Chapter Text
Kris always looked at Susie in a weird way. She couldn’t really ask anyone else if they saw, people didn’t really talk to her, but the way they looked at others, it was just a bit more normal. Well, partially because they didn’t look at others. So much time spent sleeping, staring at the blackboard, or just bobbing their head from side to side. Which was pretty creepy when their expression was stock-still.
So yeah, when their red-ass eyes were on her, that was kinda creepy. They weren’t fleeting glances either, just straight-up staring at her sometimes. It started after she… Well, threatened them for the first time, to be blunt, but it wasn’t angry or scared. Just…
Ah, fuck if she knew. She knew how people thought, but Kris was a bit weirder than ‘people’. Calling them a person felt a bit much sometimes.
So, maybe she felt pretty justified about slamming them into the locker that day. Accusing them of ratting her out. Telling them to do her homework, threatening to eat their face.
They took a step back, but their face just didn’t change. Their eyes made it look like they were just… fine , with all of this. Didn’t bother replying, didn’t bother resisting her, or really do anything that made her consider them a living being.
A lovely mom, a nice house, all the care in the world, and this was what it resulted in. Pathetic. Ungrateful.
Whatever.
They followed along thoughtlessly, towards a closet that was more than a little freaky. Watching the darkness spill from that place like it was light, that wasn’t exactly normal. Even Kris seemed to show concern at the sight of it, but pulling them along wasn’t too hard.
Maybe it’d been a mistake. Then again, it’s a fuckin’ closet, who cares if it’s dark?
So dark she couldn’t see the floor under her. And when the door slammed shut behind them, not echoing like she expected… there was nothing left to see at all. Now, she knew that didn’t mean nothing existed, but the world around her hadn’t gotten the memo. ‘Cause she was falling.
So, there she was. ‘There’, a point inbetween nowhere and everywhere. Creepy-ass place, gray rocks and cliffs, weirdly smooth slides down, and… giant dust bunnies? She’d thought it was chalk at first, but they poofed and burst on touch. Unless she was careful—and the noise it made, yuck, better to walk around them.
This stayed the plan, until she heard footsteps. Light, but accompanied with metallic clanking. Not the stuff you got from bangles and jewelry, this felt like… armor?
Well, she was wearing a banger outfit right now, if she said so herself, probably made sense that others here would too. Still, she wasn’t gonna stay around for some fucker in armor to find her! Hiding in one of the dust bunnies proved possible enough, but-
Poof!
The dust burst around her and she reared back her fist to strike at-
Oh, it was just Kris.
Wait, was it?
Okay, her brain told her it was Kris. They had the same hair as Kris, the same wiry stature, and those weird eyes peeking through their bangs, but they looked like, way different. She got the cool clothes and brighter scales, but she was still purple! Kris just turned blue!
Okay, first elephant in the room down. Second: they were a short-arse now. More than usual, they usually only reached her chest in height, now they barely peeked out over her waist. Made them look like one of those ghost kids from The Gloaming, which she wished she’d seen.
They were wearing armor, at least. Metal boots, a chestplate, a scarf, and gauntlets. Looked pretty cool. The bodysuit under it drew her attention a little more, though. It was tight, darkly-coloured, but kinda see-through. Their belly button was visible, their collarbone too. And, while she hadn’t meant to, her eyes wandered down to confirm that the… everything else was visible too.
Goddamn weird, by the way! Who decided to put a kid in clothes like this? Especially with the way it was outlining their pussy!
Speaking of, she just lost a bet with herself. Yeah, weird thing to bet on, but she was planning to kick them there at some point, alright?! Code of honour, jeez.
“K-kris?!”
Call it… three seconds at most, until she reacts. Thoughts moved in and out of order, but she still felt like she handled it well, all things considered. Threatening them, asking them if they can even walk on those thin legs, that kinda thing.
Kris, as usual, didn’t really respond.
“Also, why are you like…” A gesture to their height, to their more rounded face, “a kid, I guess? What’s up with that.”
A smile, a bit wider than she appreciated. They didn’t respond immediately, only giving a shrug before mouthing some words that sounded like… ‘I like it’?
Weirdo.
Still, she wasn’t gonna let them walk around like that. Before they walked too far ahead, she took off her jacket and threw it over them.
“Put this on, freak,” she told them with a glare, “Dunno what’s going on here, but if this place makes you look like that, I don’t trust it. C’mon.”
Kris… pouted at her, puffing up their cheeks, but putting on the jacket nonetheless. It looked comically big on them, which did mean they weren’t walking around with their whole pussy out, so she considered it a win.
Her previous jabs didn’t really hold much weight now. Kris was way slower at this size but she’d look stupid for calling attention to that. And sure, she was stupid, but not stupid enough to bully a child—that didn’t mean anything.
Still annoyingly slow, but she kept her maw shut as they continued on through these areas, ignoring the absolutely dizzying heights around them. She couldn’t see the bottom of these cliffs, which freaked her out a little, but luckily there was plenty to distract her: a weirdo on a higher platform, for one.
“What’s up with that one?” She asked, squinting, “Looks like they’re trying to wave?”
Kris tilted their head, unsure what to think.
The silhouette’s lifted hand started glowing, and with it came weird… things, like those symbols on playing cards. The time she had to give them a name wasn’t a lot, quickly becoming the time she needed to sidestep a projectile .
“Crap! Kris, c’mon!”
She starts running and hears Kris following as a rain of spades (that’s the name!) covered them. They didn’t hurt a lot , but they still stung every time they touched her. She got far enough ahead that she could see a slope, something leading to cover, but… Kris had fallen behind.
Normally she wouldn’t care, her life seemed to be on the line and Kris could choke. But, as before…
Well, to be polite to her public image, let’s just say she didn’t want to lose her jacket this early.
So, she turned around and ran back towards Kris, who was desperately trying to dodge and run at the same time with their small body. Dextrous, yes, but not fast enough to keep up.
“Dumbass!” She shouted at them, body-blocking another spade before scooping them up and redoubling her escape. They were light as a feather, barely slowing her down even with armor as she jumped onto the slope and slid down like a master surfer.
Not long after, the attack seemed to stop. Kris had clung onto her the whole way down, probably terrified like the wimp they were. She didn’t know what to think about that, but moved to put them down anyway. Probably would find it scary to be stuck in her arms, you know?
“Need a plan for next time,” she mumbled, “can’t have you die like a dumbass. C’mon.”
Kris nodded, mumbling a ‘thank you’ under their breath as they followed her.
“Don’t mention it—seriously.”
No response, thankfully, letting them wander on into the… town? Inside of a supply closet. Ghost town in two ways, ‘cause no one was there, but they were still whole-ass buildings in the yard of a true-blue castle. All night-dark brick and star-glistening mortar, a spooky presence that reminded her of those castle chase slasher movies.
Only one way to go here, right? Past the gates, and…
“Welcome, heroes!”
A muffled, dramatic voice called out. Its tone petered out towards the end, but Susie took her axe out anyway.
“Who’s there?!”
“Don’t be alarmed, I’m not your enemy. Please, step forward…”
A cloaked figure, whose cloak did not help them look particularly tall, stood at the center. Though they weren’t quite visible, something about them seemed… excited.
What followed next, though? A prophecy? Something about them being heroes? Okay, even if it was true-which she doubted!-it didn’t explain anything!
“...Delta warriors! Won’t you accept your destiny?”
Kris kept quiet, putting the onus on her as usual.
“First off: nah, I think you’ve got the wrong monster.” She starts, then puts up a second finger: “second off, I think you got the wrong human, too!”
A pointed gesture towards Kris.
“They’re like… ten years old? Maximum? Which they weren’t before we got here, by the way!” She crossed her arms, feeling her teeth bare themselves, “If the prophecy actually meant a kid’s gotta save the world, that sounds like a load of shit to me.”
The stranger didn’t respond to that immediately, but did stand up a little straighter.
“That part is a bit strange, admittedly,” they agreed, “I know lightners change upon entering the Dark World, but never that drastically. I could make a guess or two, but we do have a quest to complete…”
Susie’s disbelieving expression didn’t seem very encouraging. After a second, they stammered: “I-I did hear you just now, don’t worry! It’s just… Well, if you want to leave this place, you’ll have to seal the fountain. So it’s kind of-”
“💥”
A thing, for lack of a better word, interrupted the rambling stranger, knocking them back into a wall and taking center stage.
“A hero, backing out oh-so-early? Ain’t that strange!”
A snake-like being with green skin that glistened like diamonds, wearing a cowboy hat. Susie would’ve thought it a monster were it not for the strange vibes it gave off. At least it wasn’t holstering a gun or something.
“And y’all didn’t even see me coming, either—looks like the boss’ got a reward for me after all.”
“And who the hell are you?” Susie’s squint didn’t let up as she stepped forward, towards it.
“Me? I’m your favourite bad guy’s favourite bad guy,” it quipped, flipping a dagger around in its hand, “They call me Cutter, and I’m here to put an end to your heroics.”
“Dude, we’re not planning to do heroics, I told that weirdo just now.” Susie reminded, “Just gotta get out of here, you can do whatever after that.”
“Maybe so, but my boss, well, he don’t wanna risk something like that,” he claimed, lifting up his dagger, “and my boss ain’t the big boss, he’s the Small Boss. And he’s quite merciful, don’t even want you dead. So why don’t you go ahead and roll over?”
She looked at it, then back at herself, then at Kris. Sure, kid, but a kid with a sword—which was arguably more dangerous than some teenagers. So-
“Your accent is fake.”
Kris spoke their first full sentence of the day, blithely pointing at Cutter, if that was their real name, as if that was the most vicious attack they could manage.
“Wha- no it’s not! Y’all can’t come in here and disrespect me like that!”
“...yeah, that sounded kinda forced,” Susie had to agree, pulling out her axe, “not that you’ll like, speak at all after we’re done smashing your teeth in. ‘bout time we got to use this, eh?”
A flash of the eyes, and the battle started. Susie prepared to swing at the enemy, but Kris seemed to have a different plan. Walking up towards her, a weird sway in their hips, until they said something to her she couldn’t quite process…
“The hell did you just say?”
Kris smirked.
“Just don’t hit him too hard, okay? Lemme see those muscles at work for more than a second.”
Susie surged forward, ready to swing, but those words… it felt like they were echoing in her brain for some reason. The tone they had, despite their voice sounding so much younger, felt so… so…
Her strike missed, of course.
“Faw faw, seems like you hold the support of a pretty ol’ thang. Don’t let your heart beat too fast for them, the heat of battle will do plenty of that.”
??!?!?!?!??!?!
What was she even supposed to say to that???
Kris giggled like it was a normal thing, before zipping out of the way of a throwing knife Cutter summoned out of thin air. Getting her bearings real fast, Susie hopped out of the way of another. It was a quick, flimsy barrage.
The skirmish went on from there. Susie just couldn’t land a solid hit, continuously flustered by what Kris had said, which only got worse when they grabbed her bicep and told her to flex. At least her opponent got similar treatment, being told to emphasize the drawl and whatnot, but…
okay yeah she didn’t want to think about this anymore.
“Look, Cutter-if that is your real name-, could you like… come back later?” she panted after the umpteenth miss, “it’s kinda… Kris kinda ruined the fighting mood, not gonna lie. We’re going nowhere.”
Cutter chuckled at that… and sheathed his daggers, lighting up a non-existent cigar, “well, little missy, I can’t disagree much-you got a real tiger witcha, I can tell. Better learn how to tame it ‘fore it bites.”
Their expression felt more than a little gross as he turned around, his snake-like body preventing him from doing a cool cowboy strut.
“We’ll meet again, I’m sure—the little boss would probably like you.”
“Yeah, sure, bye already.”
And with them out of the way, the prophecy-fella stepped back in, just as confused.
“...Thank you for fending him off,” he started, sounding a bit embarrassed, “I… guess we have some time now. Let’s see if we can figure out what’s going on, okay?”