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Susie wasn't exactly sure what she had expected.
The glowing red heart floating gently in amongst the rustic iron bars of the bird cage was admittedly not what she had in mind.
It pulsed a gentle red glow, visibly beating with life. It honestly felt a bit surreal to be looking at it so closely. Susie hadn't really been able to get a good look at it until now, only seeing it in glimpses during battles or whenever Kris summoned it to seal the fountains.
She glanced at Kris on the other side of the room, hunched over their knees and glaring at the SOUL from the far corner of their bed. Their eyes briefly flickered towards her, but she quickly tore her gaze away before they could notice her staring.
In retrospect, Kris had been acting a little odd this morning, so she really should have suspected that something was up. In her defense, Susie didn't think any amount of warning would have prepared her to see her friend's SOUL casually hovering inside a bird cage like some exotic pet. She thinks her earlier freak out was pretty justified considering the circumstances, and Kris's general nonchalance about the whole situation didn't help the matter either. Now she just sat cross-legged in front of the red wagon, eyeing the very culmination of Kris's being. Supposedly, that is.
"So, uh, is it supposed to do something or...?"
The SOUL seemed to pulse a little brighter in response to Susie's voice. She didn't know how to feel about that.
"It can't do anything when it's in there."
Kris's voice was mumbly and weak, which only added to Susie's uneasiness. Kris hadn't exactly been overly forthcoming with the associated effects of having their SOUL outside of their body, but Susie wasn't blind. Their face was pale and clammy, and even from her position on the floor, she could see their form trembling ever so slightly. In all honesty, Susie wasn't sure whether she wanted to know why Kris was willing to put up with such a physical toll in order to be separated from their SOUL.
She adjusted herself tentatively on the floor. "So, are you going to put it back?"
Kris remained silent, apart from their laboured and uneven breaths. Susie decided it was probably best not to push it for now.
She leaned a little closer to the bird cage, reaching out and gently tapping an iron bar with her claw. She could see Kris visibly tense up from the corner of her eye in response.
"It doesn't seem so bad."
After another lack of response, Susie glanced up. Kris's gaze continued to bore into the SOUL, their body tensed in a way that only exaggerated the shivers wracking their body. Judging from their almost vacant look, it seemed like they didn't even notice that Susie spoke.
Giving the SOUL one last glance, Susie stood up and, after a moment's debate, covered the birdcage with the nearby sheet before shuffling over to Kris. She eased onto the bed, leaning back against the headboard and looking over at Kris. They hadn't moved to acknowledge them at all, still shoved up against the corner between the wall and their bed, eyeing the covered birdcage as if waiting for it to strike. Susie glanced down at her hands as she rung them together, questions upon questions racing through her mind but dying immediately on her tongue. She was honestly completely lost on how to approach this.
"Did you, uh, want to talk about it?" Susie cringed at her obvious awkwardness, and vaguely wished that Ralsei was here right now instead. He was always better at all the emotional stuff compared to her. She didn't feel like she had the ability to navigate such a tentative situation like this.
But Kris was her friend dammit, so she was going to try.
At Kris's persistent silence, she gently nudged them with her elbow. They seemed to blink rapidly to themselves, looking up at her as if only noticing now that she was there. Their eyes met her's briefly, bangs parting ever so slightly to reveal a hint of red, before quickly ducking their head down again.
Angel above, how was she supposed to do this?
Susie let out a sigh and went to open her mouth again before a quiet, almost timid voice interrupted her.
"It controls me."
Susie angled her head towards Kris. She held her breath, fearing that any sudden movement or sound would cause Kris to close up again. She waited for them to continue.
"When it's," Kris waved vaguely towards their chest. "Inside. It controls me. Tells me what to say. Where to go. What to do."
They lifted up their gaze from their lap, their tone bitter as they locked eyes on the birdcage again. "It's that thing you're friends with, not me."
Susie vaguely remembered something that Noelle said when she was at her house. Something about Kris not acting like their usual self? Was this what she was referring to? Did she know about the SOUL?
Susie pondered this. The SOUL controlling everything that Kris does? Somehow that didn't sit right with her. She thought back through all of her interactions with Kris over the past few days. Surely not all of those were dictated by some otherworldly being. If Kris really believed that, then why show her the SOUL at all?
She needed more information.
Susie shifted around to sit cross legged in front of Kris, blocking their view of the covered bird cage. "How does it control you exactly?"
Kris flicked their eyes to hers hesitantly, before letting out a deep sigh and resting their chin on their knees. Their gaze wandered to the wall beside Susie's head. "I don't really know," they mumbled. "Sometimes it'll make me say things I don't want to, or it'll force me to wander around and examine different things, as if searching for something." Kris's gaze briefly hardened. "Or it'll make me talk to people, like that stupid janitor guy from the grocery store."
Susie winced ever so slightly at that. Given the events of last night, she can hardly blame Kris for having that be a sore spot for them. A brief flicker of guilt licked at her insides, but she pushed it down. It wasn't the time for that.
She briefly considered what Kris said. "You're talking to me though."
"Huh?" Kris turned their head towards her again, and through a tiny part in their hair, she could see the space in between their eyebrows was wrinkled in confusion.
"You don't have the SOUL right now, but you're talking to me."
Kris stammered, their face flushing a light pink. Susie cackled and leaned over to ruffle their hair. Kris smacked her hand away, their piercing scarlet glare evident through their tousled bangs. They huffed lightly, crossing their arms over their chest and leaning back against the headboard.
"Well, you're not awful to talk to I suppose," Kris murmured under their breath.
Susie grinned, noting in amusement their refusal to make eye contact. "Likewise, dumbass."
Kris glanced at Susie, a small smile gracing their face ever so briefly, before disappearing just as quickly. Susie already missed the easy camaraderie. She huffed a sigh, moving back to lean against the headboard next to Kris. After a moment's hesitation, she rested her head on top of theirs, the smell of apples flooding her senses. She felt them tense slightly under her, before settling under her weight.
"Look dude, I'm not gonna lie and say I understand what you're going through," she said, absentmindedly fiddling with the sheet under her claws. "But that doesn't mean I'm going anywhere."
Kris stilled under her, as if holding their breath. Susie took their silence as permission to continue.
"I don't believe that everything was a lie." She sheepishly huffed a laugh. "Call it a gut feeling I suppose, but I like to think that some parts of the real you make it through the cracks. And even if they didn't, well," Susie's hand idly found Kris's, and she laced them together. Their hands were calloused and rough and so small between her own. "So far I'm liking this version of Kris. I think I'd enjoy getting to know them."
Susie lifted her head to look down at Kris. Their hair had parted to reveal their wide eyes searching Susie's face. Her smile was wide and probably ridiculous, but it never felt more genuine. Their cheeks were still dusted a light pink as they offered her a gentle smile in return. Her eyes roved across their face, taking the opportunity to admire Kris up close. Now that she thought about it, this was probably the closest she'd been to a human in general, let alone Kris themself. Their features were so strange, unlike any monster she'd encountered before. How were they supposed to breathe with such tiny nostrils? And how does their skin manage to stay so smooth? She glanced down towards their lips, fascinated. Damn, what was it like having lips? Were they as soft as they looked? Curious, she reached up a hand to gently move their hair away from their face-
Kris's eyes widened minutely, and it was at that moment with startling clarity that Susie realised the compromising position she had put herself in. She all but launched herself off the bed, clearing her throat and trying to fight down the flush on her face. "A-anyway, we're gonna be late to the festival now dumbass, so you better stop moping about and hurry up so we don't keep Noelle waiting."
Susie sped towards the doorway, but she hesitated at the threshold. After glancing briefly towards the covered birdcage, she spared a look back towards Kris.
"I'll meet you downstairs, okay?"
Kris hesitated before giving a short nod. Susie held their gaze for a moment, one hand on the doorknob, before closing it behind her and making her way down the stairs.
When Kris came back out of the bedroom, it was with the stiff posture and stride that Susie now understood as the SOUL's influence. Together, they strolled throughout the house again, opening every drawer and examining every little thing. When Susie asked a question, Kris responded with a clear and monotonous voice. When they wandered into town, they made sure to strike up a conversation with everyone they came across, with Susie following close behind. From a distance, it seemed like the SOUL and Kris were one and the same. But under that mop of messy, overgrown bangs, Susie saw a glimpse of Kris's eyes.
They say the eyes are a window to the soul, but there was no influence of the SOUL in Kris's eyes.
No. All Susie saw was Kris.
She smiled at Kris, and it was Kris who smiled back.