Archive of Our Own ^beta

Susie had a problem. Actually, wait, scratch that. She had many problems. Her friend count was in the single digits, she was one of three people who were trying to stop the freaking world from ending, she really needed to find a way into the shelter, she’s pretty sure she flunked her last math test, and frankly her sinuses were acting up. Probably shouldn’t have stayed out in the rain so much yesterday…

But, none of those problems were the problem. No, the problem is that she was going to the festival later today.

That was… an issue.

When she said she was gonna go to the festival with Noelle, it was kinda a spur of the moment thing. She wanted to stick up for her friend, and stick it to her bitchy mother. Susie had meant that as like a friend thing, but lately she’s been thinking about love.

She didn’t think about love ever. But…

Love finds its way to the girl.

Written where no one could erase. It was…

Well… At first, she was friggin ecstatic. Her? Finding Love? Not as something that could happen, but something that will? Like… holy shit. She didn’t get picked for anything. Even in gym class, where she was pretty strong and should be a first pick for like, dodge ball ‘n stuff, she was always picked last. No one liked her enough to pick her. For anything. Ever.

So finding that? Knowing that someone is gonna pick her, her of all people, to spend their entire life with? Honestly, it kinda made her want to cry. She didn’t, ‘cause she had an image to maintain, but man, she kinda thought crying from happiness was like, an exaggerated TV thing. Like people sneezing whenever someone thought about them, or office jobs.

She rode the high from seeing the panel for… not as long as she would have liked.

The old man statue thing happened, then she may have lost her temper with Ralsei, and then when they got to the last Dark World and finally cornered the Knight, it summoned a Titan so…

She kinda had more pressing issues.

Then, she saw the final tragedy.

She really didn’t like the final tragedy.

It occurred to her that she may have jumped the gun, and perhaps the prophecy was not a great thing, actually.

Her fist still itched whenever she thought about it, phantom pain where glass had shredded her hand.

…

…She had to find a way to break it.

Susie did not like the idea of everything in the prophecy coming true. So, she had to find out if the prophecy was breakable. Going off of how Ralsei treated it, it was probably a stupid idea, but hey, could a bunch of words and pictures really predict what’s gonna happen? The more she thought about it, the more she realized that that’s stupid.

If she could just stop one thing in the prophecy, then she would know it’s a bunch of bullshit, and that the tragedy could be stopped.

Problem. What could she actually stop? It’s not like she could change things retroactively. Tenna was repaired, but she couldn’t un-cleave him. Susie doesn’t think she’s able to stop the Queen’s chariot nor does she know what that actually means. Lancer already said ‘toothpaste’ then ‘boy’, he couldn’t un-say it.

That only left the things that hadn’t happened yet.

Off the top of her head, that’s like four or so things? Jockington growing the beard, the girl finding love, the final tragedy, and the Angel getting banished…

It was probably out of her power to stop Jockington from growing a beard. Susie hasn’t exactly stared at Jockington’s chin, so she doesn’t know if he already started growing a beard or not. If he has, she was doomed from the start. If he hasn’t, then what could she even do? She doesn’t know if there’s a way to stop hair growth. Was there something she could like, feed Jockington to stop his beard? If there was, she didn’t know.

So that was out.

Susie doesn’t really know what the Angel is. The panel that showed it was all weird and freaky looking. All she really knows is that the people at the church worship the Angel… or something. She thinks. The one time she went she didn’t pay attention, which was probably a mistake now thinking about it, but literally how could she have known that?

She has zero idea how something like a god or whatever gets banished, or meets a desire, or how that involves her at all actually. (Ralsei said that in his prophecy, didn’t he? Something about banishing the Angel’s heaven. What the hell did that mean?) She didn’t know what banishing the Angel means, so she can’t really prevent that, and honestly she doesn’t really know if that’s something she wants to prevent in the first place…?

It was just too weird of a situation to even make an attempt at.

There was the final tragedy.

Attempting to stop that was something she needed to do at all costs. But like. Trying to stop that without trying to break anything else first seemed kinda dumb. If she could stop a step before it, then it would be infinitely more possible to stop that. So she should try that before jumping into stopping the tragedy.

…So she would come back to that.

That left the girl finding love.

That was… unfortunately something she could actually stop. She was the girl, after all. She just… had to not find love.

It sounded pathetic when she thought about it like that, but this was within her power. She just had to think about everyone she could fall in love with, and then… not fall in love with them. Easy enough.

Frankly, there were zero people that would actually fall in love with her. Susie’s pretty sure it would be impossible to fall in love with her. But, if the prophecy said so, it might not be as unrealistic as she thinks.

So she thought of her friends. That's really as close as she’s gonna get to someone loving her. It was extremely embarrassing to think about, but she was not gonna let a little (lot) of embarrassment damn them.

There were three people she could see herself with. The first and the most unrealistic would be Noelle. Her liking Susie like that would be really weird. She’s like, all proper and stuff, a really top shelf person. Comparatively, Susie drinks alley milk. Susie personally couldn’t see it.

Still, Susie… Didn't really know what to think about Noelle just yet. She was kind, a little weird (still the normalest compared to Susie and Kris), and kinda pretty, but otherwise she didn’t know her all that well. In theory, it would be pretty easy to stamp out any love there, there’s hardly anything to begin with

In practice, she was going to a festival with her. That’s like, romantic, she thinks? Taking someone to a festival was like a date? It’s not like she had experience, but she’s pretty sure that’s a thing. Something about festivals were kinda romantic, kinda. Something could happen there, and Susie couldn’t really afford that.

So, thinking on it further… yeah, she had to ditch the festival. It would probably hurt Noelle’s feelings, especially since Susie made a really big scene about taking her, but this was pretty important. Noelle’d understand if it was for the fate of the freakin’ world. Probably.

Still, this left her with the other two. Kris and Ralsei. She’s gotten really close to the two of them. She literally can’t read Kris at all half the time, so honestly, non-zero chance they liked her.

That’s probably extremely self centered from her, but if there’s a prophecy saying she’s gonna find love, she’s gonna have to think unrealistically. She could not take chances. She doesn’t think she would deserve love coming from Kris considering all the shit she’s put them through, but they’re a freak so, she wouldn’t put it past them.

And well, they’re kinda cool, now that she’s gotten to actually know them. They’re a freak, genuinely insane, but they’re also pretty caring and stuff. Also pretty good at flirting. They’re more of a bro than anything else, but having chemistry like that was a little damning in a situation like this so … she could see it. She didn’t really want to see it, not like this, but like, it’s possible.

And Ralsei was like… really caring and stuff. He put her on such a pedestal, even at the expense of himself. Every time he pulled some ‘you deserve real friends’ shit, it made her heart hurt. She didn’t like hearing him talk about himself like that, she cared too much about him for her to let that slide. Even if he doesn’t think so, he’s real dammit!

Shit, she was getting kinda worked up about this. Wait, getting worked up about another person… is that love? For the other two, it felt like an ‘eh, whatever, maybe’, but for Ralsei it felt… stronger. Was she in love with him?

He was a nerd, and a dork, but he was cute, and… Susie should probably end that train of thought before it got anywhere!

For her sake, and the sake of the people she cared about, she was gonna say no, it wasn’t love.

Even if it was something like that, it wasn’t really love yet. They weren’t like, dating. If she just kept Ralsei at arms length she could probably stop it from developing into something like that. She could probably do that. Probably. She just also had to keep Kris and Noelle at arms length.

That’s uh… a lot of people to juggle.

There had to be something she could do to make it easier. If she only had to focus on stopping feelings from one person, it would be a lot easier.

Then, it hit her. Like a brick through a window it hit her.

She just had to simplify the problem, remove the extra stuff.

She’s pretty sure she heard Alphys explain this in math class before. You gotta like, divide out problems or something, to simplify the problem? So, she just had to divide out the extra stuff, so she could focus on keeping Ralsei away.

And she knew just how to do it.

It would be easy. If Kris and Noelle started dating, then neither of them could fall in love with her ‘cause they’d be too busy being lovey dovey with each other! Then, she could stop anything from happening with Ralsei, and then she could stop the final tragedy!

It was a flawless plan.

Except for the flaws.

Susie wasn’t entirely sure if Kris liked Noelle like that. Again, Kris was very hard to read. Honestly, she wasn’t sure if they even had thoughts under that mop of hair they have. But, it felt like they spent a lot of time looking at Noelle. And like, in the Cyberworld, they spent a lot of time alone. And they did give that present to Noelle. That’s worth something… maybe.

Maybe it was just them pranking Noelle, but also like, Susie has never seen Kris pull off a prank. Ever. But, she knew from Noelle that Kris pranked her, like a lot. So either they grew out of it, or that was a Noelle only thing. If it was a Noelle thing, then wasn’t that just juicy? Doing something different for just one person… There’s something there, Susie could feel it.

When it comes to Noelle though? Susie could read her like a book. Better than a book even, books give her some trouble.

Yesterday, she said a lot of stuff that didn’t really add up. She said that she felt like her friendship with Kris was forced, that they just saw each other a lot as kids and that was all… but like… she saw that screen saver. And the pictures around. And she’s pretty sure she heard Kris call that cactus Krismas. Noelle notably did not comment on the cactus’s name. You don’t name a cactus after someone you’re so-so with.

And, when she pressed about the ferris wheel ride she had with Kris forever ago, she stalled for a few seconds. As if, she was thinking that it was fun, that it did mean something, before taking that thought, stuffing it into a box, and chucking it down a flight of stairs by saying that she didn’t remember.

That wasn’t the expression of someone who didn’t remember. She was deflecting. Hard. Why, Susie couldn’t put her finger on. But there was also something there, Susie could tell. Noelle wants them so bad it made her look a little silly.

If Susie could just… get her with Kris, then that made Susie’s job a lot easier.

She had a goal. And, she had a stage. Where else was better for the start of a relationship than a romantic festival date? She just needed to make sure that Noelle went with Kris, now that Susie was skipping. She needed a plan.

And a plan she had.

She got her phone out (the cheapest prepaid flip phone money could buy) and got to typing. Typing on a flip phone was difficult. Susie had big hands, and claws, which made hitting the numpad precisely a very hard task. But, she kept at it. The fate of the world hinged on this message.

~ ~ ~

Kris could tell that today was not going to be a good day.

The skeleton woke them up, with some inane babblings about it ‘being a beautiful day outside’ or something. Kris couldn’t really hear him over the ringing in their ears, and the intense desire for the invader to leave.

Somehow, the soul was less intrusive than he was. It had controlled them, but after a day it just… stopped. It’s like it realized it could give the reins back to Kris, and it just… did. It still gave suggestions on what to say sometimes, and it took charge in battles, and it definitely put up a fight whenever they removed it, but otherwise Kris was in control.

Somehow the parasitic other-worldly entity had a better grasp on their boundaries than the skeleton.

Kris attempted to see if they could blow up the aforementioned skeleton with their mind. He got tired of saying whatever it was he was saying, and left before they could even try

Whatever.

While they mostly tuned him out, he did mention that their mother wasn’t feeling well, and wouldn’t be going to the festival today.

(She likely wouldn’t have been too hungover to go to the festival if she hadn’t spent the previous night dancing her problems away, but Kris couldn’t hold it against her. They just… couldn’t.

They could hold it against Sans though. They were going to hold it against him for as long as they lived.)

They sighed. Whatever, today would probably be easier without supervision anyway.

Since the invader finally left, Kris rolled out of bed and got dressed for the festival.

It was the festival, so they had to go with something marginally fancier than what they usually wore. They could settle for church clothes… but the ones they had were kinda itchy, and didn’t fit them all that well. They’re also pretty sure that they left those in like, a bush or something. So that was out.

For the most part, their stock standard collared shirt and sweater combo would have to do.

They shivered as they took their pajamas off and put on their clothes. It was getting colder by the day.

That did give them an idea of what to wear.

What they wanted was something that would sway in the wind. It has been getting colder lately, fall coming into full swing. With that came the fall wind. Which made any type of flowy clothing sway in a way that was pretty sick in their opinion.

They checked their closet and remembered they didn’t own a trench coat, or a tailcoat, or any type of long jacket for that matter. Damn. A long jacket would have been really cool.

Reminder for later. They should attempt to get a trench coat. They could probably pull it off. Then again, they weren’t a grizzled detective attempting to solve a cold case, so they weren’t entirely sure if they could.

Though, perhaps it was for the best that they didn’t have a suitable jacket. It either would have clashed with their sweater, or it would have forced them to discard it.

They were… unreasonably attached to this sweater, so they didn’t really want to leave without it.

Without a jacket, that just meant they would have to wear something else that was flowy.

Checking again, man. They didn’t even own a scarf. They don’t remember what happened to their old one, but that goes for a lot of things nowadays. It felt like there was a lot they couldn’t remember.

After a little more searching, they found perhaps the only piece of clothing that fit those requirements.

Their one, singular long skirt would work. This skirt was a mythical pull. It fit them, it was long, going down to their ankles, and most importantly of all, it had deep pockets.

A big reason why they never tried really hard to branch out from their style of ‘Asriel’s hand-me downs’ was that shopping for clothes sucked ass. And, if they had clothes that already worked, why go through the struggle?

The worst of all was finding something they did actually like, only for it to either have awful pockets, or even worse, fake pockets. What was the point if they couldn’t stuff an entire water bottle into their pocket?

They wore almost exclusively cargo pants for that reason. Having upwards of six pockets was just handy. But, almost exclusively, and not exclusively, because they got the skirt on and double checked that their outfit looked fine.

This skirt was a Noelle hand-me-down. One day, she just approached them saying that she was getting rid of some of her old clothes, and asked if they wanted any.

They stared at her like some kind of creature, and then nodded. A decent chunk of it was Angel awful Christmas themed clothes that she grew out of, but there was something usable here and there. Mainly the skirt.

The outfit was almost perfect, but it was missing a finishing touch.

Fingerless gloves. Yes, that was it.

They went into the hall and checked the mirror. Looking good. They felt a hum come from the soul. Kris could feel something akin to pride emanating from it. Like it was saying nice outfit, good choice.

The contrarian in them really wanted to change now. They didn’t, because that would be childish, but they felt the urge.

Looking suitably presentable, they went to say bye to their mom. She visibly looked like she had a headache, no wonder she wasn’t going to the festival. She smiled at them, told them that they looked nice, gave them some money for the festival, and told them to be good.

They would try.

They ignored that the skeleton was still in their house, and left for the festival.

Inhaling that crisp fall air, feeling their skirt flow through the wind, they felt cautiously optimistic. Maybe today wouldn’t be that bad. Maybe it would just be a normal day.

Susie and Noelle were going to the festival together, and Kris was happy for them. They ignored the thorns that snaked around their heart. That tore and squeezed. They were happy for them. They would be good for each other.

Ah. It already hurts, and they haven’t even seen the two of them yet. Maybe going to the festival was a mistake.

They’ve tried mending their heartache. They were over it by now, after countless days of stitching themself back together. Or, so they thought. And yet every time they see Noelle, every time they see her laugh or smile, a stitch popped.

They stopped walking.

Maybe they should just ditch the festival. They hadn’t entered it properly. They had no real attachment to it, and Castle Town would welcome them with open arms. They were wanted there, they were a hero.

In the real world, they were just Kris.

It would be better to be at a place they were actually wanted, because they knew that neither Noelle nor Susie wanted them to third wheel. It would be awkward, it would be uncomfortable, and Kris really doesn’t think they can handle the feeling of being unwanted today. Most other days, maybe, but not today.

And, the bed in their room in Castle Town sounded very appealing right now.

But, before they could turn around and head to the school, their phone buzzed.

Well. That was certainly a distraction. Not a good one, though.

If they were being entirely honest, they weren’t really liking the plan anymore. They thought they would do anything to bring her back, but…

They weren’t sure anymore. They just weren’t sure.

When they looked at the text, they squinted their eyes and brought the phone closer to their face.

Okay, it wasn’t their other teammates. They were somewhat relieved, but admittedly, having further instruction for today could have been a way to get their mind off of… their entire self, they supposed. Instead, it was a different unknown number. This was… near illegible. But, near illegible means it wasn’t entirely illegible, so they tried to glean the meaning.

Bro!!! fmly stuf cme up, i ned u t tak Noelle to the fsval! rlly sry!

Kris is pretty sure that said that family stuff, and… something about Noelle…?

They had half a mind to think that this was either a wrong number, or perhaps a scam, but even if almost every word was misspelled, it mentioned Noelle, clearly. So… yeah no they had no idea what this meant.

They haven’t used context clues since english class, but it seemed they were gonna need to apply the skill.

‘Fmly stuf cme up’ could be seen as ‘family stuff came up’, if the person who typed that was typing with their eyes closed.

‘Ned u t tak’… was that supposed to mean ‘need you to talk’, or ‘need you to take’? Either could reasonably work considering that ‘Noelle’ followed. This mystery person needed Kris to either talk to Noelle or take her somewhere.

They looked at the latter half of the message. ‘fsval’... Wait, were they trying to say festival?

Was this from Susie? They don’t think they gave her their number… How did she get that?

This is Susie right?

Swifty, the mystery person replied, Ye

Okay. Well. Mystery solved. Cool.

That meant that Susie wanted Kris to take Noelle to the festival. Great. Wonderful even. Except for one problem.

They really didn’t want to do that.

It wasn’t that they disliked Noelle. It was the opposite, really. They liked her. They liked her… a lot. More than they think they are really allowed to.

They almost hated how much they cared about her. They shouldn’t. She said it herself. They just spent a lot of time together. They were just kids, their relationship didn’t mean anything.

It was forced.

They knew that things were strained. How could it not be, with them avoiding Noelle like the plague. It was for her sake, they told themself over, and over. They were just a bad memory, from times long lost. Even still, whether from arrogance or selfishness, they had hoped she at least still cared about them. That maybe, once it was all said and done, once they brought her back, they could be friends again.

That dream died in Dess’s closet.

They were an idiot, weren’t they?

It would be so much easier if they didn’t care.

They… they weren’t going to take this lying down. They sent back, shouldn’t you be telling noelle this?

This shouldn’t be Kris’s decision to make. It should be Noelle’s.

Dnt hav her #

That was a frustratingly fair point. It also raised some questions, because they did not give Susie their number.

how did you even get mine? They sent.

They got a swift response. ur fridge

…Their phone number was on a magnet on their fridge. They forgot about that. It was on there in case Toriel or Asriel both forgot their number, and also needed to call them with the house phone specifically.

That magnet has been rotting for several years at this point.

Okay. Logically speaking, Susie probably just wrote it down. However, there was a chance that she didn’t, and she just memorized it somehow. Susie had said that she thought she saw a code on the guitar but didn’t remember it.

How the hell can she remember seven numbers but not four?

They shook their head. It didn’t matter. Her not remembering the guitar code was for their benefit, even. So it didn’t matter.

What did matter was that their hands were tied. While they could just send Susie Noelle’s number, it was too late. Susie would just tell Kris to tell Noelle, because she was stubborn, and there really wasn’t a way out of this.

They couldn’t let Noelle get stood up, even if Susie had a good reason. If this was what was asked of them, they could do it.

They could be a replacement.

Even if the wound was still raw.

Even if they hadn’t had the time to stitch themself back up.

It was forced.

They flicked their hands, as if to shake off invisible water droplets. They would pour salt into that wound if they had to. For her sake.

~ ~ ~

They waited outside of the Holiday’s gate for a handful of minutes. They weren’t really sure if Noelle was still home or not. They knew that Carol would be out of the house as early as possible but they didn’t really remember if she dragged the rest of her family with her for these things.

With Rudy needing his rest and Dess… not being available, Kris was gonna venture ‘no’. Wasn’t much of a point if it wasn’t the whole family.

On principle, Noelle was someone who got up and ready for things fairly early. Kris was normally the opposite of that, but they didn’t exactly sleep well last night, so they were up fairly early for their standards.

So, while she could be at the festival already, since she’s waiting for someone, it was more likely she was still at home.

They heard what sounded like a door shutting, snapping Kris’s attention away from the tree they were staring at.

It appears they guessed correctly.

(They knew Noelle pretty well, after all.)

From the other side of the gate, Noelle blinked at them. She looked vaguely surprised. “Kris?”

They waved stiffly.

Noelle unlocked the gate, stepping out. “Oh! Um, hi?” Noelle greeted somewhat awkwardly. Obviously, Kris was not who she was expecting. Well, there was a non zero chance she was expecting them, but she certainly didn’t expect them to be alone, and completely Susie-less.

It took her slightly longer than they expected for her to ask the obvious. “Where’s Susie?”

“Told me family stuff came up and that she wouldn’t be able to make it.”

Noelle grimaced. Her posture slackened, disappointment visible. “Ah.” She scratched the back of her neck. She blinked rapidly, and cleared her throat after a second. “I hope she’s alright.”

Honestly, they hadn’t had the time to really think about it since they were too busy feeling overwhelming dread from that message, but family stuff seemed pretty serious. They can’t really imagine Susie skipping the festival without a good reason. They hoped everything was alright on her end.

And, Kris has never heard Susie ever talk about her family. Ever. Considering her ‘pre hero era’... Kris couldn’t imagine anything good.

“...Yeah. I hope so too.”

The silence stretched between them, an unseen barrier. The only noises Kris could hear were the wind, and the rustling leaves and trees.

Kris didn’t exactly know what to do at this point. Susie asked them to take Noelle to the festival in her stead but… Noelle didn’t know that. And they don’t really know how to bring that up without it being weird.

Without it being forced.

They could just… not bring it up. The two of them would go their separate ways, and Kris could hang out in Castle Town until it was time to carry out more of the plan. They were fully content to just walk away right now.

“I guess it will just be the two of us, then.” Noelle said.

Or not.

“You don’t have to go with me if you don’t want,” they said. They pleaded, even. “I know this isn’t what you were expecting.”

Noelle looked shocked, like what Kris was suggesting was outlandish. She shook her head. “No, I would love to go to the festival with you.”

Hearing her say the word ‘love’ in response to anything relating to them made their heart skip a beat.

She said that so earnestly… Why? They really didn’t get it. Was this how you were supposed to treat ‘forced’ relationships? They didn’t know.

All they did know was that there was no backing out now. They couldn’t fail her again.

They silently took a deep breath and prepared themself. “Alright.”

She nodded, properly locking the gate and walking over to them.

Noelle joined their party!

Then, they walked.

For festival prep, the other side of town was blocked off for a little while. But now, the police barriers were finally down, and the other half of town was opened up.

It was a bit of a walk. Shoes (and hooves) against concrete was the main sound as the two made their way to the festival, with sparse conversation sprinkled in infrequently.

“It’s always fun seeing what they do for the festival each year.” Noelle said, filling the silence. “I mean, it doesn’t really change, but it’s not exactly the same every time, y’know?”

They nodded. It was almost always the same as any other year's festival, and yet it was the only one of the year. That made it special.

They couldn’t really remember the last few times they went to the festival. The last few times were pretty fuzzy. They went with Asriel, and had fun, but… it wasn’t really the same without Dess and Noelle.

With Asriel at college, they didn’t even go at all last year. There just… wasn’t a point.

If it weren’t for Susie, they wouldn’t have bothered this year, either. But, here they were. With someone who wasn’t Susie.

Even if deep down a part of them was glad they were spending time with Noelle… it didn’t feel right.

They kept walking.

Kris could already see the string banners and lights. The festival was in full swing.

They usually go all out for the festival, and this year was no exception. Decorations filled the

area, music emanated from… somewhere, booths with games and prizes were set up, and the ferris wheel was up and running.

Kris is pretty sure they got an impromptu lesson from Carol on why exactly the festival was so important at some point.

Hometown was in the middle of nowhere. A yearly festival was one of the only things that brought in tourists. So it was rather important to make the festival as good as it could be.

A lesson on the local economy was something Kris truly and utterly did not care about, but with how thorough it was, it proved that Carol really knew her stuff, if nothing else.

She was the mayor for a reason.

Their eyes zeroed in on something new. There were a lot of flowers. Like… a lot. Pretty much every other booth had them. It added a lot of color to the area, and the arrangements were very pleasing to look at.

…For the first time in a very long time, they felt proud of their dad. When it came to flowers, he knew his stuff.

This was the perfect place for a date. How romantic, their mind supplied unhelpfully. And yet, it was completely wasted, as Kris was here, and Susie wasn’t.

They hadn’t really noticed, but… Noelle looked nice. She had a cream cardigan, a plaid skirt, and most notably a white and red peppermint scarf. It looked like a long candy cane.

Kris unconsciously licked their (very chapped) lips. A candy cane sounded pretty good.

“So what should we do first?” Noelle asked.

They weren’t really sure, but the feeling in their stomach gave them a pretty good idea. They hadn’t eaten breakfast this morning. They also hadn’t eaten dinner yesterday. They were kinda starving, actually.

“Go around and try some food?” They suggested. “I didn’t eat breakfast.”

“Sounds good to me.” Noelle said. She looked… genuinely happy. Even if this wasn’t how this day was supposed to go with her.

They didn’t really understand. Yesterday, she made going to the festival with them sound like… well, nothing. Just something that happened, and nothing more. A bother, even. And yet, it was almost like she was glad to be with them.

Kris was envious that she could pretend that this was something good. Like this wasn’t just another forced outing.

Since it was still kinda early in the day, the lines for food weren’t very long. It didn’t take very long to grab some stuff.

They got some cheese fries. Fries for breakfast wouldn’t be their first choice, but they wanted something light. And say, a hotdog for breakfast, didn’t sound very appealing to them.

Noelle got some churros, which was frankly a better choice, but the fries were the first thing Kris saw. They made their choice and had to lie in it.

With the fries in their hand, Kris could say that they were… below average. It was hard to mess up cheese and fries, and truthfully they hadn’t, but this wasn’t a very good type of cheese. It was all melty and gooey.

But, with how empty their stomach was, this was fine dining.

“Is it good?” Noelle asked.

They nodded, lyingly.

"That's good.”

…Kris wondered if this was so awkward because of the incredibly large amount of stuff they hadn’t sorted through, or if Noelle was just an awkward person. Maybe Kris was the awkward one here.

They tried dispelling it the only way they knew how. By messing around.

Kris grabbed a fry and put it in front of Noelle.

She reflexively took a step back, narrowing dodging a drop of cheese. “Kris! These are nice clothes, please don’t get food on them.” She whined.

“Sorry.” They hadn’t accounted for the cheese. That would have been… well, another reason for her to not like them. “Fry?”

“Oh. Sure.” She said.

She took a bite, getting dangerously close to their finger.

Kris wondered how much they would bleed if Noelle accidentally bit their finger. Those teeth weren’t for show after all. That was a pretty weird thing to think, so they attempted to banish the thought from their mind.

She made a face. “That uh… sure is festival food.” Noelle said. It was a very kind way to say 'mediocre.’

Wordlessly, Noelle extended one of her churros to Kris. Were this the days of the past, they probably would have taken an entirely too large bite to mess with her. Since today was, well, today, and not the past, they instead just took a humble bite.

It tasted good. All cinnamon-y and stuff.

Noelle looked at them a little funny. Was she expecting them to do something different or something?

“The churros are way better.” They said as they ate another fry.

“Yeah.” Noelle responded. “They are.”

Kris didn’t know how to respond to that. Noelle didn’t seem to know how to continue this, either.

So, they just kept eating and hoped that things would get less awkward.

~ ~ ~

You see, in that message that Susie sent to Kris, she used an expert strategy called lying!

She felt bad using family issues as her excuse (no matter how true or untrue it was) but she needed an excuse that they knew that Kris wouldn’t press on. Her entire plan would fail if they saw through this, and it would be a proper mess if she got caught in her little lie.

She could probably spin a quick ‘oh! It resolved itself! I was just about to tell you guys but it looked like you were having so much fun that I didn’t want to interrupt,’ but…

Actually that was pretty good. She should keep that in mind. But, obviously, the plan was to not get caught at all.

Now, getting Noelle and Kris at the same place was good and fine and all, but Susie knew the two of them. They were going to need a little encouragement, because otherwise… well Susie doesn’t really know what would happen. Nothing? That wouldn’t be the worst case scenario but it would mean that this entire day was a waste so… she had to try something.

So, Susie entered the festival and immediately just started hiding behind stuff. Stalls, booths, trees, the occasional bush, the works. This would completely and utterly blow up in her face if she was found, so she had to do a very good job at not being found.

Her stomach growled as she smelled the festival food (she could kill for a hotdog right about now), but she remained focused on the plan. She could grab something once she knew where Kris and Noelle were.

Instead, she stood behind a tree, watching. Waiting for something to happen.

…

Wow she was not built for stakeouts, this was boring as hell.

She scanned the premises for a human or an antler having monster, but came up blank again. Just a bunch of people, none of them fitting either of those descriptions.

Well, she did see one antler having monster, but that was Noelle’s evil ass mother. That… wasn’t great. Susie made sure that Carol couldn’t see her, she’d probably do… something, and then continued people watching.

Outside of that little scare, this was super boring.

Don’t get her wrong, she liked people watching. It was one of her old hobbies, since it was kinda one of the only things you could do as a broke child living in a city. But since she has an actual goal, this was almost torture.

So, instead, she just let her mind wander.

She pondered. Was there a difference between stalls and booths? What made a stall a stall and a booth a booth? And what is a festival, anyways? Was there a difference between a festival, a fair, and a carnival?

Like, carnivals usually have those big tent things so presumably that’s a difference, but like, what's the deal with fairs? What is a fair? How’s it different from a festival? Was there one?

She was getting caught up in semantics, but it made her curious. Susie knows jack shit about most things. It would be nice if someone could explain these kinds of things. Like Ralsei, he would probably know. Noelle would also probably know. Kris probably wouldn’t though, they were almost as dumb as she was.

Hey, she should probably stop thinking about her friends actually! And focus on the plan. The plan to prevent the girl from finding love. So, she thought of the odds of her plan working.

Being with Noelle without Kris was really awkward. It just felt kinda… wrong. Like Noelle was Kris’s friend, not hers. So being without them was just weird. She couldn’t say it was terrible, but it really was awkward.

Since they actually seemed to be friends, hopefully it goes better for them? Then again they didn’t seem to be close anymore so… she wouldn’t hold her breath.

Susie really isn’t sure what’s up with them. Yesterday, she could tell that Noelle was lying. Like a lot. And while Susie would be pretty pissed at that normally, she honestly couldn’t tell if Noelle was trying to on purpose.

Like yeah Kris is weird but surely it isn’t that hard to have an opinion on them? Something more than ‘It was forced’ and ‘I don’t remember’ cause like, Susie has known Kris for way less time and frankly hated them for most of it, but even she can say that yeah, Kris is her friend.

The hell happened that had Noelle that unsure of where she stood with them?

If she didn’t know better, she would think they were exes or something. They’re just that weird about each other. But, they haven’t dated, she's pretty sure, so that isn’t right.

A noise reached her ears, making her turn her head. It sounded like a high pitched voice, going, Kris!

She scanned the area again, and lo and behold, Kris and Noelle were by some food trucks.

Oh, that actually didn’t take that long. Sweet.

Both of them were dressed up nice for the festival, which made Susie feel a little out of place. Noelle looked nice, but damn! Kris got that shit on! They pulled off a skirt shockingly well. And were those gloves? She’s exclusively seen them wear the same outfit literally every day for the past few months so frankly, she didn’t think they had it in them.

It was probably in her best interest to stop thinking about how nice her friends looked! The girl did not need to find love!

Instead, she kept looking at the two. She saw Kris move, feeding Noelle one of their cheese fries.

Okay! Damn! They were already feeding each other stuff! That’s like, a milestone…?

Noelle reciprocated by offering one of her churros. Kris took a humble bite. Weird, she kinda thought they would attempt to down the entire thing in one bite.

But hey, that’s progress.

Susie is starting to think that she may not actually have to do anything? She’ll still skulk around and see if she could do something, but it’s looking pretty good so far.

This may be her best idea yet.

~ ~ ~

After eating ‘breakfast’, the festival was their oyster.

So they walked. Saw the sights, stopping at stalls whenever something caught their fancy.

One of the prizes at one of the booths immediately caught Noelle’s fancy. “Kris, look! Dragon Blazers keychains!”

They turned their head, and lo and behold, a bunch of keychains featuring the party members from the second Dragon Blazers game.

“I would have never thought that they would have those here.”

Huh. She was right, that is pretty odd. Festival prizes are always like, generic stuff. Like plushies or toys that break after an hour of use. Licensed merchandise was pretty out there.

“We gotta try to win them.” She said with a determined look.

Well. They couldn’t say no to a face like that. So, they stopped at the booth and attempted to win the cool prizes.

There was a man standing behind the booth. He looked happy to see them.

Kris went first. They let the darts fly. Every toss they hit a balloon. One dart managed to bounce off the back wall and take down a few balloons on its way down, which is something Kris couldn’t do again if they tried.

Kris was pretty good at throwing things.

They could feel what felt like irritation bubbling from the soul. For some reason.

…Perhaps it didn’t like this skill of theirs. They did launch a hockey puck at it, after all. And a bottle of chocolate syrup. It may be rather justified in not liking that skill, actually. That made their little talent feel that much sweeter.

All in all, they did so well, they got to pick two prizes. They acquired two keychains, one of the Hero Sword and one of the White Cloak.

(Dragon Blazers was one of those games that really, really didn’t want to name their own characters. Honestly, they understood. Their family was equally bad at naming things. Maybe a little worse, actually.)

They handed both to Noelle.

“Aw, thanks.” Noelle said.

Even though she already got the desired prize, she played too. Her hand eye coordination was nothing to scoff at, the darts hitting several balloons, but she didn’t have the insane luck that Kris did. So she ‘only’ got one prize.

She scanned the selection. There were plushies, random toys, keychains, general knick knacks, and candy, for some reason.

One of the prizes was a plush of a black cat with yellow and pink eyes.

For reasons Kris can’t exactly articulate, they really hated looking at it.

They could see Noelle gravitate towards it for some reason. They didn’t stop her, but they raised a hand whenever Noelle offered it towards her.

“Hey, I can’t have all the prizes.” She pouted. That was a reasonable thought. However, Kris really didn’t like the look of that plush. It just… dredged some uncomfortable feelings up and frankly Kris did not want to learn why.

“It’s evil.” They said, voice completely flat.

“How is it evil?”

They shrugged. “Bad vibes.”

They could feel that the soul really wanted the plush. That was all the more reason to not want that thing.

She sighed at that, and shook her head. “If you really don’t want it, then take this.”

She extended the Keychain of the White Cloak.

“I thought Cloak was your favorite?” They questioned.

“I like Sword too.” She said, dodging the question. “Plus, we match!”

They couldn’t argue with that. With nothing to attach it to, they put it in their pocket, where it was absorbed into the ball of junk. Kris wondered if that would turn into an armor or something in the Dark World.

They continued walking, when Noelle spoke up. “Y’know, I had a dream like this the other day.”

“You had a dream about the festival?” They inquired. They knew the answer of course, since it wasn’t a dream, but they wanted to hear her talk about it.

“More like you getting me a prize.” Ah, she remembered that part. Kris tried not to let that show on their face. It wasn’t like they should remember that, from her point of view. “I mean, that wasn’t what the entire dream was, but it was part of it. The dream was… kinda like a game. We explored a city, fought enemies and stuff.”

Kris truly didn’t know how to continue this conversation. They really didn’t want to get into a habit of this, but they mentally nudged the soul for help.

A little too late they realized how awful of an idea that was, as it could drop anything into this conversation. They prepared to stop it if it said anything they didn’t want it to, and waited for it to say something.

It responded.

“Was my fit hard?” Was what slipped out of their mouth. That. Hm. Not the worst thing they could have said.

“Uh… depends? You were dressed like a knight. You looked… kinda cool?” She snickered. “You were also blue.”

“Then my fit was hard.” They concluded. Armor was pretty cool. “If I was a knight, then let me guess, you were an ice mage?”

She stilled slightly. “Uh, yeah. Actually. How’d you guess?”

Because it wasn’t a dream sat on their lips. But they didn’t say that. “Because the White Cloak is your favorite character ever. So if you had a dream that was like a game, you’d dream of yourself as your favorite character.”

“Oh, faha, that makes sense.” She looked relieved.

Part of them wanted to tell her. Keeping another secret from her… they weren’t liking this anymore. This awkward distance that seemed to only be growing with every moment that passed… telling her would bridge it, wouldn’t it?

It would be pretty foolish of them to tell her, though. They’ve gone through this much effort to avoid it, only to crumble now?

It was inevitable she would learn that her dream wasn’t a dream. She had a place in the plan, even if she didn’t know it yet. There was a reason there was a Dark Fountain made in the library

But, Susie set that plan back. At least, that’s what Kris said. It was extremely convenient that she told Noelle that it was a dream… but Kris had ample time to fix that, if they really wanted to.

They could have told her in a million ways. Told her things, referenced things they shouldn’t have known. Hell, they had the ability to seal fountains, so they could just make one and show her the Dark World themself.

But they hadn’t. They knew intimately that Dark Worlds weren’t all fun and games. A self serving salesman, conniving and sweet talking until he attempted to steal their very soul. A taunting specter in a video game, attempting to dredge up memories. Titans and its spawn, manifestations of the fear of the dark. Beings that exist only to destroy.

(A tree that they couldn’t quite remember the significance of. An egg that they don’t remember getting, that stayed the same whether in the Dark World or the Light.)

A world that had things like that… they didn’t want Noelle to be a part of that. They couldn’t just throw her into danger like that.

And yet.

And yet they were having second thoughts.

They really weren’t sure anymore.

They tried to think of what caused this shift. From thinking that they had to keep Noelle in the dark by any means necessary, to thinking that maybe she could know. Maybe she should know.

But, they couldn’t hide the reason from themself.

This was something they could show her. The Dark World was new, it was scary, and it was a place that they could show her. If they showed her, they would be important. And, if they were important to her, then it means that it wasn’t just forced.

The thought made them sick.

Just how selfish were they?

Noelle made her thoughts on this ‘friendship’ of theirs clear. It didn’t mean anything. They were not friends. They shouldn’t try to change that. They just… shouldn’t.

If anything Susie should be the one to tell her about the Dark World. Not them.

That didn’t matter right now.

Instead, the world kept spinning, and the two of them stopped in front of another game.

It was one of those hammer-strength-things that Kris didn’t remember the name of, where you had to hit the target as hard as you could.

They went first, grabbing the hammer, and swinging with all their might… sending the thing up one fourth up before it went back down.

Kris wasn’t all that strong. They were scrawny. And painfully short. That last one didn’t really have an impact on their strength (or lack thereof) but it still sucked. Even Ralsei was taller than them.

Noelle took her turn. She raised the hammer, brought it down, and… whoa. She got it far. Way more than they did, that’s for sure.

Looking satisfied, she turned to Kris. “Do you think Susie could get it all the way?”

They tried not to let their expression change as they nodded. “Definitely.”

Kris wished they had it in them to feel anything else than dull jealousy. They understood it, though. After getting to know her better, she really is awesome. Much better than them, that’s for sure.

The girl with hope crossed on her heart. Truly, Kris couldn’t come up with a better way to describe her if she tried. Hope. She held onto hope even when there was nothing to anchor it to. Lost in an endless ocean she held on.

Once Noelle gets to actually know Susie, her crush will probably go from an honest infatuation into true love.

(They aren’t quite sure if honest was the right word. Noelle became very… interesting when it came to Susie. Using the water fountain after Susie was… well. Noelle was certainly thirsty, that’s for sure.)

They were glad for her. They really were. Even as that jealousy festered, and rotted them from the inside out.

~ ~ ~

It’s starting to occur to Susie that she vastly over estimated the amount she could do in this situation.

How the hell do you even wingman? And like, how do you wingman when neither party could interact or see her? At this point she’s kinda just stalking the two of them which was… not a good look.

She got the ball rolling by ditching Noelle but she hasn’t been able to do anything to keep it rolling. It is pure luck that has kept them together, and Susie doesn’t think it will last.

Like sure, they were hanging out, and feeding each other stuff, and giving each other gifts from prizes, but she’s heard the two of them talk. They’re gonna convince themselves that somehow, someway, this was some weird chance occurrence and the two of them like, hate each other or something.

Something concrete needed to happen, or they’d be back to square one.

Like, ugh, can they kiss already or something?

She then took a mental step back because she has definitely never thought a thought even remotely like that one before.

Huh.

She knew this whole thing ‘being a hero thing’ has definitely changed her, she really does feel like a different person compared to last week, but this was definitely a… weirder thing to change. Like she stood by it, but the her from a week ago may have actually beaten the shit out of Kris if she knew that they were on a date or something, not view this as a good thing.

(She… really needed to apologize to them for all of that at some point.)

From the bush that she was hiding from, she heard a voice, dislodging her from her thoughts. A nasally mumble, going, “ah, there she is.”

She turned and– aw hell no! There stood Berdly, who was walking towards her. But, she was currently hiding in a bush, and Berdly didn’t know he was walking towards her. No, who he was walking towards was Noelle.

There was a very delicate balance between Kris and Noelle that Susie has spent the better part of a day trying to guide. Both of them were avoidant as shit, and would probably rather die than talk about their feelings. She’s seen this with Noelle getting close to certain topics, before immediately back pedalling, shifting the topic to something else as soon as she could, and she’s seen it with Kris with them literally never talking about themself ever.

She’s pretty sure anything could shatter that balance, and Berdly was no exception. He had the understanding and delicacy of a brick, and Susie isn’t counting on either Kris or Noelle telling him to piss off. There probably wasn’t anyone in this festival with less romantic vibes than him! This could ruin everything!

Susie was not letting that dumbass mess this up!

He walked near the bush, and like an ambush predator, Susie jumped up and grabbed him by the arm. He freaked out and screamed like a girl (which bro? Really?) forcing her to clamp his beak shut with her other arm. Before anyone could look over at the noise, she yanked him into the bush.

With the both of them in the bush, Berdly was glaring at her, his expression being a weird cocktail of fear, frustration, and… something else Susie couldn’t quite place.

“Susan, I… truly didn’t expect this. This is very… forward.” Was he blushing? Susie couldn’t really see that well and there were a bunch of leaves in the way so Susie was gonna assume he wasn’t.

“Not the time birdbrain.” He stalled for just a moment. He opened his mouth, and Susie quickly added, “quietly!”

“Okay, then what are you doing?” he whispered, voice full of frustration.

“Would you believe me if I said it was for the fate of the world?” Susie asked.

Berdly stared at her, truly bewildered. “What…?”

Well. Maybe not the most believable thing to say. Had to go with the other truth, instead.

“Okay, well I’m trying to make sure Kris and Noelle’s date goes well.”

“Their–” He said way too loudly. Susie tensed and went to put her hand over his beak again, before he cut himself off and leaned back. Much quietly, he said, “their date?”

“Yeah. Look at ‘em.”

He shook his head, notably not looking at them. “Noelle? With Kris? Be serious for a moment. As if she would–”

Susie didn’t grace that with a response and instead physically tilted Berdly’s head towards the two.

Kris was far enough away to where Susie and Berdly couldn’t hear them, but they could see them. Kris said something, raising an arm. Noelle brought a hand up, hovering above her mouth, barely covering a laugh.

Her hand came back down and wow Susie doesn’t think she’s ever seen her smile that big. Like, she was smiling earnestly and stuff. She’s definitely seen Noelle smile widely before, but she always looked like, vaguely afraid ‘n stuff. Always gave off nervous smiler vibes.

Here, she just looked… happy.

“By jove I was blind.” Berdly mumbled. “I knew they stared at us, but I assumed they were jealous of our class placements. Never would I have thought their jealousy was this…”

Susie blinked. She was incredibly surprised that Berdly immediately understood. She… really wouldn’t have bet on that. She would have thought this was gonna be a whole thing, and that she was gonna have to distract Berdly for like, a while, but no he just got it.

“It’s all so clear why you prevented her from going with me, now.” Berdly said, still talking for some reason. “Really, I had assumed it was–”

“Shit!” Susie interrupted. Noelle and Kris split up at some point, and Kris was walking right over! “Kris is coming over, do something!”

She grabbed Berdly and pushed him up.

“Wha– what am I supposed to do?”

“Can’t explain, but they can’t see me!” She bit out.

“Heh?” he tried saying, but he was already standing up.

~ ~ ~

“Y’know,” Noelle said, as they continued to pass booths and flower arrangements, “it’s kinda like we’re on a date, faha.”

Kris tried to pretend like that statement didn’t send shivers up their spine. Why did she say that?

(From across from them, Noelle also wondered why she said that.)

They coughed.

What were they supposed to say to that? Agree? Disagree?

Thankfully, they were interrupted before they had to choose.

They heard a noise. It kinda sounded like someone screamed. Since they were at a festival, that wasn’t particularly worrying, people got pretty rowdy at those sometimes, but it came from nearby, which was odd.

It sounded… vaguely feminine, if they had to guess.

They both stopped. Kris could see one of Noelle’s ears flick. “Did you… hear something?” Noelle asked.

They nodded.

“Should we go see what that was about?”

Should they? On the one hand, Kris really didn’t care about that strange mystery scream. For all they knew, some child just dropped their ice cream and freaked out about it.

On the other hand, this may be a reprieve from this. They nodded, and brought a hand up dramatically. “We should split up to cover more ground.”

Noelle brought a hand to her mouth, but she wasn’t able to hide her laughter. “I know you know that’s how you get killed in a horror movie.”

She was right on both marks. That was definitely a common trope, and Noelle has definitely made them watch enough horror movies for them to be aware that that was a trope.

“Last I checked this wasn’t a horror movie.”

She shook her head with a smile. “Okay.” She picked a random direction and gestured. “I guess I’ll check over here? It kinda sounded like it came from there.”

They gave her a thumbs up and notably did not tell her that she was wrong by about 40 degrees. Instead, the sound came from a different direction. Kris checked that direction, breathing a sigh of relief when Noelle was out of eyesight.

They could feel the smile fall off their face.

They had laughed earlier. Joking around with Noelle like nothing ever happened… It occurred to Kris that they were starting to have fun.

The thought immediately sobered them. They… shouldn’t be enjoying this. They didn’t deserve to have fun. Not anymore.

They hoped the despair didn't show on their face because they truly didn’t have the energy to force a more neutral expression. They had to save that for when Noelle was around.

This was more exhausting than they thought. Their heart felt raw, strained.

They shook their head, flicked their wrists, blinked hard, and focused. They were supposed to be finding the source of that noise, right? Not thinking about how things were different. Not thinking about how things really were irreparable.

They walked towards the source. Their ice creamless child theory wasn’t panning out, as they didn’t see anyone that would fit that bill. What they did see was a bush. A bush that was moving an awful lot, actually.

They would have chalked it up to the wind, except it wasn’t blowing particularly hard right now. Their skirt had next to no flow at the moment. But, that bush was moving anyway.

They walked closer, and…

Berdly sprung up…?

“Ah Kris, what a surprise.” He looked… nervous.

He was covered in leaves. If Kris were a better friend they probably would have asked what he was doing in a bush. They weren’t a better friend, though, so they just stared at them.

“Enjoying the festival?” He asked.

Enjoy was a strong word. They were… technically having fun. Every once in a while. Whenever they forgot.

But they could never forget forever.

They’d say this was like a 5/10 festival. There were good parts, a lot of good parts, but they could really do without all the emotional agony.

They communicated none of that to Berdly and just continued to stare at him, though. Might be closer to a glare, honestly.

After a little too much silence, Kris eventually nodded. Very slowly, and very stiffly.

“Great! I’ll leave you to it.” He ducked back into the bush. For some reason.

They had half a mind to inspect the bush further, but they really didn’t care. Berdly could act like a lunatic. Sure. Why not. Free country.

They heard footsteps, and turned, seeing that Noelle had returned. “Find anything?”

They hadn’t put it together at the moment, but now that they thought about it, no one else really fit the bill. “I think it was Berdly.”

Noelle looked confused at that information. Reasonable. “Is he okay?”

They glanced back at the bush. “Yeah.”

They didn’t actually know whether or not that was true, but that’s what they were going with.

While spending time with Noelle was agonizing, they’re pretty sure that Noelle spending her time with Berdly would feel even worse. So they did not mention the fact that Berdly was in fact, right here.

Noelle pressed her lips into a line and shrugged. “Alright then. I guess that solves that?”

They nodded noncommittally. Wasn’t really much more to this little detour, it seemed.

“Let’s keep walking.”

~ ~ ~

Susie watched as Noelle and Kris walked away. Once they were in the clear, she turned to Berdly. “What was that?”

“I hardly think you would do better in that situation.” Berdly grumbled.

Susie did not have a comeback, because he was technically right. If Susie wasn’t Susie, she probably could have handled that better than him, but considering she was indeed Susie, a person who said that she was having family issues and couldn’t make it… yeah, things would have gone worse than Berdly acting like an alien.

“Why exactly, can you not be seen by them?”

“I may have kinda sorta lied that I couldn’t go to the festival to make sure they would go together.” Susie said. “And like. If they saw me, they were gonna want me to tag along, and then they wouldn’t really be on a date at that point.”

He looked at her incredulously.

“Forgive the brashness, but why do you care about this, exactly?” He asked inquisitively.

“They’re just… weird about each other. And it kinda feels like they would rather die than talk it out, so I don’t know. Maybe if they actually talked it out, something would happen.”

He furrowed his brow. “And the easiest way to do that was to lie to them and hope for the best?”

She bristled. “Okay, it’s not like you have a better idea.”

“You’re right. I don’t.” He said. He then stood up and stepped out of the bush, dusting off his shirt. “I can’t say I know what you’re expecting, but I have other places to be.”

Susie said nothing, and just watched him.

What was she expecting? For them to just… hash it out? Fall in love to make sure that Susie didn’t?

It was starting to seem like this wasn’t a good idea.

But… ugh! What else is she supposed to do? It’s not like she could look for the shelter codes right now, after the incident in Noelle’s house she doesn’t have a clue of where to look next. Maybe she should be trying harder, but they’re running out of time! She has to start trying stuff before it’s too late. She’d rather have tried something stupid than try nothing at all.

Berdly gave one more glance to the bush, and began walking away. Unfortunately for him, he wasn’t looking at where he was going, so he ran right into MK.

They collided

“Eugh.”

“Ow.”

Berdly straightened his glasses, and the two apologized to each other.

“Haha, sorry about that.” MK said.

“It’s fine.”

“Oh hey,” MK said, a smile on their face, “wanna see something cool?”

Though she wasn’t the one being talked to, Susie did in fact want to see something cool. Maybe that would take her mind off of how royally screwed she and her friends were. She shifted to get a better look.

Once she got that better look, she noticed that Jockington was standing behind MK.

“Hey Berd ly! Check it, Out! I’m growing. The Beard.”

Susie froze. No. No shot, right?

“Cool right?” MK said.

“Yeah?” Berdly responded awkwardly.

“Totes!” Jockington said. He then slithered away, with MK following him, leaving a confused Berdly. Before Jockington left, Susie got a good look at him. Specifically his chin. Then, she truly felt her blood run cold.

On his chin… was hair.

He really was growing the beard. She was running out of time… This Kris and Noelle thing had to work, if it didn’t…

Also wait hold on, did Jockington always sound like that? Like… he always talked weird, but not like… brain damaged weird.

“Did Jockington always sound like that?” Susie asked.

“Truthfully… I’m not sure.” Berdly said.

“Like you noticed that too, right?”

“I did.” He said, sounding somewhat concerned. “I’m not sure what to make of it.”

Susie shrugged from the safety of the bush. “Prolly not important.” It didn’t really matter. What did matter was that the prophecy was one step closer to completion, and that was bad. Really, really bad.

She just hoped. She really hoped this worked.

~ ~ ~

Kris wasn’t sure how much more of this they had in them.

It hurt, and it wouldn’t stop hurting, and they really needed it to stop hurting

“Is everything alright?”

No, they wanted to say. None of this was alright.

“I’m fine.”

They needed an escape.

“I’m gonna go to the restroom, actually.”

“Oh, okay. I’ll wait right here, then.” Noelle said, with a smile on her face.

They started walking.

Thankfully, since the festival was set up so close to the town’s park, they were able to use the building, and they didn’t have to go to one of the temporary bathrooms. Being in one of those would definitely make them feel worse.

They entered the park building and felt the air conditioning. They kept it really cold in here for some reason.

They kept walking, their shoes squeaking against the tile, and found the restrooms. Then, they went into the family bathroom, they needed privacy for this.

They locked the door and ran the tap. They took off their gloves and put them in their pockets. They washed their hands, dried them, and brought their hand up.

Shaking, they took a deep breath. Then, their hand launched towards themself, piercing their chest. It burned like nothing else, but they needed a break. Their fingers wrapped around the soul. It offered no resistance, and they pulled it out.

They took a breath, unrestrained. Then another. And another. They let the emotion drain out of them, every sense being enveloped in a static haze.

Even in the modern day it was unknown what the soul did. It was theorized that the soul held all compassion, all emotion, all will. If someone was able to somehow be alive without a soul, they would feel nothing. From Kris’s own experience, that was almost entirely incorrect. Their compassion isn’t as shot as they would think, and they certainly still had a will. Most emotions were silenced, but some still bled through.

Anger. Guilt. Sadness. Everything else was washed away, but those remained. But, it was muted. If they thought about anything else, they could almost ignore it.

They held onto that muted feeling like a lifeline.

Was Noelle even having fun? They couldn’t tell.

They let go of the soul. They didn’t have a place to put it, and frankly, they didn’t really trust the cleanliness of the bathroom to find a place. They just hoped that it would float in place.

It did.

They breathed, a shuddering exhale that made their back tingle. The world swayed, and they took a stumbled step.

They threw their arms out towards the sink, holding onto it like a lifeline.

They weren’t handling this very well.

They thought they were getting pretty good at going without their soul, but they were not holding up well. If they had to guess, the lack of sleep from the past few days, and today’s whole… deal, was catching up to them.

They needed this day to end.

Today felt like it did when they were kids, and that burned. It wouldn’t stop burning. Reconnecting was so easy, they fell back into banter like it was nothing. They witnessed this in the Dark World, the two of them just clicked, but this working without the pretense of a dream… If they closed their eyes, it was like nothing ever happened.

And yet everything happened. Everything happened and no one could change that, and doubt clinged to them like a wet shirt.

It was forced.

Their ears ringed.

They felt miserable.

The soul hummed, pressing itself against their forehead, a lodestone in the dark. It had done this before, when Kris was trying to stop it from getting to the guitar. They had heard Noelle say those words, and they froze. It felt like their heart stopped.

The soul had an opening. They didn’t have the willpower to fight anymore after that, instead they kneeled in silence, trying to stop the burning in their eyes.

It didn’t go for the guitar. It went for them. It hovered right in front of their face, and pressed itself against their forehead.

They had done nothing but attempt to beat it up, and it showed compassion.

Haha.

It made them sick.

They did not want to accept comfort from the parasite. And yet who else was offering it?

They really hated how sometimes, it felt like the only one that knew them. Even though they tried so hard to keep it from things, it could tell that perhaps not everything was sunshine and rainbows in Krisville. Then again, it would be pretty hard to not know someone after taking residence in their body.

Ralsei and Susie knew Kris, the Hero of Prophecy. Dess knew them, what they could call the real them, but she was gone, now. Asriel was in a similar boat, though a little less permanently. He was still off enjoying life to the fullest at college, far, far away.

The Knight… Kris wasn’t even sure if the Knight remembered their former life. If it did, they weren’t very good at showing it.

They kept most things from their parents, giving their mom the rare gripe about school to make her not worry. She would worry if they had nothing to complain about, they were a very opinionated person, so they gave her hollow words and nothing else.

They couldn’t really remember the last time they sincerely talked to their dad.

Carol knew more than most, but they kept most of their personal issues from her. Even if she had advice, they needed to focus on the plan, not their social life (or lack thereof).

Noelle… Them and Noelle were so ambiguous. They knew each other better than anyone else. They didn’t know each other at all. They were best friends. They were hardly more than strangers.

Really, it was only the soul who saw them at their worst.

The soul attempted to rub circles into their forehead. They wondered if the soul felt what they felt. Could it feel their misery, or did it only see their pain, and that’s why it offered comfort?

They don’t know. And right now, they didn’t really care. All they knew was that the contact felt nice.

“I’m okay. I just needed a break.” They told it. They hadn’t tried speaking to it before, and it definitely didn’t need reassurance, but maybe just speaking would make them feel better.

It was very kind. With how it treated their friends and Darkners, it was very kind.

They wished that the soul could fix things between them and Noelle, somehow, someway. They… didn’t really like some parts of the soul's possession. Whenever it wanted control, it tried finding things out, and talking to the people of the town. The townsfolk liked the soul more than they ever liked Kris, even if they don’t realize there’s a difference. That… was not a fun thing to think about.

But when it comes to how dire things were between them and Noelle… surely it could fix things better than they ever could? They don't think they could fix things at all, this situation was all so irreparable…

But the soul could do incredible things. If anyone could fix it, surely it could?

And yet, throughout the entire day, it refused to even give an idea of what to say unless prodded. Even then it hardly gave them anything to work with.

“You literally possessed me the other day. Now you don’t want to get involved?” They whispered to the source of… some of their problems. They would say most, but no, they were the cause of most of their problems.

The soul seemed to pulse in a way that conveyed, hey dumbass, fix your own friendships.

“Rude.” But they couldn’t say it was wrong.

It was all up to Kris.

And then it occurred to them. When did they start relying on the parasite? The thought made them sick.

When it was all said and done, and it was gone… would they even be able to function anymore?

They didn’t have an answer.

“...I wonder if this would be easier without you.”

Being more or less unable to feel would make the rest of this more manageable. They still had the ferris wheel to ride. No way they were getting out of that. Being stuck in an area like that with her…

They shook their head.

They haven’t tried to go longer than a night without a soul, and the entire time they were laying in bed. Being soulless in Noelle’s house couldn’t have been more than an hour, yet between playing the piano and trying to keep the soul away from the guitar, they were wiped. A few active hours… that might have more adverse effects.

Despite having no eyes, it felt like the soul was giving Kris a look. It tilted a degree, as if to say, that sounds like a bad idea.

It was.

“Prolly not. She’d notice that my voice was weaker, or something." They said plainly.

They were taking a pretty long time in here. Any longer, and Noelle might come check up on them. So they washed their hands again, dried them and prepared.

For once, they didn’t use force. They reached their arm out, and opened their palm. The soul floated over, floating down, and nestled into their hand.

They took a deep breath, and pushed the soul back inside of them.

If taking the soul out washed all of their feelings away, putting it back in felt like a bucket of ice water crashing into them.

They clutched their body, their arms wrapping around themself in the mimicry of a hug.

It hurt. It wouldn’t stop hurting.

They’ve tried healing this wound for so long. They bandaged it up, trying to let time heal it. If they didn’t think about her, maybe they would be okay. Maybe they could forget. Maybe they could leave it all behind.

Hanging out with Noelle undid so much.

She peeled the bandage off, tore the stitches, and picked the scab off, revealing the rot that festered inside.

The wound was hemorrhaging and they didn’t know how to make it stop.

They were tired. They weren’t sure if they could still do this. But they had to. Noelle was waiting on them, and Susie expected this of them.

They were effectively trapped.

It was impossible to prolong it any more. They took a deep breath, flicked their wrists, and left the bathroom.

They just… really hoped that Noelle wouldn’t be able to notice.

~ ~ ~

Susie watched Noelle impatiently. Kris was kinda taking a while in there. If she had to guess, she was pretty sure that it was the festival food. It had that effect on people.

Still, with them in the restroom and Noelle just standing around, Susie had more time to think.

She didn’t want to say anything too soon, but it seemed like this was working. And that's pretty nice. If they kept this up, she just had to keep her distance from Ralsei, and then the girl wouldn’t find love, and then everything would be nice and awesome and they would win awesomely.

Finally, after what felt like forever, Kris returned.

With Kris and Noelle reunited, they stopped by a few more stalls, forcing Susie to sneak around some more to keep them in sight.

Eventually, though, there was nothing else that they wanted to see.

This was it.

They were making their way to the ferris wheel.

This was the make or break moment. She was pretty sure this was working, but this would prove it. Would this ridiculous plan of hers work? Would nothing happen? Would this make things worse between them (something Susie isn’t sure is possible) somehow?

She didn’t know. She could only watch with bated breath as the two gave their tickets to the ferris wheel operator guy, and stepped into one of the cars.

~ ~ ~

The muted noise of the machinery bringing them higher reached their ears. A mechanical heartbeat. Thu-thunk, thu-thunk, thu-thunk, as they went higher and higher. Kris shifted in the uncomfortable seat restlessly. They tried to sit still, if only so Noelle wouldn’t notice.

Noelle looked out the window across from them. The plush cat she had sat next to her. It was staring at them.

“Can I be honest with you, Kris?”

Kris had attempted to avoid eye contact by staring out the window, but Noelle was staring right at them, now. When they turned to look at her, her blue eyes pierced their crimson.

They nodded.

“Today… really wasn’t what I was expecting, faha.” She laughed softly.

Of course today wasn’t what she was expecting. She was expecting to go to the festival with Susie. Instead, she was stuck with them. They practically pitied her.

“But, it was nice,” she said. “It’s kinda like when we were kids.”

Kris could barely hear anything over the beat of their heart. Being able to just hang out with Noelle, being able to be in this ferris wheel with her… It’s everything they’ve ever wanted.

And yet…

And yet…

“When we’d get to the top, and you’d shake the car…” It occurred to her that Kris could carry out that exact situation again, as she swiftly added, “um… please don’t do that this time…?”

They raised their hands in a lifeless surrender.

“Thanks…”

And yet they couldn’t dream. If they let themself dream, they would be met with the crushing weight of reality.

They weren’t little kids anymore. They didn’t explore the town with their older siblings, they didn’t hang out at each other's houses for hours, they didn’t… they didn’t do anything, really. Not anymore.

Today was a fluke. It meant nothing, it was forced. If they believed it was anything else, their hope would be crushed.

Her face became more wistful. “Honestly, I didn’t think we’d ever do this again.”

Neither did Kris.

“But, really, today was…” She trailed off, trying to think of what to say. “It was…”

“Forced.”

The word left Kris's mouth before they could think to stop it. But, it would be better for them to say it, instead of making her, right? Since, that was the next word she was going to say anyways.

Wasn’t it?

It was almost funny, how a single word could shatter the day’s reverie.

A few seconds ago, Noelle’s expression was glad, almost content.

Now, all Kris could see was the sheer horror on her face. Her hands went to her mouth, covering it, but she couldn’t hide her eyes. They were full of fear.

“You… you heard that.” She said, voice barely above a whisper. “Of course.”

They… honestly didn’t believe that at first. When she said that, Kris was in the same room. Sure, they were divided by a closet but… of course they heard.

They didn’t respond at first. They didn’t need to. Their words were all the answers she needed. Eventually, they said, “it’s okay. Today was forced, like it was forced back then. It didn’t mean anything.”

“Kris… that’s… I…” She stuttered, and stammered, but couldn’t get the words out.

“It’s better this way.”

She recoiled at the words. They didn’t understand why. This is what she expected, right? They were just finally saying it.

Their soul felt like a rock was lodged inside of them. It emanated nothing, no support, no emotion, it was like it wasn’t even there.

It did emanate one thing. Disappointment.

“I get it. I was the last person to talk to her. Not you. Not your family. Not Asriel. But me. Doesn’t that just eat you up inside? I… wouldn’t want to be around me either.”

Tears fell down her face. It seemed that Noelle didn’t know what to say. As Kris saw it, there was nothing more that needed to be said.

Guilt threatened to smother them. They blinked away tears, their eyes burning. They hadn’t wanted to make Noelle feel bad, definitely didn’t want to make her cry, but after finally acknowledging it… They felt a weight removed. They finally addressed the elephant that’s followed them for who knows how long.

Today really didn’t mean anything. It meant less than nothing. For once, they were finally on the same page.

It felt terrible. But, there was relief in the closure. Like they were drowning, and all of the fight left them, leaving them to sink and fall, getting further and further from the surface until they were just a memory.

The ferris wheel stopped. They reached the top. What would be the time to take in the view was instead a time to stare at the floor. Both of them were guilty of it, trying so desperately to look at something that wasn’t each other.

Noelle was trying, so, so very hard to say something, but the words weren’t coming to her. She looked at them, then looked away, over and over. Kris wasn’t sure why she was trying so hard, nor why she looked so guilty. She made herself clear.

…

Didn’t she?

Kris only had one more thing they could say.

They looked her in the eyes.

“Can I ask something selfish? Just… one thing. And then we don’t have to do this anymore.”

They weren’t sure what ‘this’ meant. They didn’t have to be on the ferris wheel anymore? They didn’t have to be at the festival anymore? They didn’t have to pretend to be friends anymore?

All of it? They didn’t know.

Noelle, still as pale as a ghost, nodded.

“Can you tell me that you hate me?”

They looked down, if only to avoid looking at Noelle’s expression breaking further.

Before, they’ve thought long and hard about whether or not they’d ever be able to move on from this.

Yesterday, they realized that moving on was their only option. And yet the heart was lasting. They couldn’t just stop caring. Even if caring hurt so, so much.

They think that hearing it from her, hearing her say that there was no chance things could ever go back to how they were… that they really were the reason everything went wrong, maybe that would be enough. Maybe that would crush them, and let them heal, like a flower being reduced to compost and a seed.

It was selfish. But they don’t think anything else would work, at this point.

They hear shuffling. They could imagine her wiping her tears.

“Kris…”

They closed their eyes, and braced for her next words.

“Kris, I love you.”

The breath left their chest. They tried to inhale. It didn’t work. They tried again. They opened their eyes. Noelle’s tearfilled eyes were looking at them. Her face was full of pity.

The car was shaking. It began to move down. It kept shaking.

No. That wasn’t right.

They were shaking.

It was as if time stopped.

Kris didn’t know what to say.

There was one thing that came to mind. It was selfish, but…

Voice barely above a whisper, they asked, “then why?”

She winced, sorrow plain on her face. “I told Susie that it was forced because… I wasn’t sure what we were anymore. I wasn’t sure if I did something, or, if you only came by because of Asriel or what. All I knew was that… we weren’t friends anymore. And that… hurt. It really hurt. And I thought, that… maybe we never were friends at all.”

The most shocking part of that revelation was that… it hurt? Did she… miss them?

“I knew you were in the room, but… I didn’t think about it. I didn’t think you’d care. I’m so sorry, I never should have said that.”

She had nothing to apologize for, but they didn’t stop her. Hearing that… It felt nice. But still. They could not dream. “You should hate me.”

“I don’t hate you.” She shook her head. “I don’t think I could hate you.”

“Why?” Their voice cracked. “Everything’s my fault.”

“Kris…” She said, the gentlest they’ve ever heard her voice. “We both know that isn’t true.”

They tried to refute that, but the only thing that came out was a terrible breathy noise.

She took a deep breath. “I thought for so long that we never were friends. But that isn't true at all, is it?” They looked away. That was all the admission she needed. “I… never realized the real reason until now.” She looked at them with care. “You were hurting too, weren’t you?”

They didn’t have a response. They didn’t have the right to hurt.

“Kris… I should have realized. I’m sorry. I should have been there for you. I… haven’t been a very good friend, huh?”

The thing they've been trying to say finally bubbled over. “It was your sister that went missing. Not mine. I should have been there for you. But I wasn’t.” They cut themself off, not allowing their voice to break anymore than it already had.

“You lost her too.” Her words made them freeze. “Sometimes it felt like you were closer to her than I was.”

The ferris wheel stopped again, letting more people on at the bottom. What was supposed to be a gentle sway of the car made Kris feel like their stomach was upside down..

“Maybe… we could have both done better.” She said.

Kris snorted. It came out closer to some weird breathy noise. Understatement of the century.

“I…” Noelle tried. She sighed. “Why are we like this?”

That question was most certainly rhetorical. And yet. They had an answer to that, didn’t they?

Any other circumstance they would have ignored it, or changed the subject, or given a useless I don’t know, but their walls have already been broken and their withered, broken heart exposed, so why not? Why not be honest for once?

“You moved on. I…” they stopped. They couldn’t continue that, because they didn’t have the right. She was her sister, not theirs. So why couldn’t they move on? “I didn’t want to drag you down.”

Noelle made a noise. It was hard to tell if it was a laugh or a cry. Maybe it was both.

“Kris… I never moved on. I think about her every day. Every time I leave my room, I see that painted door, and I stop, and it sucks. I don’t think I'll ever be over it. But you know what? I miss you too, Kris. Sometimes, it felt like you went with her. Except I see you every day and can’t do anything about it.”

Something inside them broke. They said something that they thought they would never say in front of her.

“I’m the reason she’s gone.” Kris whispered. Pleaded. “Please don’t miss me. It’s all my fault.”

Her expression cracked. “Kris… it wasn’t your fault, we were kids. It isn't your fault.”

That wasn’t… that wasn’t true. No one ever believed them.

“You don’t know that.” They said, voice barely above a whisper.

“I do.” she said. “And even if somehow, someway, it was your fault… that wouldn’t stop me from loving you.”

They froze. They truly stopped. The only things they could hear was their pulse roaring, and their heart thundering. “Serious…?”

Her expression broke. “Oh, Kris…”

She then did something they would have never expected.

She got out of her seat, leaned over, and wrapped her arms around them.

They were being hugged.

She was serious…

For the entire day, they’ve done a pretty good job holding it together. Not a great job, but they kept it together.

Her words, her actions… The dam broke.

A sob ripped through their chest.

They returned the hug, crying into her shoulder. They held on, and if they were being selfish, they never wanted to let go.

She rubbed circles into their back.

It was awkward. They were half sitting, and Noelle was crouched oddly, but in the moment it didn’t matter. All they knew was that this hug felt like a bandage. And for once, that hurt that they carried… it felt like it wasn’t quite as heavy.

The tears just wouldn’t stop, and their breathing was all out of whack.

They couldn’t remember the last time they cried in front of another person. Had to be immediately after Dess disappeared. It’s… been years.

The ferris wheel started again, and they stayed like that.

~ ~ ~

Susie had the feeling that something went wrong.

She was hiding behind a tree for Kris and Noelle’s ferris wheel ride. She waited. Normal ferris wheel stuff happened (at least she thinks so, her only experience was the one in Queen’s mansion and that was… not a normal ferris wheel), and everything seemed fine.

Then, when the ferris wheel continued turning, and it was going to be time for Noelle and Kris to get off soon, Susie saw Noelle’s evil ass mother appear, walking towards the ferris wheel with purpose.

Shit!

This was bad. Noelle’s mother could ruin everything!

The ferris wheel was private. There’s a chance, a very small chance, that the two of them are actually talking to each other up there, something that Susie has noted that both of them want to do but don’t. And Noelle’s mother could mess everything up with the delicacy of a sledgehammer.

Susie sneaked away from the tree, and prepared a distraction. She didn’t really know what she was gonna do, but she had to do something, right? She could definitely get her attention… Uh, she didn’t have a second step for the plan, but hey, gotta do whatever it takes for true love, right?

But, she froze when she got close enough to hear her talk to the ferris wheel operator.

“We don’t usually do that kinda thing.”

“It’s important.” She said coldly.

The guy running the ferris wheel appeared to consider it, before shrugging. Perhaps he realized that he was talking to the mayor, and that arguing further could probably get his pay cut. Or fired. Or something like that.

He nodded.

Okay. Susie isn’t really sure what she expected, but she kinda expected her to like, wait outside of the ferris wheel. And then be like, evil. Or… something. Not… whatever that was about.

Looking satisfied with herself, Noelle’s mom went to turn around and walk away.

Wait, shit.

Susie was no longer in the safety of the tree. If Noelle’s mom saw her there, something was gonna happen. Judging from how she was yesterday, Susie honestly wouldn’t be surprised if she chased her out of the festival.

Not ideal. Susie didn’t really want that to happen, so before Noelle’s mom turned around all the way, flung herself backwards, landing behind a nearby (thankfully unmanned) stall with a thud.

She heard what sounded like footsteps pass, and breathed a sigh of relief. She was truly worried that Noelle’s mom would be against Kris being Noelle’s date for the festival, but she forgot something pretty important. Kris and Noelle were childhood friends. They couldn’t have been childhood friends if one of their parents hated them.

(It would be great if she was like this with Susie, too, but in her defense, which is the only time that Susie was going to defend her, Susie did kinda feel like there was something off with that guitar. It seemed important, and that she probably shouldn’t have been messing with it? But, Noelle asked her to try, even if she was awful at playing it, so what was she gonna do, say no?

She wouldn’t have blamed Noelle’s mom, if she was like, normal about it, but then she was like super awful and suddenly she didn’t feel bad anymore. That’s why Susie stood up to her.

Sure, she may have immediately failed to follow through, but it’s the thought that counts?

The thing with the guitar was still kinda weird though.

…what was up with that, anyway?)

Judging by the type of person Noelle’s mom was (controlling, orderly, bitchy–), if she had a problem with Kris, Susie highly doubts that Kris and Noelle would have stayed friends.

Like, it didn’t seem like they stayed friends, actually, but. It wouldn’t have gotten to the point it did.

Susie peeked out of the stall and saw the ferris wheel continue its normal operation, ignoring the one cart whose passengers were going for a round two.

Huh. So that’s what that was about.

She laid back on the ground. That was… odd. Strange thing for the mayor to do, but in a town this small, the mayor really could just do anything, Susie supposed.

That boded really poorly for Susie, actually, considering she was on her shit list.

She heard more footsteps, and realized that yeah she should probably move soon. Who knows whose stall this was. She was just about to move, until those footsteps got closer and closer, and…

And she heard a satisfied hum and stilled. Susie shifted as subtly as she could, and saw that Noelle’s mom was also moving behind this stall! For some reason!

Susie attempted to take up as little space as possible, hoping that Noelle’s mom just… wouldn’t notice her.

She didn’t. Not yet, at least.

What felt like hours and days but was probably a few minutes passed.

“A better choice.” Noelle’s evil ass mother mumbled to herself. She looked genuinely pleased.

It took her a few seconds, but the words hit Susie like a slap of a glove. Excuse her! She was saying that Kris was a better choice for Noelle than she was!

She lowkey agreed with it, but hearing it come from her made her furious.

She was about to say something, before she remembered that she really shouldn’t be here and that saying something would do nothing right now. Other than get Noelle’s mom’s attention on her. Which was something Susie did not want.

So she just tanked the bad mouthing and closed her fists in frustration.

Unfortunately, she had a problem.

She was on the ground. There was dust, and pollen on the ground. Combined with her previously shot sinuses… she felt her nose tickle.

She tried to stop it. She really did. But there was nothing she could do.

She sneezed. Kinda violently, too.

Then, she winced, closing her eyes and pressing her mouth into a thin line.

Great.

So much for staying low profile.

She opened her eyes, and turned to look at Noelle’s mom.

The woman in question glared at her with a look of confusion and vague disgust. On one hand, yeah okay sure. She did just look down and see a scruffy looking teenager hiding behind a stall. That’s… kinda weird, Susie could admit that.

But, this was Noelle’s hater-ass mother, so Susie tensed. This… could not end well.

Susie waved nervously.

Carol sighed, and pinched her brow.

She didn’t say anything, so…

Were they good?

Cool?

~ ~ ~

Eventually they ran out of tears to cry. But, they didn’t let go. Instead, they rested their head on her shoulder.

They held onto her like a lifeline. If they let go, they really may sink, and sink, and for once, they didn’t want that.

But, they ran into an issue. The car stopped, and they were at the bottom. Getting off like this… wasn’t ideal.

They would have to immediately stop hugging when the door opened, or else someone would notice, and that didn’t seem very appealing. Hopefully no one would notice that the two of them were actively crying.

Is what they would say if the door opened.

Instead it… didn’t. The car kept moving.

That was enough of a shock to make their voice work again. “Huh?”

They only had the one ticket each. One round trip on the ferris wheel. So… why were they going up again…?

“Hm?” Noelle said.

“Don’t we need to… get off?” They couldn’t see her, but they’re pretty sure she made a sad noise, so they added, “the ferris wheel?”

She cleared her throat. “Oh uh, yeah. That. I realized that we were… not in the best place for that, so I texted my mom to ask if she could… get us another ticket, or. Something.”

They… did not notice that she had her phone out. Then again, they were kinda sobbing their eyes out not even a minute ago, so. Maybe it was reasonable for them to not realize.

“That worked?”

She laughed humorlessly. “I think she would do anything for you.”

That was… probably true.

They were gonna be on the ferris wheel for a bit longer it seemed.

Well. There’s still some stuff then needed to talk about. They may have gotten some of the more important stuff out of the way, but when there was nearly a decade's worth of stuff to talk about…

They had to start somewhere.

“I’m sorry for pushing you away.”

“It’s alright.” She said, hugging them a little tighter.

It really wasn’t. “I think I could spend the next hour apologizing, so I guess I’ll just say, I’m sorry for everything.”

“Kris… really, it’s alright.”

Maybe one day they could believe her. No, they did believe her. Maybe one day they could accept it.

“I’m really sorry for calling us ‘forced’.” They unconsciously tensed. She continued to hold them, nuzzling the side of her head against theirs. “I really didn’t think it would hurt you so bad. I... really wasn’t thinking at all. I’m a bad friend.”

They shook their head. “I’ve been a worse one”

She huffed. “This isn’t a competition.”

“If it was, I'd be winning.”

“I think we’re both losing, actually.”

That sounded correct.

“Noelle… It’s alright. I don’t blame you.”

Her hair smelled nice. Like peppermint.

“Were you… serious when you said you loved me?”

“Well, uh…” She stammered. “Yeah. I was. You were… you are my best friend. I really did miss you.”

They felt their heart squeeze at the confirmation. And… she still considered them her best friend? They probably wouldn’t admit it, but they’re really glad that Berdly hadn’t dethroned them.

Things were already gonna change from here on out, so they might as well let them change more.

“...I love you too.” They could feel her freeze at the words, her breath hitching. “I think… I always did. I just… didn’t know how to show it.”

“I… wow.” Noelle said. They could feel her heart speed up. “I don’t know what to say.”

Kris doesn’t think anything needed to be said, all things considered.

“What… are we…?”

Friends didn’t seem applicable. Kris honestly couldn’t tell if they weren’t friends or beyond that. It seemed like Noelle didn’t know, either.

Their relationship… they aren’t sure if there's a word for it. It was love. They could feel that it was love. But… there wasn’t anything familial or romantic about it. It wasn’t butterflies and rainbows, but they completed each other.

They should say they were friends. Susie was destined to find love, literally prophesied to, and Noelle seemed like the obvious candidate.

But… it wasn’t set in stone just yet. It said that ‘love will find its way to the girl’, not that ‘Noelle will find its way to the Susie’.

So maybe they had a chance. Maybe they had a chance all along and they just never tried.

They’d be a terrible friend if they didn’t start trying at this point, so why not? Why not see where this goes? Even if it wasn’t romantic right now… maybe it could be.

They really were messy, weren’t they?

With enough silence, and Noelle expecting an answer, they spoke the truth. “Something else.”

Noelle smiled, small, but genuine. “That sounds about right.”

Silence lulled, and for the first time, it wasn’t uncomfortable.

“There’s something I have to tell you.”

They were finally gonna do it, weren’t they?

Noelle froze. She waited expectantly…

The words sat on their lips. It wasn’t a dream.

But they couldn’t.

They weren’t ready.

“I can’t right now.” They turned away. “Soon.”

“It’s okay. I’ll be there when you’re ready.”

“...Thanks.”

She was so patient. They really didn’t deserve a friend, or, whatever they were, like Noelle.

This time, the ferris wheel ride went so much faster. Maybe it’s because there wasn’t that terrible tension anymore, or maybe it just genuinely was faster, but all too soon it was time to get off.

Noelle pulled away (they already missed the warmth) and tried to straighten out her clothes. She then looked at them. Really looked at them.

The look on her face did not inspire confidence.

“I look like shit, huh?”

“I wouldn’t say that!” She rushed to say. “But you do kinda look… rough.”

Though they couldn’t see their reflection at the moment, ‘rough’ was probably being generous. Their eyes had to be even redder than usual, and their face was probably covered in tear stains. Their haircut would probably keep anyone far away from noticing most of it, but they really could feel how red their face was.

That wasn’t even talking about up close…

Thankfully, only Noelle should ever be that close to them.

“Here.” She said. She took off her scarf and wrapped it around them. It was pretty big on them, it practically came up to their nose if they made their posture poor enough.

It clashed with their sweater horribly, but it was warm, and it smelled like Noelle.

They were going to ask if they looked nice, but she smiled at them, and they didn’t feel like asking anymore. That’s all the confirmation they needed.

After spending a few more moments straightening out her clothes, Noelle said, “um… How do I look?”

Compared to Kris, she looked mostly okay. Her eyes were a little redder, her nose was like, a hue redder than usual (she already had a very red nose to begin with), and you could see tears stains if you looked hard enough, but it wasn’t very obvious. They were almost envious.

They saw an opportunity.

“You look wonderful.”

She turned away, a smile blooming on her face. “Jeez.”

The car reached the bottom, and the ferris wheel stopped for real this time. They both got up.

She reached a hand out to them. It wasn’t obvious, she could have just had her arm slightly raised, but…

They took a lot of chances today.

What's one more?

They grabbed onto her hand. She looked at them and smiled.

Then, the two got off of the ferris wheel.

~ ~ ~

Being in that situation kinda sucked, but whenever Kris and Noelle got out of the ferris wheel, they were holding hands. That’s a win in her book.

Susie may not have actually… done… anything, but a win’s a win.

Whenever the two exited, Susie noticed that Kris also had Noelle’s scarf on, which… was interesting.

(For a brief moment, she did truly wonder if they had a hickey. That would be crazy. She… wasn’t going to assume that, but like. Maybe.)

Seeing that was a mission accomplished.

Unfortunately, she was still next to Carol. She gave one last condescending look her way, and she walked away.

That was… probably gonna keep Susie up at night.

But, since she left, Susie had a spring in her step.

She’s pretty sure she can now meet up with them without ruining the date vibe. But, just to be sure, she didn’t just yet.

Mostly because she had no idea how to make it seem organic. If she just magically appeared from behind a tree at an extremely convenient moment… It’d seem kinda odd.

So instead she was gonna go away, and then meet up with them in a more natural way.

Of course this meant that Susie actually had to go and find something to do, which was a bit hard since she was already not doing great in the ideas department today.

But, she had one idea. Flowers were romantic. Susie knows jack all about romance, but everyone knows that flowers are things you give to people you like. So like, if she gave these to one of them for them to give to the other… that’s something?

Kris’s dad owned a flower shop, so heading over there real quick would work.

It was a bit of a walk, the festival and the flower shop were pretty far away, all things considered, but eventually she reached Flower King.

When she approached, the window was dark. Like, really dark. Susie winced.

Okay she knew that Kris’s dad wasn’t doing the best, but surely he had electricity. Right?

That would be… unfortunate.

Wait, she was overthinking this. He probably wasn’t at his shop ‘cause of the festival. And that’s why it’s stupidly dark in there.

But… she had a gut feeling that she should probably double check. And, if no one was home, she may be able to ‘borrow’ some flowers.

She threw the door open and…

Well.

That’s a Dark World.

She closed the door.

Shit.

~ ~ ~

“I guess this really is a date now.” Kris said as Noelle and them wandered. They saw all the sights, so all that was left was to double back to anything that seemed cool, and to just enjoy each other's company.

They were still holding hands.

With Noelle by their side, they let themself enjoy it. There was a part of them that continued to say that they shouldn’t, but it was hard to focus on that when they could focus on Noelle’s smile.

And for every negative thought they had, they could feel a pulse of comfort from the soul.

“Yeah…!” She said awkwardly. “I still don't know why I said that…”

Kris raised the hand that held hers.

“Okay but we weren’t doing that then!”

They laughed.

Noelle stopped, causing Kris to also stop. “Is that Susie?”

They turned to where Noelle was looking, and yeah, that looked like Susie. She was running over to them.

She reached them, pointed at Kris. “Your dad needs our help.”

…He did?

“With…?”

Susie looked at Noelle, then back to Kris. “The… lights. Aren’t on. It’s like… Really dark over there.”

Any other circumstance and they probably would have just gone with Susie, but they wanted to spend more time with Noelle. They could do that now, and they wanted to for as long as possible. “I’m pretty sure he can handle that–”

“It’s like darker than dark.” She gritted out.

Kris tensed.

Ah.

She meant like that.

Right.

They forgot.

Wow. They got so caught up in the festival, they forgot about the plan.

That’s… huh. They didn't really know how to feel about that.

They thought they had more time, but no time like the present.

“Okay uhh…” Kris said. They turned to Noelle. “Hey Noelle. Y’know how I said I had to tell you something?” They continued when she nodded. “I think it would be easier to show you.”

“Wanna see something cool?”