact, their whole newfound friendship had been pretty nice. She would never fully admit it to smug-ass Kris, but all the adventure and fun had been a… a nice change of pace for Susie.
Eventually, after touring through Castle Town and a fun as hell time with Lancer, they found themselves in their classroom. Susie found it strange that Kris had wanted to go in here, as they usually enjoyed this room most when face down and drooling. The setting sun was spilling over the desks, giving the whole room a nice glo-
“Berdly.” Kris said softly, planted in front of the forwardmost center desk. They were looking down at it with a curious (?) eye, Susie always found it impossible to tell what Kris was really thinking most of the time anyway.
“Yeah, that’s the little twerp’s desk, right? He’s lucky he helped out so much back there. He was reallllyyyy getting on my nerves, interrupting me and…” Susie trailed off, recalling her conversation with Noelle. “Y’know, interrupting everything with his… Berdlyness,” she said, clearing her throat.
Kris thought on that for a little, still staring at the desk. “Not so bad,” they said somewhat softly, like it was a secret or something.
Susie scoffed. “I mean, he could be worse. It’s good that he got some self reflection, I guess. I’m not sure how much he’ll take to heart about that whole ‘embracing stupid’ thing. Not really sure he even got the right message…” Susie thought back to the puzzles, and Berdly’s strange monologue and explanations. She supposed there wasn’t anything really wrong with him, but that didn’t stop her from hoping he would get less annoying soon. “Anyway, at least he’s mostly harmless.”
Kris didn’t respond to that one, and only stared at the desk for a few moments longer before they started off again on their strange and unexplainable path.
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Eventually, the pair reached the sterile, white building of the hospital. Kris led them through the doors, into the waiting area with Nurse Big Mouth. After Kris mashed their hand onto the miniature piano, in some attempt to prove to Susie they could play, the two stumbled upon Noelle and Mr. Holiday. The pair were talking about a videogame, Rudy’s condition, Noelle’s mother; seemingly anything to spend time together. It took them a second to notice Kris and Susie standing awkwardly at the door, with Susie trying to look like she hadn’t just been eavesdropping on a very private conversation, and Kris looking as rigid as usual.
“Susie?? What are you doing here???” Noelle said with a look of horror scrawled across her face; almost like she hadn’t expected her to barge into her father’s hospital room unannounced. Oh well, it’s a small town and such. Just before she rushed out, Susie caught a hushed conversation between Noelle and her father, something about this being the susie he had heard so much about. Susie figured she must not have heard them clearly, because she couldn’t think of any good reason for them to talk about her. She didn’t think Noelle was rude enough to bring up some of the more personal rumors she may or may not have heard about Susie, so the whole thing was confusing.
Susie couldn’t help but dimly wonder about Noelle as she rushed by her; the way she clutched her books to her chest and her nose let off a faint glow. She hoped the deer wasn’t too scared of her. Although she would never admit it, Susie tried to make sure that the only people truly scared of her were the ones who deserved it, and Noelle seemed like the least worthy. Especially after the kinda nice time they’d had in the Cyber World (not like Noelle would put much stock in “Dream Susie” anyway.) Speaking of, Susie realized she’d have to do more investigation about this new side of Noelle she mentioned on that cheesy ferris wheel. Scary movies and heights, all that stuff. Susie thought that she would have to beat the info out of the forever-obstinant Kris, since they were the one who used to be friends with her when they were kids.
“Hey, Kris.” Susie said as they were walking out of the hospital. “You used to be super close with Noelle, right? What’s her deal? Other than, y’know…” Susie lowered her voice. “...the dark world frost magic stuff.”
Kris kept walking as they thought, only stopping to answer. “Festive.” they answered.
Susie flicked them on the back of the head. “Yeah, dickwad, I know that. Hell, anyone with eyes knows that.” She huffed. “You know, what’s she like outside of that? When she’s not being the Mayor’s perfect little daughter.”
Kris had started to walk again, but the question gave them pause. They gave a little hum, and said “Weird. And cool, like her s-” They stopped for a second before saying “Talk to Catti. They’re friends.” They turned their head to give Susie a glance over their shoulder. “Why?”
Susie felt herself burn under the teasing and conspiratorial glare. “No reason, stupid. Just figured I might as well know the face we just spent a day saving from being robotized.” When the glare didn’t break, Susie couldn’t bear the awkward silence and look away. “Ah, forget it. Fuck you too.” Then, she stopped for a second, finally processing what Kris had said. “Wait, Noelle and Catti are friends? The hell?”
Kris resumed their wander as if she had said nothing at all. “Got it.”
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Susie was slumped over the edge of the couch in a position that Kris thought she would definitely regret in the morning. The monster movie was still blaring in the background as Kris slid off the couch like a snake, careful not to make too much noise. They crept over to the kitchen to make a snack for themselves.
Kris treasured these silent moments, where the loudness of their life faded away and they got a moment away from the control and the craziness. As much as they appreciated having such interesting and unique friends, Kris couldn’t really help but feel like something was missing. Someone who didn’t have anything for them to do; no dark worlds to close and no, y’know, missing people to find. Susie was relaxing in that way, and Kris was very glad to have their first real friend in a long time, but they couldn’t help but wonder what happened after the whole fountain thing was over. The thought of having no one that wasn’t wrapped up in this weird-ass fantasy thing was a bit concerning to them. Anyway, those were thoughts Kris didn’t really want to have while enjoying time with Susie.
As Kris poured an overwhelming amount of chocolate syrup into the milk glass, they thought about all they had seen during the day. One thing was crystal clear: Noelle had the hots for Susie. It was bad enough to involve her father, apparently; a real mark of effort for the eternally parental-concered Noelle. It was also pretty clear Susie was not exactly… observant enough to see it for herself. Maybe it was Susie not wanting to think about the possibility, maybe she was just blissfully ignorant; no matter what, Kris had to clear the fog.
Kris figured getting the two of them together would be pretty damn funny. Plus, also, there was the personal synergy they shared. Noelle needed to break free, Susie needed to smooth some edges, etc. etc. But really, it would mostly be funny to see Noelle squeak over Susie more. They downed the sludgy milk in one gulp, taking care to mash their face into the paper towel roll and avoid dirtying their precious sweater. The question was: how? Kris wasn’t all that close to Noelle after what happened, and she might get suspicious if they do too much meddling. No, they needed help. What Kris really needed was…
… a man on the inside.