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Kris kneeled, their back hunched and a gentle breeze tickling their face. Raindrops splattered on top of their head. They hesitated for a second more, before pushing off the window sill and into the chilly night air.
After soaring for 0.2 seconds, they met the ground, landing on the leave-strewn ground with all the prowess of a beached whale, hurting their already sore and spent body. They struggled up. Tonight was going to be hard, but they’d rather gain new bruises and sprains than stay up all night in their home while that angel-forsaken music resonated throughout the house. They could hear it, even now, though the sounds of their mom’s and “Mr. Sans’” voices were obscured.
Stupid bag of bones. They thought.
They stood, slowly and with a slight shake in their legs, and began to walk around the side of their house, supporting themself with one arm against the wall. One step after another, they made slow progress. Their shoes squished into the wet leaves, producing a gentle plip-plopping that harmonized with the rain splashing against the leaves and asphalt.
Movement was slow and laborious, every muscle, sinew, and bone in their body ached, but they managed to round the corner of their house to see exactly what they expected, although it still took their breath away.
Susie.
Her name resonated through their head, reaching a musical crescendo. ‘Susie. Susie. Susie.’ It swirled in their head in a symphony. Or a prayer to the Angel.
“Knew you’d follow, dumbass.” She snorted, a genuine but tired smile on her scaled face.
Susie stood in the rain, her silhouette profound and recognizable to Kris even in the dark. She was soaked to the scales, her hair splashing little flecks of water as she shook it away from her face to reveal a mischievous grin and eyes squinted against the sprinkles of rain. A single wet leaf, blown by the gentle winds, meandered its way into getting tangled in her hair. She looked exhausted, yet ever hopeful and blithe, as always. Like Ralsei had said, her hope was infectious, and it made Kris light up the moment they saw her. They (painfully) broke into a run to clear the meter between the two of them. They hugged her tightly, which was strange for the both of them.
Kris usually hated close physical affection, but it was Susie, and Kris was convinced they would die right then and there if they had to keep themselves away from her for any longer. Susie stood still for a beat, then two, before returning the hug. Physical affection wasn’t her specialty either, but she couldn’t say she didn’t like it. Kris buried their face into Susie’s chest, and the corners of their eyes pricked. She smelled like wet chalk and cigarette smoke and dirt and all the smells Kris had come to associate her with. She hugged them tighter, holding them close for a moment more, before releasing her grip to look at them. She laid a hand against their cheek, turning their face upward in an attempt to more closely read them.
“Hey, dude, are you, like, okay?” She asked, her large, gentle hand tilting their head upwards in an attempt to get them to look at her in the eyes. They automatically tilted their head at the touch, leaning into Susie’s palm, and laid one their own hands against hers. Susie caught a glimpse of a glistening ruby red iris meeting with her yellow ones for a split second before Kris turned their head away again and their wet mop of rain-soaked and apple-scented hair hid it again.
Susie knew what was going on. Even though they had only been friends for a few days, months of bullying Kris had trained Susie to know when they were at their worst.
“You’re kinda… I just noticed you were stumbling a lot, I guess.” She said, “You’re shaking too.” She said, noticing their twitchy fingers that tapped little patterns into the back of her hand. She dropped her hand from their face, but Kris grabbed her hand in theirs, lacing their fingers together. If they let go of her, they would sink and surely drown. Susie looked at their interconnected hands, and then back at Kris, deciding she didn’t mind this at all. It gave her a strange feeling, a twisting in her stomach, but one that she wasn’t object to. This was the type of thing she thought only happened in her dreams.
Kris tried to respond to her question, but their strength failed them, and they instead just nodded, unsure even in themself which statement they were responding to.
The two of them stayed like that a moment longer. Susie looked at Kris, and their still intermeshed hands, and then Kris again. Kris stared at Susie from behind their hair.
“We’d, uhh, better get out of this rain, huh?” Susie said, looking away, breaking their eye (well, eye-to-hair) contact.
Kris nodded, but didn’t let go of Susie.
When Susie glanced back over, Kris was still staring. They were trying to say something, but couldn't. They pouted for a moment, frustratedly looking at the ground.
I don't even have the soul anymore and I still can’t say what I wanna say.
They steeled themself, before letting go of Susie’s hand to sign what they had wanted to say. They hadn’t had a chance to teach Susie any sign yet, but they were confident she would understand the simple question. They quickly pointed at her with one hand before forming a house shape with both. It was a question, pretty straightforward, too. ‘Your house?’
They reached to grab Susie’s hand back again but she had shifted away slightly, her head turned away. Kris snatched their hand back before she could realize they were reaching for her again
She was looking into the treeline. “I dunno, Kris, I- well, my house… it’s not really… it’s kinda…” She huffed, giving up on vocalizing her thoughts, and looked back at Kris.
They were exhausted. They looked like it, too. Shoulders down, posture stooping, form trembling… The list went on. Kris was bone-tired, and Susie noticed. She knew.
Kris knew too. Their body was spent. The only way they would be able to function without the soul for the entire night was if they slept most of it. That’s why they took it out at night. It was the only time they could remove it without worrying about their limited energy levels, since they were sleeping anyway. Being out late, without the soul, at a time when they would usually be sleeping soundly was… debilitatingly tiring.
But Susie had made up her mind. She hated seeing Kris like this. Like they were weak. She knew they weren’t. In the dark worlds, they were always able to lead with a steady sword and a solid expression of determination that radiated composition. She wanted them to feel okay, especially after the events of the church's dark world. She may have been able to laugh off the prophecy for the time being, but she could tell it was nagging at Kris, and, if she was being honest, it did still tug at the back of her mind. Either way, she wanted Kris to feel better. To feel safe. And if that meant tolerating her fuckass foster parents for one night to make sure Kris felt better… so be it.
“Y’know what? Sure, Kris. Neither of us have anywhere better to go, anyways… Unless you’d like to hang in the graveyard again ya little freak.” She said, only half-joking.
Kris cracked a wan smile at her insult. They looked ready to pass out.
Not letting that happen. She thought, wasting no time in spinning around and motioning for Kris to climb aboard.
“Kay, well, hop on, dumbass. It’s piggyback time.”
Kris spared no time clambering onto Susie’s back. They were glad for the relief of not standing, even if Susie was wet and cold. They looped their arms around her neck and their legs were hooked from underneath by her toned arms.
“Holy shit you need to eat more. You’re actually light as a feather. Like, scarily.”
They smirked into her hair as they began moving, leaning to the side enough to mumble near her ear and have her hear.
“I eat enough pie for ten full-grown monsters.” They muttered, jokingly defensive, their vocal ability slowly returning with their energy as they settled into Susie.
“Pshhh, it’s more like three at most.”
“Nuh-uh”
“Whatever, dumbass, keep arguing and I’ll dump you right in a puddle.”
They snickered and fell silent, as did Susie. The silence between the two was comfortable, as it always was. It settled like a soft cloud, holding them together indefinitely. Kris’ eyes began to droop.
Susie knew they were asleep the moment it happened. The tension in their body melted and they felt ever-so-slightly heavier. She felt the rising and falling of their chest against her body. She had never even imagined being close to someone like this– and especially not Kris of all people, who she had beat the shit out of just a week prior. It was better than anything she could ever imagine. The feeling of another body near hers was a long-lost comfort she had rejected every time, without fail, because she knew she couldn’t resist. She had learned to push away any risk of weakness long ago, which is the reason she had been so object to Kris. She knew if she got to close, the inevitable would happen. She would fall into a friendship– one that would likely self-destruct due to her moving away, or her being, well, her. So, she had pushed them away, like anything that had the chance of hurting her in the long run. But the inevitable had happened. Susie was friends with Kris– best friends. And worse, she was in lo-
No. Don’t think that way. We’re just friends. She forced her thoughts away from them. Away from their apple scent. Away from the joy on their face whenever they found a particularly good patch of moss. Away from that stupid shade of bright green on their sweater that had quickly become her favorite color in the last days. Away from their scarlet eyes and thin lips and how they would feel on hers– needless to say, she was having a hard time shifting her thoughts away. Like a moth drawn to a light, Susie was drawn to Kris. Endlessly bound, they would be.
Susie’s heavy footsteps slowed as she mused, and her thoughts finally turned. Now that there was silence, all the things she pushed to the back of her mind with thoughts of Kris or the festival or battles had surfaced, growing like the mold in her last foster home’s fridge. The final tragedy of the prophecy, “The Girl will shatter The Cage”, came to mind. It was fated, doomed to happen according to Ralsei. Susie had laughed it off, but she knew. She knew the prophecy had some weight to it.
‘Toothpaste Boy’... Shit, it was accurate.
Her claws twitched, and Kris almost slipped from her grip.
S’doesn’t matter. Kris could never do anything to make me hate them again. We’re cool now. She reassured herself.
“Why are we at the diner, bruh.”
Susie jumped, dropping Kris directly onto the rain-slicked asphalt.
“OH MY GOD WHAT THE FUCK DUDE!?” She whipped around to meet Kris’ bleary-eyed face. They had fallen into a sitting position with one leg loosely pulled to their chest, and were rubbing an eye with one hand while trying to suppress a yawn.
Oh my shit why are they so goddamn handsome all the time.
“Shit, sorry. Thought you knew I was awake.”
“NO I DIDNT KNOW DUMBASS!”
“My bad.”
“I- You-” She sighed before speaking again, “It’s whatever, dude. Sorry for dropping you. I kinda freaked a little out there.”
She offered them a hand, which they gladly took, although wincing as they were yanked from their sitting position.
“‘S my fault, anyways. It’s fine.” They said as they twisted to wipe the wet crumbs of dirt off their ass.
“Yeah, it kinda was.”
“You’re not s’posed to agree with me.” They stated with a hint of indignance in their voice.
“Well, I do. So take that, dumbass.” She retorted, pulling her right eyelid down and sticking out her tongue at them.
“You’re stupid.”
“It’s why you love me, Kris.”
Their breath caught and they paused, not sure how to respond.
It’s true.
They knew it was, although not for the simple reason Susie had stated. It was more. She was so much more than that.
“Jeez, stop staring. Is it that weird that I said that? I’ll- uh stop if that’s-”
“No. Never stop.”
She stood still for a moment, staring at them inquisitively.
“You’re a fuckin’ freak, dude, ya know that?”
They nodded.
It’s why you love me. They joked to themself.
The wind began to pick up and the globules of rain got larger, until both the raindrops from the sky and the water sitting on the road were being whipped onto them from all sides. Kris didn’t need a cue to jump back onto Susie’s back. She began to sprint down the street toward the dual apartment buildings on the other side of town. Kris bounced with each step, smiling even while being soaked to the bone and more than a little cold. Because they were with Susie, and Susie was with them.
As long as it stayed like this. As long as Susie didn’t know about the soul or the Knight or anything of that nature. As long as the moth didn’t get too close to the light. Everything would be alright. For if the moth starts to love the light, it will only realize its shine is fabricated.