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Seconds, minutes, hours, days.
Time was an illusion, at least to Susie. It wasn’t a physical thing she could hold in between her claws, nor something she could control or deviate from (which pissed her off). It was kinda just… there, dictating the course of her entire life like prophecies and gods. Except this wasn’t a prophecy she could break free of.
Weeks, months, years, decades.
Hours could feel like seconds, and seconds could feel like years. All that time was was just numbers and words that forced Susie along a path she couldn’t walk away from. But maybe she could manipulate it to make her future the way she wanted.
She was sitting by Sans’ cart, waiting for the ice cream to be ready. Susie kicked her feet at rocks on the pavement, trying to distract herself from the sinking feeling in her stomach. Something was wrong, but she couldn’t pinpoint it. Why was this taking so long?
Centuries, eras, millennium, eons.
”Ice cream will be ready in about five more minutes, kid.”
”Finally. If you took any longer, I think I would’ve keeled over and died,” Susie grumbled. It had only been maybe two minutes, but two minutes is a long time when you’re hungry and trying to figure out what exactly you’re worried about. Thinking is hard.
”You seem pretty distracted.”
”Oh yeah? And what makes you say that?” Susie snapped.
”Well, usually you’re yelling more insults at me,” he said thoughtfully. Shit. He knows.
”Yeah well maybe I’m a changed woman!” Susie snapped, and Sans chucked, chuckled that stupid fucking chuckle of his that always made Susie want to tear his nonexistent throat out.
”Why the hell are you are you laughing at my despair!” Susie said angrily.
”I thought nothing is wrong.”
”NOTHING IS WRONG!” Susie always hated how the guy did that shit. Tricked her into saying stuff. Stupid ass skeleton.
“Fine, fine, I’m just saying.”
Silence.
”I… if something was… hypothetically wrong, with me, but I don’t know what I’m worried about… what would I do? Hypothetically of course.”
”I’m glad you asked,” Sans hummed. “Personally I would stop worrying and do something about it.”
”Even if you don’t know why you’re worried?”
”Time is precious, kid. Every second you waste worrying, someone could be hurt and dying. You’ll figure it out on the way, most times.”
”…huh,” Susie said.
”Yeah. But even so, it doesn’t always matter. Sometimes, time has its own plans for us. And we can’t avoid them or change ‘em, no matter how hard you try. Don’t feel too guilty,” Sans said.
”Wow. That was actually good advice for once. Thanks.”
”No problem. The ice cream is will be ready in five minutes.”
”WHA- YOU SAID THAT LIKE 3 MINUTES AGO!” Susie groaned.
”Uh huh. It hasn’t been five minutes yet,” Sans replied. “So it’s still five minutes until it’s done.”
”That makes literally no sense,” Susie fumed, going back to kicking stray rocks. “Whatever.”
Seconds, minutes, hours, days.
”Kris? Noelle? I’m back!” Susie exclaimed, scanning the area for the two childhood friends, yet they were no where to be seen. Surely Kris would come scrambling back at the promise of food?
”I’m gonna have to finish this ice cream without you if you don’t hurry up!” Nothing. Dread wiggled its way into Susie’s mind. The worry. The feeling of missing something. She was running out of time. It was dribbling in between Susie’s claws, just like the ice creams melting in her hands. She was drowning, sinking into her suffocating fears, too heavy even for her strength.
”Kris!? Noelle?!” Desperation set in. Something was wrong. So, so very wrong. It churned in her stomach, crawled up her throat, creeped along her back.
Then she them, floating in the lake. A familiar green sweater and a vest with Christmas patterns bobbing gently in the small waves. That’s when she realized they were limp and face down in the water.
The ice creams now lay forgotten in the dirt, the clock laughing in Susie’s face as it slowly carried Kris and Noelle farther away…
Weeks, months, years, decades.
“KRIS?! NOELLE?!” Susie couldn’t breathe anymore. Just like how they weren’t. Just like how their chests weren’t moving in the familiar way that they should. How Noelle’s eyes weren’t shining like they should, Kris’ hair not hiding their eyes like it should, instead plastered to their forehead. Noelle’s eyes dull and lifeless, the love they once held dampened, literally. Asgore and some other residents leaning over them, desperately trying to get them to breathe again. She hadn’t been fast enough.
”I wonder if Susie can swim,” Kris said, their hair floating around them in the hot tub.
”I, um… I don’t know,” Ralsei replied, a little taken aback. Obviously they’d been talking about something more important before, and the change of topic startled Ralsei a bit. Susie grinned to herself. This was her que.
”CANNONBALL!” She yelled, plunging right into the water. Ralsei had water all over his glasses, and Kris was starfish on their back, cackling.
”I guess that answers your question, Kris!” Ralsei laughed. Susie didn’t dare tell them that she was simply tall enough to touch the ground.
Susie, instead of calling for help, had dove into the water upon seeing their lifeless bodies floating on the lake, despite not even knowing how to swim. Not like she should.
Kris wasn’t there to make fun of her sloppy swimming. Noelle wasn’t there to guide Susie’s strokes. But Susie’s feet could still kick, walk, run, and propel her forward with all the strength she has, unlike theirs.
The clock was cackling, ringing in Susie’s ears. You’re too late. It’s been too long. They’re dead, and it’s your fault. And soon, you’ll be joining them.
Water filled her lungs, seeped into her nose, and blinded her eyes, ruthless and unforgiving, entering all of the wrong places. She was drowning. It was almost like the lake itself didn’t want Susie to save her friends. Almost like it didn’t matter she’d even tried. Was this how it felt for them? To drown?
No, she heaved. Because they haven’t drowned. The laughing got louder.
Centuries, eras, millennium, eons.
Two mothers and a father, mourning their two dead children while an entire town looked on. One child a pale an empty shell, the other dust in the wind, the blindingly colorful sky framing the scene in a morbidly beautiful way. A photograph that would stay in the album of Susie’s memories for the rest of her life.
”Isn’t the sunset beautiful, Kris?” Ralsei smiled, the pink and gold sunlight reflecting off of his glasses.
”Reminds me of home,” Kris said. Susie nodded in agreement, but not without a quip attached to the end.
”I’m surprised you even witnessed the sunset in the first place. You were asleep, like, the whole time,” Susie snickered.
”Be glad I even woke up. You and Noelle were being such saps it almost killed me,” Kris snorted, to which Ralsei looked mortified about. Susie just punched them lightly in the arm, laughing.
”Oh, shut up. No dying on me, Kris.”
”No promises.”
”NO! LET ME GO!” Susie sobbed, as someone pulled her coughing and spluttering out of the water, lungs heaving as the liquid poured out. Turning, for a second she thought it was Ralsei pulling her out of the Lake. For a second, she thought it was dream. A nightmare that Susie would wake up from. It was enough time for Asgore to throw her into the shallows, the crashing water knocking her out of her stupor. Arms pulled her further away and onto the shore, and she thrashed in their hold, violently beating her legs in the golden liquid.
”It’s alright, Susie, it’s okay,” a voice coaxed, one that was unfamiliar but felt recognizable at the same time. She wheezed again, turning over on her hands and knees to retch up more of the lake water, salty tears mixed in with the liquid death.
”I have to go back,” Susie choked out. “Please.” Susie was drowning again, the guilt even more deadly than the lake. She needed Kris to wake up again and for Noelle to smile, for nothing to change, for choices not to matter. Except they did. Every goddamn decision had meant something, and Susie had used all of her time to make the wrong ones. And now look where she’d ended up.
Seconds and minutes, hours and days. Everything will change.
”YOU! This is all YOUR FAULT!” Carol screamed, aggressively taking Susie by the shoulders. Susie winced, tears streaming down her cheeks, hiccuping slightly.
”CAROL, STOP THIS!” Toriel shrieked. “BLAMING AN INNOCENT CHILD WON’T BRING OUR CHILDREN BACK!” Susie whimpered, crying even harder, but not because of the screaming women in front of her, but because Toriel was wrong. Susie wasn’t innocent. This was all her fault. She didn’t need Carol to know it.
She’d left the two alone in Noelle’s room back at the holiday house, leaving them to talk. Kris had been weird the rest of the day, but Susie had left them alone, not wanting to upset them further. But maybe if she’d asked, maybe if she’d actually cared about her own fucking friend, they’d still be there in front her.
Susie had known something was wrong with Kris when they didn’t want to crawl out of bed. Noticed they looked more empty and… sad. But she didn’t ask, again. And now Kris was dead, and she’d never know the reason why, because she’d tried to hard to change the future, she didn’t see the what had been happening in the now.
”It’s okay, Ms. Toriel,” Susie whispered, startling the two grieving mothers. “It is my fault.”
”Oh, Susie…”
“The girl admits it,” Carol glared. “She killed our children!”
”Would you take responsibility for ONCE, CAROL?” Toriel yelled. “We did nothing for our children, Carol. Nothing! And we were their mothers, Carol, Mothers! Blaming this on an innocent girl, who actually brought some joy into our children’s lives, is just you trying to deny how terrible of parent you are!”
The air was thick with anger and guilt and grief, in which Susie found herself drowning again, the poisonous oxygen polluting her lungs and strangling her brain, pulling her deeper into the depths of her mind.
The words made sense somewhere, Noelle describing how she was surprised her mother even let her leave the house. The look on Kris’ face when they found Toriel, drunk, dancing in their living room with fucking Sans the skeleton. They’d been hurting, had been hurt by their own family. Something Susie knew all too much about from her own experiences. But she didn’t do anything. Just stood there, being a Susie, since that’s who she was and the only thing she could be. A friend, who failed to do the one thing they were meant for. An ugly, purple idiot with no love for herself anymore.
“We’re going to change the prophecy, Kris. I just know we will.” Susie said, squeezing her hand into a fist to keep it from trembling.
”You think so?”
”Of course, you idiot. You’re my best friend.” Kris glanced up at Susie, a ghost of a smile on their face.
”I think I’d like that.”
Susie didn’t know where she was, just that everything hurt and she was bleeding from a multitude of small cuts all over her body. She was drowning again, the valuable particles in the air not circulating through her organs quick enough. It was a burning sensation, spreading like wildfire through her throat and stomach, and Susie wondered if this is what a sip of Queen’s battery acid would feel like.
she thought she heard someone calling her name, but Susie knew it didn’t matter anymore, since there was nobody left that would really care she was around.
At least, in this world.
”Susie! You’re back!!” Ralsei exclaimed. “So soon, too. We expected you to be gone much longer… I… Susie?” A small paw touched her shoulder.
”Oh my goodness, Susie, you’re bleeding! What happened to you?” A burst of healing energy burst from the prince’s hands, concern filling his big eyes. Susie’s hands were trembling. Ralsei’s voice went soft. ”Susie… where’s Kris?”
Something snapped inside of her.
”They broke the prophecy, Ralsei. Kris broke the prophecy,” Susie said, voice cracking. Tears slipped down her cheeks and snaked in between her claws. “Noelle and Kris… they were just… just…” She couldn’t find the words, but from the looks of Ralsei’s tear-stained fur, he got the gist of it.
”Oh my goodness… Kris, no…” Ralsei sobbed, and wrapped his paws around Susie into the tightest hug imaginable.
”Sorry for ruining your prophecy,” Susie whispered.
”I don’t care about those stupid words on paper anymore. I only care about protecting you from now on,” Ralsei said through tears, pulling Susie closer. “My best friend.”
For the last time that day, Susie was drowning. Drowning in unkept promises, false hopes and Ralsei’s soft fur.
Time was a cruel and twisted thing. No matter how hard Susie tried to go off its track, it always pulled her back and put her on a more cruel and twisted path than before. It wasn’t a prophecy she could break free from. So maybe she should just stop fighting at all.
And the clock laughed.