Archive of Our Own

You enter the supply closet, and fall into Castle Town.

“Welcome back Kris!” Ralsei greets you as you enter. “If you’re looking for Susie, she’s still asleep in her room. I didn’t want to wake her just yet. She went to bed… quite late.”

Kris walks through Castle Town, up to the castle. As you pass, you see various Darkners from the flower shop scattered about, and a new building. You walk up the stairs and into Susie’s room. You can hear her snoring even through the door. Kris walks up to Susie.

“Nothing’s going on yet Susie. We were just waking you up.” Ralsei explains. “Did you sleep well?”

Susie yawns. “Well, I WAS. Until a couple losers woke me up.”

“Oh, sorry Susie.”

“If you want to point us in the direction of these losers, I’ll be sure to give them a stern talking to.”

Susie laughs, and jumps out of bed. “Nah, don’t bother. They would be too stupid to understand what you’re trying to say.”

Susie and Ralsei both laugh.

“Actually, it’s kinda weird,” Susie ponders. “Since in, you know, reality, I’m just sleeping on the floor. But, I feel great!” Susie yawns. “Maybe still a little tired, though.”

“Well Susie, that would be because your body believes you were sleeping on a bed,” Ralsei explains.

“Huh? Dude, I don’t think, (yawn), I can handle weird cryptic nonsense at the moment.”

“Um, sorry. Anyway, should we get going?”

“Wait, actually. You never did finish explaining what it means that the Dark World isn’t real,” Susie notes. “Do you want to, do that? So I can finally convince you that you’re real?”

“Oh!” Ralsei startles, and then gives a resigned smile. “Of course, Susie.”

“As I said, the Dark World is… an illusion. Look at that bed, won’t you? In the Light World, in reality, there is no bed, it’s just a shadow. But in the Dark, the shadow appears as bed. And, because the shadow seems like a bed, you feel a bed, you hear a bed, and you smell a bed.”

“And taste a bed?” Susie interjects.

“Haha, yes, I suppose so. It is the same for everything in the Dark World. Your brain mistakes the shadows for buildings… for food… for weapons… even, for people.”

“But if none of those things are really here, how do we feel, like, pain?” Susie asks.

“Illusions can be powerful things,” Ralsei explains. “Even if you’re not actually hurt, if you think you should be, your body will react as if you are. If you are hit by an attack, that would surely hurt. If you are healed by a spell, that would surely stop the pain. If you are hurt too much, surely you would… die. Even if you’re in no ‘real’ danger, your body would simply… give up.”

“Wait so, if I know I’m not in any real danger, couldn’t I just… ignore the pain?”

Ralsei pauses. “Theoretically, yes. If you were to distance yourself from the illusion, it would be harder for you to get hurt. You could actually do so in the Light World as well, if you could convince yourself that even reality is just another illusion. But actually doing that can be very difficult. And even if you could, the cost… wouldn’t be worth it.”

“Well if you can even do that in the Light World as well, what makes you think you’re not real?” Susie points out.

Ralsei smiles. “Because, I can’t actually… feel anything for myself. No Darkner can.”

“What do you mean you can’t feel anything!? It seems to me like you can!”

“It, haha, certainly seems that way, doesn’t it? That’s… the point, after all. I, too, am just a shadow. A shadow your brain interprets as a person. And people surely must be able to feel things. People surely must be able to think for themselves. People surely must do things even when you aren’t looking at them. And so, you see what you think you should.”

Susie stops for a moment. “Well, why then do both me and Kris see you? If you’re all just in my head, then surely only I would be able to see you!”

“There’s, two parts to that. First, I’m not entirely in your head, I am a shadow. There’s still an anchor, something that resembles a person, for your brain to fill in the gaps.”

Ralsei turns to you. “Secondly, Kris… doesn’t see me. Not the ‘me’ that you see, anyway. Your brains both fill in the gaps in different ways. That’s simply how the Dark works. No two people’s dreams are exactly alike, after all. It even applies to the Light World, to a lesser extent. You are a different person than Kris, you have a different perspective, so your reality is different as well.”

“Then… Kris and me can both look at you. We can both talk to you, talk about you. How does that make sense, then?”

“Because, each of your reactions to me, becomes something the other can grasp onto, to try and understand me better. Both of your perceptions of the Dark World informs the other, so you see roughly the same thing in the end.”

Susie sounds like she’s starting to form a response, but doesn’t say anything. Her desperation fades, as her hair covers her eyes. “Ralsei… I don’t care what you say. I don’t care what you think. I don’t care what you know. Because, I know you’re real.”

“Susie…”

Susie’s eyes light up with determination. “No! You’re real. You have to be, it doesn’t make sense if you aren’t. Kris, back me up here.”

Ralsei looks away. “Kris… Susie… thank you. I… really appreciate it.”

“See? Knew I could talk some sense into you! Anyway, let’s get going Kris, we’ve gotta get Noelle.” Susie walks out.

Kris begins to follow her.

“Wait, Kris.”

Kris stops.

Ralsei sighs. “Susie, is wonderful, isn’t she Kris? But I’m… concerned for her. Her words are kind, and yours are as well. But, what she’s been doing lately… isn’t healthy. She’s a real person with real needs. And as much as I wish it could, my fantasy cannot fill them. I fear she’s starting to distance herself from reality. So please, will you look out for her for me?”

Ralsei walks through the door. You follow shortly after.