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Susie stares blankly into the dark depths of Hometown’s lake.
Her tired eyes and drifting, foggy brain would have her appearing comatose if there were anybody around to notice her. Alas there are none at this late hour. That she is at least grateful for.
There’s a smooth feeling rock just beneath her hand from where she’s seated besides the body of water, but she doesn’t even have the energy to skip it right now.
Her groggy eyes linger on the spot next to her where Kris had sat themself earlier tonight. The endearing thought of her friend’s weird fascination with waiting for that stupid octopus monster to rise from the waves briefly allows the fog to lift from her brain.
With a hazy focus returning, she finally listens to her aching, exhausted body and allows it to lay down on her side to provide some relief. She swears she could almost feel the warmth under her scales from where the human had been sitting mere moments ago.
The nighttime air is chilly even with her jacket on, but she doesn’t want to go back to her shitty apartment. She wanted to have a sleepover with Kris again, but Toriel had been…… occupied and she really wasn’t interested in being there to see where she and that convenience store guy were headed.
So she had left.
Dragging herself back to the school, deciding that maybe the emotional turmoil at spending the night in the Dark World would be better than out here. Only to find the doors to the school locked. If it were the version of her from just a few days ago, she would have had no qualms with breaking in, but now she wouldn’t dare compromise the safety of Castletown by starting a police investigation on the break in.
Ralsei… (And if anyone is going to hurt.. Let it… just be me, okay?) she couldn’t put any more strain on him by deciding to barge in, in the middle of the night anyways. The guy could use some time to himself. She supposes she could use some as well.
Almost instinctively from there she had started to wander towards the graveyard, ready to cozy herself up on the bench as she had done dozens of times before. Halfway there she stopped herself. Dread pooling in her gut when her tired brain mustered forth a single brain cell and remembered just who exactly was buried close to the bench.
And who the bench was made in memory of.
Nope. She could not deal with anymore of that tonight.
That’s how she found herself next to the lake. Trying to go over in her head what to do upon the arrival of the morning, but instead she all she could find was guilt building up in her brain as it screams and calls her the worlds shittiest friend for leaving Kris behind to deal with that alone after the shared draining day they had had. They could understand she wasn’t in the right head space to deal with it, right?
Ok that’s not making her feel any better. She rolls on her other side to block the breeze from the lake with her back. No more thinking about that, she has to get some sleep so she can have the energy in the morning to search for more codes. And in the case of needing to kick more Knight/Titan ass if the bastards make their ugly faces known again.
Ok no more thinking now. She defiantly closes her eyes and attempts to allow the sound of the waves lull her to sleep, eventually succumbing to the darkness as her ears briefly catch the muffled notes from that song playing somewhere beyond the lake.
____
“D-do you really think that’s her?”
“That’s totally her! Hey wanna see which of the two of us can get the closest to her?”
“No way dude! We’ll straight up just die if we wake her up.”
“Ha, Snow way you still think she’ll kick our asses! Kris ain’t here to sick her on us. Let’s do it!”
A nervous looking Monster Teen and Snowdrake slink closer to the unmoving form of the purple girl laying on the park grounds. MT falls slightly behind Snowy the closer to her they get.
“H-hey, why are you falling behind? We gotta do this together! So l-let’s-!”
“So, what exactly were you two chatting about me for?”
Snowy and MT freeze up when the growly voice of Susie bellows out from in front of them. Her body slowly begins to rise from its’ slumped position into that of her usual intimidating stance. Eyes squinting down at the two with disdain.
“Oh! Uh nothing! We weren’t talking about anything and… run!” Snowy squawks. MK runs closely behind them, not even tripping once the whole way out of her field of vision.
Susie lets something out that sounds like a mix of laughter and a huff. She pats the dirt and debris off of her coat and hair, deciding that she might as well get the day started. Whatever time it is. Looking into the sky she can guess it’s still early in the morning.
Heh, that nerd is probably still asleep.
Hearing a grumble coming from her stomach is her final encouragement to head back out into town. Stuffing her hands into her pockets her first stop is the alleyways between the apartment complex in search of her milk that should be refreshed by now.
That is if that furry freak Catty hadn’t already gotten to it. If she was there drinking her milk, Susie was going to have to utilize these fists.
Luckily no one in the alley at this time, but she feels her stomach drop when she notices the saucer isn’t even left on the floor like it usually is. There’s nothing hear but garbage cans filled with flowers and graffitied walls.
“Well shit.” Whoever had been filling it up must have realized that the ones drinking from it weren’t exactly their target demographic. Now she was going to have to figure out something else to fill her belly in the upcoming mornings.
Let’s see, definitely not any of these nearby houses garbage cans. Those were too risky. She could scrounge through the school’s or maybe even Kris’ house trash! Never mind that feels even more awkward.
In the shaded alleyway a new idea pops into her head. That new convenience store! Those types of places toss tons of food out overnight! She knows that Sans guy runs the place and as much as she wants to avoid bumping into him, he also doesn’t seem to be the most aware guy so he won’t likely wouldn’t even notice her and kick her out of the trash. It’s a bonus that she also no longer has issue with stealing from the guy anymore.
Since she didn’t spend the night with Kris there’s no telling if he had spent the night or… ugh she doesn’t want to think anymore about the guy. Just about his trash, that’s it.
Mind made up she sprints out of the alley and back into the streets. Of course there are people up and about, going to work, preparing for the festival, but since it’s still early the roads and streets aren’t congested yet.
Upon coming to the shop, she does notice the open sign turned on. Luckily, he’s not standing outside the front door, so she guesses she’ll have to be a bit stealthy about procuring her breakfast. She stops a block or so from the shop and slinks into the shadowy edges of the forest. She’ll get to its’ back through the cover of yellow leaves and bark.
She finds there are two large garbage bins behind Sans’. One of which seems to have been left open. Finally something convenient about this convenience store. Poking her head out of the cover of the bushes, she looks both ways and then towards the unmoving back door. Once she’s made up her mind that it’s clear, she rushes to it.
It’s surprisingly empty for a bin this size, but near the corner she can see a tossed selection of fruits and an almost translucent garbage bag that allows her to see other expired packaged products among the actual trash.
“Jackpot.” Susie thinks confidently to herself. When she leans down to grab her spoils, the sound of the backdoor handle clicking has her freezing up. Faced with a split second decision, she jumps into the garbage bin as the door swings open.
Pushing herself to the furthest corner she holds a claw up to her mouth, listening out for the sound of shuffling footsteps and….. humming? Angel he’s humming that stupid jitterbug song from last night. And just when she thought the guy couldn’t get any worse in her eyes.
“oops. seems i left the bins open last night. hope nothing got in and is crawling around in there.
Please don’t look in here please don’t look in here please don’t look in here-
“but if there was, i would want them to know there’s some fresher tasting stuff in-store heh.”
Susie stays silent. I mean he can’t know she’s in here, can he? He’s way too short to even reach the edge of the-
“kid, i know you’re in there. i’d hop out before i end up closing you in.”
With her cover being blown Susie slowly rises from the bin, refusing to make eye contact as she climbs out. She’s about to stomp past him, but when he starts talking again she pauses.
“i wasn’t joking around though kiddo. you can grab yourself something fresh inside if you’d like. on the house. consider it a gift from a friend. i know your human pal wouldn’t want you eating out of here-”
“Shut up.” Susie barks softly, despite the anger and embarrassment threatening to boil over. She doesn’t care that he’s an adult, she doesn’t care that he’s close to Toriel, she’s already so over it. “Keep any mention of Kris’ out of your stupid, smily mouth!”
Once the sentence is out, she turns and sprints away from him and the shop. She doesn’t need breakfast that badly anyways, she could just eat at the festival later today with Kris and Noelle.
If she had the nerves to look behind her as she ran off, she would have seen the skeletal man sigh as he tossed the bag gripped in his hands into the bin. And as he walked back into the store, leaving the garbage bin’s lid up.
___
When Susie finally feels like she’s ran far enough from that place, she’s not surprised to have found herself in front of the looming presence of the school. Her body innately knowing where the safest place would be. Well a certain Dark World inside of the school. She’d never be that much of a nerd to consider the school itself a second home.
The morning had just started and she’s already done with the world outside.
She creeps close to close to the windows and peaks through them, eyes flicking between every corner of the school in search of any signs of movements. Noticing none of that, she grabs the door handles and tries to push it open, finding it to still be locked.
Fuck. It was still the weekend. Ok, maybe now that she’s rested and thinking much clearer, she could attempt to find another way in now. She slinks to the side of the school, scouring the building for any side exit doors or a window left open to sneak her way into.
In a cruel sense of irony, there was one window left cracked open. One leading into Toriel’s kindergarten class. Not letting this chance go to waste, she checks her surroundings to make sure no one else is around before she pulls the window the rest of the way down, jumps through it and into the empty classroom.
Getting back onto her feet, Susie closes the window behind her and swiftly exits the chilly classroom as silently as she can. She doesn’t even slam the door shut like she wants to. There’s no way she’s wasting any of her weekend time in the main section of the school.
Stuffing her hands into her pocket she starts her trek towards the supply closet, but upon clasping one of her hands against the door handle.. she pauses. Despite her earlier desire to get as far away from the light world as possible, a feeling of hesitation at entering the dark world once again.
Something she couldn’t even imagine feeling about them a few mere days ago. A feeling she had tried desperately to push out her tired mind last night. She forces her claw to begin turning the handle again, but it stops just short of opening it.
With a shaky breath she relinquishes her grip on it and plops herself onto the floor besides the closet door. Susie brings her knees up to her chin and rests her head on them.
“A minute. I’ll go inside in a minute. Just needta think for a minute. I mean it’s rude to go inside without Kris, right? I should wait for them to wake up….right?” She pauses. “What would Ralsei say?”
Just forget about us and make some real friends, okay?
“He’d… probably tell me to just worry Kris instead of him.. I mean yeah I’m worried about that nerd of course! But can’t I worry about both my friends?” Susie bonks her head repeatedly against her knees. “Gah! Why are friendships so complicated?” But she wouldn’t trade it for the world.
“Screw it!” Susie jumps back to her feet and swings the closet door open. “I’m going in! Just for a little bit! Then I’ll go throw rocks at Kris’ window or something.”
Susie hurls herself past the doorway, feeling the temperature of the air sink as she descends. Obviously she lands on her feet. The clothing on her back fluttering in the breeze and feeling like they’re fresh out of the laundromat despite not having been washed in two weeks.
Just some of that Dark World magic she supposes.
Gathering herself, Susie walks into Castletown with returning confidence. It’s still pretty early in the morning and it becomes very obvious when she enters the main town square. Some shops still have their lights off and the doors locked. The amount of darkners roaming around is drastically lower than usual. Even that Rudinn fellow who usually greets her and Kris isn’t out and about at this time.
The only thing around here that seems lively is the cafe. Which she can still hear music and soft chatter pouring out from the doors.
She decides against checking in. Maybe later.
It’s strange though. Ralsei is usually ready to greet her within the first few dozen seconds of arriving, but at the time being he’s nowhere to be seen. Maybe he’s still asleep? Do Darkners need to sleep? If he’s asleep should she wake him up prank style or leave him be-?
Susie is so deep in her thoughts as she treks through the castle courtyard, she apparently doesn’t notice when the doors swing open in front of her.
But she finally does notice when a familiar and very loud voice coming at her disrupts her train of thoughts.
And when multi-dozen pounds of metal and rubber incidentally collide into her, causing her and the other Darkner to crumple into a pile on the cold floor.
“Oops! Susie you ok?! We just totally ‘epic bike fail compilationed there’!”
Susie’s head spins for a minute, witnessing the blob in front of her eventually form into three Lancer’s until it’s down to two, then just little ole one. On the floor next to them she can see his flaming bike (the flames have been turned on low as per Ralsei’s request) sprawled out.
“Crap Lancer, you good! Uh didn’t mean to slow your roll.” With very little effort she picks Lancer up from off the floor, checking for any signs of injury. There doesn’t appear to be any. Seems he was able to bounce right back. “Man your Girl Dad’s already rubbing off on you. That’s totally some shi- stuff she’d say.” Susie coughs to cover the curse she almost let slip.
“Ho ho ho! All is swell fellow! Prince Toothpaste Boy has been trying to teach me biking safety. Guess I forgot the look both ways before you cross rule!” Lancer grabs his bike rolls it into a standing position. Guess it’s the bikes turn to be checked for injuries. There appears to be none on this one as well. “Does the heroic Susie need my injury expertise?”
“Nah I’m good man, you didn’t even leave a scratch! Guess my scales are too tough!” She chuckles deeply to herself. Lancer looks on in admiration and sets his bike up against the castle walls. Then he skips back to Susie, hugging her pant leg.
“What are you doing here so early?! Never seen you before Seam’s Shop opens up!” Now he’s crawling up and onto her shoulders. Susie secures his legs against her shoulders and neck.
“Uh well..” Susie debates internally what information is appropriate to dump onto this kid. Is mentioning fighting against a world ending threat by the skin of their teeth and struggling to get to sleep because of it and everything surrounding it too much to dump on the kid? Probably. “Just… super excited for today! Uh yeah, there’s like this festival going on later today and I really wanted to see you guys as much as I can before I gotta head out for that. Yeah…” That probably wasn’t too discrete.
If she could see Lancer’s face from where he’s situated on her shoulders, she would have seen his little face crumple slightly at her overly-honeyed tone and the speed of her answer.
Her facade has already started cracking.
Lancer doesn’t say anything and instead continues on with the conversation like normal.
“Wow what a coincidence, I’ve been to a festival before too!”
“Really?” Susie questions with sincere curiosity. Trying to imagine how a still playing card with no Dark World opened could experience such a thing.
“Yeah with my King Dad and Lesser Dad! Dad and the other Kings would set up this bigggggg celebration for the Card Kingdom every year to give the Kingdom hope that the Lightners would return.” The boy pouts. “Until Dad’s favorite Jester went totally cuckoo and had to be locked up! Bleh, no more festivals.”
“Psh that’s lame as hell.” Susie agrees. “Um but….where did the celebrations happen?”
“The Card Kingdom, duhhhh. I said that already! Did something hit your head? Ooh like a really cool magic trick and then you thrashed the caster back with a sick axe attack?!” The boy mimics the sound of a sharp weapon smacking into its’ target with a giggle.
“Naw, I mean last night maybe, but Ralsei already healed that.” She doesn’t even want to imagine how she would be feeling right now without him. “What I’m trying to ask is uh..” Her tongue gets stuck to the roof of her mouth as she tries to navigate what to say to him. How aware of his existence is he really? She didn’t really have time to ask him about it in the TV World (And she really didn’t want to think about it. She so badly wanted things to stay the way they were between before she knew the truth) Does he even care that in the Light World he’s but a children’s playing card? “Hey, you know I didn’t get to see what progress you made to your room last night! Dude you gotta give me a tour. I better be seeing some fruit and meat in the walls.”
“Ho ho ho, and so much more! You’re gonna love it Susie! Let’s go!”
She pushes the massive Castle doors open with her legs, balancing the boy on her shoulders as she quickly forces her way inside. Walking through the castle everything looks normal, not a speck of dust or grime to be seen. When they climb up to the second floor, Susie lets her eyes linger on the stairway up to the third floor. A certain goatly boy also lingers in her mind.
This time Lancer has something to say about it.
“I haven’t seen Toothpaste Boy since he returned from your adventure last night. He was acting super weird, seemed tired… and super sad.”
“Yeah… last night’s fights were.. pretty rough.” Susie clenches her fist around the fabric of her pants at the memories.
Lancer rests his head atop Susie’s tangled mane and whispers into it quietly. “You all fought a Titan yesterday, didn’t you? The ones from Toothpaste boy’s prophecy?” Susie nods her head silently. “Was it really scary?
“Absolutely terrifying, but hey, we all came out the fight alive. And if we’ve defeated these things once, we can do it again.” She grins a toothy grin. Yet she doesn’t know if it’s to persuade Lancer of it or herself.
With that conversation done, she enters Lancer room. The boy excitedly jumps off her shoulders and scurries into the new section of his bedroom carved out from its’ walls. He lifts his arms high and spins them around the room. As if to ask Susie, ‘Uh-uh, what do you think of my masterpiece so far?’
The room has been expanded even further, the field of luscious purple grass has extended further out and gently bobs from an unknown wind, surrounded by more of the same blocky red trees she first saw in the Card Kingdom Dark World. There’s currently no one else inside working on it, even the bulldozer seems to have gone home for the night. This time there is a small structure in the middle of the room made with what appears to be made with cardboard, wooden blocks and crayons.
“Hey is that the Card Castle!?” Susie delightfully blurts out, running up to the recreation to admire the charmingly, childish details. “Woah, it looks like the real deal! Almost like I’m back at it, ready to start a prison break with Kris and Ralsei. Then of course teaming back up with the bestest, good bad guy ever!” She noogies the spade’s head affectionately, the boy letting out a giggle. “Hey! Are those all the original rooms too? Dude, maybe I should’ve tried to ask you to do me and Kris’ class project for us. Do-dia-dioramas, that’s the word! Are like fifteen extra points or something.”
“Wow a class project! I’ve never done one of those before. Or gone to one in…” Lancer starts counting fingers on his hand. “…hmmmm, a long time!”
And just like that, Susie’s mood has dampened again. Now she was never a big believer in school being as important as some of her foster parents or teachers profusely claimed it was, but the thought of him never getting to play with blocks with other kids his age strikes something sorrowful in her heart.
“What was the last thing you learned? If you can even remember it that is, psh I mean I forget a fu-frick ton from my classes just by leaving them at the end of the day!” Susie guffaws nervously. Lancer ponders her question, face scrunched in concentration.
“Hmm, I think it was…. fractions! That fuzzy lady was teaching us how to slice em and dice them numbers.” ‘Toriel’, Susie’s mind fills in the blank immediately. “But now I have a Girldad to teach me everything! Like how to mitose! And meios. And osmose!” Lancer scratches some stray crayon shavings off of his creation thoughtfully. “I wonder what you learn next in lightner schools.”
Susie takes a good luck at the boy in front of her. The boy who upon stepping into the light world with her, would be reduced to a playing card with no voice to speak out in the moment. The boy who, if she’s remembering correctly from King’s speech, had been abandoned in that classroom for what looked to be years, without having matured much past fraction learning age. Would he ever get the chance to grow up? Or would he remain that same child in that kiddie class forever?
She and Kris had closed many dark fountains these past few days, but the darkner residents never seemed to care much when it happened. Lancer hadn’t cared much even after his father had attempted to persuade him against it. They seemed content with whatever purpose or lack of it waited for them outside of it.
Did he really understand what was happening? Was she the one overthinking this now?
Only because she had the time to think clearly about it after finally getting some sleep from an exhaustive previous couple of days.
Angel it wasn’t fair.
Why couldn’t Ralsei watch movies with her? Why couldn’t she walk Lancer to school every morning? Lancer… Ralsei… they’re as real as she or Kris is, but the thought of them being stuck in a confined world finally boils over.
“Hey uh, Lancer. Could..could I ask you a question?”
“Shoot purple girl! But not with the ones those shadowy guys use.”
“Do you miss your old home? Like the Card Kingdom and the scarlet forest and all that?”
“Sometimes? I think. I mean, me and my King Dad and Lesser Dad still live in a castle! And cousin Clover doesn’t live too far oh and the Rudinns still patrol the kingdom! So it’s kind of like I’m still living there. But…” Lancer looks back at his cardboard recreation of his father’s old castle. “..it is smaller than our old home. There’s not a lot of grass or dirt to roll around in… but that’s why I’m making this room! To make up for Toothpaste boys lack of salsa stumps! Don’t tell him I said that.”
“So.. you do miss it?” Susie asks bluntly. Lancer nods his head hesitantly. “Are you- have you ever been angry, that me and Kris closed your dad’s fountain?”
“I.. don’t think so. You guys were just doing it to save the world!”
“But did it make you angry?” Susie asks again.
“No!” Lancer blurts out quickly before continuing. His spadely face crumples into itself slightly. “Remembering it makes me sad sometimes though.” Lancer breaks eye contact with her and digs his foot into the dirt. “Susie, you’re acting really weird today too.”
“I-! I’m sorry man. Just tired, and-and confused about things.” Come on just ask, just ask just-! “And curious I guess. About….. you know… being a card..person..thing? I mean, I just don’t have the full picture. Did you know about it during our whole adventure in the Card Kingdom Dark Fountain? A-and your memories! You remember learning in Toriel’s classroom, how.. does that work without a Dark fountain?”
Lancer’s face flashes through several faces of varying pondering and confused looks, his mouth twitching open and closed at the ineffable stream of questions coming at him all at once.
“We, uh, I.. uh…. I just know? That it happened? Maybe??”
“How does it work?” Susie interrogates, placing her claws on Lancer’s shoulder, starting to shake him in her frenzy for an explanation. “What was your first memory? Where-!”
“Ow Susie! Shaped like a snow globe I am, but shaking too hard-yeowch! H-hey your claws are-!”
Lancer’s small yelp freezes Susie in her tracks. She can feel Lancer wriggle out of her hands and step away from her outreached arms by a foot or so. His face is crinkled with worry and… is that fear she can see marring it? The purple teen stares down at her now slightly shaking hands. Images in her mind flash within it startlingly. The cold dark walls of a prison. The rattling of bars and the clicking of puzzles. Lancer standing in front of her. Her axe raised high in the air, her vision red with rage and-.
She manages to sputter out an apology before she’s racing out of his room, ignoring the boy frantically calling out her name as she practically throws herself down the stairs. Her eyes don’t linger long on the castle’s door before she instead takes a turn into the room on the opposite side of the castle. Further down in the castle chambers, further into the darkness and further away from the Darkners outside who will be getting a start to their own day soon.
She hides herself behind a blue, candle-lit wall, taking deep breathes to calm herself down. Pressing her forehead against the cool brick relieves the heat still building in her face while she does everything in her power to not tear her hair out. Turning back around she can see the metallic bars of the prison lining the walls around her. The irony not lost on her. The King of Hearts is slumbering away in his own cell quietly. The other Goulden Sam remains empty of the other two kings. Looking around offers no sight of K. Round, the Darkner seems to be shirking its’ guarding duties again seeing the emptier state of the castle’s prison. Not that she’s too worried about their rogue status. Where could they even go anyways? What could they even do?
Shit that sounds crass. She’s always embodied it too much.
“Oh great, would you look at that? A visit from the lightners this early in the morning. Well just one lightner I suppose.” Susie sees King rustle from his laying position from the corner of her eyes back into a seated one. His guffaw at the personal joy he finds in her being alone is like nails on a chalkboard. “Why are you disturbing my peace this early whelp?” The large Darkner yawns.
“J-just making sure everyone is accounted for in here!” Susie answers quickly. “Uh clearly there are some people in here missing, so guess I should head out and find em or something.” She begins walking back to the staircase, deciding that maybe breaking down at the top of the cliffs near the edge of the kingdom would be better than this.
“Hmph, well at least tell my son to visit his old man down here.” Susie pauses at the mention of Lancer by the ‘King of Spades’. “Apparently he’s been learning bicycle safety and despite what Queen (ahem), might say, no one can teach that better than a boy’s father.”
Twenty-four hours ago Susie wouldn’t have even considered what she was about to do. Twenty-four hours ago she didn’t even have the knowledge she did now.
“Ugh I really don’t want to do this, but King….I need…” Susie grinds her teeth. “Your help.” The teen can see the fallen monarch lift an eyebrow?? in the candlelight. ”With Lancer. I said something-did something that hurt him. I don’t know what to do. I don’t understand anything that’s going on. And it’s pissing me off!”
Susie is breathing heavily by the end of her small rant, quickly being caught off guard when King sighs deeply from the other side of the bard, becoming her to come closer. Susie’s feet drag across the stone floor and she plops herself on the ground a few feet from the Darkner.
King says nothing about her distance from him and his bars. “Tell me what it is that happened exactly. My son, is he injured?” Susie nods her head silently. “What causes him such aches?”
“I shook him around a bit too hard, I didn’t mean to! I wasn’t thinking, or maybe I was thinking too much, I don’t know, but I was asking….” The girl was honestly shocked that she was giving this guy the time of day, but she supposes she’s been doing a lot of things she never thought she could do or have these last few days. “..about what being a Darkner is like. What being born from an inanimate object is like. I don’t understand, I just want to understand. And I can’t ask Ralsei cause- just cause.”
Susie startles when King starts laughing again. Her face grows angry and she abruptly stands up from her spot on the ground.
“Fine! If you won’t take this shit seriously I’m out of here!” She’s about to storm out of the prison until he speaks up again, coughing away the last of his laughter.
“Ah, still quick to anger you are. Guess not every part of you has changed since your first adventure in these dark lands. A few days of heroics isn’t enough to wipe away a lifetime of it, isn’t it? The same it goes for me and my beliefs regarding you and your… brightness. I suppose I will try my best to answer your questions. But only this one time. For the sake of my son and his future in these Dark Worlds.”
Susie quiets herself down, pulling her legs tight against her chest to calm herself as the larger man continues.
“Since your so called Prince of the Dark appears too ashamed of his origins to explain it so himself, allow me instead. We Darkners with the memories and lives we hold, you can think of it to be similar to that of a lightner child gaining awareness at the fact that they are alive. One day they’re crawling around, simply acting on instinct and emotion and the next they can communicate with those around them on a deeper level and recall previous memories. Darkners, while we may not move around by ourselves, but rather by the hands of a lightner, we gain experience from our surroundings just like you and only with the creation of a Dark Fountain can we fully understand them. It is our snap into consciousness, similar to your own, but still so vastly different.”
“B-but how does that explain all the other stuff!” Susie shouts. “Lancer said you used to throw festivals.” She catches herself, lowering her volume near the end of the sentence. “You have all these histories and relationships and goals and-just how? How does that work?”
“It’s all about proximity. Proximity and interpretation child. As all things in the life of both lightners and Darkners are. We Darkners in our original forms, or objects, to your kind up above, are almost always paired with others. How we are used and by who shapes our cores, histories are interpenetrated into a will that flows with our experiences. So simple isn’t it beastly girl? Just like you, aren’t we?”
Susie gets it. Susie doesn’t get it.
“So some sort of memory magic bullshit, got it. I guess. And dark fountains? Queen said we gotta conjure our will into a sharp object and stab it into the Earth. How does that work??”
“How interesting of you to underestimate the willpower of another. And here we were supposed to believe you were the girl with hope crossed in her heart. You seemed contempt enough the other day to just go with it. With the magic of these worlds that is.”
“Hey! I was! And then- just- things happen! I was on cloud nine because I had found out I was some prophesied hero and I had something special with Kris and Ralsei and I just… didn’t want to risk ruining it. But at least I’m actually in the prophecy! Unlike you.” Susie whispers that last part, King’s attitude grating on her nerves. Though not quiet enough as the darkner scoffs.
“Matters not if I’m in it or important to it, my son however, is the one who deserves his place in it.”
“How’d you find out about the prophecy? About how he was in it?”
“At this moment in time I know now that this, Roaring Knight, might not be everything I thought they were, but one thing I do believe holds strong are the bits of the prophecy I was allowed knowledge of.” The large man’s voice and face softens ever so slightly. “Him being in it… guaranteeing his place of importance… that’s all that matters. Though I only regret that his livelihood must forever be tethered to the likes of you, a lightner.”
“..And is that because Lightners create Darkners? Can you not live without us?”
King’s face scrunches further in disgust at the mere mention of the thought.“It is as unfortunate a sentence to state my agreement as it is to accept you lot as our divine creators. But not a lie. Lancer… he might as well have only been created to aid you ‘heroes’.”
“How could you say that about him!?” Susie growls. “That’s your son! Your fucking son he’s more than that-!”
“So much more I know. It pains me to think this world doesn’t appear to see him the same way. Have you noticed it yet? Your willingness to be a hero near the end of your first Dark World adventure is tied directly to your friendship with him. It allowed you to obtain a much more…. for lack of a better word, tolerable personality on all your future endeavors. A pawn of the prophecy, of this world, not much unlike yourself, pushing you into the role most needed of you, but what separates him from you is one simple fact. He’s a Darkner, a mere blip in said prophecy. And you are not. His role in the greater world outside is done with. All we can do is preserve it right? I play nice and rot away in this cell, and my son gets to have a life here. At the unfortunate. Permission. Of you lightners.”
Once spitting out the last sentence he flicks his hands out towards Susie in a shooing motion.
“He was perfectly contempt with how our fates and worlds worked until you questioned him. Now begone. I believe we have talked plenty enough for today. Leave me to my miserable existence down here.”
“Not even gonna finish explaining how Dark Fountain creation is possible? Besides willpower? "
“I’ve explained what I could, best I can. Sometimes, forces exist beyond our current sight and understanding. Perhaps your ‘heroes journey’ will lead you to more answers within the upcoming days.”
Susie scoffs but doesn’t argue back, instead standing herself back up onto her legs and dusting her pants off. Her feet bring her towards the entrance of the staircase, she hesitates for a moment, turning back to stare at the large Darkner locked away from the rest of the Castletown.
“Uh thanks. I guess. For the information.” Giving her thanks to King feels weird, but not as weird as her sense of confusion her brain is in. She supposes it’s better having something than nothing. King lifts his head once again and gives her a silent nod. Though something seems to change his mind and he allows one last piece of information to slip from his mouth before Susie heads upstairs.
“I suppose…. there is one more thing I can share. About the festivals we used to throw that my son told you about. Your little human friend… was the reason for them. They used to return to our little slice of the world at random intervals. To reminiscence? To have time to themselves? Even I am not quite privy to that information. All I know is at the time I had wished for them to return for good…. but they never did. They no longer needed me, and well, I no longer need them either. Fair to say we’re even.”
“Technically that was your second, last sentence of information you shared with me.” Susie states smugly.
“Begone wench!” King bellows, forcing his gaze to the brick wall with a grumble. The monster girl begins her ascent back up the basement stairs. Mulling over how to apologize to her best friend. She turns one last time to the Darkner and for the first time since they met, feels an inkling of pity for him.
“And for your information. Lancer wasn’t taking this whole prophecy and rules of the dark and light world as well as you thought.”
And with that, she climbs the rest of her way up. The sound of silence from behind her almost deafening
________
Susie isn’t met with anyone else once she’s stepped back onto the first floor. She can only assume that Lancer is either still up in his room or outside of it and looking for her. She decides it’s best to check upstairs first.
Knocking on his door doesn’t elicit a response so she enters with a soft greeting, but quickly realizes he is indeed not in here. Not even in the room off to the side. Guess she’ll have to check the rest of the rooms in the castle next. Upon exiting however she’s slightly startled by the sudden appearance of Ralsei coming down from the third floor. Clearly the goatly boy is also surprised as he jumps in surprise when he notices her standing a few feet from him.
“S-susie?! W-when did you get here? Oh I’m so sorry I didn’t greet you! I was just in my room meditating and oh geez I must have been too deep into it to not realize you arrived and-”
While Ralsei continues to ramble Susie can’t help but notice the redness tinging his eyes. Almost indiscernible through the glossy lenses of his glasses. With her mind convinced of what she sees, Susie closes the space between the two of them and initiates a hug with Ralsei. A firm enough, yet still gentle show of affection. Ralsei immediately goes silent upon the sudden show of affection from the usually hug-averse girl. Both are silent as the darkner’s shoulders relax and he allows his own arms to barely wrap around her frame.
“It’s ok dude. You don’t gotta greet me every time. I can just come in here and greet you instead!” Susie says with a humorous grin. Ralsei lets out a watery chuckle at her words. " And….yesterday was rough. I don’t expect all of us to be acting exactly like we were two days ago. So yeah, no pressure.”
“But what are you doing here so early? And without Kris? Are they ok? Are… you ok?”
Susie decides against saying anything about his diversion of his own emotional state. Now might not be the best time to push him. She saw where that had gone with Lancer.
“Uh I mean I usually wake up early. Kris usually sleeps in late so I figured maybe I’d throw rocks at their windows later or maybe whenever they woke up they’d know to join me here in Castletown. Cause.. I just really needed to be here as soon as I could. Avoiding Light World stuff, psh. ”
Ralsei looks like he wants to prompt her to continue on what in the world above is causing her discomfort, but she waves him off.
“Eh it’s really something Kris should be telling not me. No I’m not avoiding my feelings.” She coughs knowingly at Ralsei, who tucks his face further into his scarf with a blush. “But I was originally gonna go up to you and see if you were awake, but me and Lancer crossed paths. So we ended up hanging instead. And.. and I screwed up Rals. I need to find him, I need to apologize but he’s not in his room. Have you seen him anywhere?”
“Can’t say I have. I’ve been up in my room for most of the night.” Ralsei says sheepishly. “B-but! If you’re about to search for him outside there is a spot behind the castle he hangs around in.”
“Thanks Ralsei. You’re the best man.” Susie pauses. Squeezes him a little tighter in their hug. “Hey……. am I….. have i been.. a good h-”
Susie breaks the hug. Ralsei slips away from her arms easily with a deep breathe, probably to keep himself from crying again.
“Nevermind. That’s something we can talk about later. I need to make things right with Lancer first.” Ralsei looks conflicted at her words, but ultimately doesn’t push further. He feels there’s been plenty of that this morning already. “We’ll be back in no time!”
“W-wait Susie! Before you’re off.” Susie halts herself. “There’s a lake back there, dark as dark can get. Be careful if you get in. Don’t stay in it for too long ok? At the moment I’m not sure how it could effect Lightners. All I’m running off are theories and I feel wading too long will have negative consequences.”
“That’s not creepy at all.” Susie nervously chuckles. “Don’t go in the void lake, got it. Oh and Ralsei. When we get back and Kris gets here… maybe… we could try having another tea party, the four of us?”
“That sounds lovely Susie.” Ralsei answers quietly. His paws shake. “I.. I-‘ll get started on the preparations. Now you go find Lancer. We can talk more after you bring him back safely.”
Susie nods, conjuring up as much bravery into her toothy smile towards Ralsei, hoping it brings him some semblance of comfort before she leaves him to his own devices. The girl now finally feeling more like the heroine she was stated to be in the prophecy she despises so much.
_______
Susie couldn’t believe she or Kris hadn’t thought about checking out the area behind the castle before. Or at least Kris. They were more of the explorer here.
Behind the enormous castle as Ralsei had said, was a shimmering expanse of dark liquid. Similar in size and shape to the one Susie had woken up next to in Hometown a measly two hours or so ago. There is a small smattering of deep red trees spread around the area. Ok, trees was an overstatement. The things were practically twigs, not fully grown at all. Not like the ones in Lancer’s room and lacking the purple grass as well. In all honesty the area was pretty bare and underdeveloped.
That however makes it easy to pick Lancer out from the environment. His stark blue and white body contrasts greatly against the dark land.
As Susie gets closer she can see the boy is sitting down next to the lake, picking up and tossing small stones into the dark waves.
“Ya know, if you find a super smooth stone you could make that bad boy bounce on the water for like… five whole seconds!” Susie interrupts his concentration, gravel falling back onto the ground with a startled flinch of surprise.
“S-susie! You’re ok!” Lancer gasps with relief, already melting away some of the stiffness Susie feels in her throat. “At least I think. Are you ok? You left really quickly after the whole shake down and I thought you left the castle but I couldn’t find you so I thought maybe you went to talk to Toothpaste Boy so I figured I’d just hang down here until you finished up and-… uh hey why’s your face all smily like that? Did you find the greatest joke of all times and I missed it?! No fair, spill your beans!”
“Heh never change man… wait no that’s not right, I mean change all you want! Screw staying in a a box! Unless it’s your Halloween costume.”
Lancer looks very confused at her outburst, but not scared at least.
“Ahem. Sorry, still trying to get better at this whole friendship thing. I came here to apologize, for hurting you. For being pushy when I should have, I dunno calmed myself down first? Told you I’d hang out later and go to talk with Ralsei first? King, Queen. Tenna? I honestly don’t know what I should have done first. I just know, maybe I wasn’t in the best head space when I got here and it made our hang out go off the rails.”
Susie steps closer, Lancer remains where he is. The lake lulling quietly behind him.
“You’re my best friend Lancer. My first real friend. And I know friends shouldn’t make your pals feel crappy, or…” Staring at his arms she can see the light imprint of her claws still indented on his card stock skin. “Physically hurt them in a way like that. I think I’ve just been acting selfish since last night. ” Her mind flashes back again to an uncomfortable looking Kris as she leaves the Dreemur home. She wonders again if she should she have said or done anything then and there.
“Purple Girl you’re not selfish at all! You shared that jelly donut with me. I-it was a little scary when you grabbed me, but you’re good Susie! Well good in the bad guy good kind of sense of course! You’re… my hero.”
Now Susie is standing besides the boy, watching the inky waters lap at her feet. She gets down on he knees and sifts through the rocky shores. In search of the perfect stone to call her own. Lancer joins her in the search silently.
“Doesn’t make what I did back there any less sucky. I let my stupid emotions get a hold on me again. Like.. like back in Card Castle. I wanted answers and forgot to take those same feelings of yours into account. I didn’t think enough before I spoke and I’m sorry about that bud.” She grasps a stone she feels is smooth enough and is about to toss it into the lake, but she startles when she sees a reflection in the water.
A reflection of herself? Well not in her current form. The version of her in the shimmering water bears no spikes on her clothing, her coat doesn’t have a clean sheen and she can’t help but know the girl in the lake is the version of herself up in the Light World. Dirty, ratty and well… very purple.
“Woah Susie is that what you look like up in the light world?!” Lancer gawks at.
“Oh uh yeah it is. I know, I’m not very cool looking up there-.”
“You look exactly the same!”
The same..? I mean yeah, she definitely was still Susie-shaped, she agreed. But she definitely didn’t look like a hero destined to save worlds.
“You think?” Susie questions.
“Yeah! The same ole tough and tumble Susie. Hmm well maybe you are a few colored pencil shades different.”
Lancer continues thinking about the reflection, but Susie can’t help but feel her heart swell. She was just tired, just being ridiculous. There really was no difference between both versions of herself was there?
Thoroughly pulled out of her uneeded self hatred, she looks to Lancer’s reflection. She can’t quite find herself shocked at what she sees.
Ace of Spades. The reflection of a lone card with a blue border.
Lancer catches her staring and turns his attention to his reflection as well.
“And that’s lil ole me! Not quite as handsome as I am here.” He makes that slightly unnerving look on his face, at least in Susie’s opinion, where his jawline sharpens and she swears she can see the shine of eyeballs within that spadely void on his face. “I come here a bunch when you and Blue Person are off in the light world.” Although Ralsei had already told her the information, it still feels like a reveal coming from him.
“So like how I answered your earlier question, I’ve known for a while what I am. I’ve just, never really thought much about it. I just…. was?? I mean I’m the Spade Prince Lancer! Who also happens to be a card! Who else would I be?” Lancer looks into the waters again. “… maybe…. it was scary to think about it. So I didn’t think about it too much.” The boy deflates slightly, but turns back to Susie. “Susie, do you…. uh when you were acting weird back in my room, it wasn’t because….” Lancer struggles to get the words out but Susie doesn’t interrupt. “Are we still friends? Even though I’m different in the light world?”
“Dude of fucking course we’re still friends!” Susie lets the curse slip, uncaring at Lancer hearing it, she saw how strong he could be back at Card Castle, he can handle it. She doesn’t have to hold herself back just because the world derailed her onto the path of heroics and he doesn’t have to listen to a nonsense prophecy either. “Listen to me closely man, me and you are going to be friends till the end of time ya hear?! Being born a card and having a magical girl level appearance change by some cryptic magic bullshit ain’t gonna change it!”
Susie rakes her claws against Lancer’s reflection, feeling the liquid tingle like static against her hand. His card form becoming indiscernible as the water is disturbed and rippled.
“Lancer up in the castle I just… wasn’t thinking straight. I was agitated and m-maybe scared, cause of last night and I was letting my emotions get to me. And I put that onto you. I never meant to make you feel like less of a person. But I still made you feel like that so, that’s my fault. I’m sorry, I’m so fucking-”
Susie is cut off when Lancer grasps onto her coat, hugging her tightly. What makes her heart ache even more is the sound of soft sniffling coming from him.
“T-thanks, *sniffle* for the apology Susie.” Susie wraps her arms around the boy, softly engaging in her second hug of the day. Definitely a record. “I never thought we were that different, cause we formed the ‘Dark Fun Gang’ together! But, my father and some of my minions and…. Toothpaste Boy.. They all have different ideas on how we should see ourselves and what a darkner should be.” I just-” The boy rubs at his face. “Don’t know which one is correct.”
“Listen I can’t say that any of them are like totally one-hundred percent correct, cause well, uh, Ralsei and your dad can be… eh pretty extreme on opposite ends. You know what I say? Screw it! Combine both of the parts of their ideas you like and boom! You’ve got the best answer to your question. The ‘you’re here and alive do and be whatever you want without a care from the lightners’ from your dad and the desire to be a hero to save both worlds and there is friendship to be found in the Light World from Ralsei.” The image of a certain deer girl flash into her head. “That’s what I’m taking from their long ass speeches.” That last line gets a small giggle out of Lancer. “Sometimes you can’t just believe everything somebody says. But.. that doesn’t mean there isn’t a lesson somewhere amongst their uh, weirdness.”
Lancer nods against her chest. Seeming to be in deep thought at her words.
“But just absolutely know that you’re just as real as me or Kris, ya hear?! You walk and talk and feel emotions and- and one day, you’re gonna go to the Light World and get to go to a lame ass math class! But for now down here, continue and live as you were, or not! Who cares it’s your life!”
“It’s-it’s my life! It’s my choice. I-I can choose.” An inspired Lancer blurts out, pulling away from the hug to stare at Susie’s face. “I’m glad we met Susie and I don’t care if someone says it’s only because it’s a part of the prophecy! I triple believe we would have been friends without it!”
“Exactly! Screw the prophecy!” Susie shouts, setting the smooth stone aside to grab a much bulkier one. “And screw fate! We can act and think however we want!” With little effort she pitches the small boulder into the dark lake, watching it disturb the waters. Rippling away any sense of peace it had known.
Lancer joins in and begins tossing hand fulls of gravel into the dark body as well.
“I met an old man in the Church Dark World,” Susie reveals to him as they continue throwing rocks. “He never believed the prophecy to be as important as Ralsei makes it out to be.. he.. encouraged me to just do what I think is best. Can’t believe I let some mindless emotions make me forget what he taught me, ugh. Angel I feel stupid. But what I’m getting at! If he believe i have the ability to rewrite a prophecy, then you sure as hell can break out and do damn near anything you want too.”
“Wow, sounds wise. I think that you and him have the best idea of what darkners and lightners should be Susie.” Lancer pants. He gives Susie a sincere look. “Wish I could think as smartly as you.” He admits, Susie guffaws at his statement.
“Me smart??” She thinks back to her idea to deal with The Titans in the Church Dark World last night. “Heh, maybe I am. But hey don’t sell yourself so short, I bet your Girldad could keep making a bunch of school lesson things or teach you whatever computer wisdom she has left. Ugh just don’t become like Berdly.”
“That melodramatic bluebird was a delightful addition to the Cyber World adventure! At least I can say for certain before I was stone that is!”
“Bleh having Kris tolerate him is already too much for me to witness, having a short stack like you, uh..” Susie pauses what she’s saying as she looks to Lancer. Had he always been around that height? Well he’s still shorter than her, around Kris’ height, but she could have sworn he felt smaller when piggybacking on her. “Eh never mind, but if you become a super nerd I WILL make fun of you!”
“With my newfound future intelligence I shall unleash double unto you what you have onto me!”
“See you’re already speaking gibberish.” Susie takes the smooth stone out of her pocket and holds it up to reflect the castle light. “Oh yeah this bad boy is the one. You ready to see a true skipper at work?”
“Fuck yeah Susie!” Lancer cheers. The swear at the very beginning almost enough to cause Susie to drop the stone altogether. “What? New perspective, new darkner!” The goofy boy says with the poke of his tongue. “Uh, still don’t let the old man of mine know I said that!”
Susie grins. “I ain’t no snitch.” She doesn’t say it out loud but she hopes Lancer can feel the pride she just felt for him in her voice. “Now, behold!”
Lancer beholds indeed. To the sound of another lightner arriving just as Susie’s stone fails the first skip and instead sinks to whatever bottom there is of the lake.