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Kris has a really bad idea, like a really bad one. Kris and Berdly are standing together, they were talking about where Noelle could've possibly gone. And Kris and Berdly are standing alone, together, Noelle is back down the hallway and can't see them from this angle.
"- we absolutely must find her at once! I am only saying this once Kris, and only once… We should make a truce." Oh right Berdly was talking. Welp, no time like the present.
"I can think of something better than a truce Berdly." They say, a slow smirk spreading across their face. Berdly looks suprised.
"Like wha-" Kris cuts off Berdly's speech by grabbing his face and kissing him. He squaks. It's really funny. When they pull apart, Berdly has blue lipstick on his face and his visor is lopsided.
"WHAT. Kris why- what. Huh…" He stammers placing his wings on his head like someone about to pull out their hair. Kris laughs, it's a light and bubbly sound. He looks up at them.
"You have lipstick on your beak!" Kris gasps out between giggles. He quickly rubs it off. He looks flabbergasted.
"Kris what are we?" He says his first sentence in several minutes. Kris has the urge to say gay, but that might ruin the moment. Kris, be romantic for real this time. Do not fuck this up.
"Everytime you talk it reminds me why I love you." Kris says. The soul is surprised, Berdly is surprised. Everyone in hometown would be surprised if they heard the words coming out of Kris's mouth.
But Kris has been reliving the days, or chapters, or whatever they are FOR MONTHS. And during that time they learned 2 things. 1, they do not have a lot of time to make a difference, so they need to get their point across quick. And 2, they're in love with Berdly.
Berdly's jaw drops, and he puts his wings over his face. He's muttering untintelligible nonsense.
"Kris what the fuck, are you being serious?!" He asks, peeking his eyes over his wings.
"Berdly we literally just kissed." Kris deadpans.
"Yup, right, okay." Kris laughs again at that reaction. Oh shit Noelle is waiting for them.
"Anyways you have to go find Noelle." Kris mumbles.
"Oh, yeah right.." Berdly starts, but doesn't move. Kris begins pushing him down the hallway, till he starts walking.
As Berdly walks off, Kris shouts out. "Bye pretty bird!" Then whispers, "thanks for the kiss." Kris turns back around heading to Noelle. Noelle is hiding in the alleyway, alone as queen has already left.
"Kris were you shouting something back there?"
"No." They lied.
Kris and Noelle walk through what is essentially a downtown district full of shops. But in the darkworld. Like every darkworld, there is no sky, just a black void. But the skyline, or voidline, is filled with green lights emanating from the ferris wheel in the distance, along with the rest of the florescent carnival.
After an introduction to battles, Noelle goes along sparing every darkner she can with Kris. No weird route this time. They find a ferris wheel poster.
"Wow, this ferris wheel makes the one at the festival look like a toy."
(Maybe Susie would want to ride it with you? No don't be silly Noelle)
"I think Susie would love to ride with you Noelle." Kris says instinctively.
"Fahaha, did I say that out loud?" Noelle gave a nervous laugh.
"Yes." They lied, AGAIN.
They keep walking through the town, where they find a salesman, who offers them a dress. Kris refuses, knowing that it's just a scam.
"Two young people, out alone on a school night? Perhaps I might interest you in dating shoes?" The scummy salesman asks.
"Oh me and Kris aren't like th-"
"I have a boyfriend."
Noelle looks shocked, the salesmen looks like he just won the jackpot.
"Oh? But the shoes are still valuable to you, if you really want to lock him down." The salesmen asks.
"I think he's locked down enough but thanks anyway." Kris quickly steers Noelle away from the man and back down the street, but Noelle suddenly goes still.
"WHAT. WH- I mean, what." Noelle says, quickly lowering her volume when she sees the people staring.
"Kris, since when have you had a boyfriend?"
"Since a few hours ago." Kris didn't lie this time.
"Oh, I thought you were serious."
"I am serious Noelle."
"Really, this isn't just some stupid prank like when you shook the ferris wheel when we were kids?"
"Exactly Noelle, we were kids. We're not anymore, and I'm not lying to you."
"I didn't mean to imply you were lying, just that.."
"Just what Noelle?" Kris was starting to get tired of this, the pranks I mean. Not the pranks themselves, but they way they were treated because of it. And Kris won't prank Noelle again, she doesn't have Dess to protect her anymore. Now Dess is the knight. And now they were at the Annoying Mouse Room. The first one anyway.
Noelle is standing directly in the line of fire of the mice. She's afraid of mice, and she won't get over it until the chapter ends. Kris reflects on their conversation.
Kris spams the button, releasing the mice onto Noelle.
"AAaah! Kris I'm sorry!" Exposure therapy is a bitch.
"Get out of the way Noelle." Kris ceases fire.
Kris completes the puzzle with the reflexes of something they've never done before. The pink computer mice are spinning in circles to go into the tube. Then they find the second mice room, and the keycap room that spells out December. But this time they walk in silence, instead of Noelle confiding in them.
In the third, with moving falling platforms. Berdly shows up.
"Oh, there Noelle, and K- uhm uh.. hi?" Why does he sound confused. Anyway time to mess with him.
"Smooth Berdly, real smooth." Kris chuckles.
"What are you doing here with Noelle?"
"Found her wandering around."
"All alone, she must have been scared."
"She was but Noelle is pretty formidable, and really fucking strong"
"As strong as me? M'they'dy." What the fuck is that nickname. Don't hate it, and it's not the strangest he could've come up with. Oh right he's asking them a question.
"She could kill you in seconds, she's just too much of a sweetheart not too."
"Sweetheart? And here I thought your affections were mine and mine alone?" He's trying to hide it, but Kris can hear the hurt in his voice.
"And they are, my love. My relationship with Noelle is purely platonic." Noelle is jumping from platform to platform, Kris keeps losing their progress on the puzzle, losing focus when talking to berdly.
"My love???" He makes that cute surprised face again. And Kris turns back to the puzzle, expertly weaving through with the mice before the time runs out.
"Wow, you're really good at puzzles Kris." Berdly sounds in awe when he says that. The puzzle is nearing it's end and Kris is running out of time to talk to him.
"Guess you have to go entertain Queen now." Kris is annoyed, and it shows.
"Do you not like Queen?"
"She doesn't respect you." Berdly tilts his head in silent question. The puzzle has finished and Noelle is mumbling about not being afraid of mice anymore, but the lovebirds don't notice.
"She calls you annoying, when you deserve better than that. She talks about you behind your back, says she hates you, and calls you insufferable. She avoids you at any cost."
"She's right though, isn't she. Nobody in the class likes me except Noelle."
"Nobody in the class likes you except Noelle and Me." Berdly smiles at that, there are unshed tears in his eyes. Berdly wraps his arms around Kris, hugging them. Kris freezes at first, then hugs him back.
"IS BERDLY THE BOYFRIEND YOU MENTIONED!?!?" Noelle screams at them.
"Yes" Kris sighs. Berdly is blushing violet now. And Kris blue, but they know it would be scarlet in the light world.
"Oh my angel, what the fuck. Also you said you started dating a few hours ago. How did that happen?"
"Kris kissed me, told me that they loved me, called me a pet name, and then just fucking left." Berdly responds, face less flushed now.
"Oops." Kris says with a smile.
"Kris you told me you were going to stop pranking people."
"No I said I was going to stop pranking my friends, I didn't say anything about my boyfriend." Berdly mutters boyfriend under his breath.
"Anyway we have to go and meet up with Susie and Ralsei now."
"Who's Ralsei?" Noelle and Berdly ask in unison.
Kris starts walking faster, not checking to see if their makeshift party of two is following behind them. "The prince from the dark, like from the prophecy."
"The prophecy's real" Now that one was just Berdly.
"Yes, now keep up."
They make their way to the electric carnival. The grass is made of a green microchip-esque flooring, with lights running through it. The stalls are blue and have white pinstripes and LED fairy lights hung up in them. Susie and Ralsei are standing together, sharing a cotton candy.
"Kris, Noelle, and … Berdly?" Susie shouted as she barreled towards them. Ralsei followed quickly behind.
"Susie!" Noelle shouted.
"So, who brought the fucking nerd here." Berdly's face falls.
"Susie! Be nice. He's on our side." Kris grits through their teeth. Susie makes a half-hearted apology, and Ralsei makes a cue to fanfare to signify that Berdly has joined the team.
Kris walks around to the vendors, but stops at one in particular. The tea stand. Kris buys one of each tea, giving Noelle and Susie's to each other, Ralsei his own, and Berdly the Kris tea. None of them know what it is, but each drink it without question.
"Kris this is kinda nasty.." Ralsei says, he only gained 20 hp from that.
"Wow Ralsei, didn't know you hated yourself."
"What?"
"Well each tea is a reflection of the person they're about, and I gave you yours."
"Maybe the vendor doesn't know me the way they think they do." Ralsei snipes back. Damn Ralsei grew a backbone before chapter 5. If Queen was here she'd say "lol" but then she would kidnap Noelle, so.
Berdly chugs his tea. "Which one did you give me Kris?" he asks, innocently.
"Mine." He looks suprised.
Susie pipes up this time. "And what about mine, it's super good."
"Noelles."
"Damn Noelle you taste pretty good. I mean- wait; but like not in a weird way; just the tea, which is based after you; tastes really good." Noelles hair stands on end, which is very apparent, given that she has fur.
"Well if you were given mine, then I was probably given yours which tastes pretty good too!"
"You are correct Noelle" Kris says. Kris is lucky that Susie is so clueless, or else she would've noticed Kris silently handing Berdly another Kris Tea, and him chugging it instantly. And Noelle is too busy flirting with Susie to notice. Ralsei does though, and he smiles at them both.
(Young love.) Ralsei's thoughts meet Kris ears. God damn it he clocked my shit.
Anyway, Kris drags Susie, Noelle, Ralsei, and Berdly up a fuck-ton of stairs, only to leave Noelle and Berdly at the top to go back down to ride 3 teacups up. Usually Kris would be adverse to leaving their boyfriend with someone elses (future) girlfriend, but those two are gay as fuck.
Then there is what Kris likes to call "Annoying Mouse Room 4" Kris cannot be bothered to learn if that is it's official name or not, but that's what we're calling it.
Kris grabs mice, walks a short distance, and places them in a box. But then, you need 20 mice to pass, and it's a hell of a mechanism to trigger it. You press a button, and a balloon come out tied around a mouse, you stand on a pressure place, and a laser pops the balloon, and you have the catch the mice in a bucket.
Noelle comes up with the genius idea of having Ralsei press the button, Susie presses the plate, and Kris catch the Mice.
"Don't worry Berdly, you and Noelle can just sit there and look pretty!" Kris calls out to them. Noelle laughs, and Berdly blushes and hides his face in his feathers.
They make quick work of the puzzle when working as a team, and finally they're just walking all together, finally content.
Queen strikes and kidnaps Noelle, Kris and Susie, forgetting about Ralsei. Kris had whispered to Berdly to play along with her games so he doesn't go to jail.
"Oh Burghely. You Impress Me. You Lead Them Right To Me. Noelle Honey Why Did You Leave. The World Is Specifically Calibrated To You." Queen says.
"It's Berdly" He says dryly.
"Whatever"
Noelle is locked in a tower, while Kris and Susie are locked in the prisons in Queen's mansion. But Lancer didn't have to come to Kris and Susie's rescue, because Berdly was there. He got them out of the prison quickly, and as always joined them in the colored light puzzles.
But this time he didn't have that speech about wanting to be the smartest person in the class like he usually does. Which means he didn't endear himself to Susie, if such a thing were possible.
Berdly makes the plan for Susie and Ralsei to work together to get to the top of the tower to Noelle, while he and Kris try to fight Queen on their own.
They make their way up the tower together. Kris didn't have to explain fighting to Berdly, but they did have to explain sparing to him. It finally sunk in when they mentioned being on a pacifist route. They guess he understands video game language better than regular. Which is strange given that he works at the Librarby.
When Kris, Berdly, Ralsei, Susie, and Noelle appear at the top at the same time. They decide to take down Queen together. Berdly still gets his arm injured by the plug, fending off the wires. But he wasn't under Queen's control this time.
They don't even need their creation from chapter 1. The machine to thrash your own ass, trademarked by Lancer Industries, was never used. By the power of friendship or some stupid shit like that, they defeated Queen, and Giga-Queen all on their own.
A party of 5 instead of 3.
After Kris closes the dark fountain, they all wake up in the computer lab of the Librarby. Noelle and Berdly both looked confused, and Susie tells them it's just a dream. Noelle laughs, and mutters about some ferris wheel ride with Susie. And Berdly frowns, and stays silent.
Noelle checks the time and rushes out without saying anything, Last time she said she was late before leaving, luckily she didn't alert Berdly of the time, so he won't try to leave quickly.
"Susie, go check on Noelle." Susie nods, and runs after Noelle. Leaving Kris and Berdly alone together.
"Is your arm okay?"
"Huh?"
"Your arm, is it okay. You burned it pretty bad when you hit Queens plugs, and we didn't have time to heal you in the dark world."
"The dark world? So it wasn't just a dream?" There are tears in his eyes.
"You thought you had dreamt me confessing my love for you and calling you my boyfriend?"
"That possibility seemed more likely than the fact that the prophecy is real."
"Oh so you're an atheist dating a hero of your towns religion."
"You're a hero of the prophecy? Also we're dating"
"You asked what we were, I say we're dating. Also yeah, the 'cage with human parts and soul' is me." Berdly stands up, and tries to hold Kris's hand. His arm doesn't move.
"Maybe we should go to the hospital.." Kris begins.
"Yeah definitely."