Chapter 1: Susie, the Knight
Summary:
the story of a lost girl.
susie undertakes the quest to save the princess.
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
“Hey, Susie?”
As Susie set her moldy orange next to Kris’s bed for a midnight snack, her eyes darted toward Noelle, who by then was already comfortable in her sleeping bag. “Yeah?” Susie asked back.
“Could you come over here?” Noelle insisted calmly yet anxiously.
“Huh? For what? You know you can just get up outta there and…” Noelle looked disappointed, which Susie could just barely notice. Reluctantly, she plopped down on her sleeping bag next to Noelle. “Okay, what do you want? Make it quick.” Susie turned away for just a fraction of a second before facing Noelle again. “Please.”
Noelle’s eyes lightly fluttered in a way that rendered Susie unsuspecting. For a moment, she had almost forgotten what she was silently preparing herself to say. Her ears already warmed up. “Could you, um… c-could you please tell me a bedtime story?”
Susie stood up from her sleeping bag in an instant. “You want me to what?!” She blurted out in a small fit of rage. “Read you a goddamn bedtime story?! We’re not in kindergarten anymore!!!”
Still, Noelle was determined. “Come on… please?”
Susie was already making her way to the door. She still wondered what was taking Kris and Berdly so long downstairs. “No. Nuh uh. No way.”
There was a greater hint of desperation in her voice by now. “Please, Susie! I-it’s been a long day, and…” Susie turned back around. Their eyes met briefly, just before both of them looked elsewhere. “…and I’d love to spend some alone time… with you.”
Susie glanced over her shoulder at the door for another few seconds, then walked to her sleeping bag again. “Okay, alright, fine. If it’s for you, then… fine.” As she sat down again, she suddenly narrowed her eyes onto Noelle with an intense, fiery glare emanating from her yellow eyes. Her voice deepened into a snarl. “But let this be known, holiday girl: if you ever, and I mean ever, tell this to anyone else, I’ll make sure you—”
Noelle tried her hardest to suppress a blush, but it came through anyway. Susie’s glare dispersed as she finally remembered who she was talking to again, and her head instantly flicked away. “Sh-shoot, uhh… my bad, Noelle…”
Noelle flailed her hands up nervously as she spoke very quickly, “N-no, hang on! It’s alright, Susie! A-and besides I really wouldn’t mind—” She slapped her hands over her mouth to prevent further unwanted information from coming out. Once she was relaxed again, which took about another fifteen seconds, she twirled her hair and quietly muttered, “Sooooooo… a-are you going to start now?”
“Huh? Oh, yeah, right, yep, yup, huh. Just hang on a sec, I’m still thinking of what to say.” She roamed her thoughts for a few more seconds, only to envision a white void with a spinning dancing dragon. “Yeah, I got nothing. What about you? Got any ideas to start off with?”
“Susie, you don’t need to know exactly what to say for a bedtime story.” Noelle smiled at her with reassurance. “Just say whatever’s in your head right now! It doesn’t have to be good or bad, as long as it’s a story!”
Susie shifted her thoughts away from the dancing dragon and quickly conjured up her own little story to tell Noelle. “Okay.” She took a deep breath and cleared her throat. “Alright. Ready?”
Noelle tucked herself a little deeper in her sleeping bag. “Ready!”
Out in the middle of the night, there was a monster, traversing the lands covered by the dark sky. Having run from her past lives, she finally found her place as a noble knight and swordswoman in the Tomehown Kingdom.
Hey, that name sounds pretty familiar!
Yeah, heh. I wonder why.
Just that day, however, she was asked to rescue the princess. Queen Holiday already sent tens and hundreds of other recruits in an attempt to find her, yet none have been successful. They all returned, but not without a curse of some kind.
Wait, you’re not saying that…
Huh? Oh, my bad. You’re the princess.
Oh, um, okay. I thought you were going to say—wait, WHAT?!
Uhhh… I-I mean…
Princess Noelle held Susie very close to her. It was because of this that the queen would put her trust in Susie. As she continued her trot through the grass fields, wielding her trusty iron blade, she thought back to what happened just a few hours ago.
She was quick to arrive at the castle after receiving the queen’s letter. The raging thunder storm outside didn’t help at all. Her heart was already racing by the time she made it.
The doors heaved open just as the thunder boomed outside. In the middle of the long red-green carpet not too far from her, there was a white dog that was fast asleep. She knelt down and petted the dog. She was already feeling better and warmer inside. Then the queen called for her again. She got up and continued forward. A nearby guard came over and promptly moved the dog to the side.
The throne room was massive, yet so empty at the same time. Dozens of guards stood by the walls off to the sides. Torches and banners tried to hide the emptiness, but they couldn’t do much on their own. At the other end of the room were two thrones, only one occupied. Susie could already guess that the king was busy roaming the kingdom. The queen always liked to remain inside the castle.
“Susie, the Knight,” Queen Holiday said.
“Yo, what up?” Susie asked very casually, twirling her sword in her hand. The queen cleared her throat loudly. In an instant, Susie corrected herself, getting on one knee and holding her sword on the stone floor. “I mean, uh… Your Highness, you have summoned me.”
Queen Holiday glared at her. Everyone knew that her glare could burn right through a person’s skull—that was, if she had fire magic. Her glare didn’t feel as scorching as it did last time, even less than before that. “You know about the recent capture of the princess, don’t you?”
“Yes, I do indeed.”
“That is why I am enlisting you to find her and bring her back to me, safe and sound. She knows you better than anyone else. I believe you will not have much trouble in doing so.”
“Well, where the hell is she?” The queen sighed. Susie straightened herself again. “A-hem, where shall I find her?”
The queen lifted her arm and cast it to the side. A guard walked up to her, giving her a map. “You will find her location on this map. The journey there will be arduous, yet you have shown your excellent skill and swordsmanship out on the battlefield.”
Susie nodded deftly, standing up once more. “Thank you, my queen. I shall find her and bring her back to you.”
Before she could leave, the queen boomed, “Wait.” Susie froze up and slowly spun around. “Before you leave, I must tell you this. Someone else will be there, waiting for you.” The thunder crashed again, and with it came a flash of light. “They are… strong. But, do not let that get the best of you.”
She nodded again. Surely whoever that person was couldn’t be that bad. And with that, Susie was on her way.
Fast forward back to the present, and Susie crossed a river. Wait, no, scratch that, it was just a small stream of water. The wind blew her hair into her face again, but she simply blew it back into place. As she followed the trail very clearly outlined by the map (she was resisting the urge to outright eat the map, despite its very old ink stench), something came into view with the help of the moon’s guiding light. What was it?
What was it?
What… was… it…
Come on, Susie. What was it?
I, uh… don’t really know. I didn’t plan this far ahead.
Oh, no worries! Actually, could I give you an idea?
Oh, hell yeah, sure!
In the distance was an unbelievably tall stone tower. It stood past the clouds and even looked like it could reach up to the moon.
Susie looked up at the tower with hope, thinking she could finally take a bite out of the moon and take in its cheesy goodness. Just wondering what type of cheese the moon would taste like made her salivate. She had crossed many worlds, finding every single type of cheese that roamed the lands. And in the end, she could never get close enough to what she believed to be the cheese of the flawless night. But now with the help of this tower to the heavens, she would finally, finally be able to savor—
Susie?
Oh, um, yeah?
Y-you know the moon isn’t actually made of cheese, right?
…What?
Yeah, that’s just a little fairy tale trope, faha!
…
Susie, are you alright? You look like you’re… about to cry…?
H-huh? No, I’m not! What makes you think I’d ever—
Susie wiped her eyes, not because there were tears welling up, but because she needed to get a better view of the tower. The clouds above surrounded the tower, engulfing it in what looked like a whirlpool in the sky. There were endless tiny windows scattered along the walls. Vines grew out from the surrounding sky-high trees, scaling the tower with enormous, wavy green claws. The stars above formed a halo over the tower.
Then Susie saw something else in the sky. Something that wasn’t a star, or the inedible moon, or a meteorite of some kind. As it fell, Susie could see more of what it was. A pink ribbon flew freely from the top of the tower, graciously descending into the hands of whoever was out and about at a time like this. Fighting against the wind, it naturally drifted toward Susie. As it came closer, Susie closed her eyes and held her hand out to catch it…
…only for it to smack her right in the face.
“Gah! Get off of me!” she shouted not-so-valiantly. She twisted her body around, trying to remove the pink ribbon blocking her vision. She then tripped and stumbled backwards onto the wet grass.
Soon enough, she finally removed the ribbon covering her eyes. It didn’t take as long as she thought it would. On the ground next to her was another pair of pink ribbons, though these ones were a little dirty. She angrily stuffed the three ribbons in her pocket and stood up, patting down her clothes. Then, taking a few glances around, she realized she was right in front of the tower’s entrance. “What the…”
Then she composed herself again. No time to wonder about how much some things might not make sense at all. She pulled out her trusty sword and cut through some of the vines blocking the door. A large grin spawned on her face as she took a few steps back. Then, with all her speed and strength, she ran up to the wooden door and gave it a giant kick.
She expected the door to slam wide open, with super cool explosions erupting behind her and a pair of sunglasses falling right onto her eyes. What actually happened was that her foot created a large hole in the door. Susie was good at many things, but one thing she lacked a lot of the time was empathy. Well, that and good mobility. No matter how hard she tried, she wasn’t able to pull her leg back out, gathering a few small splinters in the process. Frustrated, she lifted her arm up and punched the door. Just like her foot, her arm went right through the door. She struggled to get her arm out as well, even though it seemed easier than her leg. Then she took a deep breath and pulled herself backwards, only to end up opening the door. She stared at her situation with annoyance, then continued trying to get herself free. She was trying, but her trying didn’t seem to matter if she was getting nowhere.
Just then, she heard rumbling. It was deep, and could be heard from miles away.
Oooh, what was that?
Whoops, that was my stomach.
Wait, what?
Notes:
happy juneteenth
Chapter 2: Noelle, the Princess
Summary:
what was lost is now found.
noelle is saved by and possibly shares some feelings with her hero.
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
That rumbling came and went again in Kris’s cozy bedroom. “Geez, it’s only been like, what? A couple hours?” Susie muttered, turning away from her reindeer friend.
She sighed, twisted her body toward Kris’s bed, and grabbed her moldy orange. She chucked it into her maw, gave it a single chew, and sighed again, just a little louder. She got on her feet again. “I guess I can go ask Kris about—”
“N-no!” Noelle shouted as she clutched Susie’s t-shirt. She didn’t realize how high she raised her voice until she settled back down. It startled Susie so much so that she froze in place after taking no more than two steps toward the door. Noelle’s mind started bouncing around in her head as she speedily constructed a good enough excuse for her very sudden outburst. “I-I, um… packed some food in my backpack, actually!”
“Oh, you did? Sweet!” Susie rushed over to her backpack in an instant. Noelle got out of her sleeping bag to help her. By then, Susie was minimally but noticeably hopping up and down in excitement. “What did ya bring?”
Noelle was just barely able to suppress her inner thoughts. She was being asked to share her food with Susie. Susie wanted to see what she had packed. She spent more than an hour finding the perfect snack for the two of them. She had to stop herself so many times from glancing over her shoulder.
Susie saw the bag of sour gummy worms in the big pocket. She was ready for Noelle to pull that out and tear it open, only for Noelle to open a different pocket and take out two large bags of very spicy, very crunchy, and very expensive beef jerky. Susie’s eyebrows curled in disappointment. Noelle excitedly handed one of the bags to Susie, but she didn’t feel a strong tug on the other end. “Susie?” she asked nervously. “Is something wrong?”
“Huh?” Susie snapped out of her quick despair. “N-no, nothing. Just, uh…”
Her eyes flicked to the bag of sour gummy worms that was still in her backpack. Noelle took the signal almost immediately. “O-oh! Y-you want these gummy worms?” She dug the bag out and held it in front of Susie like it was the most glorious prized possession the two had ever seen.
Susie rapidly nodded her head and smiled uncontrollably. Noelle tossed the bag up. It was airborne for less than a second before Susie caught the bag between her fangs. She tore the bag open and pulled out a single gummy worm from out of the gummy worm ball in the middle. She rolled her sleeve up and threw her mouth open, allowing the gummy worm to make a slow descent into the volcano of her mouth. Then she finally dropped it in and chewed on it for thirty whole seconds before swallowing the remains.
Noelle couldn’t stop staring at her. She felt entirely paralyzed, like Susie cast some sort of spell on her. Susie rubbed the remaining powder on her hands against her shirt. “Nothin’ like it…” she muttered, feeling self-satisfied. She set the bag on Kris’s bed. Then she flicked her head to Noelle. “Hey, what’s that in your hand?”
Before she had the chance to say anything, Susie snatched one of the bags and tore it open as well. Noelle quickly responded by trying to open hers, but she struggled to make a rip through the indestructible plastic. Before Susie dumped the entire bag into her maw, she glanced at Noelle’s sad puppy eyes. Susie took her bag, sank her teeth into the plastic, split the bag in two, and handed it back to Noelle with the faintest hint of a grin.
Susie enjoyed her hard work by spilling the beef jerky all over her tongue. But once the bag was half empty, she felt a burning sensation strike in her mouth. She clasped her jaw shut for a moment. When she opened it again, it looked as if she breathed out embers and wisps of fire with an unfathomable roar. It was a terrifying spectacle to behold for one of them, but for the other, it was a nightmare.
“Ow!! Angel, that is—agh—so damn hot!!” Susie shouted between gasps for air.
Noelle trembled as she stared down at her bag. If that was Susie’s reaction, the tough and impenetrable monster she always looked up to, how would she handle the heat?
She couldn’t falter now. All those months of spice tolerance training couldn’t go to waste. So the deer plucked out a hearty piece of jerky and carefully heaved her mouth open, all of her senses focused on the hellspawn in her hand.
There was nothing but a little tingle on her tongue, sparking not another fire but a tiny candle of confusion. She looked at Susie again, who was now intensely eyeing her bag with a little red tint in her otherwise glorious eyes.
She dug her hand through Noelle’s bag—the hole was just barely big enough for her hand to fit through—and fished out a piece of jerky before promptly devouring it. As she continued her crunching marathon, she muttered, “The hell?! Is this some kinda joke?!”
“H-huh??? No! What are you…”
In return, Noelle took a piece out of Susie’s potentially dangerous bag, snapped off a much smaller piece, and tossed it in her mouth. It may as well have left a scar on her tongue.
“Ow! Ow ow ow! OW!!!”
She spat it out and wrapped it in a tissue. She rushed to her backpack and yanked her water bottle out. She unscrewed the cap in the blink of an eye and poured the water all over her mouth in an attempt to alleviate the pain.
Once she drained the rest of her 32-ounce water bottle, she reached inside for one of the extra plastic water bottles below. It was still as frigid as ever. She furiously unscrewed the unnecessarily stubborn cap and splashed the ice cold water on her tongue.
“Do you have another one?” Susie muttered, her voice still hoarse. She looked inside and discovered another bottle. “Can I have it?” Noelle couldn’t hear what she said, but she nodded anyway. The bottle cap refused to budge. Susie’s efforts were becoming more frantic. Her intense sweating wasn’t helping at all. She couldn’t hold the tiny bottle cap in her large claws anymore.
“Help!” she shouted. “HELP!!!”
Noelle paused drinking out of her own bottle to help open Susie’s bottle. Then the two drank out of their bottles, perfectly in sync.
It didn’t take long for the pain to become a fraction of what it was before. Noelle lowered her water bottle, taking deep breaths to restabilize. Susie did the same at the exact same time. The two girls stared at each other, surrounded by the noise of them trying to catch their breath.
Noelle giggled slightly and sighed. “Gosh, we look so… so…”
“Stupid?” Susie finished.
Her laughter only grew. “Y-yeah, stupid.”
Susie shook the bottle in her hand as if to ask, “Can I keep this?” Noelle nodded with a warm smile. When Susie took another sip, the water didn’t taste as cold anymore.
“So, um, are you still hungry?” Noelle asked, crunching on the more mild jerky.
Susie tapped her hands together nervously. “Can… c-can we…” She let out a quiet grunt, then cleared her throat, then coughed once, then went into a coughing fit.
Noelle widened her eyes. “A-are you okay?!?”
Her voice sounded a lot more dry. “Yeah, I’m fine, just…” After looking away for a solid five seconds, she finally whispered, “Can we share?”
Noelle lit up, completely unable to hide her excitement. “YES!!!” Then she immediately slapped her hand against her mouth. “U-uh, I mean, yes! O-of course we can! You don’t need to ask anyway!”
Susie carefully dug two of her fingers into the bag and plucked out a small piece of jerky. She didn’t feel nearly as nervous anymore. “Thanks, Noelle.”
“N-n-no problem!!!”
She finally got the chance to taste it without her taste buds scorching. “The hell? This is really good!”
Noelle’s tongue wasn’t the only thing warming up anymore. “U-um… thanks!! I-it’s a pretty expensive brand, so…”
Susie’s enthusiasm washed away upon hearing the bad news. “Damn, makes sense.”
“D-don’t worry! I’ll make sure to buy you some whenever we hang out!”
She stopped crunching. “Wait, no, Noelle. C’mon, you don’t have to. I can make do with whatever the Sans guy has in his shop. Even if he’s kind of a jerk about it…”
Noelle pouted. “But I wanna give it to you!! It’s not like it matters that much to me anyway.” Then the two thought for a second. “Wait! How about I buy you something new to eat… every Saturday!”
Susie’s eyelids flitted up after hearing that. “Um… yeah! That works!”
Noelle smiled widely. After taking another piece of jerky, the tiny sting came back, but it was getting weaker with every piece she had.
Hey, could I jump in actually?
Jump into what?
With the story, duh!!
Oh, right! Sure, it was getting kinda boring with me doing everything.
Meanwhile, at the top of the tower was Princess Noelle. She had just released another one of her pink ribbons outside, hoping that someone, anyone, would find it and tell everyone where she was. It had already been three days, three ribbons, and nobody had come. Then came the fourth. Looking out the window brought her intense fear. Though it was too small for a person like her to climb through, she always marveled in horror and awe looking down and not seeing the ground below. Everything around her was surrounded by the deep, navy blue sky of the night.
Her focus shifted away from the window, heaving a sigh as she closed the ragged curtains. She spun around and looked at her sky-high prison once more. An old, stiff rug crunched up as her hooves lightly treaded across it. The bricks along the walls were still eroding, some chipping off. In the middle of her room was a nightstand with a single candle. She slightly winced at the thought of all the wax melting away and having to keep herself alone in the dark for however much longer she would be in the tower. Opening the dusty cabinet again, she also found her food to be dwindling, having only five more apples and a single raw egg left. She felt her stomach quietly cry, but she had to stay strong. In the corner of the room was a spider, which she named Siesu, as it reminded her of the girl of her… friendship. Though she feared it on the first day, she grew accustomed to it as she knew it wouldn’t cause any harm. She took an apple out of the cabinet and gave it to Siesu. On her bed was a ball and paddle, except the ball was ripped off, making it a string and paddle. The ball was already gone when she first found herself here, and she couldn’t find it anywhere else.
Her bed was surprisingly comfy for a setting like this. She had expected it to be as hard as a rock, as with everything else in the room, but it was perfect for her. It was so soft that she felt like she could just melt away and forget about everything for just a little bit, forget about how worried everyone was, forget about how long she’d been gone for, forget about how high above the ground she may be. Yet those thoughts always crept back whenever they found her vulnerable. She lay back down on her bed, trying to etch those thoughts out of her head.
Siesu crawled from the other side of the room to the ceiling above her bed. It danced around on the roof, conducting a little show for Noelle as she stared up. She smiled at it.
Then came a very faint rumble that shook throughout her room. Siesu landed right onto Noelle’s antlers. She slightly panicked for a moment, then composed herself again. As she sat up, she felt that rumble again pretty soon. It was slightly stronger this time, but not strong enough to move anything else. Someone or something was hitting the tower. What could it be? Was it the love of her life, finally coming to rescue her? Or was it her kidnapper, finally apprehending her and returning to take her farther away? Or maybe it was just an earthquake that could easily take the tower out in one fell swoop?
No matter what would happen, she hastily got out of her bed and got to work, trying her best to make herself seem presentable… enough. There were no mirrors, so she only had to guess how she looked. Her mother had always told her to look sharp, look her best, no matter where she was. She tied her last pink ribbon around her hair and smoothed out her wrinkled dress. Siesu tucked itself inside her long, golden hair, hidden from any newcomers. Just as she thought she did everything she could, she realized that she completely forgot to do her hair. Another panic arrived.
Alright, I got something quick before you come back in!
Oh? Well, I can’t wait to see it!
Meanwhile again, Susie was just barely able to get herself free from the broken wooden door after another few minutes. She felt like hurling another punch at it out of rage and just for good measure, but if there’s anything she learned from what she just went through, it’s that that would be a bad idea.
Exhaling deeply, she finally took a look at the interior of the tower. There was nothing more than a spiral staircase that only went up. She glanced outside again, took a deep breath, and continued up the stairs.
Slowly, she felt like she was getting somewhere. It felt both faster and slower than she had anticipated at the same time. Her boots continued to stomp on the wooden steps below her. They wobbled a very tiny bit, making her feel just a little on-edge. She looked up again, and there was still a long way to go. Maybe she wasn’t getting anywhere after all, but how did she know?
Meanwhile again again, Noelle’s last-minute adjustments were interrupted by the sound of footsteps. Though quiet at first, she could not only hear them grow louder, but feel the ground below her rumbling very subtly stronger each time. She was unable to tell if the shaking was louder than her rapid heart. She didn’t know whether to feel hopeful, afraid, confused, or a mix of all three. All she could realistically do was wait. She wasn’t as brave as Susie, or as strategic as her mother, or as friendly as her father, or as strong as…
As?
U-um… I don’t know, I… kinda forgot what I was gonna say there?
Oh, yeah. Don’t worry, it happens.
By then, every footstep caused a miniature earthquake that was exclusively contained within her small room. She stared at the knobless door that blocked her from exiting and blocked anyone else from entering. She could only assume that it also had no doorknob on the other side, as the person behind the door—who had finally let the ground reside—didn’t open the door for a solid ten seconds. The silence helped in lowering her heart rate, but only marginally. It was only until she heard a large crash that she could be sure that one: someone else was in the tower, and two: the door was definitely just a wall inside of another wall.
She shielded her eyes and turned away in fear. Whoever or whatever just broke down the door seemed strong enough to take her out with a simple tap on the shoulder, in more ways than one. Then came a voice; though others may have perceived it as danger, she thought of it as hope. A loud, raspy yet tough girl voice echoed through her room yelling, “God… damnit!” Half of Noelle’s fear evaporated as she looked at the piece of the wall that was no longer a door, and was never really a door to begin with. The empty space in her emotions made room for excitement.
A large, purple talon about twice the size of her own hand was stuck in the wood planks. It twisted and turned in every direction, not seeming close to coming loose. Noelle slowly approached it and lightly touched it with her own hand. The other monster’s hand instantly jolted backwards, crashing through the wood again. Then, in another quick flash, the entire piece of wall crashed open as a purple dragon… lizard… dinosaur…
What kind of monster are you again?
Err… dragon, I guess. ‘Cause it sounds the coolest.
…as a large, purple dragon monster rammed herself through the wood, adding a few extra splinters onto her record. Noelle stumbled backward and fell onto her back, looking up at the terrifyingly stunning monster before her. Despite her endless stream of doubts, she was right about the love of her life coming to save her.
What was that?
U-UHHHHH… NOTHING, HAHAHA!!!!!
Susie looked down at Noelle’s beautiful pink dress and gorgeous pink ribbon and luminous non-pink hair (to which Noelle subsequently began to blush). She soon brushed off that thought as she held her hand towards her. “Hey, heard you needed saving, or whatever,” she muttered with a slight grin.
Noelle’s blush grew deeper as she embraced Susie’s rough and scaly hand. By then, her nose was glowing brighter than the candle, which was odd because it wasn’t even glowing that much. She glanced back at it; the candle’s wax was gone. Then her eyes met those yellow eyes of Susie’s, glowing right back at her like a new flame. “Th-thank you… Susie…” Noelle finally whispered back with the courage that she had been mustering up for days on end.
“No problem. I would’ve done it without having to be told by your mom, anyway.”
Noelle’s fragile courage shattered instantaneously. Her bright red nose only became brighter. By now, it definitely would’ve out-shined her candle even if it was still lit. She stood frozen like a statue gazing at Susie.
Susie smiled nervously and scratched the back of her head. “So, uh… wanna get the hell outta here?”
“R-right, yes! Sorry, let me just grab everything I need first.”
“From your… jail cell???”
“Huh? No, it’s not like that at all! This is my room!”
Susie stared at the princess, dumbfounded. “You’ve been locked up in here for three days straight.” She was beginning to contemplate leaving her here.
W-wait, no, Susie!!!
There we go.
Noelle sighed, a faint longing hidden in her breath. “You know, you’re right. I… somehow kinda liked staying here for a bit. But there’s nothing like home after all.” She glanced over her shoulder at Susie, then at her room. “I’ll take just a few things, alright?”
“‘Kay, but don’t make it too long.” After a second, “Please.” And after a few more, “Your Majesty.”
Noelle perked up in surprise as she was putting on the fake angel wings on her bed. It would definitely take her longer by now, but the world itself had different plans.
The tower grumbled violently. The wood planks on the floor shrieked in agony. The bricks finally let up, chipping themselves away. Noelle turned back to Susie, holding a potted cactus with little reddish-pink flowers on it. They exchanged brief and silent looks of fear, before Susie took her arm and pulled her out of the room with a yelp.
Susie sprinted down the spiral stairs, gripping Noelle’s arm and tugging her forward. It may as well have been a miracle that the two didn’t trip and tumble down the entire staircase in their panic.
As the two kept taking endless left turns, the only thing Susie could hear other than her own heart racing was Noelle’s heavy panting. She slowed down enough to give Noelle a break. “You okay?” Susie asked, the exhaustion all over her voice too.
Noelle propped her elbow against a windowsill. Still trying and failing to catch her breath, she was about to say something, but the tower let out another roar. Out of pure instinct, Susie lifted Noelle up into her mighty muscular arms and began her hasty descent again.
Wow, uh… bet I sound so damn cool when you put it like… that…
FAHAHA, R-RIGHT?????
The tiresome sprint down was getting to them. Their hearts continued to pound, their faces flushed, and their legs were growing limp.
Pieces of the stone tower began to snap and fly off. Noelle held her hands onto her head, while Susie’s tough scales were already shielding off the tower’s pelting pebbles. Another rumble came from above, dust soon tumbling over them. Off to the side, Noelle caught a glimpse of the tower’s head crashing onto the dead grass below. Just like they could’ve been, the tower was reaching its final breath.
Nevertheless, Susie wasn’t ready to give up. She held her breath and narrowed her eyes, focusing on nothing more than the reindeer in her arms and the fragile wooden boards. Instead of trying to dodge out of the way of falling or deteriorating debris, she simply toughed it out. There was already too much going on, but she paid attention to what was the most important of them all.
Finally, she saw the door at the very bottom, still showing off its holes. She heaved it open and looked up at the sky. It was getting very dark very soon. After setting Noelle onto her feet as she let out a quiet squeal, Susie saw someone in the distance. Though the very not tasty moon lit up the knight and the princess, the person somehow remained in the shadows. The silhouette was just too far and too vague to make out. The two of them glanced at each other, then back at the mystery person not too far away. Then they turned around. A faded pink ribbon was barely visible in their hand. A piercing red eye shined at the duo.
Hey.
Wh-what the—KRIS!
Notes:
happy valentines day
Chapter 3: Kris, the Sorcerer
Summary:
maybe we’re all lost after all.
kris spins the world on its head.
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
“KRIS!” Susie shouted out of instinct. She and Noelle faced the door, but no one was there. Kris cleared their throat from behind the two. They turned back around and jumped at the sight of the human. “Damnit, you jerk! Why do you always gotta be scaring us—err, Noelle like that?!”
Kris eyed her with that cold, eyeless stare of theirs. “Sorry,” their mumbly monotonous voice dissipated the silence.
Susie’s voice immediately lowered. “No problem, it’s—wait.” She glared right at them with her big yellow eyes. Their big smile wasn’t doing them any favors. “Hey! You’re still laughing!”
They couldn’t hold it in anymore. Susie crossed her arms and let out a grunt. She would’ve done so much more if Noelle wasn’t right there. Noelle started to giggle along with them, which made Susie chuckle.
Then Kris’s face turned into an awfully serious grin. “Bedtime stories, hm?” they asked with a hint of teasing.
Noelle froze momentarily, her mouth agape. Susie glared right at the very self-satisfied human. “K-Kris?????” Noelle finally spat out. “H-h-how did you even………”
“You two were pretty loud upstairs.”
Noelle looked down at her hands with guilt. Her nose slightly lit up in a bright red shade. Susie was fuming, partially in a friendly way and partially in an ‘I am on the verge of tearing you apart limb-by-limb’ way. “AND YOU WERE JUST LISTENING TO US LIKE THAT?!?!?!?!?” she yelled.
Kris broke the silence. “It’s alright. I won’t tell anyone.”
Susie had every right to believe them, yet she couldn’t. Still side-eyeing them, she huffed a breath out and dug her hand into the bag of beef jerky.
Kris walked in a circle around her gargantuan body and sat next to her, picking up the compromised bag. They started eating out of it, innocently looking back at Susie and Noelle’s wide-eyed stares. “Yes?”
Susie snatched the bag out of their hands and shouted, “Don’t touch this one! It’s evil!”
They continued to chew. “It’s a bit hot.”
Noelle stumbled out of her sleeping bag, sat behind Kris, and held her arms around their stomach. She braced her eyes shut. She was waiting for them to make a sound or do anything that denoted discomfort.
So she was very confused when another pair of arms wrapped around her back.
She flicked her eyes open instantly. The human in front of her, now facing her, leaned in and rested their head on her shoulder.
“Kris…?” Noelle muttered.
“You smell nice,” they muttered back.
Her nose lit up. Before she could do anything to help her case, Susie also leaned in and sniffed her hair. “Damn it, they’re right!” she whispered. Noelle’s face burned.
She giggled anxiously as she patted them on the back. “Not to be rude, Kris, but… c-can you let go now? I think I need to go back to bed.”
Kris groaned roughly and quietly. Noelle pointed a confused glance at Susie, to which she shrugged. Without any other form of a response, Noelle slowly got up, carefully pulled Kris’s arms apart, and sat on her sleeping bag. Kris was left on the floor in defeat, arms and legs hanging in the air and face just a little red.
Noelle gazed at Susie with hope in her eyes. “So, about that story…”
Susie’s eyes lit up like candles. “Oh, right, sorry. Uh… hang on, I’m still thinking of—”
Kris stomped their heeled boot against the ground, rattling the earth like it was a cheap toy of theirs. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, shall we?” they asked.
W-what the hell??? Kris?!?!
Kris! I didn’t say you can just jump in like that!!!!
Rude.
Okay, fine! Just don’t do anything mean, okay?
Why are you so surprised, anyway?
“You two are the ones who came all the way out here to see me after all,” Kris muttered with a dry laugh.
Susie glared furiously at the very dumb-looking human across from her. She clutched Noelle’s shoulder and pulled her closer. Noelle let out a faint squeal.
“Give it up already,” Susie roared through her teeth. “You don’t wanna know what it’s like to mess with us.”
Kris looked down with mocking shame. “There’s been a misunderstanding.” They tilted their head to the side and glared right at them with a manic smile. “You’re not the one in control here,” they whispered menacingly. It sounded like they were suddenly right next to both of Susie’s ears at the same time.
Kris lifted their arm up above their head. A giant laser beam fired from out of their palm up to the sky, instantly shattering the moon into a million pieces. The broken fragments rained down on the Earth, crumbling into the soil and making way for deadly trees to grow. Kris began to levitate off the ground, staring down the two monsters with nothing but malice. Their eyes burned with a deep red fire. Behind them was a circle of knives, all spinning in unison with each other. Deep, dark clouds sailed in as lightning struck all around the brave swordswoman and her fearful princess. The ground beneath the two of them began to crumble, splitting them apart from each other. Below the earth’s new crevice was a gaping pit of lava. Strings of fire swirled out and flew through the open air, creating intricately peculiar yet deadly patterns. An explosion erupted right behind the distant duo; the remnants of the tower fell into the river of lava. Two giant amalgamates made of dirt and rocks rose from out of the ground. They both roared at the dragon and reindeer, launching debris in their direction. The two of them were too slow to dodge and they were caught in the hurricane of—
KRIS!!! STOP CHEATING!!!
Oh, come on, Susie. It’s all make-believe.
Doesn’t matter if you’re making everything impossible for us! It’s unfair!
I think that’s a ‘you’ problem.
Kris…
You’re no fun.
“Yeah?” Susie retorted, “Well you aren’t, either!” She snapped her fingers aggressively. Then, in what seemed like an instantaneous reaction, everything reverted to normal. The moon was intact, the tower stood tall, the earth came back together, and Kris fell from the sky and landed on the grass face-first.
“Ow,” they muttered with almost no intonation.
Susie stomped her non-heeled boot against the ground. She stared down at Kris while holding her sword over her shoulder. Kris rolled over.
“So that’s it?” they asked with fake weakness. “You’re just gonna kill me?” They let out a cough.
“Of course not,” Susie admitted. “I don’t fight for the sake of destruction. I fight for justice.”
Kris put on a genuine smile, one that spelled out a potential get-along. But that smile soon morphed into a deranged grin. They vanished from beneath Susie. As she fruitlessly looked around to find the mysterious human, someone else let out a scream. Susie whipped around, flashing a glare laced with justice at Kris.
They felt wholly unthreatened, gracefully holding Noelle with their arm around her neck. Noelle was unbelievably frail compared to her mighty savior. Susie’s muscles grew red and, looking into both Kris’s and Noelle’s eyes, her face grew redder.
Did you really have to put it like that???
Yes. I did.
NO YOU DIDN’T!!!!!
With Kris busy doing whatever they were doing, Noelle bit them on the arm as hard as she could, which wasn’t very hard. Kris still relented, releasing her and letting her scurry away to the comfort of Susie’s brawly arms.
Kris shook their arm, glancing down at it for only a split-second before dismissing it. They had more important things to focus on, anyway.
They stomped their boot against the ground again, watching as the earth trembled below them. Noelle pulled Susie closer to her, refusing to take her eyes off of Kris. Susie was surprised by the sudden gesture. “What the heck do you actually do?” Noelle snarled, taking on a voice much like her hero.
Kris giggled. “I think it goes a little like this.” They put their hand to the side. White tendrils of magic swirled in their open hand, before they snapped their fingers shut. In just a few seconds, a monochrome replica of Kris materialized right next to them. Susie’s eyes widened. Noelle nearly fainted. “Impressed?”
Susie gripped her sword tighter. “Like that’s gonna stop me!”
Kris and their clone gave the two no time to think. Both sprinted straight toward their opponents. Their clone charged at Susie while Kris left to the right to take care of Noelle.
This thing didn’t have any weapons, Susie thought while effortfully swinging her sword at the gray human. Unfortunately, there was nothing stopping it from effortlessly dodging all of her futile attacks. It smiled in that creepy way again, just like how Kris always did. That only made her angrier.
Susie slashed her sword through Kris’s clone. Her sword whiffed right through it. She looked down at her sword like it just betrayed her. Kris’s clone used the opportunity to cast more magic.
She saw its open hand out of the corner of her eye and charged at it. “Oh no you don’t!”
But something held her back before she could make it. She looked over her shoulder at her left arm, now encased in ice.
Susie began to bash the ice, but she could only break it little by little. This gave Kris’s clone the chance to retaliate. It rapid-fired magic spells and small attacks at her from a distance, just inches away from how far Susie could reach her sword. Still, she used her sword to block some of their spells and carefully weaved around others.
Meanwhile, Noelle was still running away from Kris every moment she got. They repeatedly materialized right in front of her, and she repeatedly spun in endless circles. Every time they emerged out of thin air, Noelle would instantly let out a holler and run the other way.
Then, a hand swiftly took her arm and held it still. She helplessly struggled against it.
“Who are you running from?” Kris asked with a cheer.
Noelle’s hair draped over her face like a ragged curtain. She refused to look up at them as if her life depended on it. She could practically feel their evil red smile glaring at her.
Without a reply or any hint of a response, they dragged on. “Don’t be so silly!”
Noelle let out a violent cry. She swung her body upward and hurled a fist at Kris, hitting them right in the cheek. Instead of recoiling or letting go out of sheer pain, they stood there and frowned. Noelle slowly lowered her arm as Kris began to chuckle dryly.
“Oh, Noelle.”
Before they had the chance to say anything else, there was a loud CRASH off to the side. The two turned to see Kris’s clone lying unconscious in a pile of ice shards a little ways away, and Susie sprinting right at Kris with her sword in both hands.
She swung upwards, knocking them up in the air before they subsequently fell onto the floor limply. Susie knelt down in front of Noelle. “Hey, you good?” she asked.
Noelle’s heart was worked up because of how intense the fight was, and because she was in close proximity to Susie. She nodded rapidly. “Y-y-yeah. Yes, I’m good.” As long as Susie was there, she’d always be good.
But, of course, someone else was there to take that right away from them. Kris stood back up, magic tingling on their fingertips. With soft green lights shining over their body, their scars evaporated into thin air. They summoned a sword of their own, made of pure darkness, and pointed it directly at the swordswoman.
“Is there any way we can win this!?!?” Susie shouted frustratedly.
Kris stepped slowly in her direction. In return, Susie and Noelle backed up, still desperately holding each other close.
By the way, I did mess with one of your beef jerky bags.
I knew it! You little—!
Susie!
R-right, sorry, Noelle… my bad…
C’mon, Elly. Why not just let friends be friends?
Elly?????
Are you sure she wasn’t hurting you?
She wasn’t. Trust me.
Waitwaitwait, hang on. You two already have nicknames for each other???
Um… y-yes?
No. I made it up. Just right now.
Sure ya did, pal.
I’m being serious.
(Noelle, I swear…)
I can still hear you, dumbass!!!
What else was I supposed to say, Krismas?!?
Damn, that’s good. Now I gotta make nicknames for you two. That’s gonna take way too long!
W-well, honestly, um… I really wouldn’t mind whatever you called me…?
Back to the story, please.
Let me guess. You’re only saying that so you don’t have to talk with us.
No.
Really? How would we know? How can we trust you?
The truth is…
Kris shook their head with a mocking smile. “You really can’t.”
Noelle thought she could see a glimpse of red on their face, and hear Susie whisper, “Angel damnit.” Before she could finely make out the details, a tornado started to wrap itself around Kris. Clouds crept in overhead and dimmed the night even further. A deep fog engulfed the two, with the wind in between pulling them apart.
“Noelle?!” Susie desperately called out.
“Susie!” Noelle called back.
The fog was too thick and the wind was too strong. Susie braced herself against the ground to fight back against the wind, but something was always there to knock her off balance. Something sharp swerved close to her and pierced the side of her left leg, lighting a tiny burn. Susie stumbled back, succumbing to the currents.
There were sparks of fire and poison and ice and darkness circling her and running into her every chance they got. She didn’t know how much more of it she could take. She tried her hardest to maneuver away from them, but they would always come right back at her. It was too much. It all became so numbing.
The raging wind was fading into manic laughter. She couldn’t block her ears; the roots sprouting up from the ground held her hands down. She could barely breathe; the air wanted nothing more than to see her choke. Something penetrated her mind as it did with her body.
There was nothing she could do.
…
The wind slowed down to a standstill. The roots fell back and the magic attacks ceased. Kris walked through the fog and gazed down at Susie. It looked like there was something they wanted to say to her, but their mouth remained shut.
Susie?
…
Is… is she…?
…
Kris?
I’m sorry.
I got too carried away.
It’s your turn.
…
Susie stood up in the middle of the thin fog and the light wind. She stepped toward Kris. They didn’t move or react at all; they knew what their fate was. She still wielded her sword. Her hair covered her eyes in that menacing way. They didn’t know if she was really breathing or not. She seemed so still, so sullen, so deadly.
Susie opened her hand, and down came her sword. Her hair shifted out of the way of her eyes. She threw her arm up into the air, then pointed her hand at Kris. “Why do you fight?” she asked passively.
“What…?”
“You heard me. Why do you fight?”
Kris reflected on themself. “I… don’t know. It just… feels like I have to all the time.”
Susie lowered her arm. “I know how that feels.” Then she put on a big grin. “C’mon, who ever told you that you need to fight all the time? Sometimes you just gotta focus more on yourself and what you want! Like, yeah, I’m not good with sappy stuff, but that won’t stop me from trying.
“I’ve been heckled a ton just for carrying a sword with me, and it’s definitely made me think that I’m just a rude little brat who likes killing things. But as long as you surround yourself with the right people, you can find what you really care about. Like, now I’m just the knight for this awesome kingdom, and I wouldn’t have it any other way!
“So, how ‘bout we just stop fighting here? I’ll leave it up to you.”
It only took a second for Kris to make their choice. They ran forward and pulled the towering monster into a soft hug. She was confused, but for some strange reason, she couldn’t resist it. It felt so weird being hugged by someone, even more so by her own “enemy”. The fog went away, and so did everyone’s malice.
Except for one person’s.
Noelle ran up to Kris and hit them right in the back of the head with a frying pan. Out of pure shock, Susie threw herself backwards, letting Kris topple onto the ground gracelessly.
Still huffing and puffing, Noelle looked at Susie’s bewildered gaze, then at the frying pan she was still holding onto, and she also felt extremely awkward and confused. She pocketed the frying pan anyway, just to be safe.
“You good?” Susie asked out of the blue.
“Yep!” Noelle replied. Her adrenaline rush made her unnaturally excited. And then, much more seriously, “Um… are you good?”
Susie let out a quiet sigh. “Yeah. Mostly.” Noelle tilted her head slightly. Susie stared from the corner of her eye, then looked away. “Ugh, I’m supposed to be the one looking out for you! Don’t try to switch it around!”
Noelle softly giggled. “Just making sure!”
Susie put on a little grin of her own. “Well, I guess with you here, I don’t feel as bad as I did two minutes ago.”
Noelle swerved her entire body away from Susie. “Th… th-thanks!!!”
“No problem.” Susie strolled over to Kris, still pretending to play dead on the fake dead grass. “Thanks for giving me the adventure of a lifetime, buddy.” Then she kicked them lightly. “Even though you tried to kill me and Noelle.”
They rolled over with a self-satisfied grin. “That’s what makes it more fun, is it not?” they asked.
She scoffed. “Sure, whatever you say.”
Still frowning at them, Noelle grabbed them by their long, baggy cloak. “Can we go home now?” she asked with contempt.
“Oh, right, yeah, my bad.” Susie began leading the way back home, with Noelle following by her side while dragging Kris against the ground. Susie looked over her shoulder. “Damn, if only we had more time to catch up and stuff. Sad that you’re gonna have to go to prison.”
“It won’t be that bad,” Kris replied, a hint of excitement in their voice. “The jail cells are well taken care of, plus it won’t take long for me to get promoted again.”
Susie stopped immediately. “Promoted? Again???”
Noelle felt obligated to jump in. “O-oh, right, um… s-sorry I didn’t tell you this earlier, Susie, but… this is just something we like to do?”
“WHAT?????”
“Yeah, Kris just… kidnaps me? Like once a month? And then either someone comes to save me or I fight them over it, and then… um…”
Noelle didn’t know how to continue after seeing Susie’s jaw hanging wide open.
“I’m… sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. A-and Kris really did take it a little too far this time…”
Susie clenched their cloak. “Kris,” she snarled, dropping the joking tone. “When we get back home, I am throwing you into that damn prison cell myself.”
They were too careless and proud of themself to even shrug it off. Still wearing their biggest smile in a while, they responded, “Okay.”
Susie and Noelle began to walk back home in the night, chatting back and forth. Occasionally, Kris would interject out of the blue. But Susie always immediately and jokingly shut them up. And afterwards Noelle would encourage Susie to stop being so mean to them. And Susie would argue about how they kidnapped her. And Noelle would say that there was nothing to worry about between them. And then they’d get back on track, forgetting that Kris was even there in the first place until they inevitably interjected again.
“So, where are we heading toward, my friends?” Berdly questioned.
“Going home,” Susie answered. “Can you please stop asking that?!”
“Apologies.”
Susie muttered something under her breath. After a solid fifteen seconds, she stopped. “Wait.” Noelle looked up at her with mild confusion. “WHEN THE HELL DID YOU GET HERE?!?!?”
Notes:
happy earth day