Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

THE EXPERIMENT THUS FAR HAS BEEN VERY SUCCESSFUL. BUT LET US DIVERGE THE PATH. LET US PUSH IT DOWN A DIFFERENT WAY.

“Dude, stop making so much goddamn noise! You’re supposed to be looking for clues, dumbass!”
Susie snatched the guitar away from Kris, before closing them back into Dess’s closet. Noelle’s eyes widened in horror as she saw what Susie was holding.

“Hey, uh, sorry about that. I, uh…” Susie began. Noelle quickly leaned forward, reaching for the guitar. “Susie, hand me the guitar! Um, please?” The two stayed like that for a moment, before the large purple girl slowly passed the instrument over. “Uh, sure. But like, why?” Noelle stammered for a moment. “Well, I, um…” But Susie already answered her own question. “Oh! Did you wanna play it? Dude, you should totally play something!” Susie’s expression had changed to one of pure excitement and anticipation.

Of course, Noelle’s had changed to one of pure panic. She wanted to say no, of course I’m not, we can’t touch this or my mom will kill us. But looking at Susie’s ecstatic face, Noelle couldn’t help but feel a sense of rebellious desire to impress a cute girl. “Y-yeah! Totally! But umm…” Noelle looked back at the closet, as well as the room as a whole. “N-Not up here. Come on.” She walked out of the room and down to the couch, Susie closely behind.

After the room went quiet once more, Kris once again opened the closet door. Pulling out their phone while maintaining a death grip on this pain-in-the-ass soul, they made a call.
“Noelle… guitar?” The cold voice said, scraping through the speaker of the phone. “I will be there… promptly. Susie… can’t get… guitar…” the voice stopped, and Kris hung up. Internally, they screamed at the whole world.

No, get over here now! She’s just as much of a threat to the plan as Susie! Just because she’s… Kris looked down at the soul. And THIS damned thing, causing me nothing but problems. Maybe I should just throw it in Carol’s garbage disposal. Can’t be worth this much headache. They relished in the daydream for a second or two, before shoving the soul back in its parasitic crevice. And that horrible feeling returned.

*The feeling of your limbs being consumed by pins and needles, like static has completely enveloped your spine. Your vision darting away, until it feels like you sit in a dark cavern, straining to catch the full depth of what you can perceive. And the feeling of rage. It’s always mad at you when it gets back in. But this… this was a new level. A deep powerful rage, like a desire to throw this vessel it puppeteers into a pit of jagged rocks. Yet strangely, you feel it also enveloped in… hurt? Betrayal? It surely knew already that you’d been working both sides. Right?

Kris didn’t dwell too much on that, as the soul once again began moving them out of the room. They stepped out into the hallway, stopping at the banister overlooking the main area of the still darkened house.

Noelle sat neatly in the middle of the couch, with Susie tucking herself into the corner of the right side, trying to get as good a view as possible while maintaining maximum comfort. Damn, so many comfy couches lately. I need to get more people to let me hang out at their house. Noelle sat there for a moment, looking down at the instrument in her lap. It was surreal honestly. The last time she held it, the guitar’s body basically equaled her torso. Dess always had her nested in her lap otherwise, the dozen or so occasions she attempted to teach Noelle.

“I um, I’m not actually sure how to play it, to be honest.” Noelle looked over sheepishly at Susie. “I can like, play a note at a time, but beyond that…” The deer girl shrunk in her seat, feeling the embarrassment start to seep in. Susie leaned forward, filled with a desire to stop the downward spiral in front of her. “Hey! Th-that’s totally fine, dude! You don’t gotta be like, perfect or some junk.” The purple dragon leaned back once more, settling in. “Just, do what feels good. I won’t make fun of you or anything. Not like I could do better anyway.” She looked off into the room at that point, not wanting to see Noelle’s response to that totally lame speech or whatever. Noelle however, was staring straight at Susie as if she’d just revealed some arcane knowledge.

It occurred to Noelle in that moment how… guarded Susie had been since she arrived in Hometown. The girl that basically smashed her way into Noelle’s world a few months ago would never have been the type to admit something she struggled at. Certainly not without some snide remark on how stupid that thing was anyway. But now, that giant purple girl was settled into her couch, waiting for her to give it a try. Could she really let that chance pass her by?

Noelle steeled her resolve. She looked down at the guitar, and placed her hands at the strings. It sat like one of those instruments Alphys talked about once. Couldn’t remember the name though, wasn’t important. She took a breath in, and began to play.

It was slow at first. The song itself was slow anyway, but initially she only got a note out every second or so. But it picked up to a consistent yet methodical pace. The melody was somewhat somber, but more so wistful. Like it was wandering around, looking for something to guide it. Hoping for a sense of meaningful direction to bring it home. Lost.

Susie was captivated. She was reminded of how… complicated Noelle was under the surface. When she arrived at the school, Noelle seemed like a nice enough girl. Not judgy, so undeserving of her signature terrorization. But otherwise just a typical smart kid that stayed out of the way. But over the past few days, Susie realized how much more there was. Noelle was someone who wanted to push out on the world just as much as she did. To be loud, irreverent, impulsive.

But it was all tempered by this looming pressure to be what was expected of her. Not the way Susie had known, where people assumed the worst and gave you little choice but play the part. But where people assumed the best and acted like it was only natural to achieve such ambitions. Any shortcomings were a catastrophe. There was also this sense of grief that Susie couldn’t quite place yet. She knew it was important, but the details weren’t clear to her.

As the song ended, Noelle looked down at the guitar’s body once more. Her thoughts full of melancholic memories of Dess. As she looked though, she noticed a piece of paper in the hole of the guitar. It said, “Shelter”. She leaned down just a little.

One.

Two.

Two.

F-

“Noelle?”
She yelped in surprise. Susie had gotten quite close at… some point after the song ended, and was staring right at her. She felt her whole face heat up like someone just lit a stove burner under it.
“Noelle, you good?” Susie asked. Shit, did I break her or something?

Noelle looked over and smiled as best she could, hoping she could hide how flustered she was. “Faha, sorry. I got caught up in the song I guess! My sister taught it to me, and I think it just makes me think about her a lot.”

Susie leaned back, satisfied. “Well, you kicked ass playing it. That was totally awesome dude.” Noelle went right back to full redness. “U-um, thanks! I didn’t know I could still play it at all honestly.” Susie grinned. “Guess deer have pretty good memory then.” Noelle giggled. “Fahaha, I guess so!”

Susie settled once more into the couch. “Man, today’s been awesome.” She glanced off again. “…Not to, be weird. Or anything.” Noelle turned to Susie, setting the bottom of the guitar down at the floor, still supporting it at the neck. “Umm, it’s… It’s not weird at all! I… really like hanging out with you, too, Susie.”

Susie kept looking off into the room, uncomfortably aware of the heat spreading across her own face. “Sweet, Maybe we could like… I dunno. Hang out again tomorrow or something.”

Noelle gasped, placing a hand over her mouth. Susie’s eyes darted back to her, before looking even further away, closer to the direction of the backdoor that was starting to look like a great place to run to. “Uhh… unless you’re busy?”

Noelle started to laugh a little. “Umm, no! I’m not busy, it’s just… Tomorrow is… well… it’s the festival, Susie.”
A look of sobering realization appeared on Susie’s face, no longer staring at the backdoor, but still not at the pretty girl next to her. “Oh. Yeah, I…” she trailed off. Noelle thought for a moment, weighing her options. “Would you… Would you want to go… together…?”

On second thought, the backdoor was looking enticing. “I…”

Suddenly, the lights flicked back on. Susie and Noelle both jumped a little. Noelle looked up towards the fixture that had totally just blocked her. “The lights…?”
A familiar deep voice came from the entryway of the house. “Oh, yes, someone had turned them off!” Asgore walks into the main area, greeting the two girls. Noelle pulls the guitar to be between her feet. “Umm... hello, Mr. Dreemurr!” Asgore looks at the two, seemingly deliberating something internally. “I don't mean to interrupt your schoolwork, but...” He then takes a few steps closer, before turning towards the coffee table in front of them. “Is that... a snack tray...?” Susie is nervously trying to figure out what the hell to do with her hands, as Noelle sighs both in annoyance and utter bewilderment at how suddenly the world has decided she is not getting any reptilian action. Ever.

“Um... yes. Feel free to... have some.” Asgore smiles gleefully. “Don't mind if I do!” He promptly picked up the entire snack tray, stepped back, and jumped right in the middle of the couch. Noelle instinctively darted straight towards Susie, bringing the guitar’s neck up to her chest like some type of shield. Asgore of course paid no mind, as he began his pursuit of total consumption of the tray’s contents. Between bites, he let out a huff of exhaustion. “Phew, cleaning sure does work up an appetite!” Another few bites, before glancing over at Noelle. It was unclear if he took any note of the violently red undertones on the two girl’s faces as they looked at each other.

“Figured I'd get in a bite before your mother's home.” Once again, he went right back to his snacking. Noelle sighed once more, now resigned to whatever the hell was happening right now. “Oh, well... umm, there's no rush, you know. She has work. She's not going to be home for hours.”

Asgore halted his march towards snack obliteration, looking over at Noelle once more. “What do you mean? I just saw her outside the window.” Noelle’s eyes went as wide as dinner plates, a pit of dread opening in her chest. “Mom.. Mom is...?”
She quickly started looking all around the room, trying to come up with some way to make this not suddenly a horrible disaster coming straight for them. “Susie! Susie, I’m sorry. I didn’t think she would… we shouldn’t have… you have to…” Susie of course, wasn’t picking up on any of this. “Noelle, woah, calm down. What do you mean?”

As if on cue, a cold energy swept through the room, as Carol walked in from the entryway. Asgore fully stopped his hors d'oeuvres annihilation, hand halfway to his mouth holding an assortment of cheese, cracker, and cured meat. “Hello, Carol!” The crusade almost managed to resume, until Carol walked passed him to Noelle, who was now standing straight as a board, still holding the guitar close to her chest. “Mom, I…” Carol put up a hand, pointing directly up to Dess’s room. “Put it back. Now.” Noelle hung her head, and marched up to the designated location.

Susie was in disbelief. This lady was being a total ass to Noelle. Like, for a guitar? What? “You.” Carol’s cold voice cutting straight through Susie’s train of thought. The pale, blue accented lady now right in front of her. “Were you touching that guitar?” The question felt like a knife was being pointed at her throat. “H-huh? N-no! Well I mean, I picked it up from Kris, but then I gave it to Noelle when she asked for it.” Susie choked out the response. Real cool answer, Susie.

Carol continued staring icy daggers at Susie for a few moments, before closing her eyes and taking a breath. Ok, so she couldn’t have seen the code. She doesn’t know anything, let’s not give her a reason to pry. She donned a calculated stonewall expression, taking a step back and putting her hands together at the chest. “My apologies. You see, that guitar is very… sentimental.” A practiced look down and to the side, with the head tilted just so to communicate sadness. Just to communicate it. “My daughter Dess has not been home in quite some time, and that guitar is very important to her.” Carol breathes a perfect sigh, bringing her still joined hands down to her waist, like Ms. Dreemurr always seems to do. She straightens her head once more, and stares directly into this obstacle of a girl’s soul. The lack of fear is something she is silently taken aback with. “Dess always hated when we touched her things. They need to stay where they are for when she comes home.”

Susie was a bit unsettled by… all of what she was seeing. Ok, this lady is definitely full of it, but I don’t think I wanna figure out why right now. “O-ok. I will keep that in mind, ma’am. Sorry.” Noelle exited the room upstairs, which Carol of course saw immediately. A larger, slightly theatrical sigh. “I am the one who should be sorry. Noelle clearly should have known better. Her sister’s things are not toys to show off with.”

Susie scowled a little at that. She was all too familiar with this type of shtick. “Ms. Holiday, I was the one that asked her to play it. You should be mad at me, not her!” Carol simply waved her hand at the statement, looking off coincidentally right where Noelle was lurking by the top of the stairs. “You were not made familiar with the rules of our home. My daughter should not be bringing her classmates over without explaining them, let alone without my permission.” Susie stood up. “But-”

“Now!” Carol exclaimed, a touch too loudly and while clapping her hands together with a predictably jarring volume. Everyone but her, of course, jumped a bit. “Noelle. Come here.” As instructed, Noelle quickly appeared in front of her mother. Carol looked at her with a concentrated dose of disdain, before abruptly turning to Asgore. “Please take those outside with you, Asgore.” The goat monster coughed in surprise, quickly standing up and walking out. “Of course, Carol. Thank you.”

She turned back to Noelle, once again with a stonewall expression. “Please walk Kris and Susie back to the Dreemurr residence. You and I need to have a discussion later on respecting others’ property when you return.” Noelle nodded. She knew what that discussion would be like. If she can put it off for a little she certainly will. “Yes, Mom. I’m sorry.” Carol turned up her nose. “I should hope so. Now get going, I need some time to calm down. You’ve made me very upset and now I need to deal with it.”

Susie was about ready to throw a punch. This was textbook. But right before she could open her mouth, Noelle grabbed her hand and started walking the both of them towards the door. A near silent “please don’t” drifted between the two. They left the house, a cloud of bad vibes permeating the whole area.

Chapter Text

When Susie and Noelle exited through the front door, they sat outside silently for a minute. Once Kris finally joined them, Susie was the first to speak. “Well, that was… awkward.” She turned towards Noelle. “The hell was up with your mom? Everything was going great until she stepped in. Then the room dropped like five degrees…” Susie was suddenly very aware of who she was saying all this to. “Um, sorry. I don’t mean to be an ass about it…” Noelle shook her head. “It’s alright, she can be… a lot. And she wasn’t wrong either. I do know better than to touch Dess’s stuff.”
Asgore, who had been once again campaigning across the tray for total dominion over all things snack related, stood up and walked over. For reasons unknown to either girl, he started patting Kris’ head. “There there, don’t worry too hard about things. Carol is a very lovely lady when you get to know her.” Susie looked over at the tall goat monster, the phrase bullshit running through the whole time. “Uh…yeah. I bet.”
It was silent for a moment, before Asgore spoke again. “So what are the three of you up to now?” Susie’s internal dialogue was now filled with dude you were THERE what the hell do you mean?? “Umm, we were probably…” Noelle took a step toward him. “We’re going to go over to Kris’s house.” Asgore smiled warmly.
“Ah, I see! Home is where the heart is!” It was silent for a fair amount of time, with everyone but Asgore’s internal dialogue running along the lines of What the hell are you talking about right now?

“May I offer any of you three a cheesed cracker?”
Another moment of silence.
Susie couldn’t help but grin. “…y’know what, sure.”
Noelle watched in utter bewilderment as Kris picked up Susie by the ankles, who systematically ensured the extinction of all snacks that remained on the tray.

“Delicious, aren’t they, Kris?”

Susie wiped her face with her jacket sleeve. “Yeah, actually! Thanks!”

Asgore picked up the tray and began to walk towards the door. “Tata for now! Have a great day, Kris!”

Dude, we’re literally both here too.

Kris began walking down the pathway, followed shortly by Susie and Noelle. As they approached the gate, Susie suddenly stopped, before running up and grabbing Kris. “The code! Dude, we totally forgot the-” She looked back at Noelle, head tilted in confusion. “…The code… to…uhh…(Kris, help me out here!)”

*The hospital vending machine

“Y-yeah! So we can get, like, free snacks and stuff! (Kris, what the hell?)”

Noelle looked down for a moment. “There was a code in the guitar.” Susie’s head whipped around. “Woah, what?”

Noelle looked back up at Susie, a small ember of anger in her gaze. “There was a code labelled ‘Shelter’. That’s what you were actually looking for, wasn’t it?” Susie began to realize what was coming. “Um… yeah. What was it?” Noelle’s gaze narrowed. “Why do you want to go into the shelter?”

*School Project

“Bullshit!” Noelle finally shouted. Susie stumbled back. “Woah, wait. Hold on.”
Noelle continued. “No! Don’t lie to me Kris!” She looked over to Susie again. “Tell me why you want to go in the shelter. Don’t. Lie.”
Susie opened her mouth, but nothing happened. Finally, she decided to speak. “…I can’t say why. I won’t lie to you, but I can’t tell you why. But it’s really important.”
Noelle stared at Susie for a minute. Finally, she just let out an exasperated sigh. “I don’t know for sure. It was 122-something. Now can we just head over to Kris’s-”

And then the rain began. Susie looked up at the sky. “Great, now it’s raining. At least their house is close.” Noelle’s sighing became a groan of despair. “Let’s go then!”

The three made their way up the road, arriving at the Dreemurr household. But when Kris tried to enter, it was locked. “Kris, do you not have a key?” They shook their head. Susie huffed, running her hand through her ever-dampening hair. “Damn. Well, your mom’s doing her choir practice, right?” Noelle cursed under her breath. Another thing she’d be chewed out for. Of course. Susie turned around, facing back down the street. “Guess we can go to church and bother her for it… ugh.” Noelle pulled out her phone. “Let me just call my mom, see if maybe…”

“Hi Mom, it’s raining and Kris is locked out of their house. Should we…” Noelle trailed off, before mouthing ‘Your house?’ to Susie. “That’s gonna be a no-go, Holiday.” Noelle covered the speaker and groaned again, trying to now position herself underneath what little roof overhang the Dreemurr house had. “No, Susie’s house is also…” Short silence. “We think Toriel would be…” Noelle pulled her phone slightly away from her ear in recoil. “…Yes ma’am, I understand. Of course. I will. Love you. Bye.” Noelle ended the call, before miming throwing her phone and subsequently putting it away. Susie looked over. “Well?” Noelle let out a huff. “Well… she said ‘figure it out, I’m busy with something.’ As per usual.”

Susie started walking down the road. “Church it is then.” Noelle nodded, and followed suit. Kris was soon back in front, and after a few minutes of miserable ever increasing rain, they arrived at the church. Susie began walking up to the front doors. “Well, let’s uh… ask your mom for the key, I guess. Hope she doesn’t mind us ruining choir practice.” She placed her hand on the door, before looking back at Kris. “You’ll, uh, get her, right…?”

Once Susie cracked the door, black smoke began to seep through. Noelle screamed, and Susie quickly shut the door. “Kris, it’s-”

But before she could say anything, Noelle was already plowing past her. “Guys, we need to go help them, right now! People could be hurt!” And she ran into the smoke.
Susie tried to grab Noelle, but she was too late. “Shit! Kris, that’s absolutely a Dark World. We can’t let Noelle go in alone!” The two prepared to enter, before Susie chuckled. “So much for Cyber World being a dream, huh Kris?” And with that, they walked through the doors before closing them behind themselves.

Chapter Text

Susie looked around her as she came up from the landing. A gloomy, ominous space wasn’t unusual for a Dark World. But the imposingly massive stained glass windows casting light from some mysterious source, and the dustiness of it all was definitely unusual. She shuddered. It wasn’t that kind of dust anyway, right? She looked over to Kris, who landed just a beat after her. “Dude, what’s with this place? It kinda gives me the creeps.” Kris looked to her as they stood, nodding in agreement.

They knew it was going to be here, of course. That stupid phone call they had to have during the short break they got away from the soul during the day confirmed it. But being here, they had to agree with Susie on the creep factor. Though, their church could give that effect anyway sometimes. Kris had a feeling that they probably felt similarly.

The train of thought was cut off by a voice calling out down the hallway. “Kris? Susie? Anybody?” Susie ran down the corridor. This was probably going to be awkward, but Noelle deserved honesty. The lying had to stop. Susie hated when it happened to her, she couldn’t do that to Noelle. Never again to her.
Noelle came into view after just a moment or so. She was once again in her white dress outfit, looking around in bewilderment. “Hey Noelle!” Susie closed the distance, stopping maybe a touch to close. She reached out, putting her hand on Noelle’s shoulder. “So, this might sound really weird, but I can explain.” Noelle went a bit red at Susie’s touch, before covering her mouth in realization. “So it wasn’t a dream then. All that stuff yesterday with Queen, Cyber City, the…” She went even more red, turning her face away from the purple girl before her. Susie flinched a little at the declaration. After a moment though, she turned Noelle to face her again. Man her face is so red, she must be pissed. Gotta come clean before it gets worse.

“I-I’m sorry, Noelle. Kris and I- ok, mostly me- wanted to keep Dark Worlds a secret to ourselves. I didn’t realize all that was going on when we were in Cyber World, and thought it was just a fun adventure that I wanted to keep for myself and Kris. But now… now it’s gotten bigger than that. You asked why we want to go to the Shelter?” Noelle was stiff as a board at this point, managing only a small nod. Susie’s face darkened. “The Knight that Queen talked about, Kris and I saw them after we left the library. There was another Dark World at Kris’s house, and the Knight showed up at the end of it. They tried to take Toriel.” Noelle let out a gasp of shock. “But she was ok, right? I mean, I saw her at church.” Susie softened for a moment. “Yeah, she was fine. Slept through the whole thing actually.” She couldn’t help but chuckle, before looking down at the ground.

“But… Then Undyne showed up to stop what was happening. And the Knight took her instead. I tried to catch them, but they made it to the shelter and locked it. And I’m worried they’ll try to take more people.”
Susie looked up into Noelle’s eyes, trying to suppress the anxiety that was pulsing through every fiber of her being. “But it’ll be ok! Kris and I are gonna find out how to get in and get Undyne back. And if we can find the Knight in here, we’ll kick their ass!” She searched Noelle’s gaze, desperately trying to get guidance on what to say. That look on Noelle’s face indicated a lot. Surprise, worry, slightly glazed over eyes. Shit, too much at once.

After a few moments, Noelle took in a long breath. Before she could speak though, Susie had to get one last thing out. “What I’m trying to say, is… I’m sorry. I lied to you a bunch. I hope you don’t hate me too bad.” Susie looked down at the floor, hoping that whatever happened next wouldn’t hurt too bad.

There were another few seconds of excruciating silence, before Susie felt hands go between her arms and chest and wrap around her back. Suddenly, her vision was filled with soft blonde hair, and her nose enveloped with the scent of pine. Noelle nuzzled herself into Susie’s shoulder. She spoke softly, so only Susie could ever hear. Not Kris, not a soul except her.

“I could never hate you. You’re too incredible to be hated.”

Susie went from pink to red almost immediately. She tried to stammer out some kind of response for a second, before ultimately releasing her tension in a breath she hadn’t intended to hold. Settling into the embrace, Susie brought her own arms around Noelle. “Thank you.”

Noelle looked up blissfully, finally noticing Kris. Her eyes went wide open, freezing in place for a second. Susie could swear she felt frost on her arms in that moment. “OH HI KRIS NICE TO SEE YOU WHAT BRINGS YOU HERE HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” Noelle bolted out of Susie’s grasp in a split second, landing a very platonic distance away from the purple girl. Susie was still exactly where she’d been, fully leaned in and still with her arms out in a circle. Stumbling forward, she ended up catching herself on Noelle again. She pushed off, finally back on her own two feet. Susie turned around, glaring at Kris. “Dude, why’d you have to sneak up like that?” She quietly hissed at her friend. Kris simply shrugged. “Not my fault you guys didn’t notice me.” To prove their point, Kris marched in place for a few steps, their armor clanking and shifting at a very noticeable volume. Susie and Noelle both looked down sheepishly for a second, with Susie muttering “Still wouldn’t have hurt to say something.” Kris walked forward a few steps past Noelle, looking back as they did so. “Come on, let’s get moving. Gotta go seal this fountain.”

Susie nodded, walking up to take her place behind Kris. Noelle looked towards the two, then back at where she’d hugged Susie. “Umm…” Susie turned back to Noelle. “I know I said it was a dream, but you do remember how we walked around, right?” Noelle locked her eyes forward, stiffening up. “R-right!” She sheepishly walked over to the other two, taking her spot behind Susie once more. The three finally in line, Kris started down the path once more.

Quite suddenly, the world around them grew darker. It felt as if they could only see a foot or two in front of them. Susie and Noelle, despite having far better vision at night than Kris, fared no better. Shortly, they came across a small piano, illuminated by a pair of candles on either side. Turning away from it, Kris walked down a short path and stepped on a pair of switches that summoned a set of written notes. Or rather, directions placed on a Treble staff. Noelle tilted her head in confusion. How are you supposed to read that? However it seemed to not matter to Kris, as they simply walked back and unceremoniously played the six note phrase. The gate preventing them from moving forward faded away, and the trio continued onward. The darkness seemed to recede, a grand staircase visible just ahead. As they walked up, Susie turned her head and stopped. “Kris… Kris, hey, wait!! Look!! The fountain’s just up there!!” The two ascended the stairs, arriving at the beginning of a long walkway. “Well, that was easy.” Susie turned to look at Kris. “Heh, too bad, was looking forward to another adventure… right Noelle?” She looked over, before noticing the deer’s expression. It was one of complete disbelief and amazement.

 Noelle remained at the base of the stairs, looking up at the fountain before them. She tried to follow it up, but realized pretty quickly that it became indistinguishable from the darkness all around them after a certain point. She became transfixed by its imposing dominance over the space. A gushing, ever flowing pillar up to the sky. What occasional light that managed to reflect off and give it any visual indication of existence was surrounded by an overwhelming lack thereof. A complete and utter void, forcing itself on reality.

Susie smiled. It was pretty intimidating at first sight. She looked back towards Kris. “But, guess we gotta do what we gotta…”
Before she could finish however, a violent rush of power slammed into all three of the heroes. The room was consumed in an instant with a red energy that whipped past and pushed on them, filling the once silent room with a roar of wind. Susie and Kris only barely managed to remain on the stairs, with Noelle being quickly blown back to the other side of the hallway. “What the…” Susie began, as the three looked down the walkway at the source of the onslaught. At the very end, at the base of the fountain, was the Knight. An imposing figure of darkness, levitating above the ground with their blade drawn and out to the side. An unidentifiable white form on their head swirled, resembling both a mouth and a visor, sometimes also twisting to appear like a hole of light in the head. Two horns protruded from their head, though maybe they were antlers? Noelle couldn’t be sure, they were so far away and surrounded in darkness.

Susie however saw them just fine. “Y…you!” She tried to yell out, before another wave of energy filled the room. Susie was still standing her ground, barely ahead of Kris. Suddenly, a large blade of darkness appeared above her, beginning to glow red on its edges. “Susie, look out!” Noelle yelled. But before she could begin to react, Susie was clobbered with the blade above her. She helplessly fell down the stairs, landing in a heap just in front of Noelle. Kris turned to help her, but the stairs began to fall away just as they approached. They were trapped with the Knight ahead, and no easy way back. Noelle rushed to Susie’s side, as the purple girl rose to a kneeling position. “D…dammit…” she looked up, dead set on getting that Knight thrashed. “Kris! Don’t waste any time on me! I’ll heal myself!” She winced in pain, beginning to gather her energy together. “This is… our chance to get them…! Go!

Kris began to move towards the Knight, dodging the ever-growing amount of blade bullets hurtling towards them. Noelle watched, and noticed something. They were… dragging their feet? Sure, they were fighting against a constant wind to move forward, but she could see Kris wasn’t even trying to get their feet off the ground to move faster. Finally, Kris was in front of the Knight.
“KRIS!!! N… NOW’S YOUR CHANCE!!! ATTACK THEM!!!” Susie screamed to her friend, desperation and anticipation in her voice. But Noelle could tell. Kris wasn’t going to.
“… KRIS…!!!”

A wall of blade bullets appeared, sending Kris hurtling back towards the group. Susie tried to catch them, but she and Noelle were similarly sent flying off the edge of the path as a final wave of energy pushed them over. They fell, down into the abyss. Paths and structures flew by. Below, a pane of stained glass seemed to float in the air. Their bodies smashed through, before ultimately landing on a platform below. Kris and Susie were lying in a pile of shards, with Noelle landing just to the side of it. She was the first to get up, somewhat in disbelief that they had survived. Well now I know I’m not dreaming again, that hurts like hell. Right after her, Susie and Kris slowly got to their feet. Susie looked over to Kris. “Dammit… what is it doing here…?” She looked off towards the other structures and platforms occupying the shapeless void before them. “I guess it made the fountain, and now… It’s looking for someone else to…” Her gaze darkened, gazing downwards sternly. “…let’s go.”

Noelle was somewhat taken aback. Susie was not usually so focused or serious. This was a side she hadn’t really seen before. It started to dawn on her just how much this meant to Susie, how important this all was.
But of course it was. She remembered how that Darkner they’d travelled with explained the Roaring. This was serious. Especially if people are being taken. Noelle steeled her resolve. This was something actually important. She needed to be a part of this, and help put an end to it.

Kris took a few steps forward, before collapsing back down in pain. Susie looked over in shock. “K… Kris!?” She ran over to them, looking them over. Shit, they were hurt. “Kris, you… the glass, I didn’t notice… it…” Not immediately life threatening, but… “You’re bleeding…” Noelle gasped. Susie looked at her, then back down at Kris. “Umm, I’ll… Here, let me heal it!” She knelt down, taking Kris’s hand in hers. Now Noelle could actually see. A large gash was in Kris’s wrist. If it had been any worse, they could’ve lost a hand. “Shit!” Noelle blurted out, before covering her mouth with her hands. Susie looked over in shock, but also a bit of anger. “Dude!” Noelle let out a small yelp. “S-sorry, it’s just…” Susie turned back to Kris, sighing. “Sorry, just… Not now.” A green glow emanated from Susie’s hand, before it shot into Kris’s own and spreading up their arm. The wound seemed to have gotten smaller, but… “Th… that wasn’t enough, huh…”
She thought for a moment, before a distant but approaching voice drew her attention.
“…where… is it…” Susie’s expression immediately changed to one of relief and excitement. “Hey, Ralsei! Ralsei!”

“… S-Susie!?”

Noelle watched as the Darkner from before, a smaller goatlike boy in a green robe and pink scarf, ran up to the three of them. He turned to Susie, seeming to be not fully paying attention as to not have noticed Noelle standing right in the pathway. “Hey, Ralsei, Kris is…” Ralsei’s expression grew to one of increasing worry. “Kris…!?” Susie started to reach for Kris’s hand again. “Could you tell me how to…”
But Ralsei wasn’t listening at this point. “Susie, could you move out of the way?” He moved to Kris’s side as Susie stepped back. Ralsei was surrounded in a glowing aura, before raising his hand to cast Heal Prayer. Instantly, the wound closed up, as if it had never occurred. Ralsei turned his attention from the wound, to Kris themselves. “Kris… Kris, are you okay?”

Susie scratched at the back of her head, looking off to the side.  “Umm, I tried to uh, heal, but…” Ralsei looked back towards her, as he helped Kris to their feet. “Susie, I know you were just trying to help, but… If someone’s really hurt, don’t… try to fix it alone, okay?” Noelle watched Susie wince, before quickly recovering and opting to adjust her jacket. “…uh, yeah. Okay. Got it.” Noelle knew that feeling. That well intentioned but defeating request to ‘have someone help you next time’. She smiled at Susie, opting to try and salvage the situation. “You did really well though! The cut was way worse before, and you did what you could with what you had. I think that’s… really cool, Susie.” Despite wanting to see how Susie took her words, Noelle couldn’t help but look down sheepishly as she waited for a response.

Susie was quiet. Ralsei opted to speak first. “R-right, Susie! I’m sorry, I hadn’t thought about that. You didn’t know where I was, and if it was really that much worse you couldn’t just go looking around.” He looked over to Noelle. “But I will say that you could’ve had Noelle help you. She does already know healing magic as well.”

The deer girl couldn’t help but shoot the prince a dirty look. You’re not helping! He shrank a little under her gaze, but didn’t speak again. They all simply got in line behind Kris to get moving. After a few steps, Susie stopped. “So, hey, uh, Gang’s together! We gonna, uh, pose now?” Ralsei looked up from his measured pacing. “Right! Um, sure!” The three returning heroes did their standard poses, with Noelle clumsily attempting a pirouette. “Faha, sorry! I’ll try to do better next time!” Ralsei nodded, before breaking line to move ahead. “Anyway, let’s go…” The prince was soon several paces ahead of the rest of the group. Susie looked back at Noelle, with a small smile. “Thanks for uh… saying that. That was really cool of you.” Noelle opened her mouth to reply, but the dragon girl had already started walking ahead with Kris. She simply let out a soft sigh, and hurried to catch up with the others.

A faint song began to play throughout the area, a faint back and forth between a smaller string instrument and unseen choral voices. The group walked forward, up a small flight of stairs. Above them, an illuminated piece of glass shone.

THE PROPHECY, WHICH WHISPERS AMONG THE SHADOWS
it had an illustration of a castle, seeming to sit above a town.

They continued, each of the heroes examining the display. Another came into view shortly thereafter.

THE LEGEND OF THIS WORLD, <DELTARUNE.>
This panel had an illustration of the Delta Rune symbol that Noelle and Kris had both seen so many times throughout their lives.

Another of the same symbol appeared at a small outcropping of the path, that Kris seemed to stop at to… reach for something? Noelle couldn’t quite tell what however. She recalled seeing them do a similar action a few times during their journey in Cyber City, but she never bothered to ask. Susie seemed to not pay it any attention, so the deer girl opted to not worry about it for now. She’d ask about it later.

They passed a few sections of the path with actual walls and pillars reaching up to… something. Occasionally, it was also possible to make out what appeared to be spirits singing the faint choral notes they heard. The group walked up to another panel, this one showing a Sun surrounded by darkness in one corner, with another corner full of light, but spotted with dark eyes all throughout.

A WORLD BASKED IN PUREST LIGHT. BENEATH IT, GREW ETERNAL NIGHT.

Susie and Kris stopped at this one, with the purple girl looking at it for a moment before addressing Ralsei. “Hey, what’re these… Word things we keep seeing?”
The prince looked up at the panel, as if he hadn’t even registered it as being of note. “That’s… the prophecy, Susie.”

The dragon girl seemed only mildly intrigued, simply giving a nod before walking forward again. But Noelle felt a shiver go up her spine. The prophecy? Like the writings that she had spent her whole childhood seeing, reading, and singing about?

All of a sudden, the thought of other people in the church needing help became very, very insignificant.

Chapter Text

Kris led the way once more, forward into the Sanctuary. Soon after, they encountered Guei, appearing to be a phantom of the candles that they had placed and prayed with. Susie and Kris tired it out, allowing Ralsei to Pacify the spirit-shaped Darkner. Up another flight of stairs, was another prophecy piece.

IF FOUNTAINS FREED, THE ROARING CRIES. AND TITANS SHAPED FROM DARKENED EYES.
Above the text was an unsettling image of an imposing force. Noelle felt a shudder creep down her back.
Susie looked back towards Ralsei. “Isn’t this… kinda different from the prophecy you told us?” The Dark Prince looked to her abashedly. “…Yes, I…my version was… more of… a summary.” Noelle felt a flag raise in her mind on that. Why? If you know it, tell us the full thing! She noticed Susie’s face take on a similar look of skepticism, but only for a moment. The group simply kept moving forward.

They reached another room of darkness, with small spotlights above floor plates. As they walked through, the lights would briefly grow in size as they stepped on the plates. Maneuvering around some unsettling shadowy orbs circling throughout the room, they entered a small room with another piece.

JOCKINGTON WILL GROW THE BEARD. A simplified illustration of their classmate was above them, a triangle of light seeming to represent a beard. The figure in the room noticed the group, speaking softly. “Come five o’clock, the shadow will grow. So says our ancestors.” Noelle would be laughing if she wasn’t also somewhat horrified. Of course the story from church never had any specific names of the heroes or anyone else. But now it mentioned of all people Jockington? Why was his facial hair being mentioned in an ancient prophecy? Her thoughts started to accelerate as they left the room.

Continuing through the darkened corridor until they came to another room of prophecies. Noelle looked up at an image of cracks forming in the earth.

THE LIGHT AND DARK, BOTH BURNING DIRE. A COUNTDOWN TO THE EARTH’S EXPIRE.

The group kept walking, the deer monster’s head swimming at this point. This wasn’t just a prophecy for some disaster, it was an apocalypse. A memory of Dess came to her mind, where her older sister would read forums about doomsday prepping, wilderness survival, all that kinda stuff. Noelle wondered if her sister had a feeling something was coming.

However, the next prophecy piece sharply derailed her train of thought. A cartoonishly round Darkner was depicted, with a goofy pointed head.
THE POINTY HEADED WILL SAY “TOOTHPASTE,” AND THEN “BOY.”

Susie laughed. “Hahaha! Dude, that totally happened!” Noelle looked over to Susie. “Really? Who is that?” The dragon girl was surprised for a moment. “What do you mean who- Oh, right. You never got to meet Lancer! He’s my buddy from our first Dark World! We called Ralsei toothpaste boy a bunch of times while we were being bad guys together.”

Why was Susie being a bad guy?

“Anyway, I didn’t realize the prophecy was like, so accurate.” Susie grinned, looking down at Ralsei. “It… It is, Susie. Everything it says… will come to pass.”
Noelle really didn’t like how he said that. Ralsei was smiling as he said it, but Noelle saw how the smile didn’t reach his eyes. “Ralsei, that’s kind of…” Susie stepped in to finish the sentence. “… Really important. Like, it’s actually predicting the future.” Noelle hesitantly nodded. Not quite what she was trying to get at, but Susie was in the right area. She just couldn’t shake the feeling that this wasn’t going to be as helpful as they’d want. This kind of thing usually isn’t in most stories.
The dragon girl spoke up again, a little quieter this time. “…there aren’t any where I do like, something cool, are there?”
Ralsei glanced back towards the prophecy. “Umm…”
Before he could answer however, the sound of footsteps caused the whole group to jump, Noelle letting out a sharp shriek. A shadowy figure moved just out of sight, further down the corridor. Susie threw her arms up in a clumsy attempt to shield herself. “Hey!” She looked over at Kris, slowly going back to her regular posture. “Dude, did you see that? Someone’s sneaking around…” She glanced over to the deer girl, who was leaned over with her hands on her knees. Ralsei was gently rubbing her back as she took deep breaths. “Woah, you good Noelle?” The deer girl’s breathing immediately halted, as she bolted upright. “Y-yeah! Just uh, got a bit startled there. This whole place is putting me on edge.” Noelle looked down, her hands coming to her chest. “I get this horrible feeling that something bad is coming.” Her eyes glanced over to Ralsei. “…And I get the feeling you have an idea what I’m talking about.”
Ralsei’s eyes went wide as dinner plates. A look of horror overtook his face. “W-what?! What do you mean? I-I…” He looked over to Kris and Susie. “I don’t… I mean-” He trailed off. Susie looked at Ralsei, then Kris, Noelle, and Ralsei once again. “Is… Is that true, Ralsei?” The prince simply looked down. Susie glanced over to Kris. “(Dude, help me out. I don’t need Ralsei freaking out right now!)”

*It’s not worth worrying about                                        *Say nothing
                                           ♡Ask gently for more information

Ralsei looked somberly at Kris. “A-alright. There… is something bad coming.” He took a breath, then looked up at the glass panel. “It’s part of the prophecy that things are going to get bad… before they can improve again.” He looked over to Noelle. “I know everything will eventually turn out ok. We will save the world.” Ralsei once more turned to his friends. “I just don’t know how to make that happen without anyone getting hurt.”

Susie looked back down the hallway. “…Let’s keep moving. We can… talk about this more later. But we need to keep our guard up.” Kris nodded, and once again began marching forward. The rest of the Fun Gang followed, but now with an atmosphere of worry and suspicion beginning to fill the air.

They passed by a doorway surrounded by books, and entered a hallway of stained-glass windows. While not as dark as the floor plate room, everything was immersed in shadow. Kris didn’t see the enemy approaching until they were already swinging directly into them. Balthizard appeared to be a ceremonial incense holder. Noelle remembered seeing pictures of them, but it was never something they used at the church. Strange. She helped Kris in shaking them, allowing Susie and Ralsei to spare the two that appeared.
Another prophecy piece was shining ahead of them as they left the stained glass corridor.

BUT LO, ON HOPES AND DREAMS THEY SEND. THREE HEROES AT THE WORLD’S END.
The illustration shows three figures with a resemblance to Kris, Susie, and Ralsei. They were standing before what appeared to be a very large Dark Fountain. Susie ran over to look at the glass display.
“Hey, that’s us, right? I mean, minus Noelle for some reason.” The deer girl felt her cheeks get warm for some reason. Ralsei looked over to her, then back to Susie. “Yes Susie! We are the Heroes of the prophecy.”
“Why isn’t Noelle up there with us though? Shouldn’t she be like, next to me since we usually line up that way?”

Ralsei pondered this for a moment. “Well, Noelle isn’t part of the three heroes. I do believe she’s mentioned elsewhere, but not as part of this section.” The Prince looked over to the deer girl. “You are a very important piece however! We’re all glad to have you here with us!” He gave her a warm smile, which Noelle couldn’t help but smile back at. She knew he was hiding something, but darn if he wasn’t just so endearing anyway.
Susie looked back up to the prophecy. “Still, though, it’s cool to see ourselves up there. Kinda makes me feel-“ her sentence was cut short by something shattering the glass panel, plunging the room into darkness. Noelle shrieked, with Susie going back into her defensive pose. “Hey! Who’s messing with us?!”

The dragon girl felt something touch her on the shoulder. “HEY!” Another shout from Noelle, with the touch immediately pulling away. “S-Sorry, Susie!” The purple girl relaxed her stance. “Oh, that was just you, Noelle. You good?”
“Y-yeah. Just, wanted to hold onto something. This is kinda freaky.” Susie rubbed her hair, eyes darting around in the darkness. “I mean, if that’s all, I guess it’s fine.” She looked over at where she assumed Noelle was. “But don’t like, keep me from being able to do anything! I need to be able to kick somebody’s ass at a moment’s notice!” Noelle laughed a little. “Sure thing, Susie!” The deer girl put a hand back on Susie, opting to just grab a handful of the dragon girl’s jacket. The group began moving deeper into the darkness. Kris seemed to be at least a bit more oriented this time, with Noelle and Susie being able to make them out just a bit.

They walked down corridors, with more floor plates. This time however, they instead seemed to sound bells from somewhere. The sound rang down the halls, helping to give some sense of space. Occasionally, they would hear it bounce down multiple directions. Kris seemed to mostly be able to avoid any dead ends. After a few minutes of this, the group came to a stop just after another bell. Ralsei softly spoke after a moment. “It’s… awfully dark in here, isn’t it?” Susie turned her head to the side, talking back to Ralsei. “Yeah, it’s the Dark World.” Noelle giggled, with Ralsei once again speaking up. “Right… but I mean…”
Just then, a strange type of growl came down the hall, just a little ahead of them. Susie felt a chill. “Uh, did you guys… hear that?” The growl came once more, closer and seeming to be moving as it let out its warning. Ralsei sharply turned. “KRIS, RUN LEFT NOW!!!” The human immediately wheeled around, the rest of the group following right after. They ran back down the corridors, making snap decisions from the sounding bells they walked over. They made turn after turn, went down hall after hall; all the while that horrible growl had now turned into a cry, seeming to grow closer and closer.

The group finally entered a longer hallway, with Susie spotting a small spotlight. “Look! Light!” The group ran over, Susie standing up at the front. She raised her axed, gazing intently at the darkness before her. “Alright you losers, BRING IT ON!” Noelle was a few steps behind her, followed by Kris and Ralsei. The deer girl felt a rising tension in her chest. Her hands began to grow cold, as energy seemed to flow into them. She raised her arms, aiming the energy down the corridor. Some feeling in the back of her mind told her this was a bad idea. But that made no sense! Something was coming, she had to protect Susie!

And then the lights came on. Standing between Noelle and Susie, was an old man in an antiquated set of formal clothes. They were all mostly brown, a loose flat cap on his head and a simple scarf draped over his shoulders and overcoat. “Whatcha doin’?” His voice was scratchy, with a jolly undertone. Susie jumped forward about a half yard, arms flailing wildly until once again landing in that strange defensive pose. Once she saw the source of the noise, she bared her teeth and turned towards the old man in a much more aggressive stance. “W…who…huh…what the hell are YOU doing!?”
Noelle was stunned. Her arms slowly lowered. She completely froze in place as the old man let out an unmistakably familiar laugh, a warm cackle that came from deep in his chest. “Lookin’ for the light switch.”

It was her previous teacher, the one that had been there only a year after Dess disappeared. He had passed in the summer, with his position being filled by Alphys.

It was Gerson Boom.

Chapter Text

PREVIOUSLY
Noelle was stunned. Her arms slowly lowered. She completely froze in place as the old man let out an unmistakably familiar laugh, a warm cackle that came from deep in his chest. “Lookin’ for the light switch.”

It was her previous teacher, the one that had been there only a year after Dess disappeared. He had passed in the summer, with his position being filled by Alphys.

It was Gerson Boom.
_____________________


Gerson had a glint in his eye, looking over at the dragon girl. “But, hrm. Seems I got a little lost.” He ran a hand down his long goatee, looking back down the hallway. Noelle could’ve sworn she saw the old man wink. Turning back to Susie, he rested both hands back on his cane. “You wouldn’t mind walking me back to my study, wouldja? Got something I gotta finish writing, y’see…”
Susie was still standing with her arms out in exasperation, her mouth caught in a snarl. She looked down to the floor as her shock wore off, and she turned away and started scratching her head. “Yeah, uh, no. We’re kinda in a hurry here.” She crossed her arms, looking smugly back at the Old Man. “We can’t just babysit every random Darkner we meet.”
Gerson let out another short cackle. “Ah, I see. I see. Good enough reason, that one.” Susie let her arms fall back at her sides, walking back towards the rest of the group. “So anyway, we’ll be…”
“What’s a Darkner, anyhoo?” the Old Man questioned. Susie stopped, eyes widening. She turned around, talking a step back towards the old turtle. “You mean you don’t…” She wheeled around back towards Kris. “Kris, if this guy’s not a Darkner, then…” She looked back at him, then up to the wall behind them. “Ugh, things’ll get messy if he gets hurt!” She groaned, throwing her hands up and letting her mouth snarl once more. “Fine! You can go with us. Just don’t slow us down.”
The Old Man nodded, chuckling once more. “Hmm, alright, alright. You got it, little missy!” Noelle leaned over, as if to make herself seen behind Kris. “Umm, it’s actually Susie, sir.” Gerson nodded, with a wide grin returning to his face. “Good to know! Thanks, Deer-ie!” Kris had a moment of free will as Susie walked back, which they occupied with a quiet groan at the pun (notably in unison with a much quieter Noelle). They once again began their ordered march towards progress, further down the hallway they’d run to.

Pretty soon Kris noticed how Gerson was notably behind them pretty soon after starting. They slowed down to a regular walk, but they were still increasing in distance from him. They stopped for a moment, letting him catch up just a bit. Susie got annoyed pretty quickly though. “Hey, if we’re gonna have to watch you…” She gritted her teeth a bit. “…Can you walk ANY FASTER!?”
The Old Man looked over to Susie, nodding with a smile. “Of course, miss!” He walked… slightly faster. Took the same distance per step, just did the whole process a little bit quicker. Kris couldn’t help but watch him, smiling. That old fart is still as goofy as ever. After a few moments, Susie had reached her limit. “…Know what? YOU GUYS handle the old man. I’m gone.” With that, she briskly turned and walked off. Ralsei glanced over to Kris, smiling oh so politely. “I, um… should go follow her.” He also briskly walked off. Noelle sputtered out a ‘me too’ before following suit. Kris watched each of them go. Turning back to Gerson, the old turtle winked. “…Gee, guess I better catch up too.” And he walked down the hall about twice the speed as the others.
Kris just stood there a moment. Then, they broke out into a quiet laugh. After a few moments, they felt the same bright feeling in the SOUL as the rest of themselves. It… was laughing too? Kris froze up for a moment, the implications of that were definitely… interesting. But almost as soon as the feeling came, it was gone again. And the human followed their friends.

Once again reaching the stained glass corridor, Kris braced this time as two Balthizards attacked. The fight began, with the Old Man standing right in the center of the battlefield. “Hm, what’s all this now?” He calmly looked around himself, as if the world hadn’t just warped around them to focus in on the fight. Susie looked over in annoyance. “H-hey! We’re fighting!! Get out of here!” The old turtle stroked his goatee. “I see, I see. Well, you kids have fun!” He slowly walked out of the way. Susie let out a groan, and the battle properly began.

As they concluded the fight, the Old Man walked ahead just a few paces, inspecting the area around them. The group returned to the door surrounded by books, and the turtle strolled over to one of the bookshelves. He turned, looking at the young party. “Hm… I’ve a mighty hankerin’ to read a book. But I just can’t reach…” His attention was back on Susie. She let out a huff. “Can it, old man. What does this look like, a library?” Noelle looked down. “Kinda,” she mumbled. Of course, they all heard that. The old man cackled, as Susie felt her face heat up. “Dude, not helping!” Noelle squeaked, panicking a little. “u-umm, sorry Susie!”
The dragon girl rolled her eyes at the Old Man, before walking up to the door. This guy is so weird. Keeps buggin’ me, and now he’s getting Noelle roped into it? Can’t wait for this to be over with. She examined the door. Yep, sure is a door. She gave it a testing push. Nothing. “Now, how the hell do we get this open?” She started looking around more closely.
Meanwhile, Kris, Ralsei, and Noelle walked over to the stool on the other side of the shelves. Noelle turned to the old turtle. “Umm, Mr.-“ But he raised a finger from his cane hand, tilting his head towards Susie. Noelle stopped. Gerson was an interesting teacher, she thought. It wasn’t unusual for him to go about teaching in less obvious ways. “’Scuse me, miss, wouldja mind helpin’ me reach this book?” Susie glanced back. “Not now, dude. I’m solving the door. Ralsei, help him reach that thing.”
The prince did a small hop. “Of course!” He appreciated the opportunity to do something helpful, a slight reprieve from his thoughts. “There’s something you can stand on right here!” For a moment, it seemed he had leaned on one foot to indicate to the stool. But he leaned back, and went to crouch down on all fours under the desired book with a dramatic flourish. Kris quietly whispered to themselves “Stool-Forme R, of course.” Noelle was stupefied. ??????????? Why did they say it like a matter of fact???
Everyone just paused for a few moments, the Old Man looking at Ralsei with a more reserved yet equally confused expression. Finally, Ralsei spoke. “Um, anyone, um… feel free to… step on me.” Somehow Noelle became even more bewildered than she already was.
??????????????????????
The Old Man stood there for another moment, before turning back to Susie. His tone betrayed his bemusement just a little. “Miss, I think I still need your help.” Susie finally turned around, groaning. “Alright, FINE.” She walked away from the door, and up to the shelf with the green book. She attempted to reach it, standing on the balls of her feet. Finally, she jumped up and grabbed the book, landing on Ralsei with a resounding splat. He squished out across the floor like a sponge, squashed under Susie’s feet. Noelle pushed down the jolt of envy that ran through her. Susie turned to the old turtle, still standing on Ralsei. “Here, will you take this and-“ She was interrupted as the door suddenly opened wide with a loud thud. She grinned with excitement. “Hey, the door opened! Let’s go!” She finally stepped off Ralsei, walking over to the door. She stopped for a moment in front of the Old Man, placing the requested book on his head. Once the request had been fulfilled, Susie continued walking through the doorway. Gerson stood there for a moment, taking in what just happened. He simply let out a breathy chuckle, amused and bemused in equal measure. “Much obliged.” He tilted the book off his head and into his hand, before following after Susie. Kris and Noelle looked at each other for a moment. Noelle glanced back at the doorway. “So, that was definitely Mr. Boom, right?” Kris nodded. “But, how is he… here?” the human shrugged. Noelle just sighed. “Hopefully he can help us figure it out. This is really freaky.” Kris could tell there was more she wasn’t saying, but they didn’t push. The less that SOUL knows, the better.

The two approached Ralsei. Kris felt the SOUL thinking.

* (Show him compassion?)
♡ Show                              Don’t Show

Kris dove to the ground, landing right next to Ralsei with a similar sounding splat. Noelle stood by for a moment, before shrugging and following suit.

The three eventually got up, walking to rejoin Susie and Gerson. Surprisingly, they were just on the other side of the doorway. “Took you dorks long enough.” The party continued down the path, coming up to another panel of the prophecy. Or rather, it was the Three Heroes At World’s End panel again. Susie got excited once more, hurrying over to the panel. “Hey, it’s us again! Guess there was a backup.” Ralsei once again had a somber undertone to his gaze. “…Even if it’s broken, it always appears somewhere else. The prophecy can’t be changed, after all.” Noelle hated how that sat in her stomach. Can’t be changed.
Regardless, the group continued, going up a flight of stairs once more. Just as another began to enter their view, it cracked and shattered. Standing before the newly shattered panel was the Old Man. When did he get in front of us?
“Hey, what gives?” Susie glared at him. They soon joined the old turtle at the top of the stairway, another path sitting behind the pile of glass shards. “Oopsy daisy! Darn my clumsiness, geheh…” Susie groaned, her mouth twisting into a snarl. “Damn it! You broke it again, didn’t you…?” The Old Man gazed off, stroking his goatee once again. “Well, we were following that prophecy so closely…” He began laughing to himself. “I couldn’t quite see where I was going, geheh!”
Susie seemed to finally notice the path right in front of, suddenly pointing down it. “…Hey, guys! There’s another way here!” She ran forward over the shards, shoulder checking the turtle (who seemed to hardly move beyond letting her through). “Out of the way, old man!” Ralsei quickly followed after, carefully stepping over any shards and keeping himself clear of Gerson. “S-Susie! Don’t run ahead so fast!”
Now it was just Kris, Noelle, and Gerson. The old turtle watched as Susie and Ralsei ran off, before sighing and looking back to the two who actually knew him. “Alrighty, now…” He raised his arms out. “Kris, Noelle, good to see you!” The human and deer both let out a breath they hadn’t meant to hold, and quickly (yet carefully) embraced their old teacher. They just sat there for a moment. Noelle spoke quietly. “We all miss you a lot, Mr. Boom. Ms. Alphys does her best, but I sometimes wish it was still you teaching us.” Gerson laughed. “Gyahahah! Poor Alphys, having to deal with that class! Is that Berdly still running his beak all the time?” Kris and Noelle both chuckled.
“Fahaha, he still is. Gotten a little better, but he definitely has a problem with it. He also helps out your wife a couple times a week, but I honestly don’t know if she even remembers his name properly.” Kris quietly mentions that she in fact, refers to him as ‘Burghley’. All three laughed again. “Gyahah! That’s kind of him to help her though. If that boy can get over himself he can do great things. Same goes for you two!” He looks them both over, taking a few more moments on Kris.
His expression flashed for just a moment, a tinge of… anger? Worry maybe? Kris couldn’t tell. But as soon as it arrived, it disappeared. “Well, I hope we can talk more a bit later. Kris, can you go catch up with Susie and Ralsei? I imagine that girl will get lost without someone to guide her.” The human nodded, but stopped a few steps away. Turning to Gerson, they spoke again in that odd voice. “You broke it on purpose.” Gerson paused, stroking his beard. “Ah…me? Why do you suppose I would do that?”
“Don’t like prophecies,” Kris replied.
Gerson brought his hand down to his waist pocket. “Well now, a fairytale is a pretty little thing. Ain’t it nice to believe a glimmer here and there…?” He returned to stroking his goatee once more. “I jus’ think, those words shine a bit too bright. A path so blue, it’s all you can see.” He looked down the hallway, then back to Kris. “So I say… why don’t we go between the lines?” He leaned forward, just a bit. His voice took on a slightly haunting tone. “It’s darker there… geheh… geheheheh!” With that, Kris walked off to go check on the other Heroes.
Something in Noelle’s chest loosened, hearing that. Of course, he was making a point. Even if the prophecy had been right so far, it was still only a prediction from a long time ago. Surely some things must be different. And if something was different, who’s to say larger things couldn’t also be changed?

Gerson turned his attention to Noelle. “We should follow them, but let’s have a chat later, you and I. There’s a spot in this place I’m using. That’s the study I was talking about. Reminds me of my old writing den actually!” He chuckled, before continuing. “We should be reaching it pretty soon. When the others go to the next part of this place, you can stay with me for a while to talk. I imagine we can run into them pretty soon after that. Sound good?”
Noelle nodded. As the two made their way to the others however, she had one more question. “Why are you so focused on teaching Susie, anyway?” The old turtle let out a laugh and kept walking past. “Well, the Dragon needs to be guided by the smith of course!” And without another word, he left Noelle to gather her thoughts, and run after to rejoin the group.

Chapter Text

Susie was looking around into the dark maze in front of her when Noelle and Gerson rejoined them. “Damn, another stupid maze.” She looked back at the old man. “So, which way to your study?” Gerson made a display of looking every which way, stroking his goatee. “Hrm, left, I believe! Yes, left!” Darting down the left path, Kris and the others scrambled to follow him. But it appeared to be a dead end. “Hm, could’ve sworn it was here. Let’s try… up.” Once more, the Old Man darted off. Susie turned to follow him, grinding her teeth. “I’m gonna be sworing if he can’t figure this out…” Noelle looked over in confusion for a moment before following. Sworing? Kris walked a bit further down the path, stepping on a floor plate that revealed another set of directional notes.

The party regrouped on the upward path, another crossroad before them. The old turtle glanced between the two options. “Left here… oh, it was left here.” He trotted off towards his hypothesis. Susie watched him walk off, standing there for a moment. “I’m going right.” Noelle and Ralsei followed her, the deer girl quickly giving Kris an apology as she did so.
Noelle caught up to Susie a moment after, the dragon girl digging into a candy bowl on top of a small pedestal. “Hey Noelle, look! I knew that this was the right way to go!” The reindeer couldn’t help but giggle. “I don’t really think this is helping us find the study, fahaha.” Susie looked over, mouth full of various candies (and a good number of wrappers too) holding out a fistful to Noelle. “Well, yeah. But I’m getting fed up searching for that stupid study. Come eat candy with me!” Noelle felt her face get hot, the power in her legs sharply declining.
She stumbled forward to the bowl, and took the fistful from Susie. “Th-thanks, Susie.” Noelle methodically removed a wrapper, crumpled it up, and popped the candy in her mouth. She did that process a few times, each wrapper beginning to fill up her off hand. Susie paused her snacking spree, both hands still full. “Geez, this thing’s gonna be empty by the time you finish those ones!” Noelle frowned a little, now a little self-conscious. “S-sorry, should I eat them faster, Susie?” The purple girl dropped the candy in her hands. “Nah, just… making sure you enjoy yourself.” She looked down at the floor, her hands coming to rest on the lip of the bowl. “You’ve… seemed a bit on edge since we got here.” Her eyes darted up. “Not that I like, blame you or anything. This place is kinda creepy, on top of all the ‘Dark World is real’ stuff.” She looked back down, her bangs covering her eyes.
“What I mean is, I want you to have fun if you can. I sort of ruined our hangout earlier by having you play the guitar, and…” Susie let out a heavy sigh, before looking up at Noelle. Her body was notably more tense. “… I want to try and make today not completely suck for you. You… deserve that much.” She locked her eyes on Noelle’s face, scanning for her reaction.

Noelle was a bit speechless. Susie was blaming herself for earlier? It’s not like she could’ve known about any of that stuff. And sure, Noelle was absolutely reeling from all that she’d learned in the past half hour or however long it’d been. But there was no universe where the reindeer could put that on Susie. Despite that, however, this big purple girl was making a real effort to salvage what she saw as her disaster. A warm glow began in Noelle’s chest, spreading to the rest of her.
It occurred to her that Susie had done something similar back in Cyber World too. When Noelle had felt totally hopeless and isolated, this dragon girl had come and saved her. She’d done everything she could to help Noelle feel better, no matter how unfamiliar that type of thing clearly was for her.

“I… Thank you, Susie,” Noelle finally managed to sputter out. “It really means a lot that you’re thinking of me like that. It… has been a lot to take in.” She glanced over to Ralsei, as if to identify a focal point of all the strangeness she’d been experiencing. The prince blushed and looked down at the floor. She narrowed her eyes just a touch, looking back to Susie. “But I don’t want you to blame yourself for what happened at my house.” Susie tried to interject. “But the whole reason your mom yelled was cause of the guitar, that I told you to play! If I hadn’t, then-” However Noelle was gaining momentum at this point, taking a step towards Susie. “Which you couldn’t have known would be a problem because I didn’t tell you!” Another step. Susie took a half step back, one hand now holding onto the pedestal. Noelle continued.
“Even if we hadn’t touched the guitar, I still didn’t get her permission for you guys to come over! Her coming back when she did would’ve gotten me in trouble no matter what, and that’s also not your fault!” Noelle was right up against Susie, bringing a hand to the purple girl’s arm. “I should be apologizing for all of that. I hid the seriousness of the situation from you, because I wanted you to enjoy being w-with…” She began to trail off, as her current actions and what she was about to accidentally admit dawned on her. She felt her face growing incredibly hot. “I-I mean… I just wanted…” Susie felt her own face heating up. What was Noelle trying to say? Why was she so close? Why did her arm feel like a current was running through it??
Noelle eyes darted over to her left for a moment, spotting movement. Kris had somehow snuck up on them again, watching them converse like it was a season finale climax. She screamed, accidentally shoving Susie right into the candy bowl. It toppled, various sweets scattering across the floor. Susie whipped around snarling at Kris, appearing to have totally forgotten the exchange. “KRIS, YOU DUMBASS!” She stomped over to the floor candy. “Now we have to eat them off the ground.” Noelle watched, dumbfounded, as Susie began to pick the candy off the ground and eat it. Kris stood there for a moment, before joining. Noelle glanced over at Ralsei, who gave a sort of ‘this is par for the course’ type of shrug. The reindeer let out a huff, before kneeling down to join.
Susie glanced up at Noelle, who seemed to have had a similar idea. Her expression softened for a moment. “Let’s… talk later, ok?” Susie said quietly to her. Noelle stiffened for a second, before nodding.

They all bullied Ralsei into joining, before Kris got up and walked off. Noelle slowly stood up. “I’m… gonna go with Kris for just a minute to keep looking for the study.” Susie gave her a thumbs up, still head down and devouring the candy. The deer girl brushed herself off, and trotted after her friend. They were down a more southern path, having found a piano. They seemed to have found more notes while Noelle wasn’t around, playing a string of notes with the same energy as typing in a login password. A gate that sat just beyond the two slid upward with a loud groan. A few moments later, Ralsei and Susie met them at the piano. The Old Man was not far behind, his growingly familiar tap of his cane announcing his arrival. Susie eyed the passageway, tension leaving her shoulders. “Damn, took long enough. The hell didn’t we go this way in the first place?” the old turtle cackled, throwing his head back. “Ah, what a relief you found the right way!” He let out a sigh of contentment. “…This nice young fellow behind us was just raring to go through!” Susie and Noelle’s eyes went wide. “Nice young… huh?” They looked past the old man, a pair of ghostly lanterns with clawed hands entering into view. “H-hey, wait a sec--!”

*Guei wisps in your way!

A few turns in, Kris called in the Old Man. He sauntered in, looking back and forth between the Guei and the young heroes. “Hmm, you called it a battle, but I don’t see much fightin’.” Ralsei spoke up, the opportunity to instruct presenting itself. “We don’t hurt the enemies, we SPARE them!” Noelle gave a short nod. She felt a rising tension in her heart the longer Gerson was standing there. This isn’t safe for you, Mr. Boom! The Old Man turned back towards the Guei. “Spare, huh? Like this?” He pointed his cane at the two enemies, who immediately disappeared in a familiar flash. All but Kris jolted back in astonishment. “Y-you recruited them!?” Ralsei bleated out. The Old Man simply huffed in amusement. “Huh, whaddya know, it works!” He turned back towards the party. “I’ll let you kids finish your battle! Geh heh heh!” With that, he sauntered back off.

* (But, the battle was already over.)

* (The Old Man received 517 Dark Dollars.)

The group stood still in stunned silence as the Old Man laughed once more. “Phew! That was a hoot!” He took a few steps forward, talking back towards the heroes. “Well now, I think I can find the way back from here.” He turned back around, settling his weight on his cane. He looked over to Susie once more. “By the by, I’m running a little shop from my study, so if you ever find your way there, feel free to have me at your service!” Susie growled at the old turtle, throwing her hands up and baring her teeth. “Are you for real? After all THAT? Going to YOUR study is the last thing we’re EVER gonna do. Got it?” Noelle frowned, but the Old Man simply nodded slightly and stroked his goatee again. He still had that mischievous glint in his eye. “Hmm, I see, I see. Well, thank you.” He took a few more steps. “Bye for now!” And he was out of sight.

Noelle turned to Susie. “Hey, you don’t mean that right? I don’t think he was that bad, honestly.” The purple girl let out a sigh, lightly rolling her eyes. “I don’t know. But I definitely don’t want to see that guy for a good little while. Maybe later we will.” She glanced knowingly at Kris. “We usually end up backtracking a lot.” The human simply shrugged. Noelle gave a small nod. “Well, that’s alright then. I just want to learn more about him before we go.” Susie gave her an odd look, but said nothing. Kris began walking the party down the path.

Entering the next area, Susie observed as they entered a large multi-story room. Books adorned almost every wall; a fireplace centered in the back. On the second level was two large doorways, a staircase on either side leading up to them. And centered in the room was…

“Oh, so you decided to come by? Thanks!”

“(Dammit.)”

Chapter Text

The group spent a little bit exploring the Old Man’s study. Noelle tried to check a few of the books, but the text inside was all a bunch of nonsense. Kris purchased a few things from Gerson (who was more than happy to charge them to “save up for retirement!”) and got some info about some type of magical axe that piqued Susie’s interest. Eventually, the three Delta Warriors began to make their way to the open doorway on the second level. Noelle opted to stay behind however. “I need a bit to decompress from everything so far. I’ll be here with him, so no need to worry!” Susie seemed hesitant, but Kris simply gave the reindeer a thumbs up and continued on.

After a few moments, Noelle came back down the stairs and took a seat by the fireplace. While she was more than comfortable in the cold, there was an inviting and calming nature to the study. She and Gerson sat in a comfortable silence for a few minutes, simply taking in the situation around them. Finally, Noelle decided to ask a question.

“What was it like waking up after everything?”

The question hung heavy for a few moments. Gerson stroked his beard, gathering his thoughts. “Well, not sure what to say. Truth be told, most of what was before is fuzzy. I remember better when I have reminders in front of me, such as yourself and Kris. I have some strong memories with my family, particularly Alvin. But otherwise…” He trailed off. Noelle nodded. “I suppose that makes sense. Do you know anything about this place?”

Gerson chuckled at that. “Y’know, I don’t quite understand why, but I surprisingly do. The other three are going up to find some more of them piano scores so they can meet a funny fellow who will help them get to more parts of this place. There’s a large organ somewhere around here that will let them actually get back to that fountain you kids probably already saw.” He shook his head gently. “Beyond that, not much else. Whole place feels like a carnival house themed after a church, geheh!”

Noelle sat with this for a minute. It really did feel that way, huh? It was similar in Cyber World; the whole place was like if you made a theme park about computers. She wondered what else the others had seen and done so far. A part of her was jealous honestly, having missed out on so much.
As if she’d said it aloud, Gerson let out a soft grunt to get her attention. “I’m supposing you’ve been out of the loop on all this nonsense, right?” She nodded. “Well, I wouldn’t hold it against ‘em too much, geheh. I woke up in here and I’m barely sure this is actually happening. Kinda hard to explain and not sound as crazy as me!” Gerson and Noelle shared a laugh. She felt a touch better, but it still sat uncomfortably in her chest.

“I just wish Susie had been honest with me back in Cyber World. I was already part of it, why would she try to convince me it wasn’t real?” Noelle fidgeted with her hands, letting them play the roles of her conflicting desires.
Gerson pulled at his beard a bit more. “Well Ms. Holiday, why not ask her yerself? Don’t suppose you can read minds now, can you?” Noelle shook her head. Gerson gave a nod, standing up from his chair. “Then let’s find out straight from the Dragon’s mouth, eh?” He began to walk up the stairway.
Noelle let out a small gasp. “Mr. Boom, what are you doing? It's too dangerous for you to go out alone!” The old turtle looked back at her. “Well, good thing yer comin’ with me then, Gaha!” Without another word, he continued up to and through the open doorway.
Noelle let out a sigh, and followed the Old Man.

After a little stroll, they came across a small corridor with a piano and a path to the right above some bookcases. The two continued down the path until they came upon some slopes heading deeper down into the dark. Gerson was surprisingly adept at making his way down, seeming to have no issues with the steep slide. Noelle guessed it was a benefit of being in the Dark World.
As they reached the second lowest level, they heard a loud crash from below. Noelle prepared to jump down, but Gerson held out a hand to stop her. “Just a minute dear, let’s watch.”
The two peered over the ledge of their current level, observing the aftermath of a battle. Kris, Susie, and Ralsei were standing beside a very large Darkner with a pumpkin head, and a stitchwork body. It reminded Noelle of the Halloween decoration stowed away in the choir practice room.
It appeared to be yelling about something hurting, with Ralsei trying desperately to figure out what. Susie meanwhile was slowly sauntering off. Noelle felt her heart cracking at the sight. She once again moved to go down and see the dragon girl, but Gerson once again stopped her. “Let me talk to her first dearie. You’re welcome to listen, but let’s not overwhelm the poor girl.” He slid down, and Noelle sat and watched.

Susie stared at her feet as she trudged out of the way. Not like she was of any use right now anyway. Just distracting Ralsei from doing what he does best. Staying out of the way was what she had gotten used to. Go off to her own little box, and stand her ground there. If anyone got in her way when she was already trying to be unintrusive, well that was their fault right? Her train of thought was interrupted by a familiar gravelly voice. “How’s the adventure, hero?” She looked up, surprised to see the old turtle. “…Old man? Shouldn’t you be busy… writing a letter or something?” He let out a laugh.
“Shouldn’t you be helping that pumpkin fella?”
“Nah, Ralsei’s got it covered. I… I quit.”
The Old Man combed through his beard for a moment. Noelle felt her heart crack a bit more.
“Quit? Quit what?”
Susie turned away, rubbing the back of her head. “You know. Healing. That green sparkle thing.”
Noelle felt her stomach drop. Oh dear.
“Hmm. So you don’t like doing it?”
“Well, uh… I dunno, actually. At first, I was really… I was really excited I could do it. But like… I sort of realized…” Susie looked the Old Man in the eye for a moment, the tough façade cracking away a bit. “I just suck at it. Heh.”
He stroked his beard some more, considering Susie’s position. “What if you practiced? Put a little shell into it.”
“I mean, I kind of… when people aren’t looking… I was kinda trying to practice a little, but…”
Susie looked down again. The wall cracked a bit more. “I sorta realized, y’know? I’ll never be as good as Ralsei or Noelle, so what’s the point? So everyone can see how… bad I am?”

Noelle felt like a knife went through her. Susie felt like this, because of her? That burning shame of being lesser, because ‘she doesn’t have the problems you have’. She wanted to cry, she wanted to scream. Anything to let Susie know how wrong she was. Who cares if she wasn’t as good? She still had things that-

“I should just stick to what I’m good for. Y’know… uh… hurting people… magic.”

Oh.
That’s not what the problem was. Noelle should’ve known that. Of course it wasn’t.

Sure, Susie has stuff she’s great at. Noelle knew that Susie was aware of that. Kicking butt, being scary, eating a bunch of stuff that other people couldn’t handle.
But that’s what comes naturally for her. It wasn’t something she’d had to strive for, discover a passion for. Work at for hours upon hours to reach her own ambitions.
Healing, that was something she had found and tried to improve on. And despite her practice, she was so vastly outclassed by not just anyone, but her own friends. Noelle felt that pit grow deeper in her stomach. Her heart burned, her eyes beginning to get watery.

“Hm. Is that so.” Gerson looked to the ground with a grin, turning away from Susie. Noelle blinked away tears, studying him.
“Didn’t take you for a purple bellied coward.”
Susie’s eyes widened, her whole body stiffening. She took a few steps towards the Old Man. “Coward…? Hey, what do you mean by that!?”
“You’re afraid of making some little green sparkles.”

Noelle could hardly believe her eyes. Was Mr. Boom trying to get his ass kicked? Susie had fully bought into the taunting, walking up to be in front of him and gesturing wildly with her teeth bared. “Look, just CASTING it isn’t a big deal!”

Continuing his taunting, the Old Man turned away from her again. “Alrighty then…” He took a few steps, before turning back to Susie. He held up his hand, one finger held away from the others. “Here.”

“What?”

“I pricked my finger with my pen earlier. If yer not a coward, give me your best shot!” the Old Man wiggled his fingers, punctuating the taunt.

Susie was fully aggravated at this point. “Fine, if it gets you to shut up! Take this!!”
She pulled her hands to her side, a ball of green energy forming. The air swirled around her, and Susie brought her cupped hands out in front of herself, the energy gathering into a concentrated point.

Hey that looks a whole lot like-

The Old Man suddenly leaned down as a paper dropped out of his coat pocket. “Oops, my letter!”

The focused energy shot forward in a ball, flying just over the old turtle’s head, further up and across the path, and directly into the open mouth of the large Darkner. A flash of green burst from the inside of the pumpkin head, and he finally stopped moaning. After a second, the mouth upturned into a wide grin. “OH!!! THE OUCHI… THE HOART… IT’S GONE!!!”

As Susie wandered over to see what had happened, the Old Man quickly hopped up to the next level, a few steps away from Noelle. “Let’s get going, dearie. Seems Susie has some important stuff to get back to.” Noelle wanted to ask him how on earth he just jumped up there, but decided not to question it just yet. She simply took the hand he extended to her, and let him guide her back up to the top level. The two of them were soon back at the study, and Gerson resumed his writing. Noelle tried to ask about everything that had just happened, but was met with a lot of ‘let an old man keep some secrets’ and statements along the lines of ‘some lessons are for others, but take what you need to from them as well’. She eventually caved in, opting to just sit and relax. At least until the giant pumpkin headed Darkner (apparently named Jackenstein) wandered in and promptly began dusting his little corner of the study Gerson had permitted him to reside in.

When the other three finally returned, Susie ran up to Noelle with an incredulous expression. “Noelle! Were you here while-“ The dragon girl whipped around, pointing at the Old Man. “Did you leave her alone here while you came over to call me a coward?” The old turtle laughed, shaking his head. “Of course not! She has those two fine people to keep her company!” He gestured over to the two Guei he had recruited, who seemed to give an awkward wave of some sort.

Susie eyed the Darkners for a moment, before letting out a sigh. “I guess that’s ok. But Noelle, you should come join us. Are you feeling up to it?”
The reindeer nodded, standing up and rejoining the group. They walked back towards the small piano room, turning off to the left when they reached the interspersed bookcases. Noelle covered her head and yelled in fear when a book tried to chase them down.

She observed a water feature ahead of them, with some kind of statue just a bit past it. Kris approached the water, tossing in some money. Noelle wasn’t sure, but it seemed like a decent amount. Once Kris took a step back, the falling water came away from the back wall. Peering behind, they found a doorway into another darkened area. It was full of muddy water, their pace slowed and footsteps softened.
After a few minutes of navigating the darkness, the group found a wall of bells. Ralsei tapped Noelle on the shoulder. “By the way, you’ll want to put on this climbing gear. We got it from the Jackenstein fellow in the study!” Noelle nodded in thanks, clumsily taking the gear. As they all climbed up, she realized it might’ve been a good idea to audibly thank Ralsei when none of them could really see. And then taking the gear in an arguably jarring yank. She really sucked at talking to him, didn’t she?

The group slowly began navigating the floor above after they finished their ascent. Floor plates rung out as they trudged through the muck, with the occasional thunk and expletive let out by Susie when she’d hit a wall. Noelle was a lot better at cursing under her breath when she’d smack her hoof into a corner or feel a mysterious stringy plant snag and break on her antlers.
This forward stumble was suddenly interrupted however, as a familiar and terrifying growl emerged from the dark hallway in front of them. The group scrambled away, Susie and Noelle urging Kris to get the hell out of there and to stop running into walls and dead ends.
As they approached what seemed to be the wall they climbed to get up here, a familiar voice called from behind them.
“Hey… wait a gosh darn minute…”
The room suddenly became fully lit, the growling creature no longer anywhere to be heard or seen.
“What are we running from?” the Old Man glanced around, as if trying to spot whatever it had been out of pure willpower.
Susie’s expression went flat. “There was… that thing… you know…”
The dragon and turtle were quiet for just a moment, before suddenly breaking into laughter.
After a second or five, Gerson let out a breath. “Y’know, I was just about to have some tea. Feel free to join me if you like!”
Susie smiled, surprised at the offer. “Uh, sure!”
After they walked back a few steps to see what had happened (and only finding some more notes above a newly existing chasm), Kris and the others walked up the hall to find a room with a table set out. There were five chairs, with a tea set fully prepared.

“Fancy a drink?”

Chapter Text

The group walked over to the table, everyone taking a seat around it. Noelle took a seat next to Susie, with Kris being across from them. Looking down, Noelle saw that the teacups had already been filled. She took hers in two hands, holding it carefully. She watched Susie lean back in her chair, one leg putting a slight amount of pressure against the table. Noelle took a sip from her cup, humming in delight as the flavor of chamomile entered her palate. She didn’t have it very often whenever she even did have tea, as most of the time peppermint was all that they stocked at home.

But of course, Gerson had it. That’s what he always served when they would visit his home. Those cordial visits where her mom would have discussions about business with the old turtle, who seemed to always have something ready to end the discussion when he got bored. Then Noelle would ask him questions about Lord of the Hammer, which she never got any satisfying answers about. Always just things like “well, what do you think they should do next?”

She grew to appreciate those answers in recent years.

“So, you three have had a mighty journey so far, have you?” The Old Man questioned. Susie lowered her cup, a small tap on the floor as the front legs of her chair came back to earth.

“Uh… Yeah. I guess you could say that.”

“Well now, how about telling me about your adventures?”

“Uh…” She glanced over at Noelle, then to Ralsei. “Hey Ralsei, would it be…” She looked to Noelle again. She grinned. “Nah, nevermind. Sure, I’ll tell you. But I’m not repeating myself so listen up!”

Noelle watched as Susie began to animatedly describe the adventure she and Kris had gone on so far. Falling into the closet (so that’s where they were) and finding Castle Town, meeting Ralsei and Lancer. The Fields and Forests, Card Castle. As she went, Susie also explained how she came to really like Lancer’s antics, and how she ended up as a ‘bad guy’ for a bit (Noelle wished she could’ve watched that) before coming to be part of the team for real. Towards the end of the Card Castle section, Noelle was fully immersed. She even gasped as Susie recounted Kris shielding her from King’s attack, and the subjects all arriving to take him away. The jester character was fascinating, but also sent a shiver down the reindeer’s spine.
When Susie began explaining Cyber World, Noelle found herself remembering her own experiences. She even found herself joining in a little, filling in some of the parts Susie wasn’t there for. It was her turn to explain going through the city, hiding her face from Queen, and getting captured again. Susie thankfully omitted the details of the ferris wheel ride, and moved on to the rest of the mansion stuff.
Spamton was even more unsettling. Noelle was reminded of that glitchy mod she got from those emails for Cat Petterz. But all the talk of puppets, freedom. She looked over and noticed Kris squirming during that part. She felt queasy for a moment, but couldn’t place why.
Then came TV World. Ralsei explained for Susie what Darkner’s were once more, but this time not so harshly. More matter of fact than diminishing of what they were. Noelle found herself wondering what other objects would be like. If Queen was so obsessed with her, imagine what her own computer would’ve been like! Of course, as Susie recounted Tenna’s crashout, she began to have an inkling of it.
Susie paused for a moment. “Kris was in the S Rank room for a while though, and so I went to check on them. Found ‘em playing a game on a massive screen, but they looked kinda shaken up about it. They were still pressing buttons while I was talking to them, but nothing was happening. Then they like, grabbed me all of a sudden and yanked me towards themselves? They were breathing super heavy, basically about to fall over.”
Noelle looked over at Kris. They had gone fully red (well, purple) in the face, and were desperately trying to not look at her. Noelle considered freezing them for just a moment.
“Hah, they called me the weird one when I shoved my hair in their face! Like, I thought they were getting back at me for eating their shampoo!” Noelle sighed in relief.
Fighting the knight was an exhilarating thing for the reindeer to listen to. Someone so strong, that knocked them all back the way they had, got their ass kicked by Susie! Well, until whatever happened to knock them all down. That part worried her, that maybe it could’ve been an even harder fight.

“…And now we’re here! Pretty awesome, huh!?” Susie finished recounting the story, relaxing back into her seat.

The Old Man laughed. “Geheheh! Yes, what an excellent tale.”

Ralsei spoke, adjusting himself in his seat. “I especially liked the part where you acted out the battles…” he let out a giggle. “…using the silverware and sugar cubes.”

Susie gave a sarcastic shrug. “Hey, how else were they supposed to see how cool we were?”

Everyone laughed, except Kris. They seemed to be smiling, but they had stiffened up, as if a presence was weighing on them once more. Noelle seemed to be the only one to notice however, which she had to admit was somewhat irritating.

“Well, thanks for the tea, old man.” Susie sighed, the last bits of laughter fading. She stood up, walking a few steps before pumping her fist in refreshed resolve. “We gotta get back to our hero stuff!”

“Will ya come by my study later?”

Susie scratched the back of her head. “Yeah, sure. Not like we got a choice.” And with that, she walked out of the room.

Noelle watched as Susie walked out, wondering if she should go with her. As she shifted to start however, Gerson spoke. “Ain’t no better story than one told with sparkling eyes.”

Noelle looked back at the turtle as he continued. “She ain’t got no fear, that one. Doubt, irony, that’s what poisons your story…”

The Old Man looked over to Ralsei. “That, and too much predictability.” The prince looked over, shifting in his seat again. “So, young man, what do you think happens next?”

Ralsei startled a little, before looking down at his fidgeting hands. “I… I guess we’ll… just have to see.”

Noelle felt her temper start to flare. She could tell this guy wasn’t saying everything. But what would be the point in bringing it up? She wasn’t exactly the interrogative type.

She looked down at her lap and began to think everything over, for what felt like the first real time. The conversation between Gerson, Kris, and Ralsei faded away as she began running through everything.
All of this felt unreal, but she knew without a doubt that it was absolutely happening. There was an honest to goodness prophecy, an accurate one, that she couldn’t shake the feeling wasn’t going end well.

And for that matter, it seems like there were people in Hometown that were also involved in this. How many? Her mother? Father Alvin?

Unbeknownst to Noelle as she sat and thought, Ralsei and Kris got up form their chairs. Ralsei looked at Noelle, considering saying something. But Kris simply walked ahead, and so the prince followed.
Susie was in the waterfall room ahead, seated by the pool in the center. She was drinking the water by submersing her snout in and slurping. As Kris and Ralsei entered the room, she stood up and looked over.
“There you guys are! Man, took forever.” She looked behind Ralsei, and to either side of the other two.
“Hey, where’s Noelle?”

Ralsei adjusted his glasses, glancing back at the other room. “She was still sitting when we walked out. I think… she may be feeling overwhelmed.”

Susie let out an annoyed groan. “You guys could’ve talked to her, dude.” Susie scratched her head. “Now I gotta like, go see what’s going on I guess?”
Ralsei tried to offer to go in, but Susie was already walking past and through the doorway. Kris privately observed the blush on the dragon girl’s face as she passed them.

Noelle was still deep in thought. How much of this stuff was connected? Did these Dark Worlds have anything to do with December’s disappearance? Is that what happened in the shelter? Is that why Kris-

“Hey, you doing alright?”
Noelle’s head whipped around, landing on the sight of Susie. The dragon girl had her hand on Noelle’s shoulder, squeezing lightly. The reindeer girl felt heat immediately rise to her face, and brought a hand up to cover her mouth and nose. She really hoped it wasn’t glowing.

“Susie! U-um, hey, sorry for taking so long! We should probably-“ Noelle stood and looked over to where Kris and Ralsei had been, realizing that she was the only one that was still there. “Oh my gosh, I’m sorry! I didn’t notice them leaving, I guess I just zoned out! Fahaha!” She looked back at Susie, her smile diminishing as she saw the concerned look on the dragon girl’s face.

“Dude, I asked you a question. Are you ok?” Susie brought her other hand to Noelle’s other shoulder, turning the reindeer to face her directly.

Noelle opened her mouth, but nothing came out for a moment. She closed it again, looking down at the floor for a bit. “I’m… not sure, honestly.”

Susie’s grip tightened, and she lowered her head to look more directly at Noelle’s face. “What do you mean? Like you’re freaked out? We can have you hang out in the Old Man’s study while we take care of the fountain if you want.”

Noelle smiled. “That’s sweet of you, Susie. But that’s not what I mean.” She took a breath, bringing her own hand to sit on her shoulder over Susie’s. “This is just a lot to be introduced to so suddenly. I know I was already in a Dark World, but that was before I really understood the gravity of it. And there’s like the whole prophecy thing, and I… I feel like something bad is gonna happen.”

Susie nodded, encouraging Noelle to continue.

“The stuff in church was really similar to all this, although the specifics weren’t there. And there’s this part at the end that has a calamity happen. It makes me worry about everyone. If we can really protect them, y’know?”

Susie looked down, thinking about it.

“But despite all that…”

Susie looked up as Noelle continued.

“I’m still having fun being here with you. Seeing… the Old Man, solving puzzles, climbing, fighting battles. I’m really enjoying all of that. I wish I could’ve been there for the other times too. You made them sound like so much fun!”

Susie chuckled. “Heheh, yeah. They were pretty awesome.” She glanced off to the side, before looking down. “I’m… sorry for lying about it being a dream. I know you said you don’t hate me, but… I should’ve let you be part of this. Or at least decide if you wanted to be.”

Noelle sighed. “Susie, I forgive you for all that. Just, promise you’ll be honest with me from now on, ok?” The dragon girl nodded. “I promise.”

Noelle smiled. “Thanks, Susie.”

She looked down at her shoulder, realizing that she was still holding Susie’s hand there. They’d also gotten a step closer to each other at some point. Noelle stammered, taking three steps back and pulling Susie’s hand off. Almost immediately, she mentally kicked herself for throwing that gift from the heaven’s away.

Susie rubbed the back of her head. “So, uhh… about earlier by the candy. You were saying something about wanting me to enjoy… what was it again?”

Noelle felt her face heat up again. “Um- I… well, um…” She fidgeted with her hands, looking down at the floor. “I… wanted you to enjoy… b-being with m-me…”

Susie tilted her head to the side. “What do you mean? Of course I like hanging out with you, Noelle! Why wouldn’t I?

The reindeer girl glanced off to the side, avoiding Susie’s gaze. “Because I’m… kinda boring, I guess? Kris is way more interesting and fun, and I’m just… me.”

“Dude, what? Like yeah, Kris is awesome. Total weirdo, but still awesome. But you being you is just as awesome!”

Noelle looked up at Susie again. “What do you mean?”

It was Susie’s turn to blush. “Um, well, like…” She looked off for a moment. “You care about stuff a lot. Your weird cat game or whatever, horror movies, all that.” Susie returned her gaze to Noelle. “And when it really matters, you’re pretty badass! If you hadn’t stood up to Queen, we totally would’ve gotten crushed! You care about your dad, about Kris, and…” Susie trailed off.

Noelle waited for a moment. “And?”

Susie took a breath. “And… you care about me.”

Noelle felt a rising anxiety again. “Well, of course I do. Why wouldn’t I?”

Susie looked away again. “That’s not exactly a very shared opinion.”

Noelle’s anxiety gave way to a pit in her stomach. “Oh, Susie…”

The dragon girl just kept looking away, grunting. “Don’t worry about it. It is what it is.”

Noelle reached for Susie’s shoulder. “But that doesn’t mean-“

Susie deflected her hand with a shoulder roll. “I said don’t worry about it, Holiday!”

Noelle’s hand recoiled. Susie looked up, and groaned. “Shit, sorry. I just… don’t wanna talk about any of that. Definitely not here.”

The reindeer girl nodded. “It’s alright, Susie. But whenever you’re up for it, just let me know. It’s not a pity thing, I just want to be part of your life.”

Susie let a small smile on her face. “Thanks, Jingles.” She lightly punched Noelle on the shoulder. “Now come on, let’s get going. We got a fountain to close, and a Knight’s ass to kick.

Noelle pumped her fists. “Yeah! Let’s go!”

The two girls turned from the table, and went to join the others.