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Susie couldn’t bring herself to stay at the Dreemurrs’. Not after that. She made up an excuse to Toriel about her father wanting her to come home for the night, and then she snuck into the school, using the trick Kris had shown her about unlocking the front door with a card. Luckily, Susie always had a certain jester’s card on her person, these days.
She couldn’t help smirking a little to herself. Jevil hadn’t been lying when he’d said he could do anything.
Still, what little relief she found dissipated quickly in the wake of her anger and turmoil. Arriving in Castle Town barely made a difference. Now, Susie had magic powers and a sick scythe-axe, but…she still couldn’t do anything to help, could she? Nothing that would matter, this time. This wasn’t a dark world problem she could simply get rid of with a little play-acting, a magical incantation, and maybe the threat of an axe in the face every now and then.
Almost as soon as she walked into town, Ralsei came up to greet her. He was cheerful at first, until he saw the grave look on her face, and he sobered up in kind.
“Is there anything I can do for you, Susie?” he asked.
Susie sighed, rubbing the heel of her palm against her face. Honestly, she wanted to destroy something, rip and tear with her claws and fangs, but—she couldn’t do the dojo. Not right now. Even if the darkners there were volunteers who loved to be thrashed, beating up other people right now wasn’t…
“Could you get me something to eat?” she asked, instead. “Uh…preferably in my room?”
Ralsei nodded. “Right away.”
She followed him into the castle, where they split paths: Ralsei headed for the kitchens, where idle swatchlings were ready to help out at a moment’s notice. Susie went straight up to her bedroom, setting the Devilsknife on her bed before flopping into a seat at her table. She rested her head in her arms and sighed to herself.
In all honesty, Castle Town wasn’t Susie’s first choice. She wanted to be with Kris. She couldn’t, though. Because, tonight, Kris was with her.
Just thinking about it made Susie want to break the table in half, but she decided against it. If she acted out, she’d only end up hurting Ralsei, and she couldn’t do that. He’d made this room for her. She couldn’t treat it like trash. She wasn’t going to be like her father.
Ralsei soon arrived with a tray of tea and cake in hand, which he set on the table. “Here you go, Susie. Chocolate cake, and some black tea.”
“Thanks.”
Susie helped herself immediately, cutting herself a big slice of cake and scarfing it down. She knew she should eat slower, but she was too worked up for that; destroying the cake with her mouth helped a little. She followed it up with a generous slurp of the tea, practically downing her entire cup in one go.
Ralsei watched her from the sidelines, smiling fondly. “Um, Susie…would you like me to stay, or…”
Susie’s mouth was too full to speak, so instead, she kicked the opposite chair away from the table. Ralsei took the hint and sat down, cutting himself a small slice of cake and pouring a modest cup of tea. Susie didn’t object; she always encouraged Ralsei to eat, and she was relieved to see him serve himself without prompting.
Though, it reminded her of Kris, too. The way they picked at their food like a goldfish, before silently shoving the rest of their meal in her direction. Something in her chest stung.
There was relative silence for a while. Compared to Susie, Ralsei ate and drank slowly, taking small bites of the cake and dainty sips of the tea. Finally, Susie licked crumbs off her plate before helping herself to another slice.
“Do you feel any better?” Ralsei asked.
“Kinda, yeah.” It was always a relief to fill her stomach—even if dark world food wouldn’t satisfy her for long—and besides, Susie didn’t feel like wrecking things as much. It didn’t do anything to help what she was troubled about, but it was something, at least.
Ralsei smiled. “I’m glad I can help.”
Susie smirked a little. “Yeah, yeah.” Ralsei was such a people-pleaser. Her smirk dropped away quickly, though, as she was unable to distract herself from her thoughts for long.
Her inner turmoil didn’t go unnoticed. “Would you like to talk about it?” Ralsei offered.
Susie set down her teacup, sighing. She probably shouldn’t, for Kris’ sake, but—Ralsei deserved to know, didn’t he? He was Kris’ friend, too. Part of their team. And all three of them were intimate, at this point. He ought to know.
“It’s not my problem, really,” she began. “It’s about Kris.”
Ralsei’s smile dropped quickly.
Susie raked at her fringe with one hand as she thought over how to word her feelings. “Do you remember when I’ve told you, I think something’s up with them? Like, something seriously wrong? I—I may have just found out what.”
“What…what is it, Susie?” Ralsei asked. His voice was soft, but she heard his worry loud and clear.
“It’s—Kris, they’re…” She didn’t want to say it out loud. Admit it was true. But she had to. She had to face reality. “They’re being abused. It’s—it’s Noelle’s mom who’s doing it.”
Ralsei’s eyes widened, and he pressed a hand to his mouth. His expression was horrified. Susie couldn’t blame him.
“Y’know, it usually feels good when I’m proven right,” Susie went on, smiling bitterly. “But not this time.”
Ralsei dropped his hand to fiddle with his scarf. “No, I—I wouldn’t think so.”
Susie stared at her own hands, laid out on the table in front of her. “I don’t know the details, but. I know it’s…it’s been happening for a while, now. Since before all this dark world stuff started. Months, at least. And, it’s—it’s serious. Seriously bad.”
Ralsei swallowed. “How bad?” he asked, barely above a whisper.
Susie pressed her hands against her face, forcing herself to breathe slowly and deeply. “Well, they’re…it’s, like—” She forced herself to spit it out, before she got cold feet. “Sexual.” The word tasted like bile on her tongue.
Ralsei visibly deflated. “Oh,” he said, quietly. “Oh.”
“Yeah,” Susie said, matching his volume.
“That—that would…explain some things. Wouldn’t it?”
“Yeah.”
Ralsei’s face scrunched up, and for a moment, Susie feared he was going to break down crying. He didn’t, though. He only stared dismally at his half-eaten cake and tea, slowly turning cold.
“Kris—” he began, then stopped. Hesitated. “Kris never wanted us to find this out, did they? That must be why they didn’t tell us.”
“Probably,” Susie muttered. “Guess I can’t blame them.” She recalled how hard it had been for her to admit to them what her father was like. She could only imagine Kris felt that way a million times over. Still, it hurt to think that even after all this time, Kris hadn’t trusted her enough to tell her.
“And…it’s Noelle’s mother who’s doing this?” Ralsei inquired.
“Yeah.” Susie bared her fangs. “That fucking bitch. I knew as soon as I met her that she was bad news. I knew. I just—I just didn’t think it would be this bad. I didn’t think it would be…Kris.”
Ralsei bit his lip. “Is Noelle alright?”
Susie shrugged. “Far as I know. Her mom’s just ‘tough’ on her. So says her dad, anyway.” And the way Rudy had spoken about it, Susie suspected he didn’t know, either, what his wife was doing behind his back.
Ralsei curled both hands around his teacup, hunching a little in his seat. “Can we…is there we do anything to help?”
Susie pressed a hand to her forehead. “Fuck if I know, dude. I want to rip that woman’s head off her body so fucking bad. I wanna kill her. But I can’t, can I? She’s Noelle’s mom. She’s Kris’ aunt. She’s their family. And she’s the mayor of Hometown. What the hell can I do? I can’t even touch her. Even if I tried—the next day, she’d just hand my dad an eviction notice, and that’d be it.” Susie spread her arms out. “I can’t let that happen! I can’t leave! Not now! And not while Kris is getting hurt!”
Ralsei only nodded, his expression sympathetic.
Susie scowled at the table. “Oh, and that’s not all. She’s a trained swordfighter, too, apparently. She could just cut my head off, and that’d solve the problem for her.”
“That…seems unwise,” Ralsei commented, somber.
“Yeah, but I can’t exactly rule it out, can I? I mean, if it was in the dark world, I bet I could take her. No, I know I’d take her. But in the light world? Yeah, right.” Susie scoffed, leaning back in her chair and folding her arms as she glared at the wall. “Nobody would believe me, anyway. And…I don’t know if they’d believe Kris, either.”
“You believe them,” Ralsei said softly. “And I believe you, Susie.”
“Yeah, but…what good is that, really? If I—we can’t do anything to help?”
“It’s not much, but…we can still do something. We can be there for Kris, when they need us. Now we know what’s wrong, we can do that better than we could before.”
Susie knew Ralsei was right, but she still felt powerless. Weak. She hated it. She hated facing a problem that wouldn’t go away no matter how much she fought it. A problem that would only get worse if she fought it. Her dad—Susie’d only been able to get away with retaliating because nobody else had cared about them. She couldn’t touch the mayor of Hometown and expect to walk away without facing retribution. Even if she did, what would it do to Kris? And what if she tried and failed? How would Carol take it out on them?
She dropped her head into her hands, again. “I wish I could do more. I just wanna protect Kris, man. They’re my friend. I don’t want them to be hurt.”
Ralsei nodded. “I know. I feel the same way.” He smiled, gently, though sadly. “Sometimes, I wish I could keep the two of you here with me in Castle Town, forever. Where I know you’re safe. But,” he finished, regretfully, “I can’t.”
Susie’s chest ached. It wasn’t a feeling she was familiar with, a warm feeling like she wanted to laugh and cry at the same time. Because Ralsei had admitted he wanted to protect her. Her, of all people.
“It’s a nice idea,” she said, instead. “I wish I could stay here forever, honestly. But that’d be too easy, wouldn’t it?”
“No. You two belong to the light world,” Ralsei murmured. “You’d have to return, sooner or later.”
“Yeah. I figured.” There was probably another stupid explanation for that, but Susie didn’t care for it. She’d ask Ralsei about it later. Right now… “I’m just worried.”
“About Kris?”
Susie nodded. It went without saying.
“Where are they right now? At home, I hope…”
“Nah.” Susie couldn’t keep the anger out of her voice. “They’re with her.”
“Oh.” Ralsei looked guilty. “I…see.”
“It’s so fucked. We’re just sitting here, right now, talking over tea and cake, while they’re—” Susie stopped herself. She didn’t want to say it. Didn’t want to think about it. “I hate this, Ralsei. I hate this so much.”
The painfully sympathetic look returned to Ralsei’s face. “Kris goes to her willingly, don’t they?”
“That’s what they said,” Susie snapped, “but what kind of choice is it, really? They can’t say no to her.”
She’d said as much to Kris’ face, and Kris—they’d been infuriatingly blank the whole time, but when she’d said that, their expression had twisted. They’d looked angry. Enraged, even. She’d felt spitefully vindicated, at first, but not for long. Eventually, after the high had passed, she’d only felt sick to her stomach.
“Do you know why?” Ralsei asked. “Why it’s…her?”
“I mean—they said all this garbage about how she’s the only one who ‘gets’ them. And I was like, what the fuck, dude? You—” she gestured to Ralsei “—and I are right here! But they just blew me off.” Susie sighed heavily. “I dunno. Maybe they’re right. Maybe we wouldn’t get it at all. Like, we’ve known them for how long, again? And she’s known them their whole life. How’re we supposed to compete with that?”
Ralsei shook his head. “I don’t know,” he admitted, unhappily. “I wish I knew.”
“Yeah. Me, too.”
They lapsed into uncomfortable silence. Susie resumed annihilating her half-eaten cake. Ralsei didn’t touch his food any further, and for once, Susie decided not to say anything.
“Today is Sunday, correct?” Ralsei asked. “Kris will come see us tomorrow, won’t they?”
“Probably,” Susie said, through a mouthful, before swallowing. “I left ‘em a note. They’d come knocking as soon as they realized I skipped out, anyway.”
For once, too, Ralsei didn’t chastise her for skipping school, never mind in advance. “When Kris comes back…we should talk to them. Let them know we’re here for them, whatever happens.”
Susie nodded. She doubted how much either of them could support Kris—if Kris would even allow them to—but it was better than nothing. She’d take what little she could get if it meant helping them.
She sighed to herself. “God. I’ve become such a sap, lately. It’s both your faults, you know.”
Ralsei smiled. “It’s fine, Susie. I like seeing you this way. Knowing you care so much about Kris and I, it’s…it’s comforting.”
It comforted her, too. Knowing Ralsei had her back. And Kris, too; Susie knew if she was hurt, they’d fight tooth and nail to protect her. She wanted to return the favor.
“Just don’t get used to it,” Susie muttered. It was a hollow, token gesture, but she had pride to keep intact.
Ralsei only smiled knowingly. It looked so much like Kris’ cheeky little smile that Susie wanted to laugh and cry all over again. She settled for devouring the cake, instead. Couldn’t let food—even dark world food—go to waste, after all. Especially not Ralsei’s. She’d never forgive herself if she did.
As Susie had predicted, the next day, a certain human stepped foot into Castle Town once again. Ralsei brought Kris to their room, where Susie had already made herself at home, lounging at their table. Ralsei sat demurely beside her, but Kris remained in the doorway, watching them both with a blank expression.
“Okay,” Susie said, breaking the awkward silence. “Kris. Full disclosure? I told Ralsei everything.”
Kris looked at her sullenly, as if asking, Why would you do that?
“He deserved to know,” Susie explained. “He’s your friend. And part of our team, remember?”
“It’s okay, Kris,” Ralsei added. “We won’t speak of this to anyone else without your permission.”
Susie, despite hating the idea, nodded along. It was Kris’ prerogative, not theirs.
Kris didn’t protest. They looked tired.
They kept standing there, unmoving. Susie, a little annoyed, kicked the chair opposite her out from under their table. “C’mon, Kris, sit down. This is your room, y’know.”
They hesitated, but they crossed the floor and sat, awkwardly, gauntleted hands folded in their lap. Susie stared Kris down. She had half a mind to inspect them for whatever fresh marks they were hiding under their armor and bodysuit, but she kept herself seated. That wouldn’t help. Not at all.
“Kris,” Ralsei began, softly, “if there’s anything we can do for you…you know we’ll do whatever we can to help.”
Kris’ brow tensed behind their long bangs. “I know that,” they mumbled.
“And we mean it,” Susie growled. “I know you’re a masochist, Kris, but—seriously. Let us help, sometimes. That’s what being friends means, doesn’t it?”
“Guess so.”
Susie inhaled and exhaled deeply. She didn’t want to be angry at Kris, but them being difficult like this wasn’t helping her to keep calm in the slightest.
Ralsei flicked her an uncertain look. “So, Kris,” he began, keeping his own cool. “Right now, is there anything you need from us?”
Kris opened their mouth—probably to brush him off with a typical I’m fine—but then they closed it, hesitating. “I…don’t know,” they said. “I don’t know.”
Well, it was a step up if they were admitting that, rather than dismissing their concerns. Susie tried to swallow her frustration down. It wasn’t Kris’ fault. They were going through a lot. She knew that for a fact, now.
Susie decided to take a risk. She stood from her seat and rounded the table to take one next to Kris. As if it were any other day, hanging out here or somewhere else in the light world, she slung her arm around their bony shoulders—as comfortably as she could, with their pauldrons in the way—and pulled them against her side.
Kris didn’t resist. They only blinked.
“Does this help?” Susie asked.
Kris hesitated, again, and then tentatively rested their head on her shoulder. “Li’l bit.”
Ralsei stood up, too, and followed Susie’s lead, taking the other seat beside Kris. Rather than hugging them, though, he simply rested a hand on their arm, over the bare, scarred skin. Kris didn’t protest this, either.
“I’m gonna keep saying it ‘til it penetrates your thick skull,” Susie muttered. “You’re not alone, alright, Kris? So, stop shouldering everything by yourself.”
Kris looked down at their lap, where their hands remained layered atop one another. “Didn’t want to worry you,” they murmured.
Susie sighed. “Yeah, well. That ship’s already set sail so long ago, it’s been and gone from its destination. We’re gonna worry about you, like it or not.”
Kris flicked a glance at Ralsei. He only smiled reassuringly and patted Kris’ arm.
They looked away again. “Sorry,” they mumbled, “I just…I didn’t…” They sighed, lifting a hand to rest it against their forehead. “Never mind.”
Susie exchanged a concerned look with Ralsei. “If it’s difficult to talk about, Kris, you don’t need to force yourself,” Ralsei reassured them.
Kris shook their head. “Are you mad at me?”
“Not at you,” Susie said. “At least, I’m not. It’s that woman whose face I want to tear off, right now. Right, Ralsei?”
Ralsei bit his lip. “Well—I’ve never met her, but…I might hate her, too,” he admitted, gravely. “For doing this to you, Kris.”
Susie felt a small swoop of pride. She’d have to congratulate Ralsei, later, for speaking his mind.
Kris didn’t seem to look any happier, but it was hard to tell if they were genuinely upset, or if it was just their typically flat affect. Admittedly, badmouthing Carol in front of them—as much as she deserved it—probably wasn’t the best idea.
Susie sighed again, and she lifted her hand to ruffle Kris’ hair. Not like she could mess it up any further, when they were already sporting a bedhead. “We’re not gonna go hunting her down, though. I mean—it’d make Noelle upset, wouldn’t it?”
Kris made a small noise of acknowledgement. “She’s lost Dess already. Rudy’s…not looking good. Can’t take her mother from her, too.”
It wasn’t fair at all, Susie thought. She didn’t know anything about Dess, but Rudy was one of the only adults Susie liked or trusted. So, of course, it had to be him who was dying, and not Carol. “That’s why you haven’t said anything, right?” she asked.
“Mm.”
Susie patted their head. “Yeah, well. I guess I can get that.” She was a little more reluctant to admit this out loud, but she wanted to protect Noelle, too. Susie only needed to imagine her smile, gently dimpling her spotted cheeks, to remember why.
Kris finally lowered their hand from their face, again. They still had a neutral expression, but Susie could see the tension in their brow, the conflict in their half-lidded red eyes.
“Look, I…” Susie hesitated. “I kinda get it, y’know? I mean, like—I don’t understand everything, but. My dad…”
Both Kris and Ralsei looked up at her, then, visibly worried. Susie faltered a moment before pressing on.
“My dad’s a real fucking bastard, don’t get me wrong,” she explained. “But despite everything, he was—he’s always been there, when nobody else has. Doesn’t matter how many times we move, or I try to run away. He always lets me back in. And for a long time, I thought…maybe he’s the only one who gets how I feel. So I told myself, I didn’t care how many times he got drunk or hit me, ‘cos it was better than being on my own. He’s—he’s still my dad, y’know? He’s family. The only family I’ve got left.” She wrapped her arm around Kris’ shoulders again. “It’s like that for you, too, isn’t it?”
Kris hesitated, brows upturned in sympathy. Then they nodded. “I…I didn’t know who else to turn to,” they began, staring down at their hands. “After Dess—” They cut themself off, swallowing. “Carol’s the only one who understood what I was going through. Even though she should’ve hated me. So…so after Azzy left, too, I went to her, and she—she said she knew how to make me feel better and then she told me to take off all my clothes and I—”
They clamped their hand over their mouth to stifle a small, choked noise like a sob. It made Susie’s heart pang painfully to hear. She squeezed Kris closer to her.
Ralsei rubbed their arm gently. “I’m sorry, Kris,” he murmured. “You must’ve been so scared.”
“I couldn’t tell her no,” Kris mumbled, voice brittle, from behind their hand. “Even if I’d been able to, I couldn’t. I couldn’t. I didn’t—I didn’t want to. I didn’t wanna be alone.”
Susie rested her chin on their head, sighing. She was still angry, but…not at Kris. Never at Kris. “I never said sorry,” she said, “for last night. I shouldn’t have yelled at you. You didn’t deserve it.” She regretted it more than she could express. Not only lashing out, but because she’d driven Kris back into that woman’s arms. Proven her right. It was a wonder they’d even bothered to come to Castle Town, today.
Kris shook their head. “I did deserve it. I was keeping secrets from you.”
“Yeah, well.” Everyone had secrets—Susie had her own, too. Things she still hadn’t told Kris or Ralsei. She was still lying to Noelle about the dark worlds, too. As much as she hated it… “Can’t really blame you for wanting to stay quiet about all this. Right, Ralsei?”
He nodded. Still, Kris didn’t look any more reassured.
Susie couldn’t hold herself back. She finally did what she’d been meaning to do since last night: she wrapped both arms around Kris and hugged them against her. Despite her fear Kris would reject her, though, they didn’t. They only hesitated a moment before gingerly hugging her in return, resting their chin on her shoulder.
“I dunno what you’re thinking right now, Kris, but—you’re not gonna get rid of us that easily.” Susie definitely wasn’t going to abandon Kris. She wasn’t going to let that woman win, no matter how hard she tried to wedge them apart.
Ralsei squeezed Kris’ arm, nodding along. “You’ll always have a home here, Kris. No matter what happens.”
Kris didn’t reply, not verbally, but they made a crushed little sound and then buried their face into Susie’s neck. Their shoulders began trembling underneath her arms.
Susie heaved a sigh and patted their back. “Even if you are a real goddamn crybaby, sometimes,” she joked.
“Susie!” Ralsei chastised. “You shouldn’t say that.”
“It’s true, though!”
“Kris, don’t listen to her—it’s okay to cry, if you need to.”
“You’re not the one getting cried on, here,” Susie pointed out. “How about you hug them, instead, for once?”
Ralsei huffed. “O-of course I will! I’ll let Kris hug me as much as they want!”
Susie worried if the banter was too much, but when Kris pulled themself back from her, they were smiling slightly, despite their flushed, damp cheeks. She opened her arms to let them go, but Kris only turned to curl a hand around Ralsei’s wrist and tug him closer. The three of them ended up embracing awkwardly across two chairs, with Kris sandwiched protectively between Susie and Ralsei.
“Maybe we should do this on the bed,” Susie muttered.
“It’s still too small for the three of us, Susie,” Ralsei said.
“Just lie on top of me, then! That’s what this idiot does when they let me share their bed.”
Ralsei hesitated. “Well, I—I suppose that might work…”
Kris shook their head. “Stay,” they asked in a mumble. “Please.”
“Whatever you want, Kris,” Ralsei said, immediately.
Susie, overruled, accepted defeat with a sigh. “Yeah, yeah. Whatever.”
They lapsed into a comfortable silence, with Susie and Ralsei hugging Kris for as long as they allowed them to. Not that Kris seemed interested in telling either of them to stop, any time soon. It didn’t solve the root of the problem, but…as long as Kris was here, they were safe. That was good enough, for now.