Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The morning of the festival was poetically perfect. The storm from the night before had given way to clear blue skies, peppered with occasional fluffy, white, rainless clouds. A soft breeze whispered through the town, perfectly curated to create the ideal weather, that temperature that was just warm enough to let you eat ice cream and get splashed with cold water without becoming uncomfortable. It was one of those days that felt ripped straight from another season, like the last dying gasps of summer before the leaves finally started falling. 

The cheerfulness of it all made Susie sick. It felt like the Earth itself was mocking her. Life goes on, the breeze seemed to whisper. She hated it. Hated that everyone else got to be happy when she knew what was coming. It was unreasonable, she knew. But she hated it. Hated stepping out onto the sidewalk and seeing people pass by, happily, when she couldn’t be. She had been so… excited for the festival. It felt embarrassing to admit now, when the true scale of what they were facing had been thrown at her. Did she even want to go anymore? 

But she had to, because she’d promised she’d tell Ralsei all about it. And she thought about Kris and Noelle, and getting to just… spend a day with her friends. No fighting demons, no vague prophecies, just her and the people whose company she actually enjoyed. Because as much as she enjoyed her adventures in the Dark World, as much as she wouldn’t trade Castle Town or the people there for the world, maybe… maybe just this once, she could afford to take a break. 

She could see the festival set-up in the distance, the ferris wheel poking up over the short buildings of the town. It wasn’t quite as big as the one she and Noelle had ridden in Cyber City, but she couldn’t exactly expect anything to live up to that. It was still a ferris wheel, right? One that maybe Noelle would want to ride with her. Purely platonically. As… friends? 

Were they friends? Her and Noelle? She liked to think they were, but she really wasn’t sure where they stood. They’d only really hung out once, and that hadn’t exactly ended in the best possible way. She’d probably completely fucked it up actually, any chance she’d had at actually being friends with Noelle for real. Noelle’s mom was a total asshole, but the more she thought about it, the more she felt the guilt creep in for antagonizing her. It hadn’t done anything except put Noelle in a worse position than she’d already been. It was just a mess. 

Susie shook her head, trying to pull herself together. She was trying to take a break today. Just spend the day with her Lightner friends and enjoy the festival. And then she could go to Castle Town with Kris, and they could tell Ralsei and Lancer about the festival. Maybe she could bring them some cotton candy or something. And with everyone out for the festival, she could also ask around and see if anyone wanted Tenna! Of course, it was up to Kris in the end, but she could at least help out. Narrow down the list. 

She crossed the street by the library, pointedly keeping her eyes away from the police station. Officer Undyne was tough. She’d be fine. Right? She gritted her teeth, suddenly feeling doubtful about the whole thing. Could she really afford to waste a day at the festival like this? When every second she spent in the Light World was time that the knight could be hurting Officer Undyne, or creating a new Dark World, or summoning new Titans. 

But she had promised Noelle she’d take her. She’d promised Kris they’d go. This whole thing was the fucking worst. Usually the Dark Worlds just showed up, so did it even matter? Did she just have to wait for the stupid Knight to make another move? 

Maybe she could ask Tenna about it all. After all, he’d worked a lot more closely with the Knight than the rulers of the other Dark Worlds had. So maybe he knew? But it wouldn’t be fair to ask him. He’d almost died, and now he was just… wasting away in Castle Town. She couldn’t just go interrogate him. 

The pavement beneath her feet gave way to gravel and she looked up to find herself face to face with Kris’s house. It, too, looked too cheerful. She wondered if Kris felt the same way, waking up to the sunlight streaming down onto their face. If they sat up in bed in a room that was too bright, trying to listen for the rain that should still be there. 

She reached up to knock, her fist pausing inches from the door. The image from the night before flashed, unbidden, through her mind. Toriel and that guy from the convenience store, just dancing and drinking like nothing was wrong. Like everything was somehow okay when it just wasn’t. It warped and twisted in her mind, Toriel with a mug of hot chocolate and Toriel with a glass of wine. It made her feel wrong, even though she knew she had no right to. Toriel wasn’t her mom. She barely knew her at all. 

Gritting her teeth to force the image back, Susie finally finished her action and knocked heavily on the door. After a moment, she heard shuffling behind it, then the click of the doorknob turning.

Toriel opened the door, looking a little tired but otherwise normal. Must’ve stayed up past her bedtime, Susie thought, with a bitterness that she knew was unwarranted but couldn’t fight back anyway. 

“Snoozy!” Toriel greeted brightly, and Susie still couldn’t muster the will to be irritated by the nickname, despite how overused it was obviously getting. 

“Hey,” she said gruffly. 

“Are you looking for Kris?” Toriel asked. 

“Y-yeah!” Susie confirmed quickly. “We were gonna go to the festival together.”

“Oh, that’s wonderful!” Toriel ushered her inside, closing the door behind her. “I’m so glad Kris has a friend like you, you know. Someone to go out and spend time with. They’ve been so reserved since Asriel left.”

“No problem?” Susie said awkwardly. Toriel kept giving her the same spiel, reworded but always the same sentiment. As if she was afraid that if she didn’t keep saying it, Susie would somehow just vanish from Kris’s life. Which was bullshit. As if she’d let something like that happen. 

“They’re still in their room. Fast asleep, I’d guess. They like to sleep in on the weekends,” Toriel said, laughing to herself slightly. “They’d sleep through the whole day if I let them!” 

“Haha. Yeah…” Susie grimaced, wracking her brain for some better responses. She kept being so weird. It wasn’t helping her case at all. 

“I can go wake them, if you’d like?” Toriel offered. “I’m sure they’ll be happy to see you!” 

“N-no!” Susie said, far too quickly. “No, that’s fine, I’ll just…” A floorboard creaked in the direction of the kitchen and Susie whirled around as if expecting to find an enemy had somehow made its way out of the Dark World and into the house. It was not, in fact, that.

“Ah, Kris!” Toriel greeted warmly. “Good morning!” She glanced up at the clock above the door, chuckling to herself. “Or should I say, good afternoon!” Kris didn’t respond, just remained standing where they were at the bottom of the stairs, watching the two of them from under their bangs. “Oh, Kris, did you see your friend Susie came to visit again?” 

“Hey, man,” Susie greeted. Kris’s mouth quirked up, just slightly, into a small smile, and they quietly returned her greeting. 

“Susie tells me you two will be attending the festival together!” Toriel continued. She stepped over to Kris, giving them a quick hug. “You be safe, alright? Make sure to stay together!”

“Like that’ll be hard,” Susie snorted. “Come on, Kris, let’s get out of here before we miss it!” Toriel laughed at that and released Kris. 

“You two have fun,” she told them. “I expect to hear all about your adventures when you return!” 

“Uh… yeah. Sure,” Susie said awkwardly. “Bye, Toriel.”

“Goodbye, Snoozy! Haha!” 

The moment the door clicked shut behind them, Kris’s shoulders slumped slightly in what seemed like relief. Susie bit her lip, glancing back at the house, where it sounded like Toriel had turned the gramophone back on. Thankfully, it wasn’t the same song as last night. Susie wasn’t sure she could stomach it. Even so, as they began walking back towards the town, she couldn’t help but notice that both of their paces were a bit quicker than normal. 

“Hey, wait!” she blurted, replaying the way Kris had left their house. “Did you even have breakfast or anything?” Kris shrugged uselessly. Susie rolled her eyes, digging into her pocket for anything she might have on hand. Her search yielded nothing but an old receipt she had picked off the ground somewhere. She offered it to Kris anyway. They looked her directly in the eyes, a small gap in their bangs exposing their challenging gaze. The receipt was snatched out of her hand and crammed into Kris’s mouth. They began chewing it slowly, never once breaking eye contact. Susie let out a loud, rough laugh, holding her hand to her head. 

“Damn! Guess you were hungry!” She checked her pocket, having immediately forgotten she had nothing else as soon as she took out the receipt. “Hey, wait, don’t eat the whole thing, I didn’t have breakfast either!” She lunged forward, reaching out to pry Kris’s mouth open only for them to immediately swallow the receipt. “DAMN IT!” Kris smirked up at her and she released them. “I’m never giving you anything again,” she muttered. 

Kris began walking again and Susie stumbled after them, still jokingly grumbling about her lost receipt. At first, Susie thought that maybe the strange feeling she had gotten from them initially had just been that they were tired, or hungry, or some combination of the two. But as they walked, Kris’s smile seemed to fade more quickly than she was used to. They had this odd gait, as if their feet were weighed down slightly, and they had their shoulders hunched in slightly. Careful. Guarded. They just looked… off. 

“Hey, man, are you… okay?” Susie asked, finally. Kris turned towards her curiously. “Just… yesterday was… a lot,” she forced out. Kris pursed their lips, as if they wanted to say something but couldn’t figure out what. “You… thinking about the Titan?” Are you thinking about what happened with your mom? She wanted to ask and she didn’t. Somehow, the end of the world was a far easier conversation topic than whatever was going on with Kris’s parents. It was cleaner. There was a villain and there were heroes and everyone knew where they stood. But she had seen the way Kris tensed up when they entered their house. 

“Hey, y’know what, forget it,” Susie said quickly. “Let’s just… have fun today, okay?” Kris paused for a moment, wringing their hands together. Susie almost reached out to poke them, uncertain if they’d even heard her, when they finally turned to look at her. They were smiling again now, a real, though tired, one. They gave her a thumbs up, announcing their intention to use their new, Dark World target practice to beat the carnival games. 

“Yeah!” Susie agreed. “That’s the spirit! Let’s go fuck this carnival UP!” She took off again, her step instantly feeling much lighter. She heard Kris snickering behind her as they ran to catch back up. 

It wasn’t long before they passed the roadblocks set up around the festival to keep people from driving through it. It was one of those full-town things, the kind where you didn’t need tickets to show up and could just wander around doing whatever. A couple rickety rides that looked like they’d been constructed in someone’s basement, classic stalls with rigged carnival games, the pervasive smell of cheap hot dogs and overpriced fried dough, and the soft hum of chatter in every direction. 

It was the kind of thing Ralsei would enjoy. He’d say the quaintness of it was what gave it its “charm.” Or that it wasn’t about the festival but about who you went to the festival with. Susie glanced down at Kris, who was already eyeing up some kind of shooting game, one of the ones where you spray boards down with a water gun that had an intentionally low pressure. She was glad she was here with them. She still couldn’t help but feel like it was incomplete. They were a trio. Ralsei should be here. 

“C’mon, Kris!” Susie declared, shaking off the dreary feeling. She’d tell Ralsei all about it when they went back to Castle Town. She’d figure something out. There was no chance he was missing out on everything. But first… “Let’s see if we can find Noelle!” She ran her hands through her hair, embarrassed for literally no reason. “I- uh- I asked her to go to the festival with me… so…” Kris gave her a double thumbs up, smiling a strange little smile. It seemed normal, but there was just something off about it. It was too strained at the edges, too wobbly as they tried to hold it. It faded down too quickly. 

“Hey, are you… sure you’re okay?” Susie asked. “Y’know, we don’t have to… do this, if you don’t wanna. We could just go hang out at the river or something. Or go back to Castle Town. I can sneak us in!” Kris frowned, shaking their head. She had been excited for the festival, they reminded her. And so had they. They were just tired from the day before. 

“Yeah. Yeah, that’s… Okay!” Susie said, shaking off the uneasiness. “Yeah, we deserve a break, right?” Kris nodded eagerly, and this time their smile seemed far more real. “Alright!” She grabbed their arm, fully committed, and dove headfirst into the carnival, their muffled giggles following after her. 

In much the same manner as their quests in the Dark World usually went, their quest to locate Noelle was quickly derailed by several other, smaller, sidequests. True to their word, Kris managed to score a perfect round in the shooting booth, securing a balloon shaped like a flower with a weird face on it. The balloon was lost moments later when Susie failed at the exact same game so badly that she tripped backwards and knocked Kris to the ground.

They rode the massive boat swing and tried to use the momentum of their bodies to flip it all the way around the pole, only succeeding in instantly exhausting themselves and having to lie on a bench for several minutes to recover. They managed to cram themselves into a single chair on the swing circle ride, and when it took off Kris nearly went flying, resulting in Susie desperately clinging to their arms as they whipped around for way too long. Kris haggled with the corn-dog guy and got them free access to the waste bin where the burnt corndogs ended up. They managed to grab at least thirty thanks to Kris fashioning Susie’s jacket into a makeshift sling to increase their carrying capacity. The corndogs quickly made up for their lack of breakfast, as did a particularly lucky strike of nearly a whole slice of pizza that some kid had dropped. 

All the while, Susie kept her eye out for a familiar head of blonde hair. That was the goal after all. She loved spending time with Kris, but… she had promised Noelle they’d go to the festival together. They were… going to ride that ferris wheel. Like in the Dark World, except this time she didn’t have to pretend it all just didn’t happen. And as an entire hour passed without even spotting her once, Susie started getting nervous. Had Noelle bailed? Had the whole thing yesterday changed her mind? The festival wasn’t that big, surely they would’ve managed to meet up with her by now? Susie couldn’t just go back to her house after all, that old witch wouldn’t let her get past the gate! 

“Hey, Kris?” she asked eventually, swallowing another corndog whole. “You think maybe… Noelle bailed after all?” Kris frowned, glancing down at the floor uncertainly. After a moment, they shrugged apologetically. “Right, yeah, why would… you know.” She let out a heavy sigh and ate the stick the corndog had come on dejectedly. Kris watched her worriedly and she shot them her best approximation of a reassuring smile. “Just gotta keep looking I gu-”

“YOU!” Any and all enjoyment Susie had managed to claw out of hanging out with Kris was drained away in an instant, replaced with sheer, blinding, unholy irritation. “How could you do this!?” 

“Fuck off!” Susie groaned. She suddenly wished she hadn’t eaten the corndog stick, because she sure would’ve liked to be holding something throwable at that moment. 

“Now, now, Susie,” Berdly said, smoothing back the feathers on top of his head. “No need to get hostile! I understand your feelings, but playing hard to get won’t get you anywhere.” 

“You know- You- huh?” Susie stumbled out, utterly baffled. 

“There’s no need to pretend, Susie!” Berdly said. “I see right through you!” Kris snickered into the sleeve of their hoodie and Susie smacked them upside the head. 

“Are you seriou- No, y’know what, nope,” Susie said. “Why can’t you just go be weird over there or something? We’re busy.” 

“Suuuuureeee,” Berdly said slowly, beak twisting into that stupid smirk that made Susie want to strangle the life out of him. “Not that it matters! No matter what feelings you may harbor for me, I simply can’t accept such duplicitous acts! I’m a man of integrity, you see!” 

“What the fuck are you talking about, dude?” Susie asked desperately. Kris crossed their arms, their mouth pulled tight into a displeased line. 

“Don’t play dumb with me, Susie!” Berdly hissed, jabbing a wing towards her. “I heard all about what you did! Getting poor Noelle in trouble just so you could have me all to yourself! I’ll be honest, I never thought you would stoop to such a level! And after I so graciously invited you as well!” Susie was moments away from grabbing him and seeing if that backbreaker move she’d seen in Dragon Blazers 2 actually worked in real life when what he’d said actually registered. 

“Noelle? Wait, what happened to Noelle!?” 

“You don’t need to lie to me, Susie!” Berdly continued. “I know you went to Noelle’s house yesterday to try and sabotage us!” 

“To- WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN!?” 

“Poor Noelle. My glorious damsel, locked away in her tower. All alone and afraid.” 

“He’s not even fucking listening,” Susie groaned. Kris nodded sagely. “HEY, DUMBASS, WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED!?” She grabbed Berdly by the shoulders and spun him back around. He squawked in surprise, staring up at Susie nervously. 

“C-come on now, Susie. You can just admit it. You don’t have to lie to me.” He let out a long, dramatic sigh. “I know you got Noelle grounded so you could have me all to yourself today.” Susie froze where she was, her claws digging into Berdly’s shoulders as the situation fully registered. 

“She’s… grounded?” she breathed. 

“Yes!” Berdly snapped. “And now, thanks to your master plan, my poor Noelle is wasting away and missing the entire festival!” He glanced past her, presumably looking for an exit, only to find Kris instead. “DON’T LAUGH AT ME, YOU TROGLODYTE.” 

“Shit.” Susie shoved Berdly aside and left him to stumble back to stability. She turned back to Kris, who stopped laughing at Berdly once they caught sight of her face. “Shit, Kris, this is all my fault.” Kris shook their head, but they did so uncertainly and remained silent otherwise. “I just- I didn’t like her mom treating her like that! The guitar thing wasn’t her fault! But, like, I didn’t know it was gonna be a big thing either! She told me to play it!” She smacked herself on the side of her head, burying her fingers in her hair. “Damn it. She’s gonna miss the whole festival. She was… really looking forward to this…” 

“Erm, Susie-”

“SHUT UP!” Berdly quailed slightly at the shout, but didn’t skitter away like she’d hoped he would. 

“I just want you to know that you owe poor Noelle an apology,” he huffed. 

“I don’t wanna hear this shit from you,” Susie growled. “C’mon, Kris. Let’s get the hell out of here.” Kris nodded harshly, once, and began marching away from Berdly with Susie at their side.

“Pretending now won’t do you any good!” Berdly called after them. “The truth of the crime always comes to light!” Susie ground her teeth together but managed to resist the urge to yell back at him. Kris turned around just long enough to toss a middle finger over their shoulder as they left. 

“Damn it,” Susie hissed, slumping against a tree on the outskirts of the festival. Kris leaned against it beside her. “I knew her mom was mad, but I didn’t think… shit.” Kris sighed softly, offering no insight. “Y’know, Kris, it’s… really stupid, but I was really looking forward to this. Hanging out with you and Noelle today and just forgetting about all that other stuff.” She ran a hand through her hair to push it up out of her eyes. “I should’ve known I was gonna find a way to fuck that up too.” Kris didn’t respond. She didn’t expect them to. 

She felt weight on her arm and looked down to find Kris’s hand resting there. It wasn’t her fault, they assured her, more confidently this time. It still felt like bullshit. Because Kris was her friend and that’s what friends are supposed to say. 

“Damn I’m… really being a downer today, aren’t I?” Susie huffed. Kris shrugged and reached into her jacket, currently across her body like a sling, and pulled out another corndog. They downed it in a single bite and reached for another. Susie hugged the jacket towards her body, shielding it from their filthy hands. “Hey, watch it! These are for the guys back in Castle Town! We can’t just go back empty-handed!” Kris pouted up at her but let their hands drop down to their sides. Cautiously, Susie released her defensive hold on the corndogs. 

She stared down at them wistfully. This whole thing had gone completely sideways. She’d just wanted to have some fun with her friends, spend the festival with the people that actually seemed to give a shit. But Ralsei and Lancer couldn’t come to the Light World, and now even Noelle couldn’t be here. Because her stupid mom had gone and grounded her. For something that wasn’t even her damn fault! None of that would’ve happened if Susie and Kris hadn’t been snooping for that code! 

She owed it to Noelle to make it up to her somehow. Maybe she could save her a corndog and pass it to her in class tomorrow? Or maybe she could win a stuffed animal at one of the booths or something? That was a thing people did, right? Maybe they could somehow get Berdly to do the dunking booth and get some pictures for her? Susie knew she’d appreciate it if someone dunked Berdly on her behalf. 

Shit, who was she kidding? None of that was going to make up for the fact that Noelle was going to miss the festival completely. Because of her. She wasn’t going to get to dunk Berdly herself, or wait in line for an hour just to get a lemonade, or ride that stupid ferris wheel. She was gonna miss out on everything. Unless… unless…

“Kris!” Susie shouted, grabbing them and shaking them violently to get their attention. “Kris, I’ve got it!” Kris stumbled back as they tried to recover from the equivalent of sitting on a juiced-up jackhammer. “We have to go bust her out!” Kris frowned and requested elaboration. “Y’know! Like, jailbreak! You can help me climb the fence and then we can throw her a rope or something and we can all go to the festival!” 

Kris rubbed their wrist uncertainly. They shot a glance over their shoulder, as if they expected Noelle’s freaky mom to be right behind them listening in. Susie felt a momentary pang of fear that they wouldn’t want to help her, but she barrelled on. Since when was Kris the kinda guy to pass up an opportunity to do some random stupid shit?

“C’mon, man! It’ll be just like that stuff in the Dark World. Except in the Light World! Like that time we busted her out of Queen’s castle!” Kris pursed their lips, still looking as if they were on the fence about the whole thing. “What?” Susie joked, punching them in the shoulder. “You scared or something?” Kris let out an affronted gasp and attempted to punch Susie back. Susie caught them by grabbing their entire face with her hand and holding them at arms length. They struggled half-heartedly, failing to hide their muffled laughter. “Come on!” 

Kris grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her hand down to free themself. They smiled up at her, a mixture of fondness and lingering worry. She didn’t get it. Was it because they were scared of Noelle’s mom? Sure, she was the mayor, but that was just a symbolic position, wasn’t it? Besides, they’d fought a King and a Queen. What could a mayor do to them? Maybe they just didn’t think they could climb the fence, which was stupid, because Susie had climbed loads of fences and the one around Noelle’s house looked like a piece of cake. 

“Look,” Susie said. “I just… I don’t want Noelle to miss the whole festival ‘cause of me, y’know?” Kris bit their lip. One hand slipped into the pocket of their pants, as if checking that something was still there. They stood like that for a moment, the two of them, just looking at each other uncertainly. 

And then, finally, Kris nodded. 

“Let’s fucking GO!” Susie shouted, yanking Kris into an affectionate headlock. “Look out, mayor-face, cause here we come!” 

The two booked it across town, the streets blessedly empty thanks to most people attending the festival. They found their way to Noelle’s home, where the gate was, as expected, locked and entirely impenetrable. Kris suggested attempting to distract Carol while Susie tried to sneak around back, but in the end, they decided that doing so would only serve to draw more attention to things, especially considering how inseparable Kris and Susie had been for the past few days, so that plan was quickly thrown out. Also, Susie just really didn’t wanna leave Kris alone with that weird lady. 

Eventually, they skirted around the back of Noelle’s house and into the woods on the other side. The fence was closer to the house than Susie had thought it would be. It seemed like the kind of house that should have a massive backyard, but there was barely anything. Though, she supposed that the whole forest kinda counted as their backyard, if you ignored the fence. 

After some debate and a few (beautiful) sketches drawn in the dirt with sticks, Susie’s initial “build a catapult out of the trees and fling me into Noelle’s window” plan was scrapped for the slightly more reasonable “climb that tree near the fence and just hop down. Kris secured them some rope from… somewhere. When she asked, they just gave her that mysterious smile of theirs until she gave up. Not that it mattered where the rope sourced from as long as it got the job done. 

Kris went first, carefully climbing out along a long branch and tying the rope to a point just past the fence. The branch shifted a little under their weight, but it seemed just strong enough to hold one of them at a time. Kris slid down the rope and waved for Susie to follow them. She crawled out onto the branch just as they had, the limb creaking a little more under her greater weight. She considered using the rope the way Kris had, then decided she didn’t care and just jumped down next to them. Her legs stung with the impact. She ignored it because there was no way she was going to admit that Kris had been right about the rope. 

“Which one is it?” Susie whispered, staring up at the house in front of them. Kris pointed silently at the window on the far right. “Oh! Right. I- uh- I knew that.” Kris shot her a look, but they didn’t laugh. Not like they usually would. Susie pulled her gaze away from them before she lost her nerve. “Okay. Guess I just gotta… climb up, then!” She flexed her fingers experimentally. “Heh. Good thing I got all that practice on the tower yesterday! This is gonna be easy!” 

She crept over to the house, looking up at Noelle’s window. From where she was, she could definitely see a path up. Part of the house stuck out under Noelle’s window, like a second, smaller, house. Why it was there, Susie wasn’t particularly concerned. A basement entrance, maybe? Or some kind of side-storage? Whatever it was didn’t matter, because it had its own mini-roof, and that mini-roof provided the perfect place for Susie to stand and talk to Noelle. 

She attempted to grab ahold of the ledge of a nearby window, hoping to use that to climb onto the smaller roof. She couldn’t reach it from where she was standing, so she stepped back and leapt for it. Her fingers grazed the sill, but she didn’t get enough height to wrap them around it and hold on. She tried again, to similar results. 

“Shit,” she hissed. A quick search of the area around them revealed no objects she could feasibly use as a stool. Maybe she could throw the rope and hook it onto one of the random decorations peppering Noelle’s roof. Kris seemed like the type to know how to tie a lasso, but when she asked them, they just shrugged helplessly. 

“We gotta find something. We’re here already, it’d be a waste to give up!” Kris nodded, tapping their finger on their chin contemplatively. “You look like a nerd,” Susie informed them. They stuck their tongue out at her and informed her that they had in fact thought of an idea, but they wouldn’t tell her if she kept being rude. “Hey!” she yelped, grabbing them by the arms. “Don’t hold out on me, man! Spit it out!” 

Kris snickered to themself and quickly extricated themself from her grip. They raised an eyebrow, crossing their arms and tapping their foot impatiently. Susie groaned. 

“Fine. I take it back, you’re not a nerd.” Kris’s smile brightened and they waved her over. They pressed their hands against the house, bending over slightly. “Huh? What the fuck are you doing?” Kris rolled their eyes. After a moment of Susie still not getting it, they explained that Susie could just use their shoulders as an in-between step to grab the sill. They declared it their “Stool Forme K.” It was only fair, they informed her, seeing as Ralsei and Lancer both had one. 

“Uhh… No offense, dude, but are you gonna be able to hold me up?” They reminded her that they’d done it yesterday. “Well, yeah, but this is different? Right? Different… weight… distribution or something?” She had no idea what she was saying anymore. Kris didn’t laugh at her though, so she must’ve gotten it right. That or Kris didn’t actually know either. They still didn’t move. 

“Fine, then,” Susie said. She cracked her knuckles, shooting them a quick smirk. “It’s your funeral.” With that, she stepped up onto Kris’s back. 

To her surprise, they actually did manage to hold her up. She could feel them shaking under her from the strain, but they were actually staying pretty steady. She let out an impressed hum. Then she remembered that the longer she stayed there, the more likely it was that Kris would actually collapse under her weight, and grabbed onto the window sill. With Kris’s added height, pulling herself up onto the sill was light work. From there, it was as simple as a bit of a shimmy and a single step to get up onto the roof under Noelle’s window. 

“Nice going, dude!” she called, shooting Kris a thumbs up. They straightened and returned the gesture with a proud grin. They jerked their thumb towards Noelle’s window and whispered for her to hurry. Susie gave them a quick salute before creeping her way along the roof to reach Noelle’s window. 

The curtains to Noelle’s room were only partially drawn, allowing Susie a look inside. It was just like how she remembered it from yesterday, the window looking down over a long pink couch, the desk in the corner, the big monitor right across from her. And the bed in the corner, where she could just make out the shape of a person. 

Noelle was sitting on the edge of her bed, hunched over such that her hair hung in front of her face and obscured her expression. She was fiddling with her hands awkwardly. She looked… really bad. Susie gritted her teeth, trying to ignore how guilty the picture made her feel. It was fine. They were gonna bust her out and she was going to that festival. Speaking of which…

Susie reached up and, as lightly as she could while still being noticeable, began tapping the glass of Noelle’s window. At first, Noelle didn’t seem to notice. Then her ears perked up and she glanced toward the window uncertainly, as if expecting it to just be a bird or something. She stood up and made her way closer, pulling the curtains fully aside. Her eyes landed on Susie and went wide as saucers. Susie stopped knocking in favor of a friendly wave. 

She didn’t hear it, but she saw Noelle let out a surprise shriek and stumble back. She tripped over her own feet and fell onto the floor and out of Susie’s line of sight. Susie pressed her face up against the glass, trying to see inside and make sure that Noelle was okay. A few moments later, Noelle’s head poked back up nervously. She looked up at Susie, completely baffled. Susie gestured at the closed window. 

“S-S-S-SUSIE!?” Noelle yelped as she pushed the window open. “What are you doing here!?” 

“Me ‘n Kris are doin’ a jailbreak!” Susie informed her. 

“You’re- You- Kris!?” Noelle poked her head out of the window, looking down at the ground where Kris was still watching. They waved at her and she awkwardly waved back. “How did you get here!?” 

“Tree,” Susie informed her, jerking her thumb over her shoulder at the still dangling rope. 

“O-oh?” Noelle said. 

“So, you ready or what?” 

“Huh? Ready for… what?” Noelle asked. Susie sighed, rubbing the back of her neck.

“I, uh… I heard what happened. How your mom grounded you and stuff. I’m… really sorry about that,” she said quietly. Noelle’s eyes widened, her cheeks reddening slightly. 

“Oh, n-no, it’s…” She swallowed, steadying herself. “It’s fine, Susie. It’s not your fault. I shouldn’t have…” She shook her head. “I should’ve known better.” 

“Hey, hey, wait, no! No, it’s not your fault either!” Susie said quickly. “You didn’t do anything wrong!” Noelle frowned, turning away to look at the floor of her room instead of at Susie. 

“I… appreciate you saying that, Susie, but… It’s hard to explain, but it was my fault, okay?” She smiled, weak and wobbly. 

“Hey, man, don’t let your mom get to you!” 

“She’s trying her best,” Noelle said. “I know she can seem… cold, I guess. But it’s just because she really cares.” 

“I don’t know about that,” Susie muttered. 

“Wh-what did you say?” Noelle asked. 

“Nothing! Nothing, just… yeah. I’m still sorry. It sucks. That you’re grounded and all.” Her claws tapped against the windowsill nervously in a pitiful attempt at filling the silence. 

“It’s okay,” Noelle said. “There’ll be other festivals, right?” Susie tried not to visibly wince at how distraught she sounded. 

“Look, me and Kris got this whole escape plan!” she said. “We can get you out and bring you back without your mom even noticing! You can still… go to the festival… with m- with us.” She ran her hands through her hair, trying to pull it down to hide the embarrassed flush to her face. Why was she embarrassed about this again? She did stupid bullshit like this all the time. 

“What!?” Noelle squeaked. 

“Well, you’re unfairly imprisoned, yeah?” Susie said. “So we figured we’d… bust you out.” Noelle glanced down at Kris, then back up at Susie. Her face was unreadable, too many emotions flashing by too quickly for Susie to register any single one of them. “We just didn’t want you to miss out, y’know?” Noelle’s face turned another shade redder. 

“Y-you climbed my house…?” 

“Uh. Yeah. Don’t worry, though, it’s totally climb…able?” Susie assured her. 

“All because you didn’t want me to miss out on the festival?” she continued, quieter this time. 

“Well, obviously!” Susie said. “We- We said we’d go together, didn’t we?” Noelle let out a little gasp of surprise, her flickering eyes finally fully settling back on Susie’s face. She placed her hands on the windowsill so she could lean out a little further, as if she was trying to get a better angle to stare into Susie’s soul. Like she was looking for the answer to some question she didn’t know how to ask out loud. Susie met her gaze, hoping she could somehow answer it anyway. 

There was something about the way Noelle looked at her. Like she hadn’t just hung the moon and stars but had made them herself, as if the entire night sky was somehow a product of Susie’s hand. Noelle looked at her like she had already saved the world instead of bungling it up fifty times over. Noelle looked at her, and she felt like she had. Noelle looked at her like she was worth looking at. 

“No…elle?” Susie asked. Suddenly, it hit her that she had been staring too and she jerked her head away to break Noelle’s gaze, staring down at the shingles beneath her feet instead. 

“OhmygoshI’msosorryIdon’tknowwhatthatwasI’mso-”

“No, it’s fine, I’m sorry, I’m being weird!” Susie cut her off. “Sorry…” She shook her head, clearing… whatever that was out of her brain. “Anyway. We’ve still got time! The festival’s still going! We can see if that corndog guy has any left! Or dunk Berdly!” She paused, her voice growing thick in her throat. “We could… ride that ferris wheel…” Noelle squeaked in surprise. She brushed her hair out of her face and her hands seemed to be quivering as she did it. 

“I… uhm…” Susie reached out a hand and Noelle broke off.

“C’mon. Live a little.” Noelle stared down at Susie’s hand, somehow managing to look both terrified and enamored. Like Susie held the key to the best and the worst thing on Earth at the same time. Her own hand hovered in the air, just passing over the windowsill. It stayed there, locked in indecision as Noelle stared at Susie’s outstretched hand and Susie held her breath, waiting for her to take it. Noelle bit her lip and her hand inched closer. Closer. Almost. 

And then Noelle snatched her hand back, clutching it to her chest with an expression so distraught that Susie felt it like a spike through her stomach. 

“I-I-I’m s-sorry,” Noelle choked out. “My mom’s already… really mad, I don’t-” She shook her head. “I can’t… risk it.” 

“Noelle-”

“I’m really sorry,” Noelle cut in. She curled in on herself, her shoulders curving in to shield her. “She’ll find out. She always finds out.” Susie drew her hand back uncertainly. She didn’t know what to do. She wanted to grab Noelle and make her come anyway. She wanted to curse her mom for a thousand years. She wanted to reach through the window and hug her and make her stop looking like she was about to cry. 

“Can we still… be friends?” Noelle asked softly. “Once I’m not grounded anymore? My mom doesn’t want me seeing you, but she can’t really stop me if we go to the same school, right?”

“Y-yeah!” Susie stumbled out. “Yeah! Of course we’re still friends, dude! Your mom’s not gonna stop me!” Noelle ducked her head down, her hair falling in front of her face like a curtain. Hiding her away. 

“I’m sorry…” she said again. “I… really did want to go to the festival with you.” Susie swallowed harshly to try and get rid of the sudden thickness in her throat. It didn’t work. 

“Dude, screw your mom. We can still-” 

“Noelle? Noelle, what are you doing up there?” Noelle let out a frightened squeak, leaping back from the window. 

“My mom, my mom’s coming!” she hissed. 

“Wait-”

“You have to get out of here, Susie! Quick, before she sees you!”

“But I-”

“Susie, please, I don’t want you to get in trouble!” 

“Noel-”

“Please!” Noelle didn’t wait for a response. She raced back to the window, yanking it closed and shutting the curtains behind it. Susie instinctively raised her hand to try and break back through it before she caught herself and stopped. She glanced down at Kris, who was urgently gesturing for them to go. With a final, desperate glance at Noelle’s window, Susie forced herself to turn and go. 

She hopped down off the roof and raced after Kris, back to the rope they had tied up. Kris grabbed ahold of it and shimmied their way up to the branch, beginning to climb back down the tree. Susie grabbed it and tried to do the same, only to discover that climbing ropes is far less easy than the movies always make it look. 

“Kris!” she called, desperately clinging to the bottom of the rope. The material dug into her hands, and she could feel it burning her palms as she lost her grip and began sliding back down. “Kris, how the hell do you do this!?” Kris glanced at her from where they were halfway down the tree, their eyes wide with panic. They scrambled back up to where the rope was and gestured for her to let go, untying it and throwing it aside once she did. “Hey!” she shouted. “What gives!” 

They held up their hands to signal for her to wait, quickly scurrying to the bottom of the tree. They ran up to the bars and she met them from the other side.

“Shit, Kris, what do I do?” They told her to go around the house and hide behind the big bushes. They’d get the gates open, they told her. “How’re you gonna do that?” Susie asked. Kris reminded her of the abandoned plan from before. Susie paled slightly and grabbed Kris’s wrist through the bars. “Are you crazy!? You’re gonna get yourself killed!” Kris pursed their lips and gestured to their outfit with their free hand. They weren’t in the Dark World, Kris reminded her. Carol Holiday was just some regular old lady. And she was a family friend, it would be fine. 

“R…right,” Susie admitted. “You’re right. Shit, I just… I don’t like her, man!” Kris frowned, giving no response. “Okay. Fine. Just get me out of here!” She released them and Kris gave her an affirmative nod before racing off back around the fence. Susie snuck along the side of the building until she got to the front, at which point she quickly dove behind the big, garish bushes framing the door. She poked her head through the leaves, just enough to get a look at the gate. 

A few moments later, Kris appeared at the gate and rang the bell, waiting patiently. To Susie’s surprise, it actually worked, because the gate opened almost instantly. She heard the door to the house open and turned to see the exact frigid asshole she had hoped wouldn’t show her face walking up the driveway towards Kris. 

“Kris. What a pleasant surprise,” Carol greeted. “What are you doing here today? Shouldn’t you be enjoying yourself at the festival?” Kris said something in response, too quiet for Susie to hear. “Oh. It’s thoughtful of you to worry about Noelle. Don’t worry, she’s fine. She just needed… a little time to think about some things. How are you doing, Kris?” As Kris spoke, they stepped around Carol, gesturing to the house. For a split second, Susie thought that they had decided to randomly betray her and were exposing her hiding place. Then she realized that what they had actually done was gotten Carol to turn around. Leaving the gate open and unguarded. 

As Carol began explaining something about the sleighs on the roof that Susie was too panicked to pay attention to, Susie took her chance. She dove out of the bushes and skirted around the gate, her eyes locked on Carol the whole way around. Kris did an impressive job of keeping the woman’s eyes focused solely on them. Susie was never not surprised by the random skills they seemed to have picked up. 

Finally, Susie reached the gate and dove through it, booking it down the street as quickly as she could. She didn’t stop running until she was past several buildings and completely out of sight of the mansion, and then she kept going just a little further out of sheer paranoia. It was only once she’d reached the far side of the library that she allowed herself to slow down, resting her hand against the wall as she tried to catch her breath. 

It seemed like an eternity before Kris appeared back at her side. Their breathing was heavy as well, and she realized that they had failed to actually come up with a meeting spot and Kris had probably run around town a bit before locating her. She huffed out a weak apology that they seemed to accept. 

The two of them stood there for a bit in silence, catching their breath and trying to think of something to say. Kris was, uncharacteristically, the one to speak up first. They looked up at her worriedly, their hands shoved into the pockets of their hoodie, and asked if she wanted to go back to the festival. She looked away shamefully.

“I…” She sighed, shaking her head. “You can go back if you wanna. I just…” Kris shook their head, informing her that there was really no point in them going if she wasn’t there. “Susie or bust.” She snickered lightly at that, but the small bit of amusement was quickly crushed by the guilt from before returning tenfold. “Shit. I really ruined the festival for everybody, huh? First Noelle, now you… Man, this sucks.” Kris shrugged and told her they hadn’t really cared that much anyway. The guilt didn’t go away. 

Kris watched her for a moment, their lips pursed as they considered something. Then, they pushed themself off the wall of the library and gestured for her to follow, heading towards the school. 

“What’re we doing?” Susie asked dejectedly. Kris informed them that they were heading back to Castle Town. At that, Susie felt just a little bit of warmth return to her chest, the crushing feeling that had closed in their fading back just a touch. The festival was lame anyway, Kris continued. They’d have more fun hanging out with Ralsei and Lancer and everybody else. “Y’know what? You’re right! I promised Ralsei we’d visit anyway!” 

They made their way back to the school, which marked Susie’s second ever attempt at breaking into school instead of out of it. She showed Kris the broken back door without a second thought. It was a weird thing to do, if she really considered it. It had been her secret for so long, hers and hers alone. And yet, sharing it with Kris was practically instinct. Like Kris was always supposed to know about it anyway. 

They approached the closet, and despite everything, Susie couldn’t help but feel that familiar excitement that came with it. The anticipation, the slight nervousness. The knowledge that her friends were down there. That she was down there, the better her. Not the screw-up bully freak. The hero of legend. The person that people waved hello to on the street. The person who saved people instead of breaking everything she touched. 

It felt so much better than last night, now that Kris was there. This was the way it was supposed to be, this was right. Kris and her, going to the Dark World together, ready for their next adventure. Ralsei would be waiting for them, and then the Fun Gang would be back together. And then everything would be okay. Right?

Kris’s hand stopped inches from the door. Susie heard something buzzing in their pants pocket and it took her a second to register it as a phone, left on vibrate. Kris grimaced and forcefully pulled their hand back from the door. It almost looked uncomfortable, as if everything in Kris was screaming not to but for some reason they couldn’t… not. They stuffed their hand into their pocket and pulled out the phone, checking the caller. Their expression tightened as they saw.

“Who is it?” Susie asked. “Tell ‘em to fuck off.” Kris looked up at her, their fingers curling tighter around the phone. When they spoke, they sounded… sad, somehow. Guilty. They told her to go on ahead. They just had to take this call. They’d catch up in a second. 

“Nah,” Susie said. “If it’s really that important, I can just wait. Take your ti-” When they spoke again, they sounded angry. It was louder than they usually spoke. Direct and commanding. They told her to go. That it was going to be a long call and she shouldn’t wait up for them. They’d meet her in Castle Town. “Kris. You okay, man? You sure you…?” She trailed off as Kris stared at her, silently begging her to listen. She didn’t get this. She didn’t get any of this. Who the hell was calling to make Kris so uncomfortable? 

It was personal, she realized. It had to be. Maybe it was their mom and they were still uncomfortable after last night. Or their father. Or even their brother, calling from college. Someone they wanted to be able to talk to in private. Without Susie hearing. Which was fine! Kris was allowed to have a private life. And it wasn’t Susie’s business, even if they flinched when they saw the caller ID or looked like they wanted to be anywhere else. They were… entitled to their privacy. If they didn’t want to tell her then it wasn’t her business, was it?

She had fucked up enough people’s days today. 

“Okay,” she said finally. “Just… don’t take too long, okay?” Their shoulders slumped in relief and they gave her a grateful smile. They held the phone up but didn’t accept the call just yet. Waiting for her to go. “Okay. Okay, see you soon,” she said. She turned, slowly, on joints that felt like rusty hinges, and stepped into the closet alone.

Chapter Text

Without Kris by her side, the Dark World felt… colder, somehow. She knew it shouldn’t, especially since she’d already been there solo before. It hadn’t been quite like this last time. Maybe it was the suddenness of it all. She’d gotten herself ready for everything to go back to normal. Now it wasn’t, and she felt the absence so much more keenly when it had been preceded by hope. 

She looked out at Ralsei’s castle, her eyes drifting past the spires and up to the Dark Fountain behind it. It was strange to see it, always, to look up at it and have to fight the momentary panic. The one fountain she didn’t have to close. The fountain that protected her friends. Looking up at the Castle Town fountain, she could understand, at least to some degree, the enemies they had faced. Why the King had been so willing to threaten even his own son to save it. Why Queen had chosen to enslave her own subjects rather than risk it being sealed. Why Tenna had fought so hard to keep them from it, because losing the fountain meant losing everything he had fought so hard to preserve. 

She waited by the light a bit longer. Surely Kris’s phone call couldn’t be that long, right? She didn’t want them to miss out, so even though they had told her to go on ahead, she remained where she was for some time, waiting for the familiar descending sparkles that would announce their arrival. But what felt like minutes went by, and still there was no sign of Kris. So, finally, Susie pulled her gaze away from the light and back towards Castle Town. If Kris was going to take this long, then she was at least going to check in with everybody. Maybe she could buy them a CD Bagel. Or, rather, manhandle Ralsei into loaning her some Dark Dollars for a CD Bagel. They seemed to like those. 

She made her way into town, shooting weak waves to the people she passed on the way in. She tried to keep a smile on her face. To project the image of the unbothered hero who was going to protect them. Because the people in Castle Town had been through enough, and they deserved to have someone they could believe in. She wanted them to know that they could count on her. That no matter what, she was gonna protect them. No matter what the Knight did. No matter what the prophecy said. 

She passed the clothing store from before, the orange Addison standing outside talking to a Pippins. When they caught sight of her, they waved to her excitedly, their salesman smile seeming to brighten into something more genuine. The Pippins turned as well, calling out a friendly greeting. If Kris were there, no doubt they would have guided her over for a quick discussion. They’d have stopped at a lot of the shops actually. Kris seemed to like talking to everyone they could. 

Susie cast a glance back over her shoulder. The pillar of light that marked the divide between the Light and Dark Worlds was out of sight now, obscured by the town’s walls. She hoped Kris showed up soon. She tore her eyes away from the path back to the Light World, about to see if she could find a shopkeeper that would let her borrow some of their wares without the money Kris kept, when her ears caught the sound of two familiar voices from further down the street.

“-lor Cafe. Swatch runs that one! You should stop by sometime, once we get your points converted to Dark Dollars! It’s really good!” 

“I’ll keep that in mind. Say, did you-”

“Hey guys!” Tenna stiffened in surprise, his antennae sticking directly into the air. Ralsei jumped backwards, crashing directly into Tenna’s legs and ricocheting off like a ping-pong ball. Susie reached out and grabbed him by the shoulders to steady him. “Woah! You good, man?”

“Susie, sweetheart!” Tenna beamed at her. “I didn’t expect to see you again so soon!” 

“Susie!” Ralsei said, belatedly, his brain finally working through enough of the surprise to actually register the situation. “Oh my gosh, Susie!” 

“Hey, man!” Susie greeted. She yanked him into a headlock, ruffling the fur on top of his head. “What’s goin’ on!?” 

“O-oh! I was just showing Tenna around Castle Town!” Ralsei told her. He squirmed in her grip and she finally released him. He smoothed out his robes and tussled fur, trying and failing to hide his smile. “Since we’re not sure how long it’ll take you and Kris to find him a new home, I figured I should help him settle in a little. Just in case.” Susie glanced up at Tenna. He was still smiling, but it was a bit strained around the edges, the kind that, if he had any, wouldn’t quite reach his eyes.

“Y…yeah,” Susie said, deflating slightly. “Sorry about that.” 

“No, no!” Tenna said quickly. “Don’t worry, I’m sure you’re doing your darndest! Besides, this… Castle Town, you said? It’s quite lovely! It’s not the studio, but it sure has its charm!” 

“I’m glad you like it, Tenna,” Ralsei said. “I… worked… hard on it.” He tugged his scarf up to hide the rising blush. 

“Damn right you did!” Susie told him, smacking him in the shoulder. 

“How was the festival, Susie?” Ralsei asked quickly. Susie rolled her eyes but let him change the subject. She’d get him to admit how awesome he was one of these days. 

“Eh.” She shrugged, trying to seem more unbothered than she was. “Not all it was cracked up to be, honestly. You didn’t miss much.” 

“Really?” Ralsei asked worriedly. “You seemed so excited for it.” 

“False advertising,” Susie informed him. She waved off his concern, trying to ignore the reopening pit in her stomach. She had fun with Kris at first, but… Maybe she would have enjoyed the festival, but it felt wrong now. It felt cruel to think of it fondly when Noelle and Ralsei had missed it. It was easier to pretend it hadn’t been worth it in the first place. 

“That’s a shame,” Tenna said. Ralsei nodded in agreement. 

“I’m really sorry, Susie,” he said. 

“Huh? C’mon, it’s not your fault, dude! Besides, the carnival in Cyber City was way better! The ferris wheel at the festival was tiny.” Ralsei giggled at that. “Oh! Speaking of the festival, though, I brought-” She broke off, reaching for her jacket-sling only for her hand to connect with her chest. She looked down, discovering that the sling, and the corndogs within it, had vanished upon her entry into the Dark World. Her jacket had once again converted into a vest, and was now back on her body. “Damn,” she muttered. “Don’t know what I expected…” 

“What happened?” Ralsei asked. 

“I tried to bring you guys some corndogs, but, uh…” She gestured uselessly at her Dark World getup. 

“Oh! That’s- That’s really sweet of you!” Ralsei said. 

“Yeah. I guess,” Susie said halfheartedly.

“Hey!” Tenna cut in. “It’s the thought that counts! A failed but heartfelt attempt means far more than a successful grand gesture that’s ultimately nothing but empty promises and false hopes!” He said it so brightly that Susie could almost ignore how detailed and cynical it was. He laughed uncomfortably, tugging at the collar of his shirt. “Anyway, uh, it’s very thoughtful of you to try! Is my point!” 

“Thanks?” 

“Any time!” he replied, far too quickly. Susie glanced over at Ralsei and raised an eyebrow. He shrugged helplessly. 

“Uhm, by the way,” Ralsei said, once the silence had lingered for just long enough to start being pretty weird. “Is Kris here too?” Susie sighed, picking at the spikes on one of her bracelets. 

“They’re… on their way,” she said. “They just… uh… had to take a call.”

“Oh! Oh, I’m sure they’ll be here soon,” Ralsei said. 

“Yeah…” Susie said. 

“Susie?”

“I’m just… worried about them, y’know? There’s a lot going on.” 

“I know,” Ralsei said softly. The unspoken weight of the statement rested between them. You do know, don’t you? Silently, the agreement was maintained. Susie didn’t say it. Ralsei didn’t either. Because speaking it made it real. 

“It’s just… I’m sure it’s their family and stuff. Or something like that.” Tenna frowned at the reminder. He caught Susie looking at him and shot her a reassuring smile. “They just looked… I dunno.” She ran a hand through her hair nervously. “It just felt weird. Like, they really didn’t look like they wanted to answer it. And I said I would just wait for them to finish, but they wouldn’t even pick it up until I left. And now it's been a while and they still haven’t showed up, and the whole thing was just weird. I mean, it’s probably fine! It’s just family stuff or something. And that’s fine, it’s not like they can’t have privacy or anything, I just don’t like how scared they looked, y’know? Shit, I’m just being weird, aren’t… I…” 

Susie trailed off, two things catching her eye in tandem. Firstly, Tenna had gone utterly still, stalled in place so completely that even his screen seemed to have frozen. His hands were curled into fists at his sides, clenched tightly enough that it seemed like he might actually tear the gloves he wore. 

Secondly, Susie’s field of vision had once again gone entirely pink and yellow. 

“Uh… Tenna?” she asked quietly. “You good? Te-” 

“Yes! Yes, I’m fine!” Tenna squeaked. “Completely tip-top one hundred percent fine!” 

“...If you keep sayin’ it, I’m gonna stop believing you,” Susie informed him. 

“Are you sure you’re alright?” Ralsei asked. 

“Yes,” Tenna said again, more heavily this time. “Yes, I’m… sorry. I’m sure it’s nothing. Kris is, of course, entitled to their privacy. I’m sure that’s… all it was.” He turned away, his antennae folding back over his head. It reminded Susie a bit of a cat, ears pinned back fearfully. Something was definitely up. 

“Sorry,” Tenna said finally. “You just… What you said, it reminded me of… something.” The color across Susie’s vision crackled slightly, a line of static cutting through it momentarily. It seemed almost involuntary, rather than something Spamton was intentionally trying to tell her. The whole thing seemed involuntary, actually. His messing with the glasses was so inconsistent that she couldn’t really place an intention behind it. “Anyway, I’m sure Kris will be here soon!” He tried for a smile. It came out more like a grimace.

“Susie… are you sure you’re okay?” Ralsei asked. 

“Me? Huh? No, I’m fine!” Susie said quickly. “Tip-top-one-hundred-whatever-Tenna-said.” She pushed her hair up out of her eyes. “Just worried about Kris is all.” Ralsei nodded slowly, biting his lip to stop himself from saying something else. It was funny, in a way. All three of them trying to pretend that their lives weren’t collapsing around them. Just a bunch of liars begging other liars to be honest. She wished Lancer was there. He was the most honest person she’d ever met. 

Ralsei was the one to finally break the fresh, awkward silence that Susie had ushered in. 

“Um. Well, I think that’s most of the town anyway, Tenna.” 

“Oh!” the CRT exclaimed, having clearly forgotten the reason he was out here in the first place. “Oh, good! It was nice! Good… town!” Ralsei still smiled at the praise, ham-handed as it was. 

“I think now’s as good a time as any. Why don’t you go swing by the bank and get your points converted!” 

“We have a bank?” Susie asked. 

“Some of the old Card Castle employees have a temporary one set up to help the guys from TV World settle in,” Ralsei explained. “It’s right by the new tea shop.” 

“Cool?” Susie said. If she was being honest, she wasn’t sure how any of that correlated to a bank. ‘Bank’ summoned up images of big money vaults and epic heists. Not point conversion or whatever. 

“Right! That sounds like a good idea,” Tenna agreed. “Seeing as I’ll be staying here for who knows how long! Haha. Ha…” Susie opened her mouth to say something, but he beat her to it, barrelling on in a spectacular display of overcorrection. “Which is fine! The town’s great, the people are great, everything’s great! It’s great, take your time, I don’t need to get adopted right this second, all good things take time, you know what they say!” He glanced down at Susie and Ralsei, who exchanged an awkward look between each other before coming to the mutual decision not to comment. Tenna wilted anyway, clearly realizing how unconvincing the whole thing had been. 

“Okay then!” Ralsei said, doing an impressive job of ignoring… that. “Hope everything goes well!” 

“Right!” Tenna says. “I’ll go do that! As soon as I…” He scanned the town, his mouth curving down in a perplexed frown. “...figure out where that is.” 

“Oh! Right, I’m sorry, I forgot you haven’t been around town much!” 

“You were just showing him around for the first time,” Susie reminded him. Ralsei ducked a little further into his scarf, looking up at Susie bashfully. Then, his eyes widened in some kind of realization and he perked back up. It was an impressive turnaround time, if nothing else. 

“Susie, why don’t you take him!” 

“Huh?”

“Yeah! You take Tenna to the bank to get his points converted, and I’ll go back and wait for Kris! And then we can all meet back at the castle!” 

“Wait, but-”

“Great, thanks, Susie, have fun you two!” Ralsei was gone before Susie could get another word out, scurrying down the street back towards the entrance to Castle Town. Susie’s “BUT I DON’T KNOW WHERE IT IS EITHER!” either went unheard or ignored. 

“What was that?” Susie muttered, rubbing the back of her head in confusion. She glanced up at Tenna for help. He shrugged, equally baffled by this turn of events. She looked back in the direction Ralsei had vanished and briefly considered hunting him down because huh? But then again… it wasn’t like spending a little time with Tenna was the worst thing in the world. She could at least reassure him that they were still looking. That she hadn’t ditched him.

“Y’know what?” she said, decision made. “Fine. Let’s find the stupid bank.” She grabbed a hold of Tenna’s sleeve before he could protest, yanking the much bigger CRT after her as she made her way even deeper into town.

It took a bit of searching, a healthy dose of doubling back, and a staunch refusal from Susie to ask for directions, but they did eventually find the bank. Castle Town seemed to grow by leaps and bounds every time she visited. It grew outward from the main path to Ralsei’s castle. A living, breathing thing, at least to Susie. The further out it went, the more the shops trickled off, replaced by actual small homes. Not everyone wanted to share the castle, after all. It was comforting, because it meant permanence. People setting up their own homes meant they expected to stay. 

The bank was a small building tucked away next to a tea shop manned by the pink Addison from Cyber City. The Addison waved to her initially, but as soon as it became clear that neither her nor Tenna was going to go over and potentially buy something, they spun on their heel, attention instantly redirected to a pair of Hathys across the street. Susie ignored them, making a beeline for the bank building instead. 

Entering the building was a trial in and of itself, as it turned out that Tenna seemed to have less control over his height than she’d previously assumed. She’d expected him to just shrink down to get inside, but instead found herself trying to yank his shoulders through a door that was just slightly too small for his base height. Fortunately for both of them, the embarrassment of the situation was enough to drop him down a few inches, and he was pulled through without taking the entire building with him. To their credit, the Rudinn at the desk didn’t even bat an eye.

Susie tried to pay attention while Tenna filled out some paperwork, but got lost pretty quickly after the third mention of “conversion rate.” The Rudinn seemed to be trying to make things move quickly, but bureaucracy tended to have a required level of “pointless red tape,” as Tenna described it, regardless of how helpful the guy with the paperwork was trying to be. It still seemed like an eternity before the Rudinn finally pulled Tenna aside, presumably to give him the Dark Dollars or something, and the whole process was concluded. Even Tenna seemed confused by the time they stepped back out into town. 

“That sucked,” Susie groaned, hitting her head with the heel of her hand a couple times to try and knock the nerd shit out of it. 

“Why did they need my serial number five times,” Tenna whispered with quiet horror. “Why did they need that.” 

“Dude, I thought they were gonna ask for your first born child or some shit,” Susie said. “That was crazy.” 

“There’s always some level of red tape, but that was madness!” He glanced over his shoulder with a sympathetic frown. “And that employee volunteered for this.”

“Couldn’t be me!” Susie declared. She crossed her arms, letting her gaze pan over the town. “What now?”

“Well…” Tenna said. He wrung his hands nervously. “Would you like something to drink from somewhere? Or eat? On me! As a thank you for… everything. And since you didn’t get to enjoy the festival like you’d hoped.” Susie blinked in surprise, looking up at him curiously. “Or I can just go back to the castle! I’m sure I can find it on my own, you don’t have to-”

“If you’re payin’,” Susie cut in. “Sure, man. I was gonna try to steal something, but your way is way easier.” Tenna broke off, staring at her in surprise. Then, his mouth broke into a massive smile. 

“Splendid! Where should we go?”

“I dunno man, it’s your money. You pick.” Tenna hummed contemplatively, scanning the area. After a moment, his gaze seemed to settle on something and he jerked his head over towards it. Susie tried her best to follow his line of sight and landed on a newer shop that had popped up within the last day or two, seeing as it bore an obvious resemblance to the style of TV World. She raised an eyebrow and Tenna turned his head away to hide the embarrassed pink coloring his screen. 

“I’m a creature of habit!” he defended. “We can always go somewhere else.” 

“Nah. I didn’t get to try a lot of your stuff anyway,” Susie informed him. Tenna brightened at that and allowed her to lead the way over to the shop. 

Stepping inside revealed it to be something more along the lines of a restaurant or pub, with a counter to order from and a few tables set up. It was built bigger than many of the other buildings in Castle Town, so much so that Tenna was able to fit inside just by ducking down a bit. Which was good, because Susie wasn’t keen on reliving their attempt to get inside the bank. 

The building was largely empty, save for the Pippins behind the counter and a Virovirokun “sitting” at one of the tables. The Pippins perked up as they approached the counter, brushing off the (seemingly already clean) counter. 

“Mr. Tenna! Lightner!” they greeted. They raised their eyes to look at Tenna more closely, their smile wobbling. “How are you feeling, Mr. Tenna?” 

“Oh. Uh. Fit as a fiddle, thanks for asking!” 

“Good to hear, sir,” the Pippins replied awkwardly. The two watched each other for a moment longer, matching strained smiles plastered across their faces. The Pippins broke eye contact first, clearing their throat. “So, what can I get you two? Just so you know, we’re only accepting Dark Dollars here now.”

“No, of course!” Tenna said quickly. “We just went and got my points converted, actually.” The Pippins grimaced, shooting a distressed glance towards the door in the direction of the “bank.” 

“Good to hear,” they said finally. “So… what would you like?” Tenna ordered something that Susie didn’t catch the name of and Susie settled for a classic “I’ll have what he’s having” because she didn’t have it in her to actually consider her order. After a moment of deliberation, Susie realized she had no idea what Kris and Ralsei liked and just had Tenna buy another two of the same thing. The Pippins took Tenna’s payment and dipped into the back of the store, returning with two large cans of soda. He handed them to Tenna and bid them farewell as they headed back out the door. The moment they exited the building, Tenna’s posture loosened, tension Susie hadn’t even noticed leaving his shoulders. 

“You good, dude?” Susie asked. 

“Of course! Fine and dandy!” Tenna reported. He handed her one of the cans, rolling the other over in his hands. Susie took the soda and turned the can over a couple times. Closer inspection revealed that she actually had seen this drink before. It was the same one from her room.The one Spamton had pulled out the day before when they’d struck their deal. She glanced up at Tenna, who seemed to have noticed how intensely she was studying the can.

“It’s one of my favorites,” he informed her. “Just the right mix of sweet and tart!” Susie pursed her lips, absorbing this new information. They continued walking, going nowhere in particular but feeling the need to continue moving in some capacity.

“Cool,” Susie said. Her finger lingered on the tab contemplatively, remembering how Spamton had chosen to drink it the night before. Out of sheer curiosity, she placed it into her mouth the same way he had and bit down. Her much sharper teeth pierced the can easily and the liquid began gushing from the new holes. She tilted her head back and let it drain into her mouth, quickly discovering that this was, in fact, not somehow the optimal method of drinking anything. Most of the drink bypassed her tongue entirely and just slid down her throat, causing her to miss much of the flavor. The bit that did hit her tongue didn’t taste half-bad though. It was definitely cola-like, but with more of a fruity flavor at the edge of it. It tasted a lot more like actual fruit than the drink from Cyber City. Raspberry, maybe. She didn’t know her fruit. 

“Not bad,” she announced, chewing the can and swallowing the rest. That part, at least, Spamton had been right on the money about, because the texture of this can was much more interesting. She glanced up at Tenna, whose jaw was currently about halfway to the floor.

“Uhm… good?” Tenna asked. He stared at her uncertainly, so baffled by her choice of consumption method that he hadn’t even bothered to open his own can yet. He was holding it in between both hands, the whole thing engulfed in white fabric as he held it. Susie flicked her eyes towards it and raised her eyebrows. “Oh! Right.” He looked down at it for a moment uncomfortably. He made an unsuccessful attempt to pop the tab, laughed awkwardly, and failed again.

“You… need a hand?” Susie asked. 

“No! Nope, totally fine! I’ve got it!” Tenna said. He tried again, to similar results. After another moment of shameful contemplation, he tucked the can under his arm and carefully tugged his gloves off of his hands, neatly folding them and tucking them into the pocket of his slacks. Underneath the gloves, his hands were strikingly robotic. They seemed to be metallic, the light glinting off of a scuffed but still largely smooth surface. His fingers were split into separate segments, held together by ball joints. If she looked closer, she could see small wires snaking through the spaces between segments. Susie wasn’t exactly sure what she’d been expecting, but it wasn’t that. Honestly, she hadn’t even fully registered the gloves as a removable article of clothing until now. 

“Dude, no way! That’s sick!” Susie told him. 

“Huh?” Tenna asked. 

“You’re like- all robotic!”

“Well- Uh, yes. You did repair me,” Tenna reminded her. 

“Yeah, but that was just your shoulder-parts! I didn’t get to see anything!” She flexed her fingers experimentally, comparing them to the segmented hands of the CRT walking beside her. “That looks gnarly as fuck! The hell do you wear gloves for?” Tenna’s screen once again took on a slight, embarrassed, pink hue.

“Ah- Thank you, Susie. I’m glad you find it… gnarly?” He glanced down at his hands, still curled around the can, his screen flickering. “It’s… I’m an older model, so my mechanics are rather… unpolished. Not camera-ready! It’s all about appearances in show-biz!” He said it with perfect nonchalance, as if it was just that simple. It didn’t seem to bother him in the slightest, so Susie couldn’t quite determine why it bothered her instead. Her tail, her actual tail, not the armor she wore over it, flicked in discomfort.

With another uneasy laugh, Tenna turned his attention back to the can in his hand. Cautiously, he curled his pointer finger so that the tab caught on the edge of the middle segment where there was a little gap between that and the ball joint that allowed him his mobility. Using this method, he was finally able to pull the tab up and open the can. Susie shot him a proud thumbs up. 

Tenna took a small sip of his soda, careful to avoid inhaling ninety percent of it in one go. He sighed, one of his antennae, the one that wasn’t crookedly held together with tape in a crude approximation of a bandage, twitching nervously. Susie watched him silently, trying and failing to come up with another conversation topic. 

“Thanks,” she settled on. She gestured to the drink in Tenna’s hand, seeing as hers had already been disposed of.

“Of course! It’s the least I could do!” Tenna assured her. He took another sip of his drink. “I really am grateful, Susie. For everything you’ve done for me.” 

“Hey, man, you’re good! You don’t need to keep saying thank you!” Susie laughed uncomfortably. “I’m just glad you’re okay.” 

“Likewise,” Tenna said. He rubbed his shoulder to drive the point home. “Well, we should return to the castle! Ralsei wanted you to meet him there, didn’t he?”

“Right!” Susie said. “Right, let’s go!” She spun around slowly, relocating the castle spires. “There!” She took off, leading them back to the main road towards the castle in an attempt to redeem herself from the senseless scrambling of earlier that day. 

They walked in relative silence. Something was clearly still weighing on Tenna’s mind, as evidenced by the nervous flicks of his antennae and the slight, uncharacteristic hunch to his posture. It was clear that there was something he wanted to say that he hadn’t yet managed to voice. Susie couldn’t quite bring herself to ask what it was. She knew she didn’t appreciate when people started trying to pry into her stupid feelings. He was probably just trying to figure out how to delicately tell her how miserable he was, stuck here in Castle Town instead of adopted like she’d promised him. 

They entered through the castle’s main door and Susie led Tenna back up to his room, still stuck in the guide mindset despite having gotten them lost at least four separate times that day. She followed him inside without really thinking about it, just to make sure he was good to go before she went to relocate Ralsei and Kris. 

He flicked the light on, and with the room actually lit, Susie could fully appreciate how mis-matched it really was. Large chairs clearly from different sets, a hastily constructed countertop, a table that, instead of actually being Tenna’s size, was currently rested on what seemed to be concrete slabs to raise the height. The whole room screamed of impermanence. Of Tenna not bothering to get things made custom to his height because he didn’t expect to be there long enough for it to really matter. It was a temporary residence. It was supposed to be, because she was supposed to be finding Tenna a new home. 

“Well, um. Thank you for everything again!” Tenna said. “I’m sure you… want to get back to your crew now!” 

“Yeah,” Susie agreed half-heartedly, still absorbed in scanning the room. Her eye caught on some old boxes stowed in the corner, haphazardly stacked on top of each other. She made her way over to them, pulling one of the ones that wasn’t a structural support across the floor to get a better look. “Hey, what’s all this stuff?”

“Oh! Just some old knick-knacks from the studio,” Tenna informed her, appearing at her side. “I try not to be sentimental, but-” He shook his head. “No, I admit it, I’m terribly sentimental.” Susie barked out a laugh. She reached out for the flaps of the box and, when Tenna did nothing to stop her, opened it and took a look inside. 

The box she had chosen contained a bunch of weird rectangular devices with names written on the side of them. It took Susie a moment to register them as VHS tapes, considering she was pretty sure she’d never actually seen one in real life. There were also a couple big sleeves with art across them that registered as old-timey vinyl records. 

“Geez, you really are old,” Suzie snorted, waving one of the records at him. 

“It’s not my fault music sounds better on vinyl!” 

“It sounds the same!” 

“NOT so,” Tenna corrected, plucking the album from her hands. “All those new-fangle devices compress the music beyond recognition! There’s just something special about a vinyl record! The crispness! The smoothness! The… grooviness!” Susie rolled her eyes as Tenna dusted off the jacket and replaced the album in the box. 

“Sure, man. Whatever you say.” 

“You can’t honestly tell me that a CD could come anywhere close to the audio quality of real, authentic vinyl!” 

“No one listens to CDs anymore,” Susie informed him. “You can just stream it.”

“STREAM IT!?” Tenna shrieked. “What on earth are you talking about?” 

“Y’know. Just, look up the song on the internet and play the video,” Susie told him. 

“WHAT!?” Susie snorted, still digging through the box. There didn’t seem to be much of an organizational system to his collection. Ralsei had probably taken care of it, actually, just grabbing whatever he could and stuffing it in boxes so that Tenna and the other TV World Darkners wouldn’t have to leave everything behind. 

“Yeah, dude. You can find anything on the internet.” She waited for Tenna to fire back with some quip about how the internet could have all the shit it wanted, but it would never beat the classics. But the reply never came. “Tenna?” She turned around, finding that the TV had shrunk a good foot or two. He was turned away from her, his lips pursed into a thin line. “Tenna, you okay?” 

“What? Oh! Yes, sorry, I’m fine,” he said, for probably the fifth time that day. “Sorry. Just… thinking.”

“...’Bout TV World?” Tenna shook himself, much like a dog shaking off excess water, as if he could dry himself of whatever was bugging him. He smoothed down his tailcoat, turning back to Susie with a newly restored smile.

“No, no. Just…” He knelt by her side, leaning over the box as well. He pulled one of the VHS tapes out of it, seemingly just to have something to do with his hands. “I never could understand all that new-fangle technology,” he admitted. “No matter how hard he…” Tenna trailed off, gagging on the words as if it made him physically sick to try and say. “I just don’t see the appeal!” he said instead. “You know what they say! ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!’” There it was. 

“Hey man, as long as it can play Revenge of the Worm Wraith!” Susie said. Tenna giggled at that. Then, his screen brightened and he dove past her, overtaking the box as he dug through it for something.

“You said Worm Wraith?” he asked. 

“Yeah…?” Tenna didn’t respond, instead continuing to sift through the VHS tapes with a near feverish intensity. After a moment, he seemed to find what he was looking for. He pulled the tape free, holding it above his head triumphantly.

“A-HA!” he declared. “I knew I had this one!” 

“What’s that?” Susie asked. He passed it to her and she turned it over, finding the tape labelled Attack of the Worm Wraith. “Wait, no way! You have it?”

“Well, this is the original Worm Wraith,” Tenna corrected. “An oldie but a goodie! And all practical effects!” 

“Hell yeah!” Susie said. “I didn’t even know there was an original!” 

“I always preferred it to the remake,” Tenna informed her. “It’s a classic!” 

“Huh. Didn’t peg you for a horror movie guy,” Susie told him. 

“Horror is a classic, underappreciated genre!” Tenna said, almost insulted at the insinuation that he wouldn’t enjoy horror movies. He gestured to the VHS in Susie’s hand. “You’ve really never seen it?”

“Nah. Just Revenge,” Susie confirmed. Tenna hummed contemplatively, taking the VHS back from her. 

“You know, you could always… watch it with me,” he said softly. “I have a VHS player.” He glanced down at the floor. “Asgore installed it. So he could play home videos.” 

“Wait, for real!?” Susie asked. “Dude, that’s sick!” Tenna beamed. Susie got to her feet, scanning the room, and slowly, an idea began to form. Sure, Ralsei hadn’t gotten to the festival. And Kris had missed out on most of it. Noelle… she’d find a way to make it all up to Noelle later. But maybe, right now, there was a way to make it up to her other friends. “Hey, Tenna?” 

“Hm?”

“Are you doin’ anything tonight?” 

Some time later found Susie standing by the cauldron in the castle’s main hall, still waiting for Kris and Ralsei to make their way back. She had considered going out to look for them, but Ralsei had said to meet at the castle, so she didn’t want to push it. Not to mention that her luck hadn’t exactly been stellar with finding her way around town. Not that it was her fault. Castle Town just expanded too damn fast to keep up with. 

Still, it had been ages. Maybe Kris had ditched after all and Ralsei was waiting at the light for nothing. Would they… do that? They were the one that wanted to go to the Dark World in the first place! But maybe that phone call had been something bad. Maybe they had to go and just… didn’t have time to tell her. 

“Shit,” she groaned, shoving her hand underneath the glasses to rub her eyes. “Maybe this whole thing was stupid anyway.” She let herself slide down the cauldron until she was sitting instead of leaning. Might as well settle in. She had no idea how long she was going to be here, anyway. She tapped the frame of the glasses lightly. “You think Kris is gonna come?” She asked because she knew he wouldn’t answer. He didn’t. 

With no one to keep her company but the glasses, her mind drifted back to her discussion with Spamton the day before. She still didn’t understand jack shit about what was going on. He was a mystery that just got worse the more she thought about it. Puppet strings and fallen angels and now, apparently, some kind of weird history with Tenna that he didn’t want her acknowledging. Speaking of which… 

“Hey,” she started uncertainly. “Do you… want me to leave you in my room for tonight?” She waited for a response and received nothing. “Just, since we’re gonna be hanging out with Tenna and you’re… weird? About him.” Still nothing. Susie sighed wearily, dropping her hand from where it rested on the frame. “Fine. If you’re not gonna say anything, then you’re coming with me.” Spamton remained unresponsive, which was as good a confirmation as any. 

Just as Susie was about to say something else, she heard the large castle door swing open and the harsh clang of boots on stone. She got to her feet just in time to see Kris and Ralsei walk into the main chamber, talking softly to each other. She felt her entire body sag in embarrassing relief.

“Kris! Ralsei!” she called, waving them over. Ralsei squeaked in surprise, immediately breaking off whatever he was saying. 

“S-Susie!” he chirped. He made his way over to her, smiling nervously. “Sorry that took so long!”

“Just warn a guy next time!” Susie told him. She punched him lightheartedly in the shoulder. “Kris! I thought you ditched!” Kris shook their head, echoing Ralsei’s apology. “Nah. You guys are good,” Susie said. “Gave me time to set something up!” 

“S… set something up?” Ralsei asked. “What did you do?” 

“Well…” Susie began nervously. “It kinda sucked that you missed out on the festival and all. And Kris left early with me.”

“Oh, Susie… you know that’s okay! I would have liked to go to the festival with you, but-”

“AHK- SHUT,” Susie snapped. “I’m not done!” 

“O-okay!” 

“Anyway!” Susie continued. “I was thinking. Me and Kris’s monster movie marathon kinda got… interrupted.” Kris snickered, reminding Susie that it had only been shortened because she’d fallen asleep. “DID NOT!” Susie shot back. “And if I did it’s because it was a boring movie!” She crossed her arms, turning her nose up at Kris. “But… yeah. And Ralsei, you said you’ve never even seen a movie before.” 

“Right?” Ralsei said, his head tilting in confusion.
“So, I figured, who needs a stupid festival? We can have an Epic Sleepover instead! C’mon!” She grabbed Ralsei by his robe before he could argue, yanking him up the stairs towards Tenna’s room. Kris followed after them, giggling quietly the whole way up. She reached Tenna’s room and kicked down the door (as effectively as one can kick down a sliding door). “TADA!” 

Tenna’s room had been completely converted. The chairs had been lined up in opposing rows coming out from the wall, forming a frame over which a massive blanket found in Tenna’s closet had been draped. Couch cushions had been dragged from their normal resting place and instead laid against the wall. A bunch of pillows and blankets had been kidnapped from other rooms and thrown into the fort, creating a soft pile to lay down in. 

“S-Susie!?” Ralsei squeaked. 

“Welcome to your first ever movie marathon, Ralsei!” Susie announced. “You’re watching all the classics! Worm Wraiths, Claws of Death, Skullcrushers!”

“Those all sound- awfully violent, don’t you think?” Ralsie asked.

“Yeah, duh. That’s the POINT! Tenna, tell Ralsei horror movies are awesome!” 

“It’s an underappreciated genre!” Tenna informed him, sticking his head out of the adjoining room where he was doing… something. Presumably still rifling through his VHS tapes to see what else he had. 

“So?” Susie asked. “Whaddaya say?” Susie glanced over at Kris, who gave her a double thumbs up. Ralsei’s gaze flicked between the two of them uncertainly. His mouth wobbled, and he almost looked like he was going to cry. “H-hey! Ralsei, you good, man?” 

“Yeah!” Ralsei sniffed. He looked over at the fort, covering his mouth with his hand. “O-okay. Okay! Let’s do it!”
“FUCK YEAH!” Susie roared. “EPIC FUN GANG SLUMBER PARTY!” Kris pumped their fist in agreement. If nothing else, at least Kris seemed to be doing better. Maybe whatever that phone call had been about hadn’t been so bad after all. 

The three of them settled into the fort and Susie tossed Kris and Ralsei the sodas Tenna had bought earlier. Tenna returned as well, offering them some food from TV World that tasted a lot like popcorn. They spent a few minutes debating what to watch, finally leaving the decision in Kris’s hands, as they did with most things. After a bit of deliberation, Kris did, in fact, settle on Attack of the Worm Wraith, much to Ralsei’s chagrin. 

Tenna pulled off his tie and tailcoat, leaving him just his white button-up. He hadn’t put his gloves back on and Susie didn’t know why she found the fact comforting. He placed the VHS in a slot right at the base of his neck, and moments later the title screen replaced his face on his screen. 

“YOOOO!” Susie shouted. “Dude, that’s sick!” 

“Being a television does have its perks,” Tenna informed her. “Now, who’s ready for some WORM WRAITHS!?” Susie and Kris cheered excitedly, jostling Ralsei until he, too, let out a weak “hooray?” With that, Tenna rested his head on his hands and let the movie play. 

He had been right. The original wasn’t half bad, even if the acting was a little goofy and the stunt doubles were a little easy to spot. There were even a couple of spots that would’ve been totally terrifying if Susie wasn’t badass and unbothered by stuff like that. She definitely didn’t hide behind Kris during some of the jumpscares. That would be stupid. She was just… checking their hair for lice. 

This, Susie decided, was what made it all worth it. Being enveloped by blankets and by darkness, the only light being the flickering of Tenna’s screen as the movie played. Kris’s quiet laughter beside her, the vibration running through her from where their shoulder bumped into hers. Ralsei’s soft shrieks of fear that quickly gave way to embarrassed giggles. Tenna’s voice occasionally cutting through the film’s audio to drop a random fun fact about the actors. 

She reached up absently and adjusted the glasses on her snout. Maybe the festival had been a total bust. Maybe they hadn’t stopped the Knight. Maybe she still owed Noelle the biggest apology gift ever conceived. But as she sank back into the pillows, her eyes not closing because she was not tired, she could feel that little bit of hope flickering back to life in her chest. This. This made it all worth it. With her friends by her side, the friends who told her the truth and would always stick by her… If she had them, then she could do this.

Chapter Text

The first thought Susie had upon waking up was that she was horrifically late for school. It wasn’t a concern that she usually had, but it was more for Kris’s sake than her own, because if she was late, then Kris, who was with her, would also be late, and she didn’t want them to have to deal with whatever Toriel’s punishment would be. Probably some hardcore “I’m not mad, I’m just disappointed” discussions that would make Kris wish they’d just been grounded instead. 

The second thought Susie had, however, was that Kris actually wasn’t with her at all. 

It made sense, she supposed, as her mind finally stumbled into some semblance of wakefulness. Toriel wasn’t the kind of mother to just let her kid vanish for the night. Kris had probably left their sleepover early to head home. It kind of defeated the point of a sleepover, but Susie wasn’t going to question them on it. Not after everything they’d already put up with. 

She rubbed her eyes, sitting up more fully from the pile of blankets she had been sleeping on. Further examination of her situation revealed that Ralsei had left at some point as well, presumably to go fulfill some boring princely duties. Tenna was missing too. He had probably gone back to sleep in an actual bed once they had all fallen asleep. 

She tried not to get too hung up on it. She was used to waking up in an empty room in an empty apartment. The others had shit to do. Wasn’t their fault that Susie wasn’t exactly an early riser. In the end, she was just glad they’d all hung out with her at all. 

It had been nice, in a weird way. A real sleepover, complete with drinks and popcorn and corny old movies that, no matter what Tenna insisted, didn’t always hold up. A quieter kind of fun than the Fun Gang usually had, what with all their adventuring and battling and the like. Kind of like the tea parties they’d had, just sitting around and enjoying each other’s company. Susie wasn’t used to having enough friends to do that kind of thing with. She wasn’t used to having friends at all. 

She crawled her way out of the shelter, shielding her eyes from the sudden onslaught of light. Someone must have left them on when they left the room. She attempted to stand, only for her foot to snag on some tangled blankets and nearly send her flying. She just barely managed to catch herself and carefully kicked the blanket back into the fort as she straightened up. 

Something was awkwardly digging into her snout and she reached up to adjust it, belatedly recognizing it as the Dealmaker. She winced and glanced over at her shoulder where the Jevilstail flicked behind her, seemingly unchanged. Hopefully she hadn’t crushed either of them while she was sleeping. Though, they probably would’ve changed back if they were really uncomfortable. So it was probably fine. She still whispered an apology to them both, just in case. 

Now that she was more fully awake, she noticed a strange smell permeating the room. Not unpleasant, but definitely different from the standard. It smelled like food, now that she thought about it. Something sweet. Had one of the others made food before they left. Had they made food and not offered her any!? 

“Oh! Susie, you’re awake!” Susie whipped around, hands raised in a defensive fighting position that was totally real and legit and definitely not just panicked flailing. 

Her eyes finally settled on the source of the voice. Tenna’s head was poking around the doorframe that led to the other room, looking over at her contemplatively. Most of him was still in the other room, but she could at least make out that he wasn’t wearing his usual suit. One antenna flicked curiously, waiting for her to lower her guard. She sheepishly dropped her hands, running them through her hair instead. 

“Tenna!” she squeaked. “Don’t sneak up on me like that, man!” 

“Sorry! I was coming to wake you up but…” He gestured vaguely at her. “Wouldn’t want you to be late for school, after all!” 

“Oh, shit, I thought I was late,” Susie informed him blandly. 

“Nope!” Tenna declared. “By my estimation you still have over an hour before your first class starts! Assuming classes still start at 7:30, it has been a while. Has that changed? Oh dear, are classes earlier now!? Did I miss-”

“No, no, you’re good!” Susie cut in quickly. “Yeah, it’s 7:30.” She paused for a moment, glancing awkwardly at the floor. “I think. I’m usually late so I dunno.” Tenna let out a displeased huff but didn’t comment. “Hang on, how do you know what time it is?”

“I have more of a connection to the Light World than other Darkners,” Tenna explained. He pursed his lips for a moment, thinking something through. “I’m not sure on the specifics, but certain details are clearer to me. Such as…” He did a small wave with the hand holding the door frame, a more contained variant of his usual dramatic flourish. “THE TIME!” Susie snorted, waving him off. He grinned at her, entirely undeterred. 

“Kris and Ralsei left earlier,” Tenna informed her after a moment.

“I figured,” Susie told him. 

“They didn’t want to wake you, but Kris told me to tell you they’d see you at school,” he continued. Susie gave him a thumbs up. “Speaking of which, would you… like something for breakfast?” 

“Breakfast?” Susie asked. He nodded eagerly, gesturing for her to follow him into the other room. She followed him curiously, stretching a bit as she walked to try and get the last bits of weariness out of her body. She found that she wasn’t nearly as tired as she usually woke up feeling. If she really thought about it, she was pretty sure this was the best night of sleep she’d had in ages. 

She stepped through the door and was immediately hit in the face with the full force of the smell that had been wafting through Tenna’s place. The adjacent room turned out to be an entire kitchen, which had not been what Susie was expecting in the slightest. It was reminiscent of the set from Tenna’s cooking show, though a bit smaller in scale. The source of the smell seemed to be the large pan on the stove, as well as the stack of fluffy brown items on a plate beside it. 

“No way!” Susie shouted. “Are those pancakes!?” 

“Close!” Tenna said. “Flapjax!” Susie blinked, eyeing the items more closely. 

“Isn’t that the same thing?” 

“Nope! My version is spelled with an ‘x!’”

“Whatever you say, man.” Tenna slipped past her, grabbing a spatula and bending down to flip the ‘Flapjax’ currently in the pan. She glanced up at him, finally taking notice of his choice of clothing for the day. His usual suit had been ditched for just his button-up, covered over with a TV Time branded apron. His sleeves were rolled up past his elbows, exposing more of his robot form. The plating on his arms was similar to that on his hands, a couple panels screwed together to form casings that hid the most critical components. The casings around his arms were a bit shorter, leaving more of his internal skeleton exposed. With his elbow exposed, she could see the mechanism of his movement far more clearly, the way a tendon-like belt snaked over the circular joint and allowed him to stretch his arm. It was fascinating, and it almost made her wish that she had been able to understand everything Spamton had been telling her when she fixed him. That she’d not just known where everything fit but why. 

She realized she had been staring and looked away to examine the room instead. The kitchen, too, was clearly too small for him, forcing him to bend over to reach the stove. His hands dwarfed the spatula and the pan where he held them. It was clearly modeled after his show, but it seemed like it had been built with smaller Darkners being able to use it in mind.

“Why’ve you got a kitchen?” Susie asked. “I thought everyone cooked in that weird cauldron?” 

“It’s not mine, actually,” Tenna corrected. “Ralsei and I share it.” 

“Wait, for real?” 

“Indeed! It adjoins both of our rooms. He added it shortly after I moved in.” 

“Huh,” Susie said, taking a closer look at the room with this new context. She hadn’t expected that from Ralsei. After all, he was the one who insisted that the cauldron was perfectly suitable for all his cooking and baking needs. But this… this seemed promising. Sure, he’d probably done it with the excuse that it was for Tenna’s sake, but he wouldn’t have connected it to his room for no reason. No, he had done this for himself. Maybe because he wanted to learn how to cook without using the cauldron, or maybe just because he’d enjoyed the cooking game on Tenna’s show, but regardless, this had been something Ralsei did to make himself happy as much as Tenna. The bar was low, but it still made Susie exceptionally proud of him. 

“Feel free to take some!” Tenna’s voice cut through her thoughts. “I made… a lot…” He chuckled sheepishly. 

“Don’t gotta tell me twice,” Susie declared, snatching the top portion of Tenna’s pancake stack and shoving it down her throat. Tenna watched her in stunned silence, his expression caught somewhere between happiness that his offer had been accepted and horror at the method of said acceptance. 

“Guess Susiezilla’s back on the loose, folks,” he said, settling on an amused middle ground. Susie rolled her eyes, grabbing another off the top and chewing it more slowly. “I… do have toppings?” Tenna said. “You don’t have to eat it plain.” 

“Nah. This way’s good,” Susie informed him. 

“If you say so.” He grabbed a bowl that Susie had failed to notice from the other side of the counter and poured some beige liquid into the pan. The instant it hit the pan, the room was filled with a sharp sizzling sound. He held the pan by the handle and rotated it carefully, spreading the liquid around into a more circular shape before dropping the pan back onto the burner. 

“I didn’t know you cooked,” Susie noted. 

“Well, obviously,” Tenna countered. “I’ve watched so many episodes of the cooking channel that it would be more surprising if I didn’t!” 

“These’re good,” she told him, finishing off the Flapjax in her hand and reaching for another. “Man I am starving.” Tenna’s smile wavered, antennae folding back uncertainly. 

“I- uh- I know Dark World food isn’t all that filling for a Lightner, but, uhm…” He rubbed the back of his neck and turned his screen away to stare up at the corner of the room instead. “I just wanted- You-” He shook his head in defeat, shoulders slumping as he lost a couple inches. 

“Dude, chill,” Susie said. “This is a hell of a lot more breakfast than I was gonna get at home. ‘Sides, still tastes good.” 

“What do you mean, ‘more than you’d get at home?’” Tenna asked. He bent down slightly, his mouth curving down into a worried frown. 

“Oh! Just cause, I, uh, I usually wake up late! So I always miss breakfast,” Susie corrected hurriedly. For a terrifying moment, Tenna stayed exactly where he was, unmoving save for a slight, angry-looking twitch in his antenna. But then he leaned back, his smile returning along with his height. 

“Well! In that case, I’m glad to be of service!” He grabbed the spatula, cleanly flipping the Flapjax in the pan and giving it a light pat before leaving it to continue cooking. “Although, you really should be getting to school on time. Your education is important!” 

“Eh. Most of that stuff’s useless anyway,” Susie informed him. He pursed his lips, looking decidedly displeased by that response. “Don’t worry about me, dude. I’ve got it aaaallll figured out.” Tenna let out a soft snicker. 

“Of course.” 

“Listen man, you don’t know what you’re missing. I’ve reached the absolute peak.”

“I don’t doubt it.” He flipped the final Flapjax onto the stack and turned off the stove. He moved the pan over to one of the other burners and dropped the spatula into the empty bowl. Taking the bowl with him, he made his way over to the other side of the kitchen where Susie could see a decently large sink, closer in size to the industrial kind in a restaurant than a regular kitchen sink. He dropped the bowl inside and shrank down to fit his hands inside the sink more easily.

“Hey, hey, hang on!” Susie shouted. “So you can change your size whenever you want!” 

“Huh?” Tenna asked, glancing over his shoulder. 

“What the hell were you doing with the bank yesterday, man!?” His antennae shot upwards in surprise before he abruptly snapped his face away in a failed attempt to hide that his screen had suddenly gone beet red. 

“I. Uh. I may have perhaps just a little incidentally maybe kind of forgottenIcouldcontrolit.” 

“What was that?” Susie asked, despite having heard him pretty distinctly. A teasing smirk crept its way up her face. “Couldn’t hear ya with all that mumbling, man.” 

“IforgotIcouldcontrolit,” Tenna whispered. 

“WHAT?” Susie asked, doing her best impression of a deaf old man who liked to use the term ‘whippersnapper.’ 

“I FORGOT!” Tenna wailed, burying his face in his hands. “I FORGOT I COULD DO IT MANUALLY.” Susie burst out laughing, one hand slapped against her forehead while the other clutched her midsection. Tenna stared at her, unimpressed, as she laughed at him for a solid several seconds. 

“No fucking way,” Susie choked out. She wiped a fake tear from her eye, just to tick him off further. Tenna let out a displeased huff, crossing his arms and pointedly turning his head away from her. “How did you forget?” 

“There was a lot on my mind!” Tenna informed her. He threw his hands up in desperation. “I’m a busy man!”

“Busy getting trapped in doorways. I totally thought you just couldn’t control it!” Tenna tilted his head, glancing back over at her. She paused, suddenly uncertain. “Wait, how does that even work?” 

“It varies,” Tenna informed her. He finally dropped his defensive posture and let the teasing go in favor of offering her a genuine explanation. “It is something I can control manually, but it’s also tapped into my emotions.” 

“Huh? How’s that work?” Tenna hummed contemplatively. 

“Think of it like this,” he began, lifting his hands to illustrate his point. “It’s like… It’s like smiling!” 

“Like smiling?” Susie echoed incredulously. He gave her an unimpressed look but carried on. 

“Think about it! When you’re happy, it’s easy to smile! When you’re kind of feeling neutral, you can still make yourself smile, it just takes a bit of effort. And when you’re feeling really bad, just positively glooby, then forcing a smile becomes almost impossible!” 

“Huh,” Susie said. “So your shrinking thing is like that? Like, when you’re happy, it’s easier to be tall, and when you’re sad it’s easier to be smaller?” 

“Ding ding ding!” Tenna announced, the declaration coupled with the loud ring of a ‘correct’ buzzer from his speakers. “We have a winner, folks! Of course, it’s a little more complicated than that, but that’s the gist of it!” 

“That’s kinda cool,” Susie admitted. Tenna stiffened slightly, antennae tilting forward over his head. 

“You think so?” 

“Yeah! It’s like that boss in Dragon Blazers who changes color during the fight! And you gotta use the colors to see how he’s feeling and it tells you what attack to use next!”

“Aha, yes, it is very much like the… evil boss of Dragon Blazers,” Tenna agreed shakily. 

“Nah, he’s cool as hell,” Susie corrected. Tenna visibly brightened at that, though a slight tinge of embarrassed pink remained on his screen. 

“Of course, he has nothing on the original,” he declared, jerking his thumb back towards himself and shooting up a couple inches to accentuate his point. Susie rolled her eyes. She still laughed anyway.

“Yeah, yeah, nothing beats classic TV.”

“It really doesn’t,” Tenna insisted. He turned around, finally returning his original quest of washing the dishes. After a bit of searching around the nearby cupboards, and smacking his head directly into the top of one of them upon trying to straighten back up, he was able to successfully locate a sponge and some dish soap, which he dropped onto the counter next to the sink. Preparations complete, he reached out and turned on the water.

The instant the tap started running, Susie’s vision snapped into full, brilliant color. Static burst along the edges of the glasses, fizzing nervously with barely contained energy. It was like contained panic, as if Spamton was holding himself back because of their deal but also needed to get an urgent message across. 

“WAIT!” Susie shouted. Tenna froze in place, glancing over his shoulder uncertainly. 

“Susie?” 

“Just- Just hang on a sec!” She wracked her brain, trying to figure out what Spamton was worrying about. She hadn’t said anything even close to referencing him, so it couldn’t be that. What was it? What had changed that would get him to react? Her eyes drifted up to Tenna, then back towards the sink, then back up to Tenna. Her gaze lingered on his hands. The metallic segments, the carefully structured joints, the exposed wires. She looked back at the running water in the sink. Water. That must be it. 

“Dude, are you sure you should be touching that?” Susie asked, laughing off her sudden panic nervously. She reached over and turned the water off. “Since you’re all… robot-like?” As soon as she said it, the panicked static settled down, though the color in the lenses remained. Bingo. 

“Oh! Hm.” Tenna glanced down at his hands, flexing them experimentally. “Well, it’s not like water is great for my electronics, but a little won’t kill me. I’m not that poorly designed.” 

“Won’t you like… rust and stuff though?” Susie asked. 

“Not as long as I make sure everything is thoroughly dried out!” Tenna replied. “Sure, there could be issues if the water gets stuck in places, but as long as I’m careful, it’ll be fine! Nothing that can’t be dealt with as long as I do some good routine maintenance!” Static sparked across the glasses and Susie took a shot in the dark as to the meaning. 

“Do you?” 

“Who do you think I am!?” Tenna asked sharply, resting his hands on his hips haughtily. “A proper star never lets himself fall into disrepair!” He held himself like that for a moment, the perfect picture of indignation. Then, his lips pursed and his height dropped down, much more intensely than it had during the rest of the morning. His antennae folded back in discomfort as he dropped his gaze down to the floor. 

“Woah! Hey, man, you good?” Susie asked quickly. She stepped up to him, her hand unconsciously drifting out towards him. 

“I just…” He let out a long sigh that crackled with static, like breathing directly into a microphone. “I suppose I have been neglecting my maintenance a bit lately. Nothing major! I still have to be camera-ready, after all! It’s just…” 

“Yeah?” Susie prompted. 

“Haha. I don’t even know what I’m getting so worked up about, it’s been years,” he said sadly. “And I always did it fine beforehand! But ever since…” He groaned, pressing a hand against his screen, around the place where his eyes would probably rest if he had any. “It’s been harder,” he settled on. “Must be getting old!” He chuckled to himself, but there was little humor behind it. It was obvious that he had completely dodged whatever he was actually trying to say, but Susie didn’t have it in her heart to keep digging. Not when he was short enough now that she could reach up and tap the top of his head if she wanted to. 

“Hey. Y’know, I can do ‘em,” Susie suggested. 

“Huh?”

“The dishes. I can, uh, clean ‘em for you.” The color in the glasses pulled back slightly, which Susie took as a sign of approval. This just kept getting weirder. She had half a mind to storm down to her room and interrogate the damn puppet again, but she had a feeling that wouldn’t go over well. Maybe if Kris loaned her some money to feed the rabid little guy. Maybe. 

“Really?” Tenna asked. “You’d do that? For me?” 

“Uhh… yeah? It’s not a big deal?” 

“But you’re my guest, what kind of host am I if I’m giving you chores!?” Tenna demanded suddenly. 

“Hey, don’t worry about it, man! I’d rather do some stupid chores than have your arms get messed up. Again.” Tenna grimaced at the reminder. 

“Well… if you’re sure.”

“It’s really not a big deal,” Susie told him. And it wasn’t, she found, even though she would normally rather gargle rat poison than do a chore. It was like when she was baking with Toriel. Stuff that usually would have seemed like work suddenly just… didn’t. 

“Well, in that case, we can work together!” Tenna declared. “After all: TEAMWORK MAKES THE DREAM WORK!” 

“Haha, nice,” Susie said. “Didja come up with that all by yourself.”
“NO!” Tenna said, still in the same booming announcer voice. “IT’S ACTUALLY AN INCREDIBLY COMMON SAYING!” 

“I changed my mind, I’m gonna dunk you in the fucking sink.” Tenna snorted in response. 

“I’ve never been so betrayed,” he deadpanned. Then, he turned on his heel and clapped his hands together, antennae curving back as he contemplated something. After a moment, they straightened as he seemed to remember whatever he had been looking for. He dug through another few cupboards before reappearing with a large rag in hand. “You wash, I dry,” he announced. “And don’t get hit by the FIRE!” 

“If you throw fire at me, I’m hitting you with the pan,” Susie informed him. 

“NO FIRE!” Tenna confirmed. Susie rolled her eyes, but she did turn back to the sink and turn the tap back on. She reached for the sponge and the soap and flicked the cap open. “You might want to wet the sponge first,” Tenna suggested.

“I knew that!” Susie growled, shoving the sponge under the running water. Tenna held his hands up placatingly, failing to hide the smile at the edges of his mouth. Sponge now went, Susie doused it in a heaping helping of soap. Tenna had the good sense not to comment. 

There weren’t that many dishes, so the whole process went by relatively quickly. Turned out, the whole “washing dishes” thing was a lot more intuitive than people seemed to think. All in all, it took the two of them less than ten minutes before all of the dishes and utensils were washed, dried, and returned to their rightful place. 

“An excellent performance!” Tenna declared, dusting his hands together and admiring their handiwork. “I haven’t seen dishes this clean since the late 80s! We’ve got a natural on our hands!”

“Shut up,” Susie groaned, elbowing him in the side. He smirked and his height shot up a few inches. Just because he could. “Jackass.” 

Suddenly, his antennae stiffened, and his hands flew to the sides of his head in a comical display of cartoon panic. 

“Oh good heavens, look at the time!” he shouted suddenly. “You’re going to be late for school! AGAIN!” 

“Relax, man,” Susie assured him. “I’m always late.” 

“Be that as it may, I will have no part in perpetuating bad habits!” Tenna declared. He grabbed her by shoulders and spun her around, ushering her out of the kitchen and towards the main door of his room. “You have an education to get! A future to pursue! HOMEWORK TO COMPLETE!” 

“Eugh, don’t remind me,” Susie groaned. 

“I can and I will!” Tenna countered. “Out! OUT I SAY!”
“OKAY OKAY I’M LEAVING!” Susie growled. 

“Good!” Tenna declared. Then, after a second: “But not forever! I’m kicking you out incredibly temporarily, only for schooling purposes! You are, of course, always welcome here, and I’m always more than happy to see you, so please don’t take this the wrong way, I just don’t want you ignoring your education, education is very important, but-”

“I’ll be back,” Susie cut in. “You can’t get rid of me that easy.” Tenna coughed sharply, cutting off his panicked tirade.

“I- Right. Um.” 

“Me and Kris’ll probably visit after school anyway,” Susie said. “We’ll swing by.” 

“You will?” Susie grinned, shooting him a pair of finger guns. 

“Count on it!” Tenna smiled brightly, his entire screen lighting up. 

“Good! Good, I’m glad! Have fun at school, Susie!” 

Susie was about to remind him that ‘fun’ and ‘school’ were mutually exclusive terms when he suddenly seemed to remember something, vanishing back into the room in a panic. Moments later, he reappeared, now with a paper, TV Time branded bag in hand. 

“It’s all I had on hand!” he said indignantly, noticing her staring at the logo. “Consistent branding is everything!” 

“Hey man, whatever you say,” Susie said. He held the bag out to her and she took it hesitantly, peeking inside to find it filled with the remaining Flapjax from the kitchen. She glanced up at him inquisitively. 

“For the road,” he told her. “Since you… said you liked them.” He watched her awkwardly, tugging nervously at his collar when she didn’t say anything. She offered him a reassuring grin. 

“Fuck yeah!” she declared. “Thanks, Tenna!” 

“O-of course!” he said. “Anytime! Have fun at school!” She waved goodbye instead of reminding him that he’d already said that. 

She made a quick pit stop in her room to drop off the bag, her memory of yesterday’s corndog fiasco keeping her from making the same mistake of trying to carry food between worlds again. She went to throw them all in the fridge, but stopped halfway when she noticed something out of the corner of her eye. 

Looking over her shoulder, she could see that the Jevilstail was moving more quickly than normal. Usually, it was just small swishes or flicks, indecipherable as intentional movement of just a product of Susie waving it around accidentally. But this movement was far too intense and continuous to just be coincidental. She looked at the bag of Flapjax in her hand, then back down at the tail. She shook the bag experimentally and the tail’s movement sped up in response. A slow smirk crawled up her face as the picture came together. 

She took one of the Flapjax out of the bag, then remembered the glasses on her face and, after a moment of deliberation, pulled out another. She put the rest of the bag in the fridge and brought the two she had produced over on the bed, just throwing them directly onto the covers. She didn’t think the two of them would care. Jevil had been in prison and Spamton had been living in the trash. This was practically gourmet dining. 

She took the Dealmaker and Jevilstail off and laid them on the bed as well. She waited for a moment, just in case one of them showed up. But the items just lay there, still and inanimate as always. Maybe they wanted some privacy. Or maybe she had misinterpreted the whole thing. Not that it mattered either way. 

“Share,” she commanded the two of them. “I mean it.” They both definitely struck her as the type to steal both Flapjax for themselves. Neither item gave any response, but she hadn’t really expected them to. 

She sighed, forcing herself to leave the room and make the long walk back to the gateway. Back to the Light World, where everything was still bad and wrong and lonely. Everything was so much easier in the Dark World. Here, she had friends. She had Ralsei and Lancer and Tenna. And the other people, even the ones she didn’t know too well, still treated her like she was worth having around. In the Dark World, she hadn’t managed to fuck everything up. 

But she had a responsibility to fulfill. She still had to go meet up with Kris, after all. They had plans to go over and weird convenience store guys to brutally prank. She couldn’t miss out on that. They had houses to egg! Chalk to steal!

And a beautiful, kind, amazing girl to somehow apologize to. 

Chapter Text

If there was one major benefit to the secret second world being located in the school closet, it was that Susie didn’t have to book it from her house to the school building to make it on time. Had she been at her apartment, she was certain she would have been just as late as she normally was. However, thanks to the optimized location of Castle Town, she stepped out of the closet just as the bell rang. Which was, for Susie, uncharacteristically early. Being friends with Kris was going to ruin her entire reputation if she kept showing up on time.

Another major benefit of her current situation was that the corndogs from yesterday, which had vanished upon her entrance to the Dark World, were actually still on her person in the Light World, which was a rare but exciting win. She pulled the makeshift sling off of her shoulder and wrapped the corndogs more securely. She’d split what was left with Kris once they met up in class. 

Corndog bundle tucked under her arm, she tried to slow her walking pace to something more leisurely as she made her way to Alphys’s classroom. Showing up on time was one thing, but looking like she wanted to get to class? She’d never recover. Besides, she didn’t want to get to class. She couldn’t care less about Alphys’s project or her grades or whatever. Tenna could say whatever he wanted, school really didn’t matter all that much. Not for Susie. She was shit at it. Always was, always would be, and that wasn’t something that was going to change. 

But she did want to see Kris. That was the only reason she bothered showing up at all. She found that listening to Alphys’s boring explanations about shit that didn’t matter were a hell of a lot easier to get through with someone to make fun of them with. Even if Kris did sleep through half of class the last time. She couldn’t exactly blame them. School was boring. 

And she had to check on Noelle. She wasn’t going to be getting anywhere near Noelle’s house anytime soon, so school was really the only place she could talk to her. She had to apologize for making her miss the festival. Really apologize, not just some shitty half-assed garbage. And find a way to make it up to her, somehow. 

The door to Alphys’s class slammed open and Susie stalked inside, ignoring Alphys’s nervous yelp at her entrance. She scanned the front row of seats and her eyes caught on Noelle, sitting exactly where she usually did. Noelle spotted her looking and ducked her head down, hiding her face behind the book she had opened. Berdly, sitting next to her, noticed the interaction and shot Susie a haughty glare. She bared her teeth at him and his eyes snapped back to his desk. That’s what I thought. 

She crept to the back of the classroom and claimed her seat. The seat in front of her was empty, just like it had been last time. Had Kris slept in? Again? Geez, what was the point of showing up to class on time if Kris was just gonna be late? They were never usually like this. Or… maybe they were. She hadn’t exactly bothered getting to know them before. She’d hardly paid attention to them at all. 

“S-Susie?” Alphys asked. Susie’s head snapped up, not used to being directly addressed once she had sat down. 

“Huh?” 

“You w-wouldn’t happen to know if… Kris is coming today?” Susie blinked. 

“Why would I know?”

“W-well, you’ve just been spending a… a lot of time with them lately! But it’s fine if you don’t, I’ll just-”

“Oh,” Susie said. “Right. I dunno. They said they were coming.” 

“O-oh! Great! T-thank you, Susie!” Susie grumbled out a half-assed “you’re welcome” and dropped her head onto the desk. Tenna said they were gonna meet her at school, so they were coming… right? They were just doing something worthwhile with their time before they showed up. Like sleeping. Or eating breakfast. Or just not being in school.

Alphys went back to whatever pointless nonsense she was teaching today and Susie tuned her out in favor of etching some dumb shit into the wood of her desk with her claw. Her eyes kept drifting back to the empty desk in front of her, waiting for Kris to finally show the hell up. It was weird that they weren’t here yet. Toriel didn’t strike Susie as the type of mom to let her kid miss all that much school. 

She was probably the kind of mom that woke their kid if the alarm didn’t go off. That made sure they had a nice packed lunch, made fresh just for them. Made them pancakes in the morning and told them to have a good day at school before ushering them out the door. The kind that ignored grumbles about how pointless and boring school was to remind her kid that their education mattered. The good kind. 

Or maybe not. Maybe she was too busy being weird with that convenience store guy to do it anymore. The instant she thought it, Susie’s mind spat the idea back out like rotten fruit. Toriel just… didn’t seem like that. She didn’t really know Toriel, but clearly she cared, right? It was all just hard to reconcile. But still, she didn’t think Toriel would really ignore Kris that much. Which brought Susie back to her main concern: where the hell were they?

The time ticked by, and Susie could feel herself getting more and more antsy as the day dragged on with still no sign of Kris. Maybe they were sick? But if they were, wouldn’t Toriel have called in to let Alphys know? Or maybe Susie was just overthinking the hell out of this and there was a perfectly reasonable explanation that was going to make her feel unendingly stupid as soon as Kris told her. 

By the time the lunch bell rang, she was so lost in thought that she followed the others to the dining hall instead of ditching. Usually, she skipped out on lunch. She didn’t need the reminder. The kids with lunch money at the counter and the kids with home-packed food in nice little branded lunchboxes. She usually left school entirely when the lunch bell rang and called it a day. Or drew dumb shit on the board of one of the empty classrooms. 

But today she went to the dining hall. It was entirely by mistake. She was just so out of it that she just got up with the rest of her class and followed the stream of people into the room, not noticing where she’d ended up until she stepped through the door and heard the acoustics change as loud conversation filled the air. 

She swore under her breath as she came back to reality and saw her location. She considered just turning around and leaving, but that would look a whole hell of a lot like retreating, and Susie had a reputation to uphold. What did she care? It was just a dining hall. She didn’t care about the kids sitting with their friends at tables when hers were missing. She didn’t care that the smell of warm food sucker-punched her as soon as she entered the room and made her stomach growl. Hey, at least she wasn’t empty-handed. This time, she had corndogs. 

Susie dragged herself over to a table in the far corner, occupied by two kids whose names evaded her. She went to bark out a gruff request to join them but found it unnecessary. As soon as they saw her approaching, they shared a nervous look before simultaneously gathering up their half-unpacked lunches and scurrying away. She tried to ignore the stab of familiar discomfort at the reaction. It was normal for them to react like that. The Light World wasn’t like Castle Town. She knew better. 

She dropped down onto the abandoned bench and threw her corndog bundle onto the table. She wished food could transfer between worlds. Partially because she had really wanted to share her and Kris’s haul with Ralsei and Lancer. And partially because she would have liked to hang onto those Flapjax that Tenna made. She hadn’t been lying when she said they were really good. But all in all, having a bunch of corndogs was a hell of a lot better than Susie usually did, so she’d take the win at least. 

Unwrapping her jacket revealed that she had five corndogs left over from yesterday. She grabbed one with the intention of eating it slowly, but somehow still managed to scarf it down in just a couple bites, stick included. She hadn’t realized how hungry she was until the taste hit her tongue. Which sucked considering how much she had eaten lately. She’d eaten a ton of corndogs yesterday plus Flapjax that morning. That was practically a mountain of food! How come it was never enough? Though, she supposed part of it could be blamed on whatever weird magic bullshit was going on with Dark World food. But still! Stupid. She grabbed another one. 

“Um… is… anybody sitting here?” Susie’s skeleton made a valiant attempt to escape the confines of her skin as the voice, causing her to choke on the half-a-corndog stuck down her throat. She slammed her fist into her chest to force the food down the rest of the way, sputtering as she recovered. “O-oh! I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you, I was just-”

“Scared? Pfft, I wasn’t scared. You just… surprised me,” Susie said quickly. She looked up at her new companion and was met with Noelle’s nervous smile. The girl was clutching her lunchbox to her chest like a stuffed animal, or perhaps like a shield. Her hair hung in front of her face, partially, but not completely, obscuring the slight blush on her cheeks. She was always blushing like that, Susie had noticed. Maybe she had a condition or something. 

The two fell into an awkward silence as Susie waited for Noelle to say something. She had already forgotten what Noelle had said initially, and Noelle didn’t seem to be moving in the direction of reiterating it. She wasn’t walking away either, though, which left them locked in a weird limbo state where they just sort of stared at each other. 

Susie was the first to break the silence. 

“Uh… didja need something?” Noelle squeaked in surprise, as if she had also managed to forget that a key prerequisite for a conversation was the actual ‘conversing’ part. She kept one hand clutched to her lunchbox and tucked her hair behind her ears with the other. 

“I-I was wondering if anyone was sitting here? With you?”

“Oh. Uh, no,” Susie said. 

“Oh! Great!” Noelle said, before immediately slapping a shocked hand over her mouth. “Not great! Sorry, I didn’t mean it like that! I just meant that it’s good for me cause I wanted to- no that sounds worse, I just meant- I- I’m gonna stop talking now.” 

“Oooo…kay?” Noelle shook her head and straightened her back, her expression solidifying into something more determined. 

“Can I sit with you?” Susie froze in surprise. She glanced down at her haphazard lunch spread of corndogs and old dirty jacket, then back up at Noelle. 

“Oh. Uh, yeah. If you wanna,” she choked out. Noelle wanted to sit with her? Really? Of course, Noelle had said that she still wanted to be friends at school, but… frankly, Susie hadn’t been all that sure she’d meant it. She’d assumed that maybe she wasn’t thinking straight, or was just saying it to get Susie off her case. But here she was. Genuinely wanting to sit with Susie at lunch. 

“Great!” Noelle squeaked. She awkwardly slid onto the bench across from Susie, laying her lunch on the table. For a moment, they just stared at each other uncertainly, neither having any idea where to actually go from here. Then, Noelle let out a nervous laugh, hunching over to make herself smaller as she began unpacking her lunch. 

She largely kept her eyes down as she took everything out of her lunchbox, but occasionally, her gaze would flick back up to Susie, as if confirming that she was still there. Susie watched her silently, praying to anything that would listen that she would start the conversation so Susie didn’t have to. It was looking less and less likely by the second. 

Noelle placed a carefully wrapped sandwich on the table, followed by some kind of drink with a santa hat emblazoned on the side and a little container of fruit. She laid it out neatly and pushed the lunchbox to the side. The lunchbox, too, was holiday themed, Susie now noticed. It was a white, snowy background, with a design of criss-crossing lights across the front. The whole lunch seemed very thematically inconsistent. 

Suddenly feeling something dangerously close to embarrassment well up in her chest, Susie pulled her filthy jacket and its collection of cold corndogs closer to her. Noelle noticed the movement and bit her lip nervously. Still, neither of them said anything. 

Damn it, she wished Kris was here. They’d have something stupid to say that would, despite being either completely rude or completely nonsensical, somehow make the tension disappear. She always felt like she knew the right thing to say when Kris was around. Or maybe being around Kris just made her feel like there wasn’t a wrong thing to say. Like they’d somehow know what she meant anyway, even if it came out wrong. 

But Kris wasn’t there. It was just Susie and Noelle, and while she’d managed it in Noelle’s house just a few days prior, so much had changed since then. It was almost impressive in a way. Managing to fuck up whatever she had going with Noelle in just a day or two. She’d just started feeling like she maybe had a chance and then she’d gone and screwed it all up. But, Noelle had come to sit with her. Which meant there was still some semblance of a chance, and Susie would be damned if she let this go without a fight. Noelle was… Noelle was worth it. She was kinda like Kris. Special, in a way that Susie couldn’t quite place. Different from Kris, but also the same, and she couldn’t really explain why. 

“Um…” She coughed, trying to clear her throat, desperately searching for anything to say to cut through the awkward silence. Her eyes landed on Noelle’s sandwich, now actually unwrapped and in her hands. Susie had no idea what was in it, but it looked like one of the good ones, the kind with weird, fancy toppings that she couldn’t pronounce. She was staring. She still needed to say something. “Nice… lunch?” was what she settled on, which was not her smoothest moment but also probably not her worst. 

“Oh! Um, thank you!” Noelle squeaked. “I, um, made it myself! Fahaha.” 

“Really?” Susie asked. “Thought your mom made ‘em for you.” The instant it was out of her mouth, Susie regretted it, because now that she’d actually met the woman she was actually entirely unsurprised that she didn’t make Noelle her sandwiches. It was just that she’d always seen Noelle as the kind of kid whose mom made her lunch. Maybe even stuck those cheesy little notes in there. But that woman… she didn’t strike Susie as the type. 

“Oh! No, fahaha,” Noelle said. She smiled shakily. “Um, she… my dad used to, when I was little. But ever since he got sick… I don’t want him to worry. And my mom’s busy. Being the mayor is a lot of work, so…” Noelle sighed, her fingers curling into her sandwich and leaving indents in the bread. 

“Oh,” Susie said dumbly. “That sucks.” 

“It’s not that bad!” Noelle corrected hurriedly. “I was going to have to learn how to cook eventually.” Susie shrugged in response and finally finished off the corndog in her hand, drawing Noelle’s eyes to her lunch in the process. “Um. Your lunch looks… nice too?” 

“Yeah, me and Kris swindled the guy at the… festival… for ‘em…” She trailed off as she felt the guilt seep right back in. She was still no closer to figuring out how to make the whole thing up to Noelle, and without Kris here, she couldn’t even brainstorm! She stared down at the corndogs, suddenly feeling guilty about even eating them. “Hey, Noelle, I’m, uh…”

“I’m sorry about yesterday!” they said simultaneously, Noelle’s sudden rush overlapping with Susie’s weary apology. Susie pulled back, blinking in surprise. 

“Huh? What’re you apologizing for?” 

“I- I just- I said I’d go with you,” Noelle said. She turned away in embarrassment, placing the sandwich back on the table in favor of wringing her hands. “I really did want to go. With you. I just…”

“Hey, dude, like I said, it’s not your fault,” Susie cut in. “You’re fine. Not your fault your mom grounded you.” Noelle pursed her lips and dropped her hands into her lap. 

“I know,” she admitted. “I just… I wish I could be brave, like you.”

“Huh?”

“I mean, you climbed my house! Just to ‘bust me out,’ fahaha.” She tucked her hair behind her ears again, red once again rising on her cheeks. “B-but I was too scared to go with you. I’m still such a scaredy-cat, just like when I was a kid. I really wanted to go but… I just couldn’t.” 

“It’s cool, man,” Susie said. “I get it. Your mom’s scary.” Noelle let out a surprised giggle. 

“Maybe a little,” she admitted. “But she’s really not so bad once you get to know her! She’s just really busy.” Noelle smiled wistfully, staring down at her lap. “She has a lot going on. Being the mayor and everything, my dad, and…” She broke off and her body seemed to tense up without her even noticing. Susie almost went to ask about it, but she couldn’t quite find the right words for the question. “Anyway, she’s not that mean. She’s just trying to keep me safe.” 

“I guess,” Susie muttered, unconvinced but lacking enough data to back up her assessment. Noelle would know better than her, right? Since she lived with the lady and all. Still, Susie couldn’t shake the weird feeling that Noelle’s mom gave her. Something about her just felt… off in a way that Susie couldn’t quite place. She’d heard people describe someone as ‘sucking the life out of a room’ and thought it was a bit of an exaggeration, but Noelle’s mom kinda did. 

“So, uh… How long are you grounded for?” Susie tried, somehow managing to fumble the entire conversation even harder than she already had been. 

“Just a week!” Noelle said cheerfully. “It’s not that bad!”

“A WEEK!?” Susie shrieked. “FOR TOUCHING A GUITAR????” 

“No, no, it’s fine!” Noelle yelped, waving her hands placatingly. “It’s really not that bad!”

“But- you-”

“I knew better than to go in there,” Noelle said sadly. She laughed nervously, rubbing the back of her neck. “I thought I was gonna get a month! Fahaha.”

“That’s… kinda messed up, don’t you think? Like, it’s your house.” 

“I…” Noelle stared down at the table as if begging it for help on what to do. Too bad for her, Susie had already checked the table, and it did not in fact have a comprehensive guide to having a functional conversation. Noelle looked torn, wanting to say something but unsure how. Or maybe not wanting to say something but unsure how to explain without out.

“I just don’t think it’s fair, y’know?” Susie said. 

“It’s… complicated,” Noelle settled on. “But it’s not my mom’s fault. The whole thing is just… a mess, honestly. I just wish everything could go back to how it was.” 

“Yeah?” Susie prompted. Noelle opened her mouth to say something else, but it caught in her throat and she gave up. She pressed her lips together and pulled her sweater tighter. 

“Sorry, I’m being weird again. Don’t worry about it,” she said quickly. 

“No, it’s fine!” Susie said quickly. “I…” She didn’t really have an end to that sentence. I wanna know? That made it sound like she was just digging for intel or something. I wanna make sure you’re okay? That made it sound like she thought Noelle was lying to her. She just couldn’t find any words that accurately conveyed what she thought and damn it, no one else is this fucking hard to talk to, why is she so hard to just talk to? It was like being around Noelle made her even more stupid than she already was. And the worst part was that she wasn’t even sure that was a bad thing. 

“U-uhm, I got you something!” Noelle said suddenly. “To apologize for everything!” 

“Dude, I told you, you don’t have to apologize!” Susie said. Noelle reddened again, but it seemed less bad this time. Flustered, sure, but not ashamed. She’d take that.

“Well, I s-still want to give it to you! Even if it’s not an apology! Just as a gift!”

“You- huh?” Susie blinked, then shook her head, then opened and closed her mouth a couple of times, none of which managed to dispel the weird buzzing feeling in her stomach. It was like someone had left an unattended jackhammer in there that was now bouncing around her intestines. Why the hell did Noelle make her so damn nervous? 

“HERE!” Noelle squeaked, shoving something across the table. It reminded Susie a lot of when she’d given her the box of chalk, though at least she didn’t immediately sprint away this time. Why the hell had she done that anyway? Sure, this gift was an unnecessary apology, but the thing with the chalk… she’d just done that. Geez. It felt like the more she got to know Noelle, the more questions she had. Not that it was… necessarily a bad thing. Getting to know Noelle was kind of nice in a way. Every new thing she learned was weirdly exciting, no matter how mundane a detail it was. She makes her own lunches. She likes horror movies. She played the Evil Route in Dragon Blazers in secret just to see what would happen. She still has an angel costume in her closet. 

“Uh…” She looked down, realizing that she had just left Noelle’s gift sitting there. “You want me to… open it?”

“If you want to! You don’t have to! You can totally just take it home and open it there! Or just throw it away or whatever, it’s your gift, do whatever!” Noelle laughed anxiously, her eyes darting around the room in a desperate attempt to look anywhere else. 

“Well now I gotta know,” Susie said. She echoed Noelle’s nervous laugh with her own awkward chuckle, grasping the ribbon on the box between her claws. She let the last of her nervous laughter peter out and tried to ignore that her hand was shaking slightly with anticipation. What the hell. She yanked the ribbon free and it unraveled easily. “Woah.”

“W-what is it!?” Noelle asked. 

“That’s crazy. I always see that in movies, but I didn’t know it actually worked! With the ribbon and stuff.” Noelle tilted her head curiously.

“It’s just like tying your shoes,” she said. 

“But it’s around the box!”

“It’s not that hard, really!” Noelle insisted. “You just have to be careful with how you tie the knot!” 

“Ha! Guess you know a lot about wrapping presents, huh? With your house and everything?” Susie teased. Noelle giggled, ducking her head in embarrassment. 

“When I was little, mom made us practice so we always had our gifts wrapped perfectly. It was like a Christmas tradition, fahaha.” Susie snorted as she laid the ribbon to the side. 

“That’s… kinda fun, I guess,” she said. She wasn’t sure, really. She’d never gotten the hype around Christmas, but maybe that’s just because she wasn’t doing it right. She wondered what it was like. A whole family, wrapping presents together while shitty Christmas music played in the background. Drinking eggnog or whatever that thing people drank on Christmas was. Baking cookies. It sounded… nice, if she let herself really imagine it. 

“Yeah,” Noelle agreed, voice soft and somber. Susie shook her head to snap herself out of it before she brought the whole mood down again. 

“So, what is it?” she asked quickly. “A bunch of roaches? A severed hand!?” 

“Close!” Noelle laughed. 

“No way. A severed foot.” Noelle laughed even louder at that, covering her mouth with her hand politely. 

“Guess you’ll just have to open it!” 

“Fine, fine.” She reached out and carefully lifted the lid off of the box, placing it next to the ribbon on the table. The inside of the box was filled with red and green wrapping paper, in keeping with Noelle’s family’s whole ‘holiday theme.’ Carefully, Susie dug through the paper and pulled the actual gift up out of the box. 

“NO FREAKIN WAY!” Susie shouted. She held the item out in front of her as if to confirm it was actually real. “YOU ACTUALLY HAD IT?” 

“Y-you… you like it?” Noelle asked quietly.
“Are you KIDDING!?” Susie said. “This is AWESOME!” Noelle lit up at that, clasping her hands excitedly. 

“Yes! I’m so happy you like it!” Her smile dropped a bit and she ran her hands through her hair nervously. “I, um, found it in my room with my old movies and stuff. I was going to buy you a brand new copy, but then I… got grounded… fahaha… But I only used two of the three save files! And you could just delete one of them if you want to!” Susie stared down at the case in her hands, the words ‘Dragon Blazers’ scrawled across the front in that familiar, dramatic font. 

“You seriously wanna give this to me?” she asked. 

“Y-yeah!” Noelle confirmed quickly. “I, um… I don’t really play anymore. And we were talking about it, and you said you never played the first game, so I thought maybe you might… want to?” She shrank into herself, watching Susie nervously. Susie turned the game over in her hands, stunned into baffled silence. She’d really gone looking for the game just because Susie mentioned she’d never gotten to play it? Not just that, she had been planning to buy Susie an entirely new copy? Why the hell would she do that? Why would she do that for me? 

“Dude, this is… This is, like, the best gift I’ve ever gotten.” 

“R-really?” Noelle asked. 

“Yeah! I’ve been wanting to play this one forever!” It was true. Susie had never gotten a gift anywhere near as thoughtful as this. She didn’t care that it was an old copy or that Noelle had already used most of the save slots. She’d… she’d really listened, when they were talking. She’d really meant what she said. “Dude, this is- th-thanks.” The thank you was stumbled and wavering, an unfortunate result of Susie having no idea how to actually say it without it sounding weird and wrong. Noelle seemed to get the message though, because her grin was the widest Susie had ever seen it. It looked like she couldn’t physically make her smile smaller even if she wanted to. Suddenly, neither could Susie. 

“G-gosh, I’m so glad you like it! I wasn’t sure, but I really wanted to get you something. J-just because you- I-” She broke off, yanking her sweater up so she could bury her face in the fabric. 

“We should play sometime!” Susie cut in. “Once you’re not grounded anymore!” 

“You… you still want to?” Noelle asked, poking her head back up. 

“Hell yeah!” Susie said. “We could watch horror movies too! Me and Kris and-” She cut herself off abruptly. “Uhm, me and Kris watched some good ones yesterday!” 

“You want to watch horror movies- together?” Noelle squeaked. 

“Totally! Dude, it is so fun!” She carefully placed the Dragon Blazers case back in the gift box, just to keep it safe, and replaced the lid. “You ever see Attack of the Worm Wraith!?”

“Uhm, I think so!” Noelle said. “Isn’t it called ‘Revenge of the Worm Wraith’ though?” 

“That’s what I thought!” Susie said excitedly. “But Revenge is actually a sequel! The original is ‘Attack of the Worm Wraith.’ It’s not even that bad, for an old movie. A friend of mine had it on those VHS thingies!” 

“Wow,” Noelle breathed. “That’s… really cool, Susie.” 

“Y-yeah. Yeah, it was pretty cool. Haha.” Susie grabbed the ribbon and made an attempt to re-tie the thing. She followed Noelle’s instructions of ‘it’s like tying your shoes’ and found them woefully lacking, because the thing she produced was nothing like Noelle’s neat little bow from before. It was decidedly lopsided, and only crossed over one side of the box instead of doing that weird criss-cross thing that Noelle’s knot had somehow done. Susie yanked the knot free and tried again, to similar results. 

“Geez, how the hell do you tie this thing?” she groaned. Noelle giggled around a bite of her largely neglected sandwich. 

“Do you want me to show you?” she asked. Susie felt her cheeks heat up slightly at the suggestion for reasons entirely beyond her understanding. 

“Uh… sure?” Noelle pulled the box and the ribbon towards her, once again setting the poor sandwich aside. 

“Here!” she said. She laid the ribbon flat on the table and placed the box on the line. “First, you wrap it this way.” She pulled the ribbon up over top of the box so the two ends overlapped. “But then, you wrap the ribbon together like this!” She wrapped the two strands over each other, resulting in the ribbon suddenly going directly perpendicular to its original path. She wrapped one end of the ribbon around the entire box and brought it back up to meet the other end again. 

“So that’s how it goes two ways!” Susie said. “How the hell does that work!?” Noelle giggled but didn’t actually answer Susie’s very reasonable question. 

“And then you just tie a normal bow!” Noelle declared, before proceeding to do some kind of weird knot-wizardry that was in no way a normal bow. “And… there!” She handed the box back to Susie. The bow had been flawlessly restored, as if it had never been untied at all. 

“What the hell,” Susie insisted, earning another laugh. 

“Don’t worry! It took me forever to get the hang of it,” Noelle assured her. “I got all tangled up in the ribbon one time ‘cause I cut it too long. And then Dess just kept laughing at me instead of helping me get out.” At the mention of her sister, Noelle’s smile wavered slightly. Susie jumped in, trying to keep her spirits up.

“Ha! So I’m not that bad,” she teased. 

“I was seven!” Noelle countered, brightening. Susie waved her off in a show of faux-dismissal, earning an affronted gasp. “See if I teach you any more after that!” Susie snickered. 

“Just wait. One of these days, I’m gonna be the best bow-tier around.”

“Fahaha! You’ll have to go through me first!” Susie let out a bark of laughter, turning the box over in her hands to examine Noelle’s craftsmanship more thoroughly. Okay, maybe she was overestimating her abilities just a little, seeing as she could hardly determine where one part of the ribbon ended and the rest began. But Susie was nothing if not determined, and if she were a betting man, she’d guess that Ralsei definitely knew how to do this. Worst case scenario, she’d get him to teach her. 

Noelle reached out to grab her sandwich again, finally remembering her poor abandoned lunch. She went to take another bite, only to be startled out of her seat by the sudden shrill sound of bell ringing. 

“Oh cheese and crackers!” she groaned. 

“Shit! I totally lost track of time,” Susie said. “Sorry.” 

“No, no, don’t worry! I completely forgot how long lunch was!” Noelle hurriedly re-wrapped her barely eaten sandwich and tucked her lunch back into her lunchbox. Susie awkwardly re-rolled her sweater to save the remaining three corndogs for later. “I just… I- um, I got so caught up with talking to you that I just-” She shook her head, face growing red again. “NEVERMIND!”

“Sorry,” Susie apologized again, mostly because she had used up her free trial of ‘good at talking to Noelle’ and was now right back where she’d started. 

“No! I, um… I really like hanging out with you, Susie,” Noelle said quietly.

“Y-yeah. Same.” 

“Once I’m not grounded anymore, maybe we can… actually do that horror movie marathon?”

“Hell yeah, dude!” Susie said. “All the good ones!” Noelle giggled as she tucked her lunchbox under her arm. 

“Well, I’ve… gotta run back to class. See you soon?” 

“Yeah,” Susie said. Noelle beamed before turning around and rushing to join the crowd of other students making their way back to their classrooms. “Yeah.” 

Chapter Text

Susie returned to class shortly after the bell rang. Not, this time, out of an intentional attempt to maintain her aloof personality, but because she just stood in the dining hall for a good while after Noelle left as she tried and failed to comprehend what had just happened. 

Returning to class revealed that every desk except for hers was now filled. This included the desk in front of her, left frighteningly unoccupied for the first half of the day. But now, finally, a familiar head of messy brown hair looked up from the desk as she entered the room. She couldn’t see their eyes under their bangs, but she certainly felt their gaze following her as she made her way back to her desk and plopped into her seat. 

“What the hell, dude?” she demanded immediately, leaning over her desk so she could yell at them more directly. “I thought you died or something!” She waited for Kris to laugh, or shoot her one of their stupid smirks and say something cryptic about where they had been. Or just let out an exasperated sigh and give her a perfectly rational explanation that would have Susie slamming her head on tables as she tried to figure out how she hadn’t guessed that in the first place. 

They did none of those things. Instead, they turned in their chair to look at her more fully, a strained smile plastered onto their face. It was probably supposed to look reassuring, but as was, it was perhaps the least reassuring expression Kris was capable of. It was a little creepy, if she was being honest. Not creepy the way Kris usually was, which was cool and funny. Actually creepy, like something with Kris was really wrong. Like someone had yanked thread through the corners of their mouth and was manually pulling their face into some facsimile of a smile. 

“Woah. Dude, are you, like… okay?” Susie asked. “You look like shit.” There were probably at least a couple more tactful ways to make the point, but Susie had never been a polite person, and she’d be damned if she started now. 

Kris winced, letting their weird smile drop down into something more natural. They were fine, they assured her, in perhaps the least convincing tone of voice Susie had ever heard. Geez, maybe they really were sick. Had they shown up anyway? Because they’d promised they’d meet her at school? Her jaw clenched without her input at the now all-too familiar curl of guilt in her stomach. 

“Kris, d-” She was cut off as Alphys began loudly teaching again, drawing everyone’s attention back to her. Or at least trying to, because Susie wasn’t about to start paying attention now just because she was actually going through a full school day for once. She did, however, at least lower her voice as she talked to Kris. Less because she cared about ‘not disrupting class’ and more because she didn’t particularly want their classmates listening in. 

“Dude, you wanna ditch?” she asked. Kris glanced over their shoulder, tilting their head. “Not like we’re gonna learn anything here anyway.” Kris stayed where they were for a moment, contemplating the offer. Then, slowly, they shook their head. “Right. Alphys’d probably tell your mom you were skipping.” Kris nodded in confirmation. “Ughhh, but this is so boring.” That, finally, got the slightest bit of a smile on Kris’s face. A real smile. 

They promised to get the hell out of there as soon as class ended before turning back around to ‘pay attention.’ Of course, Susie saw right through them, and just as she’d expected, their head slumped onto their desk within minutes. She wished she could do the same. Just conk out and be woken up by the bell announcing her freedom. But she was too wound up to relax, so instead she just had to sit through the entire lecture and try to find something to keep her from chewing on her desk from sheer madness. 

She wished that stupid old man was still around. Maybe school wouldn’t be such a drag if he was teaching the classes. Every other teacher Susie had ever had made her feel like a complete moron. But with the old man it had kind of felt like she… wasn’t. How epic of a teacher did a guy have to be that even she learned something? She knew why they hadn’t, but damn it, she had wanted to take him to Castle Town. He was the only good teacher she had ever had and now he was gone. Forever. Shit, she was never gonna learn anything again, probably. 

When Susie glanced up at the front of the class again, Alphys had scrawled something illegible on the board. It looked like math, but there were too many pictures involved for it to be completely math. She dredged her schedule up out of the depths of her mind and determined that this was probably science class? She really didn’t remember her schedule. She never paid enough attention for it to matter. 

“-flow of electrons.” Susie blinked in surprise, accidentally tuning back in without any intention to. Alphys grabbed a ruler, pointing up at the weird little diagram she had drawn on the board. “T-the electrons build up in the anode here, and then electrical potential draws them towards the cathode. This flow-” Susie groaned, burying her face in her hands. None of that made any damn sense. She was pretty sure half of those weren’t even real words. 

The rest of the school day drained away painfully slowly, drop by drop. Susie was pretty sure she’d have more fun just sitting outside in the hallway waiting for Kris at this point. Just being around this weird mumbo-jumbo was making her feel like her sanity was being chipped away. How the hell did Noelle do it? And then tutor Berdly on top of it all. Susie would rather have her skin slowly scraped off. 

Just when she was beginning to think that the school day was never going to end and she had somehow accidentally gotten herself stuck in purgatory, the bell finally rang to release them all. She was out of her seat in an instant, grabbing Kris by the back of their shirt and yanking them up. 

As she began making her way to the door, she glanced over at Noelle’s desk. Noelle looked up from where she was carefully returning her pencils to her pencil case and shot Susie a nervous wave. Susie pointed to her eyes, then to Noelle, then to the board in a series of gestures she hoped conveyed the vague concept of ‘see you tomorrow.’ Noelle giggled behind her hand, which Susie took to mean that her message had been received. She resumed her mission of booking it out of the classroom as fast as possible.

In the meantime, Kris spluttered awake but was unable to free themself from Susie’s grip as she dragged them out of the classroom. She meant to beeline straight for Castle Town, but Kris managed to regain enough coherence to remind her that everyone was currently leaving class and they would therefore be noticed entering the closet. Which was an annoyingly good point. So they went outside instead. 

“Man,” Susie groaned as they stepped out into the daylight. “I’m never staying in school for the whole day again. How the hell does Noelle do that every day?” Kris snorted, giving her a noncommittal shrug. “I listened to, like, one sentence, and I don’t think any of the words were real.” A shit-eating grin spread across Kris’s face and they quietly suggested that Susie could just ask Noelle to tutor her. Instantly, for reasons beyond her understanding, her cheeks felt like someone had installed an industrial grade flamethrower under her skin. 

“W-why the hell would I do that!?” she yelped, her voice shooting up in pitch far more than she intended it to. “Tutoring’s for nerds who actually care about passing. Besides, why would I wanna hang out with Noelle after school just to do more school?” Kris’s grin did not move an inch. “Fuck off, dude,” she groaned, slapping her entire hand over Kris’s face and shoving them aside. A moment later, she felt something wet hit her palm and ripped her hand away. “EUGH, did you LICK MY HAND!?” Kris’s widening smile told her all she needed to know. She wiped her hand on her pants, muttering vague profanities in Kris’s direction. 

After a moment, Kris turned abruptly and began walking away from the school, further into town. Susie stumbled after them, caught off-guard by the sudden movement. They were walking slower than usual, she noticed. Usually Kris walked at a pretty brisk clip, but today they almost seemed to be dragging their feet. Now that she thought about it, they’d been acting different ever since the day of the festival. Their voice was a lot quieter than normal, and their sentences were shorter and less frequent. Not that she blamed them, considering all the bullshit they’d all gone through in the last few days. But she worried about them all the same. 

“Uh… Dude, where are we going?” Kris didn’t respond, but they paused by the diner moments later, looking up at it contemplatively. “If you’re hungry then why didn’t you say so, I still got corndogs from yesterday!” She held out her wrapped jacket and Kris eyed it with zero attempt to hide their disgust. They told her that they had no idea where those had been. “Uh, in my jacket, obviously,” she reminded them. “‘Sides, I’ve been in the Dark World all night, they’re probably just as fresh as they were yesterday.” Nevermind that they had already been scraps by the time Susie and Kris got their hands on them, or that Susie had been scarfing them down too quickly to make any kind of real quality assessment. 

When Kris continued looking at her jacket like she was hauling around toxic waste, she shrugged, muttered a quick “suit yourself,” and grabbed the last corndogs for herself. She was never gonna complain about getting more food. She’d been eating like a king these past few days, and that was a streak she was more than happy to keep up. With the food finally disposed of, she shook the last few crumbs out of her jacket and put it back on with a quiet sigh of relief. In hindsight, she probably should’ve forced Kris to sacrifice their hoodie instead. 

She waited for Kris to head inside the diner, but after a moment, they seemed to change their mind and instead continued further down the street. Maybe they just wanted to wander around talking to people again. That’s what they usually did whenever they hung out. Not that Susie particularly minded. It was nice, sometimes, just hanging out while Kris visited half the town’s population. But today, they didn’t stop to talk to anyone they passed. Just another piece of data in the ‘Kris is being weird lately’ box that Susie was going to have to sort through eventually. 

“Dude, I’m pretty sure everyone’s out of school by now,” Susie said after a bit. “We can just head back to Castle Town.” Kris made a quiet noise of acknowledgement but didn’t otherwise respond. “Ooooor not,” Susie amended. This was fine, they could take their time. They’d head back eventually. She needed to check in with Lancer, it had been way too long since she’d hung out with him. And besides, she’d promised Tenna they’d swing by, and he didn’t exactly take being ditched all that well. 

Though, now that she thought about it, something was… different, these past few days. Him ushering her out instead of trying to get her to stay, the way he seemed to be a lot more subdued than on his show, everything about him seemed to have suddenly been shifted one step to the left. Still him, just slightly off center. It was probably just the near-death experience he’d been treated to. Anyone would be a little off-kilter after that. Still, she couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something else going on. Geez, everyone was getting weird on her these days. Fight one titan and suddenly all your friends are having an identity crisis or something. 

“Dude, where’re we going?” Kris still didn’t respond. They still hadn’t stopped anywhere. And if they hadn’t stopped, that usually meant they had a goal in mind instead of just aimlessly wandering around, so clearly they were going somewhere. Susie scanned the area around them, actually locating their position within the town instead of just shutting off her navigation and letting Kris lead. After a moment, the road they were on finally snapped into its place on her mental map. 

“Why’re we going to church?” she asked. Kris’s quick glance over their shoulder confirmed to Susie that she had been right on the money. “Unless they’ve got more of that juice lying around! Dude, are we getting juice!?” Kris snickered to themself before informing her that, unfortunately, the juice was a service-exclusive thing. “Aw man. That shit was good.” Kris let out a quiet hum, though whether it was out of sympathy or agreement Susie couldn’t say. 

They found something, they told her after a moment. Their voice wavered as they said it, the words tinged with something akin to hesitation or uncertainty. They didn’t elaborate until Susie prodded them, at which point they stiffly reminded her of the code to the bunker. 

“Wait!” Susie yelped, grabbing them by the shoulder and spinning them around. “You found it!?” Kris grimaced. Not quite, but it was one step closer, and hopefully it would be enough of a clue to get them moving in the right direction. They sounded so ashamed, but all Susie could think about was the fact that they had made actual, meaningful progress. She’d thought they were fucked after the mess with Noelle’s mom. 

“Dude, you’re fucking awesome!” she shouted. She looked down, realizing that Kris had turned a shade greener. Which made sense, because she had been shaking them like they owed her money without even realizing. She sheepishly released her grip on their shoulders. They stepped back, picking at the skin on their hand guiltily. “Come on, man, this is huge! So that’s why you were late to school! You were finding clues!” Kris hesitated for a moment before nodding. “Well, come on! Let’s GO!” 

Sure enough, Kris led her directly to the entrance of the church. The two of them stood in front of it for a moment, just looking up at the spire towering over them. The church was pretty nice, if you were the kind of person that cared about that sort of thing. Ten out of ten architecture wasted on boring sermons and pointless prayers. Or, at least, that’s what Susie had thought before. Knowing what she knew about the prophecy now, it was hard to hold the church in the same contempt she used to. Knowing the pastor’s father… didn’t help either. 

She knew this had been Kris’s destination, but so far, they had made no move to go inside. Instead they just stood there, one hesitant hand lifted towards, but not quite touching, the door. Kris seemed almost nervous, though Susie couldn’t place why. Sure, they’d kinda trashed the church a little, but it’s not like anyone knew it was them. And Kris’s family came here all the time, so them showing up at the church after school wouldn’t exactly be out of character. What did they have to be worried about?

Susie was about to comment when Kris seemed to finally steel themself and make a decision. They pushed the door open with far more intensity than it deserved, grabbing Susie by the cuff of her jacket and pulling her in after them. The heavy church door slammed shut behind them, signaling their entrance to anyone in the vicinity. Maybe it was because Kris was rubbing off on her, but she flinched at the sound, waiting for Father Alvin to jump out and call the cops on them or something. Even though they were fully allowed to be here. What was Kris’s deal? 

But, just as Susie had expected, no one came out to yell at them. If Father Alvin was here, he was in his office and wasn’t concerning himself with stray townsfolk stopping in to do… whatever it was the people that actually went to church did. Pray at the candle shelf like Kris showed her? Snoop around the storage rooms to see if they could find where they kept that juice? Damn, maybe she was gonna do that now that she thought about it. 

Kris turned stiffly, guiding her towards Father Alvin’s office. The door was locked, as evidenced by the knob’s resistance when Kris tried to turn it. They stared at the door, hand curled around the knob, stalled in a similar way to how they had been outside the church. 

“So there actually was something in there!?” Susie breathed. Kris jerked their head down in a poor approximation of a nod. Like a puppet with old joints that needed to be forced, sharply, into position instead of moving smoothly. Puppet-

She imagined fifty dragon warriors beating the image out of her head with hammers. 

“Cool, but, uh… how’re we gonna get in if it’s locked?” Kris dug into their pocket and, after a bit of fumbling, produced a single silver key. Susie grabbed it out of their hand, holding it up to the light to examine it. “You stole his keys!? No freakin’ way, dude! How the hell’d you pull that off!?” Something on the wide end of the key caught her eye and she brought it closer to her face to get a better look. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Kris freeze up. 

At the end of the key, a small picture was etched into the metal. At first, she had assumed it would be the church symbol. It would make sense, seeing as it was a key to an office inside said church. But instead, looking closer revealed a symbol that Susie had gotten far too acquainted with in the past few days. 

The tell-tale pine tree symbol of the town’s frigid, pain in the ass mayor. 

“Dude…” Susie glanced over at Kris. “Where’d you get this?” Kris’s shoulders curved inward and their expression gained more intensity. “Kris?” For a moment, they were frighteningly silent. Then, with a quiet sigh, they admitted that they had gotten it from Carol. The mayor. Noelle’s mom. Before Susie could react with the appropriate level of disgust, they hurriedly added that they had managed to convince her that they just wanted to drop some things off for Father Alvin. They were a family friend, after all. Carol trusted them. It hadn’t been hard to convince her to let them borrow her keys. 

The hurried explanation was the most they had spoken all day. It was more animated than they had been all day too. Closer to how they usually were. It should’ve been comforting. A reminder that Kris wasn’t doing as terribly as Susie had been worried they might be. But for some reason Susie couldn’t place, the whole thing still seemed wrong. Everything about this felt wrong. 

She chalked it up to Carol Holiday being involved. 

“Geez, no wonder you’ve been weird all day,” she said, punctuating the statement with a nervous chuckle. “I’d be losing my shit too if I had to talk to her.” Kris’s shoulders slumped in sudden relief and they muttered a quiet affirmation. “Why the hell would you do that? What if she stole your liver or something!?” She could see Kris blink in surprise through the small gaps in their bangs, their mouth falling open at the absurdity. They just stared at her, apparently caught so off-guard that they couldn’t come up with a suitable response. 

“What? I’m just saying, she’s got a weird vibe. Like, some kind of themed witch. Y’know? Like, Hanscom and Gertrude or whatever.” Kris completely failed to hide their resulting snort. They told her that those were not the names of the kids in the story, but crucially failed to provide the actual names as counter evidence, so as far as Susie was concerned, she’d been right on the money. They were also pretty sure that witches didn’t traditionally take livers, but again, no counter evidence was provided. 

“Hang on,” Susie asked after a moment, a sudden realization hitting her. “Why didn’t you just go over to her house then? If you’re a family friend? You could’ve got in real quick, gotten the code, and gotten the hell out!” Kris stiffened, their fingers curling to dig into their palms. They made a weird clicking sound in their throat, and their mouth hung open dumbly as words failed to form. 

She’d notice them snooping, Kris answered finally. If they went over, she’d want to keep them in sight. Ask them all kinds of pointless questions about how they were doing and trap them in the kitchen drinking coffee until the sun went down. They didn’t want to risk it until they’d exhausted their other options. Of course they didn’t, this was Carol Holiday they were talking about. Obviously they didn’t want to just go… hang out with her. Liver-stealing creep. 

“Damn. Yeah, good point,” Susie said. Kris’s face contorted into an echo of that weird smile from earlier and Susie pointedly looked away. She knew Carol was weird as hell, but damn, she hadn’t expected talking to the old hag would mess someone up this much. Somehow, Carol had managed to hit the rock bottom of Susie’s standards and then started digging. The sooner Noelle got to college and out of that house, the better. 

“Not like it matters,” Susie decided, trying to steer the conversation away from the territory that had Kris looking like they were going to collapse in on themself. “‘Cause we’ve got clues now!” She tossed the key over to Kris, who fumbled for a good few seconds but did end up managing to catch it. She stepped aside and, after another moment of uncharacteristic hesitation, they unlocked the door. They stepped inside, holding it open. Susie stepped in behind them…

And instantly remembered why they hadn’t thoroughly checked the office the last time they’d been here.

The office looked different in the light of a sunny day, but not nearly different enough. The same filing cabinets, the same bookshelf, the same desk. The note Susie had left was gone now. She hoped the pastor had received it and had understood. That she’d managed to somehow get across the point the old man was trying to make. The old man who was…

“Kris- Let’s just grab what you found and get the hell out of here, okay?” She stuffed her hands into her pockets, trying to ignore the tremors. Her eyes drifted, unbidden, towards the desk. She squeezed them shut and ran her hands down her face as if she could physically wipe away the sick feeling in her stomach. When she opened her eyes again, Kris was watching her, expression clearly uncertain. “Just hurry it up, dude.” 

Kris turned towards the desk slowly and their eyes widened as they made the connection. They mumbled a quick apology, stumbling over to one of the filing cabinet and digging through it. Susie meant to go over and look at what they were doing, but she found herself unable to tear her eyes away from the desk. Part of her wanted to open the drawer. Just check, for a second. Make sure it was still there. The rest of her never wanted to see it again. 

It wasn’t fair. She’d known the old man less than a day. She shouldn’t care about some geezer who’d probably been dead before she was even born. She shouldn’t be angry at his son for holding onto a piece of his father. Where the hell did she get the right? To wish she could just steal the last piece of his father the priest had left. It’s not like he’s using it, the traitorous part of her mind whispered. But the old man… he wouldn’t want that. He’d want to stay with his son, not go along with some random kid he barely knew. 

She felt something tap her arm and turned to see Kris next to her, holding out a small card. It reminded her of a business card, though it didn’t have any good branding. Kris handed it to her and she flipped it over, reading what had been written on the other side. It was scrawled hastily, like somebody just taking down what they were told in a meeting. Across the top was just the word “SHELTER.” At the bottom was a string of what had, at one point, probably been six numbers. It had smudged and faded however, maybe from being at the bottom of the priest’s filing cabinet for so long, so that only the first number and one in the middle were visible. A six and a three. Kris had been right, it wasn’t quite what they wanted. But it was a start. 

“Dude, this is… this awesome!” she announced. She handed the card back to Kris, who tucked it away in their pocket. “Uh… Isn’t the priest guy gonna notice we took it?” Kris stalled for a moment before shaking their head, reminding her that it clearly hadn’t been taken out in ages if it was like this. Still, even as they justified it, Susie caught the flash of something suspiciously guilty across their face. “Oh. Yeah, good point. Hey, maybe we can figure out what the other numbers were! We can, like, hold it over a candle and look at the shadows or something!” Kris tilted their head uncertainly. “I saw it in a movie once,” Susie defended. Kris shrugged, unconvinced of the efficacy of Susie’s plan but not particularly keen on arguing. 

Susie took one last look at the office, biting down the discomfort that being in the space brought with it. Of knowing how close he was while somehow also being completely out of reach. She hoped that the pastor knew how good he had it. A dad that cared enough to write a letter from the grave to let him know he loved him. A dad that cared at all. 

“Let’s get out of here,” Susie said quietly. Kris nodded, leading the two of them out the door. They shut it quietly and re-locked it, erasing any potential evidence of their snooping. As long as the pastor didn’t suddenly remember the shelter code and want to use it. Which, given the rate things were going, would be about Susie’s luck. 

Kris visibly relaxed once they left the church. Susie probably did too, though she tried not to make it too noticeable. Though, she still wasn’t sure what Kris’s problem was. Nothing quite seemed to fill in all the gaps. Was it because talking to Carol had (justifiably) put them on edge for the day? Was it because of the old man? Were they just nervous to get caught snooping? None of that really seemed… like them. 

“Dude, let’s go tell Ralsei!” she shouted suddenly. “Maybe he can help us figure it out!” Kris nodded slowly, but made no move to lead on. Susie frowned and jerked her head in the direction of the school, gesturing for them to take the lead again. Kris watched her blankly. “Let’s go?” Susie prompted. Kris’s body jerked as they seemed to remember where they were and they gave her a sheepish smile before finally turning around and beginning to walk again. “Finally. Dude, I knew that Noelle’s mom was weird, but how’d she fuck you up this bad?” 

Kris informed her that Carol had stolen their liver. They were desperate to get it back.

“Har har,” Susie replied, attempting to give them a flat tire but miscalculating thanks to their different pace. They jumped out of the way, shooting her a displeased glare over their shoulder. “Come on, you were asking for it.” They stopped where they were, gesturing for Susie to get in front of them. She raised an eyebrow and they crossed their arms. They had just gotten their shoes pressed, they told her. “There’s no way that’s a real thing,” Susie said. Unfortunately, she had no good follow-up when Kris asked her to prove it, so she begrudgingly took the lead. It felt wrong, being the one leading the way after spending so much time trusting Kris’s leadership. She would’ve dwelled on it more if she didn’t nearly fall flat on her face moments later as Kris swung their leg out under hers.

“Asshole!” she shouted. She stumbled forward until she regained her balance, at which point she whirled on Kris and smacked them in the shoulder. “What was that for!” They raised an eyebrow, presumably reminding her of the attempted flat tire. “Yeah, but it didn’t work when I did it, so it doesn’t count!” Kris reminded her that attempted murder is still counted as a crime. They took a taunting step forward and Susie jumped back. “Oh hell no! I’m getting out of here.” She turned and took off, booking it towards the school at full sprint. 

“Last one there’s a fresh egg!” she shouted over her shoulder. Kris froze in surprise, but caught on after a second. They lunged forward, kicking themself into a sprint as they raced after her. It was more energy than she’d seen from them all day. But there was no way in hell she was letting them win just because they were having a shitty day. She had a code about these things, and that code was that nothing beat the smooth taste of victory. 

Kris was somehow gaining on her now, probably due to the fact that she’d wasted energy watching them when she started running (and definitely not because Kris was somehow faster than her). She picked up her pace, sprinting towards the approaching figure of the library building. By doing this, she managed to completely misjudge her momentum, leaving her hurtling towards the wall with no way to effectively turn out of the way. 

A wiser man would have skidded to a halt, turned, and then began running again. However, doing so would allow Kris to pass her, giving them a lead that she might not be able to make up, and that could not be permitted. So, in the split second she had to make the call, Susie decided to instead slam directly into the wall, ricochet off of it, and continue running through the pain.

She heard Kris bark out a breathy laugh behind her at the maneuver, but didn’t risk losing time by glancing back at them. It was a straight shot to the school now, which should’ve made everything easier. Unfortunately, all it did was make her painfully aware of how much further she had to run as her lungs began to burn from the prolonged sprinting. She ran around a lot in the Dark Worlds, but usually that running was coupled with a healthy dose of adrenaline. She had forgotten how much harder running was when the other option wasn’t literal death. 

But losing the race was almost as bad, and Susie was no quitter. So she buckled down and forced herself to somehow pick up the pace. All she could hear was the sound of her shoes slapping on pavement and her rough, heavy breathing. If she focused, she could hear Kris behind her, falling slightly behind. Perfect. She’d known she was faster. 

The school appeared in front of her and she dove for the door, yanking the door open and practically falling into the building. The moment she was inside, she smacked her hand onto the wall to support herself. Her breath was coming out in weak, ragged gasps, and she could feel sweat on the back of her neck. She could taste iron in her mouth and wondered, briefly, if she had somehow managed to rupture her lungs. 

The door slammed open and Kris stumbled inside, chest heaving as they tried to catch their breath. Susie meant to laugh at them, but it just came out as a silent disruption in her breathing pattern. Still, judging by the glare they gave her, they got the point. 

“I- win-” she managed to wheeze out. Kris, wisely, decided to save their breath and give her a shaky middle finger instead. She laughed again, with greater success. “Hah! Guess you’re- an egg now, loser.” Kris rolled their eyes, sliding down the wall so they could sit on the floor and catch their breath. Susie followed suit. 

“Dude, y’know people do that shit for fun? What kind of sport is ‘cross country’ anyway? ” Kris reminded her that they had just done it for fun. “Nuh uh. That was competition. There’s a difference.” Kris raised their eyebrows. Was cross country not a competition then? Given the whole ‘team sport’ nature. “Shut up!” Susie snapped. “I don’t run around for no reason every day after school.” Kris’s mouth curved into a smirk. “AND DON’T-” Susie shouted, cutting them off just as they opened their mouth, “-SAY THE DARK WORLD. That’s purposeful running. Cross country is just… running around for no reason!” Kris shrugged defeatedly, their smirk remaining in place. “Screw you, man.” 

The two of them stayed on the floor a bit longer, past the point of actually recovering from their sudden race. Susie found that the consequences seemed to fade away just as quickly as they came, which was nice. She didn’t want to spend any longer being that aware of her heartbeat. Still, they remained on the floor far longer than they probably explicitly needed to. Eventually, though, they decided to actually get on with the whole point of their return to the school and reluctantly dragged themselves up off the floor.

Kris took the lead again, making their way over to the closet. They quickly scanned the area around them to make sure there were no stray people around. Fortunately, the school was just as empty as it normally was at this hour. They didn’t need anyone else getting caught up in the Dark Worlds like Noelle and Berdly. It was just their thing. Her and Kris. It was better that no one else knew it was real. Even… even Noelle. 

“Once we get in there, we gotta go find Lancer,” Susie told Kris. “I haven’t seen him in forever!” Kris rolled their eyes and informed her that she sounded like Ralsei. It had only been two days. Susie didn’t dignify that with a response. With a final, degrading snicker, Kris opened the door and stepped through, vanishing instantly as they fell into the darkness. 

Susie’s hand lingered on the closet door. This was good. Everything was… good. Tenna was being a little weird, but he seemed okay for now despite not being adopted. Noelle didn’t hate her. She still wanted to be friends! Kris was a bit off, but they were probably just exhausted from everything going on. Everything was going better now. And they even had a clue now! An actual clue! With Ralsei’s help, it was only a matter of time they got that shelter busted open. 

So Susie stepped into the closet and set aside the nagging voice in her head trying to convince her that when she’d spied the code inside Noelle’s guitar, there hadn’t been a six in it at all. 

Chapter Text

In the end, Susie didn’t actually have to do any searching to find Lancer. Seemingly sensing her intentions, or perhaps simply because he had also noticed the disgustingly long time since they’d seen each other, he took matters into his own hands. She had hardly recovered from the transition between worlds when the little guy barrelled into her, nearly knocking her back into the gateway and up to the Light World all over again. 

“Susie!” Lancer shouted, latching onto her midsection like a koala. “Blue Kris, whose name I know now and also knew the whole time!” 

“Lancer!” Susie sputtered. She peeled him off of her and held him out in front of her like a scruffed cat. He didn’t seem to mind. “Man, it’s been way too long. How’d you know we were here?” 

“Oh, I had no idea! The toothpaste prince told me you’d come back today, so I just waited here!” Susie blinked, setting him down in her concern. 

“You’ve just been… waiting here all day?”

“Yep!” 

“Lancer-”

“Except when I got hungry and went back to the bakery. And also I had to chase a weird bug. You should’ve seen it, it was thiissss big!” He held his arms out to demonstrate, but couldn’t seem to actually pinpoint a size and instead just kept moving them back and forth until Susie couldn’t even begin to guess. 

“No way, dude. Did you catch it!?”

“No,” Lancer admitted shamefully. “Pretty sure it was cheating, though.” 

“Damn. Dick move,” Susie said.

“Yeah! ‘Word I Can’t Say’ move!” Lancer agreed. Susie snorted, reaching out to grab his head in a gesture that would normally be ruffling his hair but turned into something more akin to flattening a bouncy ball. He giggled anyway, beaming up at her. 

“Man, it is good to see you,” Susie told him. 

“Likewise!” Lancer chirped, his upbeat voice contrasting endearingly with his occasional old man vocabulary. “It’s a shame I couldn’t join you on your most recent venture. I’m sure you had oodles and oodles of fun!” 

“Oh. Yeah, uh… where were you?” 

“I got stuck in a hole,” Lancer admitted. 

“Couldn’t you just… dig yourself out?” 

“Oh yeah!” Lancer said. “But it was a really comfortable hole.” Susie barked out a laugh and Lancer joined in moments later. 

“C’mon, let’s get out of here,” Susie said. She snatched Lancer again, plopping him onto her shoulders and earning another excited laugh in exchange. She glanced over at Kris, who shot her a blank-faced thumbs-up. “Lead the way, weirdo.” 

Kris led the way into Castle Town, up past the stone walls and into the town proper. Ralsei was by the entrance when they arrived, making polite conversation with a Ponman outside the newly (and unfortunately) rebranded Love Dojo. It was good to see, even if Ralsei’s posture was a bit stiff and he kept staring at the floor. He needed to hang out with more people, in Susie’s opinion. Do things for himself instead of spending all his time waiting for Susie and Kris to come back. Like baking in that kitchen he’d added, or decorating his room more, or making awkward small talk with other Darkners. The damn guy needed to live a little. 

He glanced in their direction and startled when he noticed them. He nearly tripped over his robe as he tried to quickly excuse himself from the conversation and run to their side. He then somehow managed to almost trip again when he reached them. Susie lunged forward and snagged him by the scarf, pulling him back to a stable standing position. Kris coughed into their fist to cover up their amused snicker. 

“Thanks,” Ralsei said, cheeks blazing red. 

“No prob, man,” Susie told him. “What’s up?”

“O-oh! Nothing, I’ve just been… talking to some of the other Darkners.” Kris tilted their head curiously, indicating that Ralsei should continue. He wrung his hands nervously. “Well, I realized that I don’t actually know them all that well. And since I’m technically their leader now, I… I just wanted to check in on them. Things here have been changing so quickly, it’s probably been… stressful…”

“Wowie! That sounds like a ton of work!” Lancer commented from his perch on Susie’s shoulders. “Good thing I’m not in charge anymore!” 

“Heh. You had some pretty good rules when you were running the place,” Susie recalled. 

“That I did!” Lancer agreed proudly. “But I already have a very busy schedule. No time to waste doing stuff like ‘making rules’ and ‘collecting taxes.’” 

“We don’t… have taxes?” Ralsei commented quietly. Lancer ignored him. “Anyway, um, how was school?”

“Terrible,” Susie informed him. Kris nodded solemnly. 

“Oh. Sorry?” Ralsei offered. 

“You should quit!” Lancer suggested. 

“I wish,” Susie agreed. “But apparently it’s a crime.” 

“I love crime!” Lancer chirped. “Crime and punishment! My two favorite things!” 

“Seriously?” Susie asked. 

“No!” Lancer reported cheerfully. “I just thought they sounded cool together!” Susie snorted, swatting blindly at him and missing due to the limited mobility him being on her shoulders gave her. 

“What about your project?” Ralsei asked. Instantly, Kris and Susie froze. Her eyes slid over to look at them, mouth pulled down awkwardly. 

“Riiiiight,” she said slowly. “Our project. Which we have and are definitely done with.” 

“SUSIE!” Ralsei squawked. “School is important!” 

“It’s fine,” Susie said, waving him off. “It’s not even due yet. We still have…” She paused, trying to remember the due date. “Kris, when’s it due?” Kris shrugged helplessly. 

“You don’t even know when it’s due!?” Ralsei demanded. 

“I know it’s not due yet,” Susie corrected. Kris nodded in agreement. Ralsei stared at them both, mouth hanging open in the most dumbfounded expression Susie had ever seen. 

“How much work on it have you done!?” Ralsei asked. 

“Uh… We have a group?” Susie said, gesturing to herself and the grinning Kris next to her. Ralsei’s hand smacked into his face with enough force that she worried he was going to give himself a concussion. 

“School is important!” he repeated. 

“Ehh,” Susie said. 

“Who needs school when you have holes!” Lancer added. 

“What he said!” Susie agreed. 

“Oh my…” Ralsei shook his head, beckoning the two of them closer. “Here, tell me what your project is about. I can help!” Susie opened her mouth to answer, then halted where she was, suddenly starkly reminded of the one major issue with that suggestion. 

“Uh…” She turned to Kris, leaning down to their level. “Kris, what the fuck is our project about?” Kris whispered back that they had no fucking clue. 

“Wo-HO!” Lancer shouted. “A tier three swear word!” 

“You guys!” Ralsei wailed. “I can’t be part of this! You need to work on your project!” 

“Come on, man,” Susie said, clapping a hand on his shoulder. “It’s just one project.”

“But-”

“We’ll figure it out. We just gotta ask Noelle about it!” Kris nodded eagerly. 

“I really think you two ought to go back and finish your project,” Ralsei said sadly. 

“DON’T banish us again!” Susie cut in quickly. “Our grades are fine, we can half-ass one project.” It was a bold-faced lie, Susie was probably failing all of her classes, but Ralsei didn’t need to know that. 

“Well…” Kris knelt down, forcing Ralsei to look down at them. They clasped their hands, shaking their bangs out of their eyes so they could subject Ralsei to the full force of their (scarily effective) puppy-dog eyes. Ralsei stared down at them, mouth wobbling as he tried to fight against Kris’s fool-proof manipulation. Susie snickered, dropping down next to them and trying her best to imitate the expression they were making. She couldn’t see him on her shoulders, but she trusted Lancer to also put in his best effort in this team endeavor. 

“I- but- um- you- I- okay FINE!” Ralsei shouted finally, tugging on his ears in exasperation. 

“LET’S GO!” Susie yelled. She jumped to her feet, keeping one hand on Lancer’s back to prevent him from falling. Kris leapt up as well and the two shared a crisp high five. 

“But just for today!” Ralsei added quickly. 

“Yeah, yeah, whatever.” 

“A-and I expect you to have your topic picked out tomorrow so I can help you with it! I-I mean, obviously you can’t bring it directly with you, but we can still brainstorm together! Which we will. ” 

“You can count on us!” Susie declared, jerking her thumb towards herself dramatically. 

“Oh, oh, I can help too!” Lancer said. “I can eat your homework!” 

“Heh, you’ll have to beat me to it!”

“SUSIE!” 

“I’m kidding! Mostly…” Ralsei huffed in disbelief, crossing his arms. “Alright, enough with the homework talk. I’ve had enough school to last me a lifetime.” Kris let out a weary huff, nodding in agreement. “So! What should we do?” She glanced around at her companions, earning a shrug from Kris, a ‘whatever you want to do is okay with me!’ from Ralsei, and an utterly incomprehensible activity from Lancer. Which, to be honest, she probably should’ve seen coming. 

“Well, I promised Tenna we’d swing by, so we should do that later,” she noted. And she had to go make sure her room wasn’t trashed, but that was something she’d rather do alone. She didn’t want to explain everything quite yet. Especially since she had no idea if Spamton’s whole ‘don’t tell anyone I was involved’ thing was just for Tenna or if he didn’t want anybody to know. She’d rather not find out the hard way. “Anybody?” She glanced over at Kris, seeing as they were usually the one to lead their excursions. They just stood where they were, hands hooked onto the pants of their armor in a way that very clearly showed they wanted pockets to stick them in. 

“Oh, hey, wait a sec!” She grabbed Ralsei and Kris with each hand, yanking them towards the TV building. Fortunately for her and her lack of directional abilities, it was one of the main buildings in town and had been built pretty close to the main road, making it far easier to locate than the evil bank from yesterday. “Lancer should join our band!” 

“Oh boy! Music!” Lancer chirped. 

“O-oh! I guess we could play the music games again,” Ralsei said. He glanced over at Kris, fiddling with his scarf. “If… that’s okay with you, Kris?” Kris glanced at the floor, the hint of what seemed like a grimace curling their lips. But then they looked back up and met Susie’s expectant gaze and, hand scratching the back of their neck nervously, agreed to play a few rounds. 

“ALRIGHT! LET’S ROCK!” Susie declared. 

“And roll!” Lancer added. 

“YOU KNOW IT!” 

Their first round was… interesting to say the least. Lancer had no instrument prepared, so he shared the drums with Susie, which resulted in the two of them constantly hitting each other with the sticks instead of the actual drums. Kris was also struggling, having apparently forgotten how to play the guitar since the last time they played the games in the TV building. They were sweating profusely, constantly missing notes even on the easiest level. Ralsei was, unfairly, nailing the singing portion. 

But Susie wasn’t one to give up, and with a few tweaks, they managed to make the game actually playable. It only took a little finagling to get the Zapper in charge to add a fourth instrument, hooking up a small electric keyboard for Kris to play instead. The guitar was passed to Lancer instead, which he didn’t seem to mind despite the fact that it was nearly as big as he was. 

Even with the new layout, they still kind of sucked. Lancer didn’t know how to play guitar either and spent the whole time strumming with his tongue. Ralsei refused to sing the lyrics as written, resulting in all of the songs they played being about soft kitties and the delights of freshly brewed tea. The game didn’t appreciate Susie’s epic improvisations and kept docking them points for her generous use of the bass drum. And Kris… Kris was still off. They seemed nervous to play the piano, same way they had been in the Church. It took a few rounds for them to actually settle in and become more confident in their playing, which would have been a relief if they didn’t then become too confident and start playing completely different songs just to watch Susie suffer. Their collective score for each attempt was abysmal enough to earn them Z-Rank on every single song the studio offered, which Susie hadn’t even known was possible . 

In the end, it didn’t really matter. Even if they couldn’t get more than a couple hundred points each round. Even if what they produced was less ‘music’ and more ‘wall of sound.’ Even if Lancer broke the guitar and Kris nearly toppled into the stand the keyboard rested on. Being with her friends made the whole thing worth it, and by the time they all stumbled out of the TV building, Z-Rank badges proudly displayed on their clothes, she was laughing so hard she could barely breathe. 

Kris purchased them all some kind of ice-cream adjacent treat from one of the shops, run by a friendly Mizzle from the church Dark World. It was a relief to see her settling in. She’d been worried about the church Darkners, considering she hadn’t seen any of them since closing the Fountain. According to Ralsei, they had mostly been keeping to themselves. They’d never had any exposure to other Dark Worlds the way most of the others had, so settling in had been harder for them. Susie wasn’t too worried, not after seeing how happy the Mizzle seemed. They’d figure it out. She believed in them. 

“It’s strange,” Ralsei said softly as they all sat on a bench outside the shop and ate their dessert (the Mizzle had called it SpliceCream, courtesy of the fact that it was two flavors inextricably bound together). 

“Hm?” Susie asked, which was the only sound she was currently capable of making with her face full of food. 

“I’m just… surprised that the Knight hasn’t made any more fountains,” he admitted. 

“Maybe it got bored,” Susie suggested. 

“Maybe it got stuck in a hole!” Lancer added helpfully. 

“I just… everything was moving so fast, and now all of sudden it’s just… quiet.”

“You think something’s up?” Susie asked. Ralsei shrugged helplessly. Susie glanced down at the cone still in his hand, entirely untouched. “Dude, you gonna eat that?”

“Oh! Um, you can have it if you want-”

“Nah, it’s yours,” Susie cut in quickly. “Just… does that stuff melt? Cause normal ice cream melts.” Ralsei looked down at it uncertainly. 

“I’m… not sure.”

“Well try it and find out!” Susie prodded. Nervously, Ralsei brought the cone up to his mouth and gave the SpliceCream a quick taste. His face instantly lit up, just like when he’d tried the cake during their tea party. 

“Oh wow!” he said. “This is… really good!” Susie snorted. 

“You really gotta start trying shit more. You’re missing out.” Ralsei smiled softly and took another bite. Susie returned to shoving the entirety of hers down her throat as quickly as possible. The SpliceCream wasn’t actually all that cold, it turned out, which was probably the only thing that spared her from the most brutal brainfreeze in recorded history. 

“I think maybe… the Knight…” Ralsei continued. 

“Yeah?” Susie prompted. 

“I don’t want to get my hopes up, but I think… maybe the Knight used more power than it expected when it made the Titan.” 

“Huh?”

“We had already fought it quite intensely. It had been using a lot of power, not to mention creating the two fountains beforehand,” Ralsei explained. 

“You think it’s like… outta commission or something?” 

“It’s possible. If it is, it means we have time. To train and prepare. And it means… it means the Knight’s not invincible.”

“Hah!” Susie punched him in the arm. “I coulda told you that. Right, Kris- Kris?” Kris was suddenly sitting very stiffly. One hand was clinging to the fabric of their cape, while the other lay clenched on their knee. They were chewing their lip, head ducked down to fully obscure their eyes. “Hey, Kris, you okay?” Susie poked them in the arm and they startled so violently that they almost fell off the bench. 

“That could’ve been quite the tumble!” Lancer chirped, but even he looked a little concerned. 

“S-sorry, Kris, we didn’t mean to bother you!” Ralsei said quickly. “Maybe we should stop talking about the Knight for now? There’s… nothing we can really do about it anyway until they show up again.” Susie went to argue, but she saw the tension in Kris’s shoulders, so tight she feared they might snap. 

“Yeah…” Susie agreed reluctantly. “Wait, hang on! We found something, though.” She pointed to Kris. “Kris found the code to the shelter!” 

“Wait, really!?” Ralsei asked. 

“Yeah! Well, not totally, it’s kinda smudged and stuff, but we’ve got part of it!” 

“Susie, that’s amazing!” 

“Yeah! Even though I have no idea what you’re talking about!” Lancer added. 

“We were hoping you could help us crack it?” Susie asked. Ralsei frowned uncertainly. 

“I don’t know how much help I’ll be if I can’t see it.” Oh, shit, right. They couldn’t just bring the code down and show it to Ralsei. It would turn into something else. Something objectively cooler but also objectively less helpful to their predicament. 

“Damn,” she said. 

“B-but, maybe you could ask that friend of yours? Noelle, I think?” Ralsei suggested. Susie flinched at the suggestion, wringing her hands. Kris turned to finally look at the rest of them, expression clearly nervous. Susie could guess why. 

“I… I don’t know if that’s a good idea,” Susie admitted. “I don’t wanna get her involved any more than she already is. It’s just…” This shit was getting dangerous. And Noelle had already gotten in trouble because of Susie’s meddling. 

“I understand,” Ralsei said gently. “But it may be your best option.”

“You can ask the bird guy!” Lancer suggested. “He really liked puzzles! Even though he sucked at them!” 

“Hell no!” Susie snapped. “I’m not asking Berdly. I’ll just… we’ll figure something out. Right, Kris?” Kris nodded stiffly, still tense from before. “Geez, this Knight shit is a mess.” 

“I know!” Lancer agreed. “What did I miss? I wanna hear all about it!” 

“Hah! Yeah, it was pretty crazy. We…” Susie trailed off, the full force of everything that had happened dawning on her all of a sudden. She glanced down at Lancer’s expectant face, that wide, hopeful smile filled with such sickening innocence. “Actually, uh, it kinda… sucked,” Susie said finally. “Now that I think about it. You don’t wanna hear about it.” 

“Oh! Okay!” Lancer said cheerfully. He returned to licking his SpliceCream, completely unbothered. Ralsei shot Susie a knowing look but refrained from commenting. 

She just couldn’t bring herself to do it. Lancer was just a kid and he’d already been through enough. He didn’t need to hear about that shit. He deserved to live peacefully without having to worry about Knights and Titans and the end of the world. Maybe it was better that Lancer hadn’t come along after all. She could picture it so clearly in her mind, his normally cheerful expression morphing into quiet horror, his bright voice becoming weak and shaky. She remembered fighting him in the prison, and she never wanted to see him like that again. 

“We should go visit Tenna,” she declared suddenly. Things had gotten too weird for her tastes. She needed to do something else. 

“Oh, okay!” Ralsei said. He hopped down off of the bench, finishing off the remainder of his SpliceCream. 

“Oh boy! TV man!” Lancer declared. He bounded back over to Susie, leaping up to scramble his way back to her shoulders. She placed her hands underneath him to give him a boost. 

“That good with you, Kris?” Susie asked. Kris pulled themself up off the bench and shook themself like a wet dog, dragging themself out of whatever funk they’d somehow gotten into. They nodded slowly, though she couldn’t help but notice the lack of enthusiasm. She didn’t get it. They’d said Tenna was cool when she asked them in TV World. And they’d looked like they’d had fun last night. Maybe she was just overthinking it. 

They arrived at the castle in short order and Susie deposited Lancer back on the floor. They made their way up the stairs, and Susie paused when she passed the door to her room. She really needed to check in on the two of them. She didn’t like just leaving her best armor to hang out in her room for too long. She made a mental note to keep the visit with Tenna brief. 

In a rare display of politeness, she actually planned to knock on his door before entering this time. Unfortunately for her attempt, his door either wasn’t locked or couldn’t be locked, and slid open the instant she raised her hand to knock. She grimaced at the intrusion. 

“Hey, Tenna?” she called. To her surprise, there was no response. “Tenna? Yo, dude, you in here?” 

“Maybe he’s out running errands or something?” Ralsei suggested. 

“Or with my dad!” Lancer said. 

“Oh. Yeah, maybe,” Susie said. That would be… good. He couldn’t spend all day holed up in his room. She didn’t want him spending all day in his room, miserable while he waited to be adopted. She glanced over at Kris, just barely holding her tongue. They were probably just being extra thorough. It would be bad to just hand Tenna out randomly. He might just get thrown out again, and Susie couldn’t let that happen. That had to be why Kris hadn’t given him to anyone yet. 

“Tenna?” she tried one more time, raising the volume of her voice. “TENNA!?” Suddenly, there was a loud crash from inside Tenna’s room, followed by the sound of several loud, angry-sounding beeps. She heard the sound of stumbling footsteps, plus another couple of smaller crashes, and then Tenna spawned in the doorway so suddenly that she nearly fell backwards onto her ass. 

“Susie! Sweetheart! You came back! You actually came back!” Tenna cried. “Oh, and Kris and Ralsei too! And the small round boy! Mr. Generosity!”

“That’s me!” Lancer agreed. Susie chose not to comment for the time being. She wasn’t even sure if Tenna was just pulling their leg or if he actually still had Lancer’s name wrong after all this time. 

“Oh it is WONDERFUL to see all of you! I do hope you had fun last night! Did you have fun? I sure had fun! Just some good, classic TV! Nothing like it, I really-”

“Woah, woah, slow down, dude!” Susie said with a small laugh. He was talking a mile a minute, so quickly that she almost wasn’t able to pick out what he was saying. 

“Ah! Yes, my apologies,” Tenna said, far more slowly. He smiled down at them awkwardly. He looked largely normal, but there was something about him that Susie couldn’t quite place save for that it was… off. A consistent nervous twitch in one antenna. A waver at the edges of his smile. The way his tie was looser than normal, as if he’d struggled to tie it and eventually given up. Was she just imagining it? “Oh dear, what kind of host am I, just leaving you standing out in the hallway. Come in, come in!” Tenna ushered them inside, letting the door slide closed behind them. 

The room was largely unchanged from that morning. The pillow fort was right where they had left it, in all its mismatched glory. Lancer bounded for it as soon as he was through the door, burrowing into the pillows and announcing that he was doing a quality inspection.The door to what Susie now knew was the kitchen was hanging open, and she could faintly see a bowl resting on one of the counters. Had he been cooking, then? Was that why he hadn’t responded initially? She scanned the rest of the room, eyes landing on the table off to the side that seemed to be acting as a rudimentary desk. It was still littered with papers, though there were definitely more of them now.

“So! Did you lovely viewers need anything?” Tenna asked.

“Nah,” Susie said quickly. “Just checking in. ‘Cause I said we’d stop by.” 

“Oh! Right, of course! You… did… say that,” Tenna said. He let out a nervous

laugh and glanced around the room, though what he was looking for, she couldn’t even begin to guess. 

“It’s good to see you settling in better, Mr. Tenna,” Ralsei piped up. 

“Oh! Yes, um. Settling in. Thank you, Ralsei.” He looked down at the group of them, wringing his hands together. His gloves were back. “How, uh… How was school?” 

“If one more person asks me how school was I’m gonna start ripping faces off again,” Susie groaned. Tenna stifled a surprised laugh. “I’m never going back.” 

“Susie!” Ralsei yelped. 

“School is vital for proper development!” Tenna added. Kris stiffened as soon as he said it, their hand reaching back up to curl into their cape. They glanced up at Tenna nervously, staring at him in a way that made it look quite a bit like they were searching for something. 

“Yeah, yeah, I was kidding,” Susie said. It wasn’t even entirely a lie. School was the only place she could talk to Noelle now that she was grounded and as much as school sucked, she wasn’t about to give that up. So she was stuck there for at least the remainder of that week. But really, she just wanted to abort the conversation as quickly as possible. She didn’t know why it seemed to be making Kris uncomfortable, but after the funk they’d been in all damn day, she was doing her damndest to keep them up and out of the dumps.

“Whatcha been doing?” she asked instead, steering the conversation back towards Tenna. 

“Oh, me?” He laughed nervously. “You know. Scripting, revisions, all sorts of things! Might as well prep ahead while I have the downtime! Eheh.” 

“Oh boy! Scripting!” Lancer said, poking his head out of the fort he had claimed for himself. “I have no idea what that means!” 

“That sounds like a… great idea, Mr. Tenna,” Ralsei said. 

“Isn’t it!?” Tenna said, just a bit too enthusiastically. “It’s always good to be prepared! I have to make a good first impression after all!” Ralsei nodded in agreement, folding his hands behind his back politely. Susie tried to ignore the now-familiar stab of guilt in her gut. Right, she was supposed to be getting Tenna out of here. She hadn’t even thought to ask around after school today. How had she forgotten that? She’d promised she’d help him, what the hell was she doing? 

This was impermanent. Of course it was, she’d known it was. It was evidenced in everything about the place. The mismatched chairs that had clearly just been thrown in as temporary furniture. The wobbly table, propped up on cinderblocks instead of custom-made. Because it was just a temporary measure. No point in custom-making anything for a guy who was going to leave within the week. He was gonna leave. It was what he wanted! He wasn’t happy here. Nothing to hold him here anymore, not now that Toriel had gotten rid of him. He was on to better things. 

“Yeah, we’re still working on it,” Susie said, chalking up the pit in her stomach to the guilt. “Right, Kris?” Kris nodded slowly. They mumbled something else, too quiet for her to make it out. Ralsei shifted uncomfortably.

“No rush!” Tenna squeaked out. It was the least convincing lie Susie had ever heard. She chose not to call him on it anyway. “Um, would you all like something to drink? I think there’s tea in the kitchen-” He broke off, glancing down at Ralsei. “If that’s alright with you?”

“Oh, of course!” Ralsei said immediately. “The kitchen is yours first and foremost! It just… helps save space for us to share it!” 

“Hell yeah, tea party!” Susie announced. Tenna’s smile lightened, some of the strain dropping from the corners. 

“Well, in that case, I’ll put the kettle on! Say, Ralsei, help me choose a good flavor?” Ralsei blinked in surprise before nodding. Tenna clapped excitedly, his previous nervous energy dissipating slightly. “Come along, Ralsei!” He bounded into the kitchen with far more energy than he’d had before, not waiting for Ralsei to follow. Susie let some of the tension in her shoulders loosen in relief. 

“LANCER! GET OUT HERE! WE’RE HAVING A FUCKIN’ TEA PARTY!” Ralsei winced at the language but didn’t say anything. Lancer shot out of the fort instantly, bounding back to Susie’s side.

“Oh boy!” he said excitedly. “I’ve never had a tea party before!” 

“You… haven’t?” Ralsei asked. 

“No?” He tilted his head, perplexed. “Was I supposed to?” 

“No, no, just… You’re royalty. It…” Ralsei’s face reddened a bit. “It just seems like something royalty does. I kind of assumed…”

“Yeah, maybe princ esses. Lancer’s a prince, dude. ” Susie said, punching him in the shoulder. 

“O-oh! Right. Right, sorry.” He shrank down into his scarf in embarrassment. Susie grimaced, kicking herself mentally for the implication. 

“Nah, nevermind,” Susie corrected quickly. “Hey, the Old Man was a crazy badass and he had a tea party with us!” Ralsei’s eyes peeked up out of the scarf. 

“I guess he was,” Ralsei said softly. A smile crept back onto his face and he opened his mouth to say something else, only to be interrupted by Tenna calling for him from the kitchen. He excused himself quickly, scurrying over to the door. 

“Alright. You know what that means!” Susie said, grabbing Lancer in one arm and Kris in the other. “Let’s wreck the place!” 

‘Wrecking the place’ actually amounted to very politely stealing a couple chairs from the fort and arranging them around the table to give everyone the best possible angle. It also included gathering up the stray papers and neatly setting them aside so they didn’t get damaged. Susie tried to take a peek at them, but found that Tenna used so much jargon that she actually had no idea what any of it meant. It didn’t take long for Ralsei and Tenna to return with the tea, Tenna holding the hot kettle while Ralsei balanced his tea-set in his hands, plus one mug that clearly didn’t come with the set. When questioned, he explained that the set only came with four. Susie snatched it as soon as Ralsei was in range, ignoring his protests about how he should be the one not matching the set. 

She chucked Lancer up onto one of the chairs and scrambled up herself, waving off Tenna’s apologies about the size of the furniture. As far as she was concerned, his furniture was still too small. She would’ve much rather climbed a chair twice as high, as long as it meant Tenna’s room… felt like his, instead of like a shitty motel. 

The tea was good, though Susie only found that out after her second cup, seeing as she had downed the first in much the same way she had seen people take shots in movies. She hadn’t even realized she was thirsty until the flavor hit her mouth. It reminded her of those weird berries from Card Kingdom, but less intensely sweet. Kris had given her some during a couple fights and that had felt like eating the concentrated essence of a jolly rancher. This tasted a lot more like actual fruit. 

The initial awkwardness faded out as time passed. Tenna asked about their adventures and Susie excitedly rattled off the story of the first two Dark Worlds they’d gotten stuck in, just the way she’d explained it to the Old Man, sugar cube battles and all. Tenna listened with rapt attention, only interrupting with occasional exclamations of shock and studio audience stock sound effects from his speakers. Lancer jumped in early on in her telling, offering his own side of the story. They made a pretty good storytelling team, even if Lancer did keep trying to embellish the story. And only Lancer. Definitely only Lancer. 

Even without him there, Susie still decided to skip the part where they fought Spamton in the old dingy basement. Sure, he wasn’t there to blind her, but… they’d made a deal, hadn’t they? She wasn’t enough of a dick to go back on it. Sure, technically the deal had only been about not mentioning that he’d helped her save Tenna, but she had a feeling he wouldn’t take kindly to being mentioned at all. At least not to Tenna. She wasn’t about to break her word like that. Ralsei and Kris clearly noticed the omission, both looking at her in confusion, especially since she’d mentioned Jevil prior. But, fortunately, neither of them said anything. Kris wasn’t in much of a talkative mood that day anyway, and Ralsei seemed too invested in listening to interrupt. 

By the time they’d finished, Tenna was largely back to his usual self, the residual strangeness finally dropping away. Susie and Lancer managed to drag him into sharing funny stories from his show, and once he got started, he was impossible to stop. It was like his showman persona had been pushed off to the side and had now claimed complete dominance. He was more energetic than she’d seen him… probably since he first came to Castle Town, if she was being honest. 

“-and folks, you will never believe what he said next!”

“Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!” Lancer suggested. Susie snorted, high-fiving the little dude. Ralsei giggled into his hand as Kris took a sip of their tea. They were still on their first cup. Everyone else’s had been refilled at least twice, though one of Lancer’s had been because he kept splashing it in Ralsei’s direction when he thought the goat wasn’t looking. 

“He threatened to call my manager!” Tenna declared. Susie burst out laughing, hitting the table with her fist. 

“No fucking way!” she snorted. “Who was he gonna call?” 

“I have no idea!” Tenna laughed. 

“B-rank isn’t even that bad,” Ralsei chimed in. 

“That’s what I said! He just kept going on and on about how it had to be rigged! As if I would have to resort to something as underhanded as rigging my games to make the show entertaining! That sort of trickery just screams ‘lack of creativity.’” 

“Did you kick him out after that?” Susie asked. 

“Oh, no. The audience loved him. Never hurts to have a villain! Someone that the audience can root against! It just adds to the delightful drama of it all!” 

“I bet he got his ass handed to him in the last round!” Lancer giggled in agreement. 

“He sure did. The other two contestants couldn’t stand him, so they both teamed up in the last round! Can you believe that?”

“HA!” Susie shouted. “Serves him right!” 

“They spent the entire round sabotaging him. It was awfully vindictive, but who can blame them?”

“Nah, he totally deserved it,” Susie said. “Who won?” 

“That’s the thing! They were so focused on destroying their opponent that they declared it a ‘mutual success’ when one of them won! I can’t even remember which one had the higher score because they forced me to declare it a joint victory!” 

“HELL YEAH!” Susie said. 

“That’s really nice of them,” Ralsei said.

“I hope that asshole got banned for good,” Susie added. 

“Oh he did,” Tenna confirmed. “I wasn’t even going to ban him, truth be told! He made for good TV! But the staff couldn’t stand him. Kept hogging the vending machine and trying to shake extra TV Dinners out of it. And then he had the gall to say they ‘weren’t even that good’ when he got banned from the greenroom!” 

“Man fuck this guy,” Susie said. 

“Susie!” Ralsei chided. “Though… he definitely sounds like quite the handful. But still!” 

“What? I’m just bein’ accurate.” Ralsei huffed, taking a sip of his tea in favor of responding. 

“Not to mention he was terribly rude to all of the employees.” Tenna’s expression soured slightly. “The tipping point was when he made some rather… unsavory comments about Lanino and Elnina. No amount of entertainment value justifies mistreating my employees!” His antennae flattened back. “Er- My former employees now, I suppose.” 

“So you banned him?” Susie asked. She knocked back the rest of her tea and set the cup back on the table. Lancer finished his as well and dropped down from his seat, scurrying off to, presumably, return to the now-mutilated pillow fort.

“Oh, no, I didn’t. I didn’t even hear about the incident until later that day.”

“Wait, really?” Susie asked. Tenna nodded, taking another sip of his tea. “How’d he get kicked out then?” 

“Oh, well, it happened after the show while everyone was taking some time to unwind. I was in my dressing room finalizing some things, so I wasn’t monitoring anything. Honestly, it may have been for the best. I’m not exactly the best at dealing with those kinds of situations.” He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. “I probably would’ve been rather… unprofessional.” Then, he grimaced. “Although, from what I heard, it wasn’t handled very professionally, but… Well, certain things warrant that.”

“Yeah, I get what you mean. But seriously, what happened?”

“Right! Well, according to what Lanino told me, the contestant had been making rude comments every time they were all in the greenroom, but this time, he was very specifically targeting Lanino. And as time went on, he became more and more… brazen about it. Just tearing into his performance as if he was somehow in any position to judge such a thing!” Susie snorted at that. “Elnina obviously tried to step in, at which point he turned his attention to her instead! Really a rotten character all around. But luckily, he was talking rather loudly, so my-” Suddenly, Tenna stumbled to a complete halt, the words catching in his throat. His face was distinctly horrified, like a kid who’d gotten so wrapped up in telling their parents a story that they’d forgotten to work around the part where they did something that broke the rules. 

“Huh?” Susie prompted. “What happened?” Tenna’s antenna twitched uncomfortably and his hands, previously gesturing animatedly, clasped together tightly. He grimaced, turning away. 

“Mr. Tenna?” Ralsei asked. “You don’t have to tell us if it’s stressful to think about!” 

“No, no! Haha, it’s fine!” He took a deep breath, swallowing nervously. “Um, my… my business partner heard. And he, um, interceded. That’s all. Kicked the guy out without a second thought. Gave him quite the verbal lashing, if Lanino’s account is to be believed.” Tenna sighed, grabbing his teacup to give his hands something to do. Susie couldn’t help but notice that his hands didn’t dwarf it quite as much. 

“Business partner?” Susie asked curiously. Kris grimaced, ducking their head down uncomfortably. “I didn’t know you had a business partner.” 

“I DON’T!” Tenna said, far too quick and far too loud. “Aha. I don’t anymore. We split ways some years back. He just- haha- up and left one day! Off to bigger and better things, I’m sure!” His voice shook, laced with barely disguised bitterness. “But enough about him. Point is, that foul-mouthed contestant got what was coming to him!” 

“Yeah,” Susie said quietly. She cleared her throat. “Yeah! Totally. What a loser.” 

“Haha, right on the money, Susie!” Tenna took another quick sip of his tea. “What a-”

“Hey! What’s all this stuff?” Everyone at the table turned, following the voice to the far corner of the room. Lancer was sitting there among Tenna’s old boxes, the same ones Susie had seen the other day. They seemed to be split into two distinct groups, one set clearly opened and re-taped and one set still open. Presumably, Tenna had been in the middle of sorting his things. 

Tenna opened his mouth to tell Lancer that it was his old stuff from TV World, only for his smile to instantly drop the instant he saw which box Lancer was currently reaching for. He shot up out of his seat, antennae springing directly up into the air, and rushed over to the boxes. 

“Oh, those!? Nothing, nothing, just some old junk!” he said quickly. “Please excuse the mess, I should’ve cleaned up earlier!” 

“Oh, hey, posters-”
“OLD TERRIBLE ONES!” Tenna squeaked, his volume skyrocketing involuntarily. He snatched the box up off the ground, kicking the others over into the corner. “Sorry about this, I didn’t realize you were all coming so soon!” He shoved the boxes into a corner, quickly folding the flaps on the one in his hands and tucking it underneath several others. “Haha! Wow, I really am losing my touch! First I leave you standing in the hall, now I haven’t even cleaned the room? What has the world come to!?” He laughed nervously, still standing in front of the box pile. Almost like he was guarding it from something. That didn’t make sense, he hadn’t cared when Susie started digging through them yesterday? What was in that specific box that he was so nervous about? It couldn’t just be old posters he was worried about.

“Oh, um, it’s alright, Mr. Tenna!” Ralsei said. “We did catch you by surprise!” 

“Right. Of course!” Tenna said nervously. 

“But, uh… It is getting late. We should probably go,” he continued. Tenna deflated slightly, but made a valiant effort to recover. 

“Yes, you’re absolutely right! It is late and you young ones need your rest!” Susie pursed her lips. Maybe it was because Tenna had already been acting weird and she was primed for it, but the reaction felt a bit unnatural. What about midnight movie marathons? This feels like the part where you suggest a marathon. 

“It was wonderful to visit, though!” Ralsei added quickly. “If…” He hesitated for a moment. “If you end up staying a bit longer, we should do this again!” Tenna turned away, his screen dimming just a bit. 

“...Yes, this was very nice,” he said finally. He turned back to them, smile jumping back into place. “Have a wonderful night, kids!” 

“Bye, TV Man!” Lancer said. He bounded over to Susie, who dropped off her chair to join him on the ground. 

“Bye, Tenna,” Susie said as well. “I, uh… I’ll see you ‘round, ‘kay?” He turned towards her and somehow, even with no eyes to speak of, she could feel him meeting her gaze. His smile became smaller, but in doing so, it also felt just the slightest bit more real. 

“Of course, Susie,” he confirmed. 

Kris mumbled something that was probably a goodbye and led the rest of them out the door. It slid shut behind them, and Susie could see Tenna through the gap just before it did, turning back to look at the stack of boxes. Something was in that box, she was sure of it. Something that was obviously stressing Tenna out. Just another mystery to pile onto her growing stack of them. Along with the mention of an apparent business partner, who Susie wouldn’t have even thought twice about if Tenna didn’t seem so… distraught. 

She felt the beginnings of an idea forming in her head. Probably a terrible one, but also potentially her only option if she was gonna get answers out of that stubborn freak. She almost shoved it down, but couldn’t quite bring herself to do it. She guiltily filed it away instead. 

“That was nice,” Ralsei said as they walked down the stairs. Kris hummed softly to themself, and Susie couldn’t quite place if they were agreeing or not. 

“Yeah.”

“He needs to get out more,” Lancer observed, in that far-too-sage-for-someone-who-eats-salsa-out-of-tree-stumps way of his. Susie shrugged.

“He’ll be out of here soon,” she said, ignoring the way her throat randomly decided to close up as she tried to say it. Ralsei gave her a long, searching look, but didn’t actually say anything. She tried to ignore that too. 

They reached the second floor and Susie caught sight of her door. Right, she had… another issue to deal with at the moment. Although maybe she’d get lucky and nothing had happened. Maybe she’d been imagining the whole thing and Jevil was still asleep! But she definitely needed to check. If for no other reason than to reclaim her armor before anything happened. 

“Hey, you guys can go do… shit,” Susie said lamely. The others stopped, looking up at her in confusion. “I’m beat. Gonna take a quick powernap in my room.” At the mention of the fact that she was going to be using her room, Ralsei lit up. 

“Oh, of course!” he said brightly. “Take all the time you need! I hope the bed is cozy enough, but if it’s not, just let me know, I can bring you new blankets, or pillows, or anything really, even a new bed if you-”

“I’m sure it’s fine,” Susie cut him off. Kris gave her a searching look and she felt a pang of guilt at ditching them. She glanced back at the door. It’d just be for a second. Just to check in. “I’ll come find you guys later,” she said. 

“Okay,” Ralsei agreed. “Where should we go Kris?” Kris remained where they were, watching Susie suspiciously. She turned slowly towards the door, resting one hand on the knob but not quite turning it. 

“Okay,” Susie repeated. She glanced over her shoulder and met Kris’s gaze, holding it there. After a moment, they shrugged and turned around, leading Ralsei down the next set of stairs. 

“Oh, oh, does this mean I get to be Susie in line?” Lancer asked. 

“HELL YEAH!” Susie shouted over her shoulder. 

“Wowza!” 

Susie waited for the sound of their footsteps to fully recede before turning back to her door. It was gonna be fine. She was worrying about nothing. What was the worst that could happen? Her room got trashed? She’d just shove everything under the bed or something. There was nothing to worry about. 

Slowly, she pushed the door open and stepped through…

…right into an active warzone. 

Chapter Text

To their credit, Susie’s room was nowhere near as trashed as she’d predicted it would be. Most of her stuff was still in place, and nothing seemed to be broken. The only signs that there had been a struggle at all were her blanket, crumpled on the floor instead of neatly tucked onto her bed, and the fridge door, still hanging open. 

Plus the statue she’d stolen from Queen’s castle and the little Darkner that had just scurried up it, narrowly avoiding the snapping jaws of the puppet that lunged after him. 

“AW, COME ON, I JUST WANTED TO TAKE A LITTLE PEEK!” 

“IM GOIN@#g TO [Realign] You>UU 11NSI-DE OUT, YU [@^%#]!”

“YOU’LL HAVE TO CATCH ME FIRST, HAHA!” Jevil waved down at Spamton from where he was perched on the statue’s shoulder with a delighted giggle. The puppet stood below him, grinding his teeth together loud enough that Susie could hear it with crystalline clarity. 

“YOU!! SHOULd”VE STAYED [Junk]!” 

“GEE, SOMEONE’S HAVING A BAD BAD DAY,” Jevil chirped. “YOU’RE CALLING ME JUNK? THE WORLD REALLY IS SPINNING AROUND!” 

“YOU R3#AL,Ly NEVER [Change],” Spamton hissed. “GIVE AN [Millipede], YOU TAKE A [27 Kilometers].” 

“AW, DON’T BE SUCH A DOWNER, SPAMMY. WHAT’S A LITTLE EXPLORING BETWEEN FRIENDS?”

“YOURE3 [Overbooked] YO882#3!UR [Welcome to the Black Parade]!!” 

“YOU USED TO BE SO MUCH MORE FUN,” Jevil lamented. 

“AND YOU [Gently used] TO NOT bE<)EEe SUCH A-”

“What the fuck?” Instantly, both Darkner’s heads snapped around to look at Susie, so aggressively that she worried they’d somehow managed to snap their own necks. They stared at her, unblinking and unmoving. Normally, it would have been funny, like two kids caught playing video games past their bedtime, but both of them were so unnerving that it just felt creepy. “I knew this was a bad idea,” Susie muttered. 

“I HAdD NO [Parts and services] IN THHIS!” Spamton shouted as Susie kicked the door shut behind her. “ITSs ALL THAT DAMN [Circus]’s FAULT.” Jevil let out another bark of laughter, not denying the accusation. 

“WE’RE JUST HAVING A BIT OF FUN,” he explained. “IT’S BEEN SUCH A BORING FREEDOM AS OF LATE.” 

“Riiiight,” Susie said slowly. She grabbed her blanket off the floor and tossed it back onto the bed. Then, she made her way over to the fridge and gave it a once-over to make sure nothing had been stolen. She quickly realized that there was just so much in it that she wouldn’t even know if something had been. What a concept. Not knowing every single item in there. 

“IT’S BEEN SO LONG SINCE I HAD A PROPER FEAST!” Jevil offered without prompting. 

“SoOO YOU ADMIT          !” Spamton shouted, pointing at Jevil in much the same way one would imagine a particularly unstable Puritan pastor pointing at a witch. “YOU WERE [Plotting] TO [Felony burglary]!” 

“A FEAST FOR THE EYES!” Jevil corrected. Spamton made a harsh clicking sound that Susie guessed was meant to be a ‘tsk’ but had gotten too bitcrushed in the process to really sound right. He crossed his arms and turned his nose up at the other Darkner. Jevil waved him off, muttering something about how he’d never seen such hypocrisy in his life. 

“What the fuck where you guys doing?” Susie groaned. Instantly, Spamton perked up, leaping at her and taking hold of the bottom of her vest. 

“THA>>AT [Creacher feacher] WAsS [Armed robbery]!” 

“FALSE, FALSE!” Jevil countered. “YOU CANNOT FAULT ME FOR A LITTLE CURIOSITY. THIS FREEDOM IS SO MUCH SMALLER THAN THE OTHER ONE.” Spamton ground his teeth together but held his tongue. Barely, it looked like. Susie could practically sense the distress radiating off the little puppet. He looked ready to shred Jevil with his bare hands. 

“I told you jackasses to behave!” Susie groaned. 

“UEHEHEHE, WRONG!” Jevil countered. “‘SHARE,’ YOU SAID. ‘BEHAVE?’ NOT SO!” 

“IT WAS [The implications]!” Spamton sputtered. How in the world had she ended up in a situation where Spamton was being the reasonable one? “NOTHING WAS [Robbery], [[Scary Monsters]],” he reported, turning back to Susie. “I MADE [Certain] OF IT. YOU CAn ALWAYS COUNT ON [Number 1 rated salesman 1997]!” 

“Thanks?” Susie said. Spamton nodded solemnly, looking far too pleased with himself. Damn, he was going to try and leverage this somehow, wasn’t he. Try and get something in return for purportedly preventing her stuff from getting stolen. 

“SUCH OVERREACTIONS,” Jevil chided. “THE SALESMAN WOULD HAVE ME LOCKED AWAY FOR A BIT OF EXPLORATION.” She couldn’t quite see them, but she was fairly certain Spamton was rolling his eyes. 

“[[Scary Monsters]], IM SURE WE CAN [Agreement processed] THAT thHIS [Clown around town] HASs OVERSTaaYED HIS [Welcome home!].” Spamton shot Jevil a look over his shoulder and the jester waved coyly at him. He jerked his head away. 

“At least you didn’t break anything I guess,” Susie huffed out. She dropped down onto the bed, the emotional whiplash of the day catching up to her. Maybe she would take a power nap after all. Or maybe she should just stay up all night so she was tired enough to sleep in class the next day. Seriously, what was Kris’s trick for that?

“I thought you were sleeping,” she said after a moment. The two Darkners stopped glaring at each other (well, Spamton was glaring. Jevil was just laughing at him) to give her their attention again. 

“hUHH?” 

“Jevil,” Susie elaborated. “When we fought you. You said something about ‘sleeping for a hundred years.’”

“WHAT’S A YEAR, A YEAR REALLY?” Jevil said.

“[365 days],” Spamton replied, the sarcasm somehow strong enough to power through whatever voiceline he was stealing. 

“UEHEHEHE. SUCH FRIVOLOUS MEASUREMENTS, DON’T YOU THINK? TIME IS JUST ANOTHER CAGE AROUND THE WORLD.” 

“Ooookaaaayyy?” Susie said. It didn’t really make any sense, but Jevil rarely did. Or at least, it seemed that way. Now that she thought about it, she… hardly knew these two. She’d been hauling them around for days, but she barely knew anything about them. She’d never been a huge fan of wearing them anyway, but the realization made her feel even worse. Especially with Spamton, considering literally everything he’d said while he fought them. But they’d seemed like they wanted to be there. They wouldn’t have done it if they didn’t want to, right? But then again, they hadn’t seemed like they really had any better options. Were they sticking with the Fun Gang because they wanted to help, or because it was better than going back to where they were? Than staying stuck in prison forever or going back to living on the streets?

“Are you, like… permanently awake now?” Susie asked. Jevil tilted his head, considering the question. 

“[Angel] I [!#*$]InG H00opE NOt,” Spamton muttered. 

“WHO KNOWS, WHO KNOWS,” Jevil said thoughtfully. “PERHAPS I WAS ALWAYS THE ONLY ONE TRULY AWAKE. PERHAPS I ALWAYS WILL BE.” 

“Cool?” Spamton’s teeth clacked together and he turned on his heel, leaving the little jester perched on the statue. Jevil flopped down onto the statue’s arm, arms and legs dangling off of it. She looked between the two of them uncertainly. “Uhh… are you guys just… gonna stay out now?” They both turned to her in unison again and it was somehow even creepier the second time. 

“[Search failed: Data not found].” Spamton crossed his arms, leaning back and tapping his foot expectantly. 

“Like, not be items anymore.” 

“TRAGICALLY NOT,” Jevil said. “I LOST THE GAME FAIR AND SQUARE. YOU EARNED YOUR PRIZE.” He giggled to himself. “AND YOU DO HAVE SUCH EXCITING MISCHIEF, MISCHIEF! SUCH EXQUISITE CHAOS, CHAOS!” Spamton let out another irritated click. 

“A [Number 1 rated salesman] NeeEV3R GOES [Backup] ON AN [Honest] DEAL,” he said after a moment. His hand came up to his face and he lightly tapped the glasses resting on his nose. 

“I mean, it’s not like you guys gotta,” Susie found herself saying. “Just, Kris and Ralsei will probably be weirded out if we go into another Dark World and I don’t have you guys with me.” 

“NO NEED TO WORRY, HERO,” Jevil assured her. “ARMOR WAS PROMISED AND ARMOR YOU SHALL HAVE!” His eyes flicked around the room, landing on Spamton, who was now standing further away by Susie instead of guarding Jevil. “AFTER I’VE HAD MY MISCHIEF, THAT IS!” With no other warning, Jevil launched himself from the statue and towards the fridge. 

He was clearly aiming for something specific, but Susie didn’t get to find out what it was, because an instant later Spamton intercepted him mid-air. The two rolled away from the fridge, leaping apart like a pair of angry cats. Susie stifled a laugh at the picture of it. She’d never seen any Darkners fight that physically. They always fought with magic. It was strange to see Jevil and Spamton brawling like… well, like Lightners, for a lack of a better analogue. It reminded her of the fights she’d seen in the bigger schools she attended, two kids who had no actual training or fighting skill but were fueled purely by some kind of feral rage. Had they been at this all goddamn day?

“HAaANDS OFF THE [30% off all in-store goods]!” Spamton growled. 

“A SHAME, A SHAME,” Jevil declared, tucking his hands behind his back in the perfect picture of nonchalance. “WHATEVER SHALL I DO?” Spamton turned back around towards Susie, gesturing towards Jevil as if to say can you fucking believe this guy? Under normal circumstances, the swear would be a Susie-exclusive addition, but knowing what little she did know aboutSpamton, adding it was probably more accurate in this case. 

“YoUUURe EVEN [More than 15%] 11NNSuFFEraaABEL ThAHN [You] USEd TO BE,” Spamton hissed. Jevil just laughed. 

“You guys knew each other?” Susie asked suddenly. That’s right, they kept talking about each other like they’d met before. 

“ME AND SPAMMY USED TO BE THE BEST OF FRIENDS!” Jevil confirmed. Spamton’s bitcrushed scoff suggested that said friendship had probably been pretty one-sided. “WE’RE THE ONLY ONES THAT ARE TRULY FREE, FREE!” Spamton’s teeth snapped together and he jerked his head away. He clutched his hands to his chest, plastic clicking together as he tightened his grip. 

“SOME FREEDOM,” he spat, voice clear and uninterrupted. 

“YOU’LL BE GRATEFUL ONE DAY. DON’T WORRY, SPAMMY.” Spamton didn’t grace that with a response. 

“You guys are weird as hell,” Susie muttered. 

“UEHEHEHEHE. SUCH IS THE NATURE OF THE GAME.” Jevil glanced over at Spamton and made a feint towards the fridge. This time, Spamton didn’t react. The color in his glasses had gone out, replaced with dark, flickering static. Jevil tutted in disapproval, turning his attention away from the fridge and back to Spamton instead. “NO ONE APPRECIATES A GOOD GAME ANYMORE,” the jester mourned. He flicked Spamton in the arm and the color shot back into the puppet’s glasses as his entire body jerked. He paused for a moment as he seemingly reoriented himself before noticing Jevil and returning to his default state of glaring the guy into the ground. 

“SHAME, SHAME,” Jevil said again, shaking his head in disappointment. He made his way back over to Susie. “ANOTHER GAME ANOTHER TIME,” he announced. “ANOTHER HUNDRED YEARS! UEHEHEHE!” With that, he vanished in a swirl of dark mist, leaving behind only a tail that dropped to the floor moments later. Susie lunged forward and caught it just before it hit the ground. 

“Geez, man, warn a guy before you do that!” she snarled. She laid the tail back on the bed behind her. She’d put it back on at… some point. 

She turned back towards the room and found that Spamton had yet to return to the Dealmaker. Instead, he stood exactly where Jevil had left him, scanning the room uncertainly. He seemed to notice her looking and turned to face her. 

“11LL [Go go go!] BACCK NOW,” he said in response to her gaze. 

“You don’t gotta,” Susie told him. He tilted his head curiously. “It’s not like we’re fighting anybody.” Spamton seemed to turn this over in his head, fiddling with the button on his blazer. It was wrong, Susie realized. A light brown that clearly clashed with the black of his suit. It was sown in with the same thick white thread that she could see all along his blazer and pants, all of which were haphazardly stitched together. He’d done it himself, probably. 

“...NOTHING ELSE TO [Due],” Spamton said after a minute. Susie shrugged, trying to buy herself time to think of what she was supposed to say next. This was a much less hostile interaction than the first time they’d talked (probably because she hadn’t nearly strangled him to death this time) and she didn’t want to set him off again. 

“Whatever you wanna do, man,” she settled on. She flopped back onto the bed wearily. It was probably still dirty from where Spamton had been before, but it wasn’t like she was much cleaner than he was. “Just… kinda sucks that you guys are stuck in there all the time.” 

“HOW SO?” 

“Just looks pretty boring. And you’re getting dragged around all the time. I dunno, it looks lame.”

“COouULD BE [Is there anything worse than this!?],” Spamton told her. “[Fresh beets] L1VING IN THE GARBAGE.” Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him give an exaggerated shudder. 

“I guess,” Susie replied. She fell silent, letting her eyes drift away from Spamton and up to the ceiling. She didn’t really care what he did right now. Given how little damage he and Jevil had actually done (somehow), she doubted he was gonna give her any real trouble. And she was honestly too tired to give a shit. Geez, this thing had hit her like a goddamn truck. 

“[[Scary Monsters]]?” Spamton asked. 

“Whaaaat?” Spamton paused, and she heard his hands clicking together again. He stayed there, mouth hanging open as his words caught in the back of his throat. 

“[Transaction cancelled],” he said after a second.

“Huh?”

“NeeEE33VErRMIND,” he forced out. 

“Uh, okay? Weirdo.” Spamton’s teeth clacked together in irritation, but he didn’t say anything else. After a moment, she heard his light footsteps tapping around the room. Maybe he was going for the fridge and had only been preventing Jevil from getting near it so he could have everything for himself. The familiar spike of fear shot through her at the thought of it, despite her knowing that it was irrational in the Dark World. Besides, he probably needed it more than her, seeing as it didn’t actually do anything for her. Did he need to eat? She had no idea how Darkner biology worked, but if they had restaurants and shit then clearly at least some of them ate. Did they need to in order to survive? 

Maybe it varied based on species, like how some monsters needed different vitamins or some shit. She was pretty sure she was remembering that right, but the last time she’d been to the doctor she’d been seven and pretty delirious the whole time, so maybe she’d just misheard. But it would make sense, considering how different they all were. Maybe the organic Darkners like Ralsei ate food and the more mechanical Darkners like Queen and Tenna just ate straight motor oil. The battery acid seemed to support that idea, though she had seen Tenna just drink a regular soda. 

Maybe it was the circuitry difference or something. Something too complex for her to ever hope to actually understand. But for a moment, she wished she could. That she could just look at them and figure out how they ticked. That she could’ve helped Tenna on her own instead of praying Spamton knew what he was doing. 

The puppet in question finally stopped doing whatever he’d been doing. Susie hadn’t heard the fridge open, so she could assume he hadn’t gone in there unless he’d managed to open it silently. Had he just wanted to explore her room? She didn’t think there was anything in there that he’d find interesting, but if he found it entertaining then who was she to judge? 

She dragged herself back up into a sitting position and slumped over the edge of the bed to look at him. He was sitting now, crosslegged in the middle of the room. One finger tapped his leg lightly as he scanned the room with what Susie could only describe as nervousness. It was an unfamiliar emotion on the guy, for him to sit there quietly when he usually took up the entire room, loud and unyielding. It was strangely out of character. Or maybe this was what he was actually like, and the other stuff was out of character. She didn’t know him at all, after all. 

They’d been dragging him around for days now and she still didn’t know the first thing about him. Nothing real anyway. All she knew was him at his worst. That was all any of them knew. There’d obviously been something wrong with him when they’d fought him. On the surface, he had just seemed clinically insane. Just another Darkner trying to murder them for his own ends. But there’d been something else underneath it all that Susie couldn’t shake. Underneath that callous disregard and bitter anger, he’d just looked… scared. 

She grimaced, trying to push the too-familiar thought out of her head. She didn’t have the mental energy for that right now. Not with everything else already going on. It was strange. She’d been so happy to spend time with all of her friends, but now that she was alone, the reality of how fragile it all was had started creeping back up. She knew so little in the grand scheme of things. How was she supposed to try and fix this shit if everyone kept hiding pieces? Not like she’d be much good at it, but they wouldn’t even give her the chance to try. 

She glanced back over at Spamton, still sitting uncertainly on the floor. If her guess about how he knew Tenna was right, and she was pretty confident in her assessment, then he probably had some insight on what was going on. But he also probably wasn’t going to share it if the last time she’d talked to him was anything to go by. How a guy that talked nonstop managed to be so cagey, she didn’t really understand. It was like he was trying to use an overload strategy or something. Say so much shit that anything important gets lost in the shuffle.

“Hey, half-pint,” Susie called. Spamton glanced around the room uncertainly before realizing she was talking to him. He leveled an unimpressed glare in her direction. “I’ve, uh, got a question for you.” Instantly, Spamton’s jaw tightened. 

“ISsS THIS ABOUT THE D@MN [CRT] [Again and again]?” Susie grimaced. 

“...maybe?” 

“ALREADY [Informed] YOU I-”
“It’s not about you,” Susie cut in quickly. Spamton tilted his head uncertainly and Susie shot him a smug smirk. “I already figured out your deal with him.” Spamton shot to his feet, hand twitching fearfully.

“YOUU WHAT?” 

“Yeah. It’s kinda obvious.” Spamton’s jaw fell open and she saw static flicker across his glasses. 

“[False].” 

“Nah, I figured it out.” She leaned forward, pointing at his chest. “You were his mechanic.” Spamton froze in place completely, so perfectly still that he almost seemed to become inanimate. Then, after a moment:

“WHAT.” 

“It’s obvious, dude. Why else would you know that much about how he works and shit? I was thinking about it, ‘cause there were those Ambyu-lances for doctors in Cyber World, and Malius is kinda a doctor in Card Kingdom, but there weren’t any in TV World. But if Tenna’s all robotic, then he wouldn’t have a doctor. He’d have a mechanic. And you said that’s what you did. So THERE!” Spamton stared at her in silent bafflement. “Nailed it, didn’t I?” He coughed into his hand, loud and ridden with glitches. He seemed uncertain about the idea. He almost seemed pleasantly surprised that she’d drawn that conclusion, but there was a hint of discomfort there too. 

“[Mechanical], HUH?” he echoed. “HAEHAEHAE. NOT ttTHE [Ad guy]?”

“Nah. I thought maybe, ‘cause of all the advertising and deals and stuff you talk about. But… Uh… No offense, dude, you keep saying you’re a salesman but I’m pretty sure you kinda suck at it.” Spamton’s jaw clicked in irritation. “But you’re good at that robot shit.” Spamton stared up at her, a strange buzzing sound emanating from his throat. His eyes were locked on hers and she could feel his gaze burrowing into her skull, as if trying to dig something out of her brain itself. His fingers yanked a thread free from his fraying sleeves.

“[BINGO!], KID!” he said finally. “UUSssED TO DO ALL KinNDS OF [Scheduled maintenance].” He laughed, loud and shaky. Nervous. 

“I knew it!” Susie crowed victoriously. “Don’t know why you’re so weird about it though.” Spamton clicked his teeth unhappily, picking at some loose thread on his sleeve. “Whatever. That’s sick, dude.” Spamton looked up at her in surprise. 

“[Illness]?” he asked. Clearly, he wasn’t particularly happy with that glitch, because he instantly slammed his hand against the side of his head. “ssSICK?” he tried again, with more success it seemed. 

“Yeah. It’s… cool, I guess. That you know how to do that stuff. Like, how it works and everything.” She rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly. “That you can fix shit.” 

“...HUH,” Spamton replied after a second. Susie turned away awkwardly, trying to figure out where his sudden embarrassment was coming from. Being a mechanic was… really cool, if she actually thought about it. She wondered, briefly, why he was so focused on the whole salesman persona instead. Because if she could do stuff like he could, like fixing Tenna without thinking twice, she’d be shouting it from every available rooftop. And yet Spamton almost seemed ashamed of it. She was probably reading too much into it, actually. The cagey bastard probably just didn’t like her knowing anything about his history. 

“yYOU [Speak now] YOU HAD [Please file] [Recieve 24 hr support!]?” Spamton said suddenly. He grimaced. “YOU HAD. A. QUESTION?” 

“Uh… yeah?” He let out a long, put-upon sigh and came over to the bed. He rested his hands on his hips, watching her expectantly. 

“[Well]?” Damn, she actually… hadn’t thought that far. She’d just vaguely known she had a question and kinda let her mouth do its own thing. Frankly, she’d thought he’d shut her down again. This was the second time now that he’d been willing to potentially answer her question, and the second time she’d failed to plan ahead and actually have said question prepared to ask. Why did talking to this stupid puppet make her so incompetent? 

“Does Tenna eat motor oil?” she asked in a panic, unable to make herself ask anything more… important. Spamton sputtered at the question, completely thrown off by the left-field entry. 

“WHAT THE [@#$&], KID.” 

“I DUNNO, IT’S THE FIRST THING I THOUGHT OF!” Spamton’s mouth fell open. 

“IFF [You and your’s] DIdNT HAv3 A [FAQ Page] REeADY tHEN WHYD!!? YOU          [Asked and answered]!?! INn THE F1RST        !?” 

“I DON’T KNOW, MAN,” Susie shot back. “YOU GONNA ANSWER MY QUESTION OR NOT?” 

“JUST [20 Questions] HIM!” That was… a really good point actually. Tenna was probably the most reliable source for these kinds of questions. But by this point the whole interaction was less about actually getting an answer to her stupid, half-baked question and more about winning.

“I’M ASKING YOU!” Spamton’s hands opened and closed in front of him. He looked very much like he wanted to strangle her, though there was less vitriol to it than when he’d been fighting Jevil earlier. She stared him down, refusing to back off and let him win whatever competition the two of them had managed to concoct. 

“...NO,” Spamton said finally. 

“Huh?”

“HE3 Do3SNT,” Spamton elaborated. Oh. He’d actually answered. Nice. She’d known she’d win. 

“Aw man,” Susie said. “Would’ve been cool if he did.” Spamton snorted, or at least, that’s the best guess Susie had for the sound. He nodded in agreement. It would, indeed, have been cool. “Hey, speaking of…” She glanced over at the still-closed fridge. “Did Jevil actually share the shit I left?” She swore she saw his eyes roll behind the glasses. 

“THAT [Greed] CLOWN WOUuLDNT SHARE A [Feasts fit for a king!]!” Spamton informed her. He stepped to the side so he could glare at the tail still on the bed. “HEAHAHAHA, DIDN>T EVEN GET A [Gamble] TO G#3T OUT OF THOSE [Lenses]!” 

“I kinda figured,” Susie admitted. Spamton glanced back at the Jevilstail, his expression shifting ever so slightly. His stiff features made him hard to read, but the look he was giving Jevil now seemed much less irritated than before. He almost looked sad, somehow. She didn’t get a chance to really analyze it though, because an instant later the look disappeared, replaced by the same mild annoyance she’d come to expect. 

“WHO GIVES A [#^@%],” Spamton decided after a moment. “DIDnT WANT THAT [Trash Heap]’s [Flapjax™] AnNYYWAY.” Spamton’s hand slammed over his mouth as soon he finished speaking. Susie stared at him in confusion. Flapjax. He’d said that in Tenna’s voice. In Tenna’s exact voice. She almost commented, but she saw the distress on Spamton’s face and decided against it. Besides, she’d already known they knew each other. It shouldn’t be that surprising that some of his vocal glitches might source from Tenna. She tried not to think about how horrified he looked. As if Tenna’s voiceline coming through was an even deeper violation than the others. What happened with you two? 

“Here,” she said instead. She made her way over to the fridge and pulled out the bag Tenna had given her. She pulled out another two Flapjax and returned the rest to the fridge. The bag didn’t even feel much lighter, how many of those had Tenna given her!? 

She made her way back to the bed and sat down, holding the pancake-adjacent items in her hand. Spamton watched her with the intensity of a predator, his eyes locked onto the Flapjax she was holding. So he did get hungry. He had to, because he was definitely looking at her like he was starving. 

“Here,” she said again, tossing one of the Flapjax at him. He scrambled to catch it, nearly faceplanting in the process, but didn’t immediately inhale it like she expected him to. Instead he just stood there, holding it uncertainly in both hands right where it had landed. “You good?” 

“WHATS TH3EE [Terms and conditions]?” he asked, eyeing her suspiciously. 

“The fuck?” 

“WHahTS. THE. CATCH!?” he spat. “WHATT [New deal] ARE YOU M@KInG HERE?” 

“Are you serious?” He glared up at her, unyielding. “It’s free, dude. ‘Cause Jevil ate yours.” Spamton’s mouth twitched at that. 

“[It’s free real estate]?” Susie nearly choked on air at the voice that came out of his mouth with that line. He looked unimpressed, but she couldn’t exactly help it. Why was he whispering like that? Or, well, why was whoever the voiceline sourced from whispering like that. 

“Yeah,” she said, stifling a laugh. He held the item up suspiciously. He clearly didn’t quite believe her, but his hunger won out in the end and he took a hesitant bite. Susie shoved hers down her throat without a second thought. “Good, right?” Spamton hummed to himself contemplatively. 

“...HE ChHANGED THE [@#$&]ING ReCCIPE,” was his eventual observation. 

“Really?” 

“ThAHAT [Derivative]                [Add in] BuUTTERSCOTCH,” Spamton hissed. Susie licked her lips curiously. Sure enough, now that Spamton had pointed it out, she could definitely taste hints of butterscotch from the pancakes. It wasn’t nearly as much as Toriel added, which was probably why Susie hadn’t noticed it before, but it was definitely there.

“Huh. Guess he did,” she said. Spamton gritted his teeth, staring the pancake down. “What? Don’t like butterscotch or something?” He shrugged, finally letting go of the Flapjax with one hand to make a ‘so-so’ gesture.

“BUT WHO [Give a hoot] ABouT THE [Fresh butterscotch]! IT$sT THE [Principal role] OF THE THING!” Spamton looked down at the pancake, fingers curling into it and tearing it slightly. “CcHNAGED IT ALL UP.” Susie pursed her lips, realizing belatedly that maayyybeee feeding Spamton something related to the guy he freaked out about every time he was mentioned was in poor taste. 

She was about to offer him something else when he suddenly unhinged his jaw and downed the entire Flapjax in one bite. She was pretty sure she didn’t even see him chew it, just swallow the whole thing whole. He noticed her staring and gestured to his throat. 

“CAnT [Tasty] IT THAT WAY!” He let out a pleased giggle. 

“You’re really fucking weird,” Susie informed him. He just laughed at her again. 

“TAKES ONE TO [Recognize] ONE!” 

“Screw you, man,” Susie said lightly. Spamton was still laughing, but it felt a lot less like he was laughing at her than it usually did. Or maybe he still was, but it didn’t feel as… mean-spirited, she supposed. As he did, Susie turned her attention back to the Jevilstail on her bed. “Dick move,” she informed the clown. The tail gave no response. Spamton noticed her attempt and laughed even harder. 

“PL- EASE,” he said. “THHAHT JACK[@#$] IS MORE STUBBORN THAN A [20 acres of verdant farmland].” 

“What?” Susie laughed. “What’s that mean?” Spamton ignored her, chittering softly to himself. She couldn’t quite hear it, but it was probably more Jevil-directed insults. “Does the shit you say even make sense to you?” 

“CLEAR AS [Lab grown diamond]!” Spamton confirmed. Susie snorted, blowing her bangs out of her eyes. 

“I’m serious, you’re weird as hell,” she informed him. 

“YOU’VE MENTIONED,” he deadpanned, levelling an unimpressed look in her direction. 

“Hey, it’s not like that’s a bad thing,” Susie said. “Pretty sure you’re only like… 20% weirder than Kris. I dunno, math sucks and I’m bad at it. Something like that.” Spamton giggled to himself. 

“[Birds of a feather], ME AND THTAT LITTLE [Sponge],” he observed. Susie grimaced at the reminder. He had been particularly interested in Kris when they fought him, she remembered that. Not to mention whatever Kris had been doing with him alone before they finally got worried enough to ignore their request to let them handle it alone. And the way Kris had screamed after they beat him. The way their hands had shook as the Dealmaker fell into them, their mouth wobbling as they fought to keep themself composed. Another mystery in the neverending stack of them that Susie seemed to be collecting. 

“Hey,” Susie began quietly. Spamton lifted his gaze to give her his attention again. “Are we… cool?” 

“[The current weather is 69 degrees in Tallahasee],” Spamton replied. He followed it up immediately with a quiet “HUH,” looking almost as bewildered by what he’d just said as Susie was. It wasn’t even the clear discomfort he showed for some of his other vocal glitches. He looked less uncomfortable and more just perplexed. Susie shook her head, trying not to get sidetracked. 

“I mean, like. I kinda almost strangled you two days ago. And I’ve literally been wearing you around. I know you said it was fine, but, uh… It’s weird, y’know?” Spamton stared up at her, mouth hanging open in shock. His voice clicked uncertainly in his throat. 

“WHATRE yOU [Getting at]?” Susie shrugged helplessly. 

“Just… are we good? Like, you don’t wanna strangle me back or anything?” It wasn’t quite the point she wanted to make, but admitting she felt bad about the whole thing would be a blow that her already terribly weakened ‘tough guy’ persona wouldn’t be able to withstand. She had to maintain some kind of authority with these two. Mostly Jevil, probably, though she could never be certain. 

“HAH. HAEHAHAHAEHAHE. YoUUURE A [Riot], KID.” She stared down at him, unyielding, not out of an intentional attempt to intimidate him but because she was trying to do a million calculations a minute to figure out what his angle here was. He seemed to take it as a threat, though, because he quickly sobered up. “WHY THeE [Hell] NOT,” he said finally. He stuck his hand out. “DEAL.”

“Deal?”

“WeERE [Ice cold lemonade].” Susie rolled her eyes. He waved his hand a little to signal her to take his ‘deal.’

“Is being a shitty salesman, like… your whole personality?” she joked.

“YES,” Spamton replied with practiced ease. Susie gave him the most unimpressed look she could muster. Still, she shook his hand delicately. His grip was firm, but he wasn’t trying to tear her arm off this time, which she appreciated. He released her grip, his head turning back towards the Jevilstail on the bed. “WELL, BAccK TO [Purgatory] THEN!” He shot Susie a pair of exceptionally sleazy finger guns. “UNTIL nNEXT TIME, [[Scary Monsters]]!” 

This time, she was at least ready for the transformation and easily caught the Dealmaker before it could fall. She really wished they wouldn’t do that. She wasn’t sure how their object forms worked, but she wasn’t particularly keen on finding out if damage transferred. They were both so careless about it. Almost like they didn’t even care. Her body shook with an involuntary shiver.

She wasn’t all that keen on wearing them around again, but she didn’t really want to leave them to their own devices again. She’d gotten lucky this time, but she didn’t want to push her luck. So, reluctantly, she slipped the Dealmaker back onto her face and slid the Jevilstail into place on her belt. Color sparkled across the Dealmaker’s lenses for just a moment before her vision cleared again. 

She found her way back outside the castle and managed to locate her friends relatively quickly. Kris and Ralsei were talking quietly outside Swatch’s cafe, leaning in conspiratorily. Lancer was nowhere to be seen. Susie scanned the area for him but came up empty. Probably in the cafe trying to steal shit. Which Susie wholeheartedly supported.

“Hey guys!” she called, waving as she approached. Ralsei nearly jumped out of his skin in surprise. Kris, as was their way, didn’t react beyond nodding in her direction. 

“S-Susie!” Ralsei squeaked. “You’re back!” 

“I’m back!” Susie replied.

“How was your nap?” Oh, right, that had been the excuse she had dredged up. It sounded pretty lame in hindsight. A nap? 

“Uhhh, good,” she said. “Hey, where’s Lancer?”

“Oh, he left a bit after you did,” Ralsei reported. “He, um… said something about it being his regularly scheduled ‘beach ball time.’”

“Hah. Nice,” Susie said. She glanced between the two of them. “Sooo what were you guys talking about?” 

“Nothing!” Ralsei said. “Just, um, discussing your project!” 

“Ew. Lame. Why’re you letting him talk about homework, Kris?” Susie asked. Kris shrugged, as if to say it’s Ralsei, what do you expect me to do? 

“Speaking of which, it must be getting late!” Ralsei said. “You two need to get home and get some sleep!” 

“Damn, kicking us out already?” Susie asked. 

“You promised me you’d start your project,” Ralsei reminded her. Damn it, they had done that, hadn’t they. Kris groaned at the prospect. “I’m serious!” Ralsei insisted. His expression stayed severe for a grand total of three seconds before his nervous smile returned. “Like I said, I’ll help you with it! We’ll have it all set in no time!” 

“Fiiiiine,” Susie groaned. “Lameass.” She gestured for Kris to lead the way and they began making their way over to the gateway. Susie made to follow them, only to feel something tug on her vest. 

“Susie,” Ralsei said, his voice far more quiet now. 

“Huh? What’s up?” Ralsei looked away, chewing his lip uncertainly. 

“I, um… I know you said you didn’t want to…” He sighed, gathering his courage. “I really think you should talk to Noelle about the code. And maybe… about some of the other stuff. She can help you a lot more than I can.” Susie drew back. 

“Listen, man-”

“I know!” Ralsei cut in quickly. “I know you don’t want to get her involved!” He looked down guiltily. He was wringing his hands so roughly that it looked like he was trying to scrub the fur right off of them. “I just think it’s… important. She’s important. I don’t… think we can do this without her.” Susie stared at him, leaning in closer. 

“What do you mean? Is this- Is this, like, a prophecy thing?” Susie asked. “I thought we saw the whole thing?” 

“Not entirely,” Ralsei stumbled out. “I know I promised we wouldn’t keep secrets anymore, but I really don’t- I just- You remember the-”

“Hey,” Susie said, cutting him off. “It’s fine. I, uh… I get it.” She swallowed as the prophecy she’d been trying so hard to forget swam right back up to the forefront of her mind. It’s fine. We can change it. We can fix it. “You don’t gotta tell me.” Ralsei nodded uncertainly. “But, just- You’re sure it’s Noelle? Like, she’s in it? We gotta… she’s gotta help somehow?” Ralsei picked at his paws, his entire body shaking almost imperceptibly. He gave her a halting nod. “Shit.” 

“I’m really sorry Susie, I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important,” Ralsei insisted. 

“No, I- I know, I get it,” Susie assured him. “I just- She might get hurt. Again.” Ralsei stared down at his feet, his face sinking into the fabric of his scarf. 

“I’m sorry,” was all he said. 

“Are you sure there’s nothing else? It really… has to be Noelle?” Susie asked desperately. 

“I- I don’t know. But I can’t think of anyone else,” Ralsei said. Susie let out a heavy sigh. She ran her hands through her hair, trying to calm down her sudden nerves for Ralsei’s sake. It wasn’t his fault. He wouldn’t ask her unless it was important, she knew that. But if they were already trying to break the prophecy anyway, then why should she bother listening to it on this? Maybe they needed to start ignoring the prophecy entirely. Tell it to get lost.

But she couldn’t deny that part of her was almost… excited by the prospect. Of having Noelle actually in the know. Conspiring with her instead of trying to sneak around her. Maybe even… maybe even telling her the truth about the Dark World. It was supposed to just be her and Kris’s thing, but if Kris and Noelle had been friends before, maybe they could let her in too? 

If she was being honest, Susie had no idea what she even wanted anymore. Noelle made everything so confusing. She’d have to talk to Kris about it and see what they thought. Telling Noelle about the Dark World wasn’t on the table yet, of that she was certain. But… If it was just to take a look at the code…

“Okay,” Susie said finally. “I’ll ask her.” 

“R-really?” 

“But only about the code,” Susie added. “Nothing about the Dark World or anything.” Ralsei pursed his lips but nodded. 

“O-okay,” he agreed. “Thank you.”

“Yeah. Okay.” He stared up at her, eyes impossibly sad behind the frames of his glasses. “I’ll, uh… I’ll see you tomorrow.” 

“Yeah,” Ralsei replied, trying to inject more levity into his voice than he clearly felt. “See you tomorrow.”

Chapter Text

Susie came to school early. If showing up almost on time had been out of character, then this was reaching ‘Invasion of the Body Grabbers’ levels of weird behavior. Susie. Early. She wasn’t even sure she recognized herself as she stepped through the doors and the office lady looked at her like she’d been possessed. Maybe she had. 

But she couldn’t stay in the apartment. She wished Ralsei hadn’t kicked them out of the Dark World, because she would have much rather just spent the night in her room. Dark World food may not do much for a Lightner, but sleep was sleep regardless of what world she was in. And now that she’d tasted it. That… peace. It was just… hard to go back to the apartment. 

She had almost asked Kris if she could spend the night at their place again. She knew they’d probably agree, and Toriel would probably be over the moon to have her over again. Which was strange in its own right. The knowledge that someone would be happy that she was there, instead of irritated at having another mouth to feed. But in the end, she hadn’t quite been able to bring herself to ask. She felt like the world’s biggest piece of shit for how much she’d been avoiding Toriel, but she just couldn’t stomach it. The image was still fresh in her mind and she never wanted to see something like that again. Especially not when it came with that dull, hopeless expression on Kris’s face. 

So that apartment it had been, but it hadn’t really mattered at all in the end, because she’d barely been able to sleep anyway. She’d been so exhausted that she’d hoped it would wipe away the usual discomfort the apartment brought with it, but she hadn’t been nearly that lucky. So she’d left early that morning, before anyone else was awake, so she could slip away again. That was the way to go. Show up and leave too early or too late for anyone else to be out and about. It worked most of the time. 

The unfortunate consequence of this was, however, that she had nowhere to go but school. Hence the showing up to school early and scaring the life out of the few people already present, who probably thought she was either deathly ill or plotting the biggest crime in Hometown history. She could confirm she wasn’t sick, at least. She’d have to think about the crime thing. 

Not even Alphys was in the classroom when Susie showed up. Considering how early she’d gotten there, she’d expected it to be completely empty. In hindsight, she probably should have known better. 

“S-Susie!?” Noelle squeaked, nearly jumping out of her desk when Susie slammed the door open. 

“Oh. Hey,” Susie called. “What are you doing here?”

“I- Um- We have school?” 

“Oh. Yeah.” Susie shoved her hands in her pockets to try and hide how listless they’d suddenly become. “Why’re you here so early though?” 

“I’m, um, always here early,” Noelle told her. “My mom says it’s always better, haha. ‘If you’re early, you’re on time, if you’re on time, you’re already late!’” 

“That’s stupid,” Susie noted. “If you’re on time then you’re on time. That’s what on time means.” Noelle laughed nervously. 

“She just wants me to be responsible, I think,” Noelle said. “But, um, why are you here so early? Usually you’re not here until after first period.” 

“Just shakin’ things up,” Susie said. “Gotta stay unpredictable. That way nobody knows when I’ll strike!” She bared her teeth in a threatening grin and Noelle’s face went beet red as she let out another nervous laugh. 

“Y-y-yeah!” Noelle agreed. She turned away to hide the weird expression now contorting her face. 

“You good, dude?” Susie snorted. 

“YEP!” Noelle tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and turned back, smiling again. “Sorry. I guess you just… threw me off. Nobody else usually comes in here until…” She checked the clock above the door and grimaced. “...a few minutes from now.” Susie shrugged, making her way over to Noelle and leaning on Berdly’s desk beside her. 

“Well don’t get used to it,” she said. “One time thing. Just ‘cause.”

“Of course,” Noelle agreed, grinning. “School’s pretty boring when you’re here this early anyway.”

“Pretty sure school’s boring always,” Susie corrected. Noelle rolled her eyes but didn’t disagree. “I dunno how you do it, man.” 

“Oh, I… Gee, I don’t know either,” Noelle admitted, ducking her head in embarrassment. “I guess I’ve just always been… good? At… school?” 

“Huh,” Susie said. “Damn.”

“I mean, my mom would probably disown me if I stopped getting good grades, fahaha!” Susie stared at her in disgust and she let out a shocked squeak, waving her hands desperately. “I’m kidding, I’m kidding! It’s just that she wants me to do well!” Noelle hurriedly corrected. “She just wants what’s best for me.” She probably thought she hid the way her smile had become strained.

“...Sure,” Susie muttered. She wasn’t all that convinced. Noelle kept insisting that her mom cared about her, but the way Carol had treated her… it just felt off. There was none of the warmth or care that Noelle deserved. Or maybe Susie’s judgement was just clouded because of how they’d met. She still didn’t think Noelle had deserved to be grounded though. Not when the whole thing was Susie’s fault in the first place. 

“It’s not so bad,” Noelle said softly. “School, I mean. Sometimes it’s even fun! Like that project we did where we tested what kind of soil flowers grew best in!” Susie hadn’t done that one. She hadn’t been able to find anything to grow her flowers in and had ended up losing the soil sample she was given. Not that she would’ve done it anyway, but at least she’d had an excuse that time. 

“Yeaaah. Fun,” she said. “You like watching paint dry too?” 

“Susie!” Noelle laughed. Susie snorted, smacking her in the arm lightly. 

“Must be nice, though,” Susie admitted. “Being smart and all. I’ve always kinda… sucked at it. Like, my first grade teacher had to keep me after class and stuff ‘cause I couldn’t read. I’m kinda still bad at it.” Noelle turned to face her more fully, her smile falling into something rather sad. “Don’t know why they still make me come to school. S’not like I’m gonna learn anything.” 

“Oh,” was all Noelle managed to say. Susie shrugged. 

“Eh, who cares. Not like I’m gonna need any of this stuff. I got it aaalll figured out already.” Noelle giggled, though it was quieter than before. More subdued as she lingered on what Susie had told her. Susie opened her mouth, maybe to assure Noelle that she really didn’t care about the fact that she was totally flunking out as they spoke, but never got the chance to say anything, because just as she took a breath to begin speaking, the door to the classroom clanged open to announce the arrival of one of the last people Susie wanted to interact with. Ever. 

“Oh Noelle~ I’m here, right on time as always! You know I’d never keep you waiting, my dea-” Berdly froze in the doorway. His eyes flashed to Noelle, then to Susie, still leaning on his desk, then back to Noelle. “What is this?” 

“We’re talking?” Susie said. 

“Susan!” he said suddenly, lighting up. “You’re here- at school- early?” 

“Uhh-”

“Oh, I can’t believe it! Could it be that you’ve finally realized what a miserable fate wasting away at the bottom of the class rank would be?” As he spoke, he practically twirled over to Susie and Noelle, wings clasped as he waxed poetic about the merits of education. “Could it be that my positive influence is finally taking hold?” 

“Uh, definitely not,” Susie said. 

“Deny all you want, Susan!” Berdly countered. “I see right through you! I’ve inspired you!” Susie visibly gagged. Berdly somehow failed to notice. 

“Um. Hi, Berdly,” Noelle greeted belatedly. 

“Hello my darling Noelle!” Berdly replied. He turned to look at Susie, giving her a mildly irritated once-over. She still couldn’t tell if he liked her now or if he still hated her. He seemed to ping-pong between the two extremes most of the time. “Pardon, Susan, but I believe your desk is over there,” he said, gesturing to the back of the room. 

“You sure? Not like we got assigned seats or something,” she countered, just to piss him off. Sure enough, the feathers around his face puffed up angrily.

“It’s an unspoken code of conduct!” he squawked. “A matter of mutual respect! I’ve sat at this desk since day one!” 

“Sounds boring,” Susie said, leaning in closer and letting her teeth show. “Scared of a little adjustment?” 

“Scared? Please. It’s a matter of practicality,” Berdly countered. Susie supposed she’d give him the tiniest bit of credit for not backing down. Most of the other students would have booked it the instant she bared her teeth. Berdly, in contrast, had the sheer, stupid audacity to shove his face closer instead to match her. “A front-row seat would be wasted on someone like you. It belongs with someone who will do something productive with their education! Ergo- Me.” 

“You were just talking about me finally taking school seriously,” Susie reminded him. Nevermind that she wasn’t. Because fuck that. “Maybe I am gonna do something productive with my education. How ‘bout that, huh?” Berdly’s beak worked on empty air as he fumbled for a response. Just for fun, Susie snapped her jaws at him, finally breaking his bravado and causing him to jump back slightly. 

“Bold move, Susan,” he said, smoothing down his button-up. “Bold move. Perhaps you are a more worthy opponent in this game of chess than I first assumed.” Susie was pretty sure he was playing Monopoly GO at best, but she kept that to herself. 

“Eh, whatever,” she said, watching as the door opened and Jockington and Catti came through the door. They both shot a look over at the three of them, leaning in close and whispering something. Susie did her best to ignore them. “Won’t be able to sleep up here. Might even accidentally learn something.” She mimed throwing up at the notion. Noelle giggled while Berdly gave her his best approximation of the ‘I’m not mad, I’m just dissapointed’ look. It was highly ineffective. “Have fun being nerds and stuff.” 

“I assure you, we will,” Berdly said. She finally pushed herself up off his desk and he slammed his backpack onto it to lay his claim, just in case she changed her mind. She shot him another fanged grin for good measure. He sat down, crossing his arms and muttering to himself. Susie stepped over to Noelle’s desk, leaning closer to the other girl. 

“Lunch again?” she asked, her voice uncharacteristically nervous. Noelle reddened, but she beamed as she nodded quickly. Susie tried not to feel guilty about it. She really did want to have lunch with Noelle again. She would have asked regardless, even without the little card in her pocket currently digging into her thigh. “Hell yeah,” she whispered. She glanced over at Berdly, who was too busy organizing all of his school supplies into a performatively neat layout to notice their quick exchange. 

She returned to her desk at the back of the room and pulled the code out of her pocket. Kris had given it to her the night before, right before they had headed home. They hadn’t even asked why she wanted it, seemingly just relieved to be rid of it. Susie hadn’t gotten the chance to debrief with them before they ran off, hurriedly explaining that Toriel would start worrying if they didn’t get home before dark. She wondered if Ralsei had told them the same thing he’d told her. She’d have to ask them when they got there. 

Unfortunately for Susie, Kris didn’t arrive on time. Just like the day before, she dragged herself through the first few classes completely solo, etching nonsense into her desk and glancing at the door every time she heard the slightest sound. At this rate, her desk was going to be unusable in a day or two. Where the hell were they!? 

Maybe they were looking for clues again like yesterday? It seemed like the most logical explanation, but it was a bit of a dick move. Maybe they were doing it on purpose, hogging all the fun snooping for themself while Susie wasted away at school. It was the kind of thing Kris might do, if she had somehow suitably pissed them off. They were definitely not above forcing her to suffer through school solo. 

She tried to assure herself that it was just that, but the explanation tasted wrong even as she conjured it. Or maybe it was more so that she was just… worried about them. She didn’t want them out looking for clues alone. Not after how weird they’d been acting lately. They were a team. They were supposed to be solving this together. That’s how teams worked. Did they think she’d slow them down? 

This time, she at least managed to doze off for a bit, which was a win in her book. The desk was hard and uncomfortable and her ratty jacket didn’t exactly make for a good pillow, but sleep was sleep and it was at least something to do. On the few occasions she tuned into whatever Alphys was saying, she got so lost that it was almost actually frightening. 

The lunch bell rang suddenly, startling her awake as everyone began making their way to the dining hall. She got up and trailed behind the group, only to make it about halfway down the hall and realize a critical flaw to her plan: she had nothing. The last time she’d gone to lunch, she’d had those shitty corndogs she and Kris had swindled. But now she had nothing, and the memory of why, exactly, she always skipped lunch in the cafeteria returned to her like getting hit by a bullet train. Oh shit. 

She almost bailed then and there, but then she caught sight of Noelle up ahead. The other girl was smiling nervously, that ever-present pink tint returning to her cheeks. She glanced over her shoulder and met Susie’s gaze, and her smile brightened as she gave a small wave. And so Susie’s decision was made for her and she followed Noelle into the lunch room. 

The smell of food hit her instantly. She ignored the sudden growl in her stomach and followed Noelle over to a table in the corner. The hunger would subside in a bit anyway. It always came in waves. Just gotta ride it out. It would be fine. It was hanging out with Noelle. It was the only chance she was gonna get to hang out with Noelle for the whole week. 

Noelle sat down and placed her lunch in front of her. She didn’t begin unpacking it, just sat there with her hands clasped on the table in front of her, waiting for Susie to join her. Susie slid into the seat across from Noelle and propped her legs up on the bench next to her in a cool lean. It quickly became apparent that doing this with nothing to support her back was less cool and nonchalant and more an utterly bizarre core-strength workout, so she returned to sitting normally. Noelle giggled, covering her mouth with her hand, as Susie nearly fell backwards off the bench as she twisted into a better sitting position. 

“I… uh… meant to do that,” she said. Noelle laughed again, louder this time. As if given silent permission, she finally reached out and began unpacking her lunch.  Susie bit back a grimace, occupying herself with tapping her hands on the table and avoiding looking at Noelle and her lunch. She always hated this. Had hated since she was a kid in kindergarten, watching her classmates unpack homemade sandwiches with encouraging little notes while she dug through her pockets in the vain hope of finding a half-eaten fruit rollup. Somehow, it never got easier. That was why she’d started avoiding the occasion altogether. 

She felt something soft hit her claws and stopped tapping. Noelle had slid something across the table to her. Soft and wrapped in plastic wrap, still cold from the icepack in Noelle’s lunchbox. A sandwich. And not just a half-eaten chunk of one. Not even half of one. An entire sandwich, neatly sliced into two even, diagonal halves. Susie blinked in surprise. The sandwich did not vanish when she opened her eyes. 

“Huh?” she said. She finally looked up at Noelle, who was blushing so furiously that Susie almost worried she was going to burst a blood vessel. She was holding half of a separate sandwich in her hands, partially unwrapped. “Uh…?” 

“Sorry!” Noelle squeaked. “I didn’t mean to be weird or anything! Just, yesterday you said my lunch looked good, and I had some extra stuff when I was making lunch this morning, so I thought maybe you’d… like… one?” Her voice got quieter with every word, and she shrank down under the weight of her embarrassment. 

“You, uh… You made one for me?” Susie asked quietly. Noelle nodded quickly, still trying to hide herself behind her hair. 

“I just thought maybe you’d want to… try it!?” she squeaked. Susie hesitated, one hand lingering just above the sandwich. It looked just like the one from yesterday, filled with all sorts of fancy stuff that Susie probably didn’t know the name of. 

“Wow,” Susie breathed. She glanced back up at Noelle uncertainly. Under normal circumstances, she wouldn’t have waited for a second. She would’ve snagged the sandwich the instant it was passed to her and scarfed it down without a second thought. But this was different. This was Noelle. Noelle, who still somehow wanted to be her friend despite everything. Noelle, who had taken time out of her morning just to make Susie a sandwich because of a single off-hand comment.

“Hah. Thanks, dude,” she said, trying to shake off whatever bizarre feeling was currently settling in her chest. She snagged the sandwich off the table and nearly took a bite just like that. Her teeth connected with the plastic wrap and Noelle let out a noise that was some mixture of surprise and concern. For Noelle’s sake, she pulled it back out of her mouth and took the plastic wrap off before taking a bite. It was testament to her will power that she didn’t just shove it down her throat. 

“D-do you like it?” Noelle asked nervously. Susie let out a quiet hum as she considered the flavor. If she was being honest, she wasn’t super picky, so any flavor assessment she had was probably woefully undetailed. If she was being more honest, she was more of a carnivore and the sandwich was definitely vegetarian. But if she was being completely honest… she didn’t even give a shit what it tasted like. The fact that it existed at all was enough to make her feel like she’d just eaten a full three course meal, certified by the weird tire man himself. 

“‘S pretty good,” was what she said out loud. It was probably a good thing that she didn’t say any of that weird sappy shit invading her brain, though, because even just a ‘pretty good’ was enough to move Noelle’s face up a couple shades on the color bar. She made a valiant attempt to hide behind her lunchbox. 

“I’m glad you like it,” she said quietly. She cleared her throat before rising back up, face restored to something that looked less imminently hazardous. 

“Hell yeah,” Susie replied, unable to think of a continuation of the conversation from there. They stared at each other for another moment before Susie’s hunger got the better of her and she scarfed down the side of the sandwich she was holding, earning a shocked giggle from Noelle. 

“My dad used to make these for me all the time,” Noelle explained. “He called it his ‘secret recipe’ even though there’s only five ingredients, fahaha.” 

“FIVE!?” Susie nearly shouted. “In a sandwich!?” 

“It’s not that many-”

“Aren’t sandwiches supposed to be, like, two? At most?” Susie continued. “Like- ham and cheese, peanut butter and jelly, fluffernutter, uh… what other sandwiches are there?” Noelle giggled, taking a bite of her own sandwich. 

“Technically, all of those have three ingredients.” 

“No they don’t!” 

“It’s not a sandwich without bread,” Noelle reminded her. 

“THE BREAD DOESN’T COUNT!” Susie held up her hands parallel to each other, miming the bread of a sandwich. “The bread’s just the container. That’s not an ingredient. That’s like if I said one of the ingredients in a soup was ‘bowl.’” Noelle snorted. 

“But you don’t eat the bowl!” 

“Speak for yourself,” Susie countered. “The bowl’s the best part.” Susie actually didn’t eat bowls, not unless they were the paper ones, but Noelle didn’t need to know that. Idly, she wondered if Spamton did, seeing as he was somehow even more of a trash compactor than she was. He definitely seemed like the bowl-eating type.

“What about a grilled cheese sandwich then?” Noelle asked. 

“Grilled cheese isn’t a sandwich,” Susie answered easily. 

“It has sandwich in the name!” 

“False advertising. Not a sandwich if you gotta cook it.” Even Susie was starting to lose the thread of whatever argument she was making, but she’d be damned if she backed down now. Noelle was laughing again. Not the contained giggles or barely muffled snorts. The beginnings of an actual laugh, rich and ungainly. The kind of thing that made you look like an absolute slob. The best kind. 

“Okay, okay, but what about a BLT? That’s three ingredients.”

“Not a real sandwich,” Susie decided arbitrarily. “Sandwiches don’t have weird-ass names. Sandwiches keep it simple. They’re cool like that.”

“It stands for bacon, lettuce, and tomato!” Noelle shrieked, still laughing despite it all.
“Nope. I think you’re lying.” She’d known it did. 

“Okay, okay, hang on,” Noelle said, taking a moment to catch her breath. “How about-”

“What is the meaning of this!?” Noelle and Susie’s heads snapped around at the same time, finding themselves suddenly in the unfortunate company of their unwanted interrupter from before. Berdly gawked, head snapping back and forth at a dangerously high velocity. He was gonna give himself whiplash. 

“Oh, uhm, hi, Berdly, sorry, we-”

“First my desk, now my seat?” Berdly squawked, staring at Susie like she’d killed his family. “What’s next? Am I to come home at night and find you on my bed? Getting the sheets wrinkled!?” He paused as he considered this prospect. He seemed to come away from the consideration looking almost intrigued by the idea, which was not the direction Susie was hoping that thought process would go. 

“Y-you can sit next to me?” Noelle squeaked. Berdly huffed in irritation. 

“Such injustice! Such disrespect! I expect better from you, Susan.”

“You really shouldn’t,” Susie reminded him. He gave her a once-over and his face fell in defeat as he concurred. Still grumbling under his breath, he trudged around the table and slid onto the bench beside Noelle, plopping his tray of cafeteria food next to her. 

“Apologies for my tardiness, my dear Noelle,” he said. “It seems every ingrate in this school wanted a delicious vegetable-based burger today. Performative troglodytes, all of them.” He huffed in irritation, taking an intentionally massive bite of his burger. “I do hope you managed without me yesterday. Our dearest teacher needed help organizing her files and I nobly stepped up to aid her.” Susie rolled her eyes and Noelle’s smile grew slightly strained around the edges. 

“Ooh, french fries,” Susie noted. Before Berdly could react, she reached out and snagged a handful of them, stuffing them into her mouth. Berdly squawked indignantly, lunging for her but missing by a mile due to his tragically slow reflexes. She shot him a smug grin as she chewed. 

“W-wha- How- You fiend!” he snarled. Susie stole another fry, just to piss him off. “Now listen here, you uncouth- uh- you-” He trailed off as he failed to find a suitably insulting word to call her. “Give those back!” he settled on. She stared at him, then pointed to her mouth where the fries had long since vanished.

“You want me to throw ‘em up into your mouth or something?” she asked. Berdly balked at the suggestion, nearly flinging himself off the bench in the process. 

“The mere suggestion-” He scoffed in disgust. “Fine then! I’m a gracious man, you can keep them. As a token of my generosity.” Susie glanced over at Noelle, who was desperately stifling her laughter. She winked, just to watch Noelle nearly lose it. The other girl brought her fist up to her mouth, coughing loudly to try and mask her laughs. Berdly shot her a disgruntled side-eye. 

“Where’s your lackey, Susan?” Berdly asked. “Or perhaps you’re their lackey. Actually, you’re probably both lackeys of some higher force, I doubt either of you have the mental fortitude to take on a true leadership role.” Susie stared at him noncomprehendingly. 

“...What?” 

“Kris,” Berdly said, as if it had been obvious from what he provided. It hadn’t been. “Of course, I always knew that they lacked the intellectual vigor of Noelle and I, but this is a new low, even for them.” Susie tried not to think too hard about the fact that even Berdly had noticed that Kris was acting weird. 

“Dunno,” she said smoothly. “What, I’m supposed to always know where they are? I’m not, like, stalking them.” 

“Maybe they’re sick?” Noelle suggested. Berdly hummed contemplatively. 

“An interesting theory, Noelle! However, this pattern of behavior wouldn’t suggest an illness. After all, they did arrive yesterday. They were merely irredeemably late.” 

“They’re probably doing something not totally lame and boring,” Susie pointed out. “Like sleeping.” 

“Lame!?” Berdly squawked. “Boring!?” Susie shrugged as Berdly spluttered indignantly. “Hmph. I should’ve known you’d never change. I suppose it was simply too good to be true!” He sniffled theatrically and Susie leaned over the table to shove him, causing his feathers to puff out. Noelle muffled her giggles in her sandwich. Speaking of…

Susie reached down and unwrapped the other half of her sandwich, examining it curiously. Purely for the sake of science, she opened her mouth as wide as it would go and dropped the sandwich down her throat. She then promptly almost suffocated. 

“OH MY GOSH, SUSIE, ARE YOU OKAY!?” Noelle shrieked as Susie coughed uselessly, slamming her fist against her chest to try and force the sandwich back up. 

“WHAT WAS THAT!?” Berdly added. Susie held up a hand, waving it frantically to signal that they should give her a goddamn second. She finally managed to either swallow or hack up enough of the sandwich to clear her airways. She chewed whatever came back up into her mouth and swallowed the rest of it down. A couple residual coughs shook her body, but she could tell she was in the clear. 

“Holy shit,” she breathed. “How the fuck does he do that?” 

“Um… who?” Noelle asked. She looked horrified at the prospect of someone with an eating method so horrendous that even Susie couldn’t quite match it. Susie froze, eyes flicking between Noelle and Berdly. Had they even met him in Cyber City? She was almost certain they hadn’t. He wasn’t exactly an easy guy to find, what with the quest Kris took them on to get to him. So she was probably in the clear for them not putting two and two together about the Dark World.

“Just a guy I know,” Susie said. She shrugged helplessly. “He’s weird.” 

“O-okay?” Noelle said uncertainly. 

“Yet another poor influence,” Berdly commented, shaking his head sadly. “No wonder you seem to be a lost cause. You associate purely with degenerates.” She almost jumped to Spamton’s defense by instinct, but Berdly was actually pretty on the money with that one. She was lucky he didn’t manifest as glasses in the Light World, because she could already picture the enraged seizure lights demanding she defend him somehow. 

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Noelle asked worriedly. 

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine,” Susie replied. “It’ll take more than that to kill me.” Noelle rolled her eyes fondly. 

After that, the table fell silent for a moment as Noelle and Berdly returned to actually trying to eat their lunch. The lull was brief, but just long enough to have the unfortunate consequence of reminding Susie why she was here in the first place. She shifted and the card poked her through her pocket, a sharp reminder of how fragile everything really was. It sucked. 

She glanced back up at Noelle and Berdly. Damn it, she hadn’t factored in that Berdly would be here. It complicated the whole thing. She wasn’t even sure she wanted Noelle in the know. Berdly? Not a chance. 

But she needed to ask about that code. And if it was just the code then it wasn’t like either of them would figure anything out. She wasn’t even planning to talk to Noelle about the Dark World in the first place. Not without consulting Kris. She glanced over her shoulder at the clock, then realized she couldn’t see it at this distance. Nor could she read analog clocks particularly effectively anyway. She reached into her pocket, grabbing the card but not pulling it out. 

Worst case scenario, neither of them knew anything. Maybe she’d even get lucky and Berdly would randomly know something helpful. She wasn’t holding her breath, but… Screw it. This was important, and she wasn’t going to get another chance to talk to Noelle that day. Having Berdly here was bad, but trying to get Noelle’s attention in class would be worse. 

“Hey, uh, Noelle,” Susie said, pointedly only addressing the other girl despite knowing Berdly would eventually butt in anyway. “I got a question.” 

“If you’re going to ask for help with your homework, then I’ll have you know-”

“Shut up,” Susie groaned. “I don’t even do my homework, dumbass.” Berdly somehow managed to look horrified at the prospect, despite her being pretty sure that he had known that already. “Anyway, it’s about this.” She fished the card out of her pocket and passed it to Noelle across the table. 

“What… is this?” Noelle asked. 

“We, uh…” she trailed off, wracking her brain for an explanation. “Uh, me and Kris gotta go inside the bunker at the edge of town. For, our, uh… project?” 

“For your project!?” Berdly yelped. “You mean to say you’re actually working on it?” 

“Uh… no,” Susie said. He stared at her, flabbergasted. “Anyway, we tried asking around, but nobody knows the code. The priest guy had that, but it’s all old and smudged up and stuff.” Noelle nodded as she took everything in, turning the card over in her hands. Seconds later, it was snatched out of her grip. Berdly lifted it up dramatically, analyzing it from various angles. 

“Fascinating,” he said. “Utterly fascinating. This is complete nonsense.” 

“I told you it’s smudged, idiot!” Susie snarled. She lunged over the table and grabbed the card back from him. He huffed in annoyance. “That’s why I’m asking!” 

“A-are you sure you wanna go in there?” Noelle asked nervously. “It’s been locked down for ages. It might be dangerous in there.”

“Nah. It’s just a moldy basement or something,” Susie said. It’s hell. It’s prison. It’s where Officer Undyne is still trapped. It’s where that stupid Knight is hiding. It’s the only way to save the world and protect everyone. 

“Well, if you want to go around getting tetanus, be my guest,” Berdly said, waving a wing in her face dismissively. 

“Maybe I will!” Susie snarled back. 

“Okay, okay, hang on guys!” Noelle said quickly. Once she was sure she had their attention, she turned back to Susie. “I know my mom probably has the code,” she began. “But I don’t know it, and she definitely wouldn’t tell me.” 

“Yeah. No, don’t… go asking her shit,” Susie said. The last thing she wanted was Noelle’s punishment getting extended on her behalf. 

“If I remember right, I think the police also have access?” Noelle said. “If Father Alvin doesn’t have the full code, they probably do.” She shrank in on herself, rubbing her fingers together nervously. “But, um, nobody’s seen Officer Undyne for a few days now. I’m honestly getting kinda worried about it. Gosh, I hope she’s okay.” Susie gritted her teeth, her hand clenching on the table. She had to believe that Undyne was okay. Undyne was probably the toughest monster in Hometown, if anyone could handle being trapped with the Knight, it was her. It had to be.

“Yeah,” was all she said out loud. 

“Perhaps it would be prudent to simply consider a more practical topic for your project,” Berdly suggested. 

“Nah,” Susie said. “We’re good.” 

“Suit yourself. Don’t come crying to us when you fail.”

“As if,” Susie replied. Berdly sighed dramatically. 

“Oh, Susan. It’s such a shame that you reject my guidance. I truly believe you could-”

“WAIT A SECOND!” Noelle jumped in, slamming her hands on the table and rattling the rickety metal legs that held it up. She froze, eyes widening as she looked down and came out from her outburst. “Um.” She sat back down awkwardly. 

“What’s up?” Susie asked. 

“Oh! I just had an idea!” Noelle said. “Kris’s dad, Asgore, he used to be police chief.” Susie blinked. 

“Wait, for real?” She thought back, trying to remember if she’d already known that. It definitely sounded familiar, but the thought hadn’t even crossed her mind. 

“There’s a chance he knows the code,” Noelle continued. “He was police chief for a while, maybe he has it memorized!” 

“Yeah… Yeah!” Susie said. “You’re a genius!” Berdly scoffed as Noelle tried to hide her blush behind her hair. “Noelle specifically,” Susie told him, just to be perfectly clear. 

“Well I’ll have you know-”

“How about no, though?” Susie cut in. Berdly stared at her, beak gaping.

“Glad I could help!” Noelle said, taking advantage of the silence. “But, um… please be careful.” Susie’s expression softened just a bit.

“We will,” she promised. She hoped Noelle understood the weight of that promise, even if she didn’t quite know the severity of the situation. 

“Hmph. You could always mitigate the risk altogether by simply selecting a better topic for your project,” Berdly said. The lunch bell rang as he spoke and he got to his feet, taking his tray with him. 

“Sounds lame,” Susie informed him. He huffed in irritation, vanishing to put his tray away. Meanwhile, Noelle packed up her lunchbox and also got to her feet. Susie followed her as she left the lunch room, ignoring the weird looks the other students shot their way. She felt sick all of a sudden as she realized that not all of the looks were directed at her. Sure, she was the evil social outcast, but Noelle was the picture of the perfect student. Were they seriously going to start talking shit just because she was hanging out with Susie? The thought was like a lead weight in her gut. 

“Hey. Thanks for your help, dude,” Susie said, trying to surreptitiously position herself between Noelle and the prying eyes of the other students. Fortunately, Noelle hadn’t seemed to notice. 

“Of course!” she said. “I’m sure your project will be great!” 

“Pfft. I dunno about that. Told you- I’m shit at school.” Noelle pursed her lips, eyes narrowing as she considered something. 

“Maybe you just need to find something you like learning about!” she suggested. 

“Uh… like, stealing?” Noelle giggled. 

“Something like that! I’m sure there’s something you’d want to know!” 

“Heh. Who knows?” Susie said. “You’d have to find a teacher that can actually, uh, teach me, though. I’m kinda stupid.” Noelle gave her an odd look at that, almost seeming disappointed that Susie would say something like that. She shrugged easily. “Nah, nothin’ I really wanna learn about. Unless it’s fighting.” Unless it’s the Old Man. She wondered about it. If she would’ve been better at reading if he’d taught her. If he could’ve found a way to make her understand… anything. But there was no use dwelling on it. She was never gonna find out. Hell, she was probably never gonna learn something new ever again. 

They reached the door and Noelle returned to her desk, waving Susie goodbye. Just like the day before, Kris was waiting in their seat when Susie arrived. They looked just as uncomfortable too, shifting in their seat nervously. They brightened slightly when they saw her though, which she took as a… good? Okay? Slightly less bad sign? Whatever. 

“Dude, what is going on?” Susie asked, leaning over her desk to whisper in their ear as she sat down. Kris shrugged, picking at the skin around their nails. “Were you looking for clues again?” After a moment’s hesitation, they nodded. “Find anything?” They shook their head. “Well I-” 

Susie broke off as Alphys nervously tapped her ruler on her desk, bringing class into session. She greeted them all briefly before immediately launching into a continuation of whatever bullshit they’d learned yesterday, none of which Susie had retained. The whole time, she could see Kris fidgeting in front of her, glancing over their shoulder at her regularly. They looked miserable. They weren’t even sleeping this time. Fuck this. 

“Yo, teach,” Susie said, interrupting whatever nonsense Alphys was spewing. 

“U-uhm, yes, S-Susie?” Alphys asked, voice straining. “D-did you h-have a question?” 

“Nah. Just lettin’ ya know that me and Kris gotta go to the bathroom.” She grabbed Kris by the hood of their hoodie and yanked them up out of their seat, pulling them to the door. 

“O-oh! Um. T-together?” Alphys asked. 

“Yeah,” Susie said. “For. Reasons.” They stared at each other for a moment before Alphys yanked her eyes away, waving for Susie to go. She shot the teacher a thumbs-up with her free hand that somehow just seemed to spook her. Not like Susie cared. She dragged Kris out of the classroom, ignoring Alphys resuming her lecture. 

“Smooth jailbreak,” Susie declared. Kris looked up at her nervously, glancing back towards the door. “Dude, don’t worry about it. Alphys is scared shitless of me, she’s not gonna call your mom. Let’s just ditch.” Kris chewed their lip worriedly. “Dude. Are you gonna learn anything in there?” Kris sighed, conceding. “That’s what I thought. Let’s go!” She gestured over to the closet. 

After a moment’s hesitation, Kris led the way over to the closet, pausing in front of it. They shot Susie one last uncertain look that she waved off. 

“It’ll be better to debrief in there anyway. That way no one’s gonna overhear,” she reminded them. “Plus, we gotta get Ralsei in on everything.” She almost told Kris about the idea Noelle had given her, but broke off. That look in their eyes… bringing up their family probably wasn’t the best idea right now. She’d tell them at the same time she told Ralsei. Give them some time to unwind from whatever had happened that got them all weird again. Maybe they could play some of the minigames again. Or get SpliceCream. Or help Lancer renovate. Or see if Tenna had any more of that tea. 

“Hey. Let’s go, okay? Loosen up a bit!” Kris smiled finally. It was small but it was there and it was real. Susie would take the win. “That’s what I’m talkin’ about!” CASTLE TOWN!” She threw the doors open and gestured for Kris to step inside, holding the door with mock-politeness. They mimed stepping through, only for them to suddenly lunge forward and shove her with all their might. It barely moved her, but seeing as she was standing directly in the doorway, it was enough to push her over the edge. 

“YOU ASSHOLE!” she shouted as she tumbled downwards, the image of Kris’s smug grin fading away as she fell. If nothing else, they were smiling more. Still a dick move, though. 

She hit the ground heavily and pulled herself to her feet, grumbling vague, empty threats to nobody. Moments later, Kris landed lightly beside her, smug grin still in place. She feinted towards them, threatening to shove them back into the gateway. They had the audacity to laugh at her. 

“Okay,” she said finally. “Let’s go find Ralsei and debrief and stuff.” Kris got about halfway through their affirmative nod before they froze suddenly, a quiet horror falling over their features. “Dude, what is it?” Their project, they reminded her. They still didn’t have a plan. “Yeah? So what? Not like we were actually gonna do it.” Kris grimaced, gesturing towards Castle Town. They reminded her of the conversation they’d had with Ralsei yesterday. 

“We said we’d come up with an idea so he could help us,” she repeated, feeling the blood drain from her face. She turned slowly to meet Kris’s gaze, her own horror reflected there. “We didn’t come up with one.” Kris nodded solemnly. “Oh shit.” She turned towards Castle Town. She looked towards the gateway. There was only one option. “Okay, I got it,” she reported. Kris tilted their head curiously, listening. Susie took a deep breath.

“RUN FOR YOUR FUCKING LIIIIIFEE!!!” 

Chapter Text

“GO, GO, GO!” Susie went careening past an Ambyu-lance, narrowly avoiding a collision. “SORRY!” she shouted over her shoulder without slowing down. She could hear Kris’s footsteps just behind her, following her as she fled through the town’s streets. 

Castle Town had somehow grown even more since they’d last left, courtesy of how quickly and efficiently Darkners built. In most cases, Susie would’ve stopped to admire the new shops and homes being set up, but as it stood, she had only one thought on her mind: survive. 

Kris grabbed her arm, pulling her out of the main road and down a side street. Her head whipped around, hunting for the familiar green robes that would spell their demise. How had they managed to forget their project!? For Heaven’s sake, she’d been talking to Berdly and Noelle about the ‘project’ all lunch, how had this slipped her mind? She was actually losing it. 

A Jigsawry stepped out of a building and was nearly run over. Susie shouted another hurried apology over her shoulder but refused to slow down. The two of them darted through another street, largely directionless save for the need to find a safe place to hide. She was half-laughing through her massive, heavy breaths at the absurdity of the situation.

She nearly ran back out into the main road but Kris yanked her back just as a familiar voice floated to her ears. She pressed herself to the wall of whatever building they’d ended up behind, panting uncontrollably. Peeking back around the corner revealed Ralsei just outside the Color Cafe, talking amicably with a Pippins and a Shuttah. 

“Castle,” Susie gasped. Kris nodded, pulling her back away from the main road. They raced through the side streets, weaving between buildings as randomly as possible to throw off any potential Ralsei-shaped pursuers. A couple Darkners noticed them, some mildly confused, others fondly amused, and a few even cheering them on despite lacking context for their fleeing. Susie felt her mouth stretching into a grin despite the burn in her lungs. 

They reached the castle and darted inside, Kris almost crashing directly into Ralsei’s weird-ass cauldron. Susie grabbed them by the cape and yanked them after her as she raced up the stairs two at a time. They reached the second floor and stumbled to a halt, Susie dropping Kris on their ass so she could lean over and catch her breath. 

“Holy- shit,” she gasped. “We made it!” Kris shot her a thumbs up from the floor. She snorted, grabbing their arm and hauling them up. “Get up, idiot.” The moment she released them, they fell again, just to be a dick. “Whew. I think we dodged him,” she said. “Arright, your room or-”

“Kris? Susie? Are you guys here?” 

“OH FUCK,” Susie hissed. Kris scrambled to their feet and took off again. They ran up the second set of stairs and up into the third story hallway, both half-dragging each other. “Did he see us!?” Susie gasped. Kris shook their head helplessly as Susie scanned the hallway, trying to find somewhere to hide. In hindsight, they’d probably chosen the worst possible escape route, having now trapped themselves with no way out except back down the stairs. Where Ralsei was. “He’s gonna kill us!” 

She turned desperately and her eyes landed on a familiar sliding door. The TV logo stared down at her, promising sanctuary. Surely he could be convinced? 

“Hurry!” Susie hissed, grabbing Kris by the arm and yanking them over as Ralsei’s voice carried up the stairs. She slammed her fist against the sliding door, begging Tenna to open up. The door, mercifully, slid open and Susie dove inside, dragging Kris behind her. They crashed to the floor and nearly slid directly into a pair of familiar yellow shoes. 

“Susie!? Kris!?” Tenna yelped. 

“SAVE US!” Susie shrieked, grabbing his leg and pulling herself around to hide behind him. 

“H-huh!?” Tenna yelped. The door slid closed behind them, leaving them alone in Tenna’s room. 

“You gotta hide us!” Susie said. “Ralsei’s gonna kick our asses, dude!” 

“He’s- You- WHAT?” 

“No time to explain, just cover for us!” She grabbed Kris again and ran over to the table, scrambling underneath the chairs and pressing herself to the ground. Kris settled next to her, crouching nervously. 

“What on earth?” Tenna asked. 

“Just tell him we’re not here!” Susie hissed. Tenna’s head snapped between the two of them and the door, his expression becoming more and more baffled by the second. 

“What is happening!?” he breathed. “You two-” He was interrupted by a sharp, polite knock on the frame of the door. Moments later, the door slid open, and Susie pulled back further. From her position under Tenna’s table, she couldn’t see who was in the doorway, but it wasn’t exactly hard to determine. 

“Ralsei! Ralsei, Ralsei, Ralsei, my lovely contestant. To, uh, what do I owe the pleasure?” Tenna asked. From her vantage point, Susie could see that his stance, previously nervous and jumpy from being accosted, had solidified into the picture of perfect confidence. 

“Hi Mr. Tenna!” Ralsei greeted. “Sorry to bother you, I was just looking for Kris and Susie? Some of the Darkners were saying they saw them run to the castle, but they weren’t in their rooms. I just wanted to check in and make sure everything was okay?” 

“Kris and Susie, huh?” Tenna asked. “Nope, can’t say I’ve seen them. Maybe you’d have more luck with my, er… eccentric next-door neighbor?” There was a moment of silence as Ralsei considered this. Kris and Susie held their breath, waiting for his reply. 

“I just figured they’d probably come to you if they were visiting. I just want to make sure everything’s okay!” Susie grimaced guiltily, but her guilt was outweighed by the terror of their circumstance. They would make it up to him once they dealt with the current crisis. Of which he was the source.

“Of course, of course,” Tenna agreed. “But I do believe it’s still the middle of the school day. The Darkners you spoke to were probably just mistaken. Haha! You know how they are.” 

“You’re sure you didn’t see them?”

“Ralsei, Ralsei, I think I’d remember seeing two of my star contestants!”

“Of course. Yeah, um, you’re right. Sorry to bother you, Tenna.”

“Not at all! Best of luck on your search, please let me know if you do end up finding them!” 

“Of course! Sorry again. I’ll, uh- I’ll go now.” There was a moment of silence, followed by the door finally, mercifully, sliding shut. Tenna remained exactly where he was, perfectly still, for another few seconds after it clicked closed, presumably waiting for Ralsei to actually leave. Only then did his posture finally loosen. 

“Thanks, dude. We owe you big time,” Susie said, crawling out from under the table. Kris nodded in agreement as they pulled themself to their feet. 

“Well, I’d never turn down an opportunity to flex these old acting muscles!” Tenna said. “All the world’s a stage, my dears!” Susie snorted, rolling her eyes. She moved towards the door, not even to leave but just to peek out, only to be halted by a massive gloved hand. “Ah- Well hold on now.” Tenna stepped out in front of them, crossing his arms and staring down at them as if he was scolding a pair of misbehaving children. Which, by all proper definitions, he was. “Seeing as I just lied to poor Ralsei for your sakes, I think I’m owed a proper explanation of whatever crime I’m now complicit in.” Susie and Kris exchanged a shameful glance while Tenna tapped his foot expectantly. 

“Uh…” Susie silently begged Kris for help. They offered none. “If we tell you, you gotta promise not to snitch,” Susie said. Tenna held up his hands. 

“You have my word,” he promised. Susie clasped her hands behind her back, rocking back on her heels in an attempt to appear casual. “Well come on now, don’t keep the audience waiting! I’m on the edge of my seat here!” 

“We, uh, kinda promised Ralsei that we’d figure out a topic for our school project,” Susie explained. “And uh… we didn’t- doooo that? And now he's gonna kill us probably.” Tenna stared down at them, expression unchanging. Then, his mouth curled up as he fought back a laugh, a couple faint snickers escaping. “DON’T LAUGH, ASSHOLE! THIS IS SERIOUS STUFF!” 

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” Tenna assured her, looking distinctly not sorry. Susie huffed, crossing her arms in disdain. “So… do you have a plan? Beyond hiding here for the foreseeable future. Not that I’m opposed to that idea, but I do like being in the know. Considering the aforementioned lying.” Kris and Susie exchanged a look. Kris, arbitrarily designated as their spokesperson, gave an exaggerated shrug, which was about the whole story. 

“I don’t know, dude!” Susie translated. “It was kinda an emergency!” If he’d had eyes, Susie was pretty sure Tenna would be rolling them exceptionally hard. Still, his smile was fond, and he was doing that thing where he tried to appear nonchalant while also clearly being overjoyed that they were there. For a self-proclaimed ‘actor,’ he was obnoxiously easy to read. His false authority was already slipping.

“Well… do you have any ideas for what you might want your project to be?” Tenna asked. “I could, uh, help you narrow it down? Our secret! Ralsei would be none the wiser.” Susie grimaced. She glanced over at Kris, hoping against hope that they might have magically learned something new in the last day, only to discover her exact expression mirrored on their face. Great. 

“Uhhh about that,” she began. “We kinda… don’t know what the assignment is.” Tenna remained utterly still, save for a small flicker around his screen that, if Susie were to guess, was his equivalent of a shocked blink. 

“You don’t know what the assignment is,” he echoed. “You DON’T KNOW WHAT THE ASSIGNMENT IS!?” 

“CHILL, DUDE!” Susie said. “WE KINDA HAVE OTHER THINGS TO WORRY ABOUT!” Tenna drew back, his unbroken antenna swaying nervously. 

“Go-lly,” he said. “This is, aha, quite the predicament you’ve gotten yourselves into.” 

“That’s why we had to hide!” Susie reminded him. He took a deep breath, hands pressed flat together in front of him. 

“Well, this is certainly troubling, but nothing we can’t manage! Perhaps there’s someone back in the Light World you could ask for the details?” Susie glanced back at the door nervously. 

“I mean, we could go ask Noelle, I guess, but Ralsei’s looking for us,” she hissed. Tenna’s antennae shot to attention and he leaned closer. 

“Did you say Noelle?” he asked. 

“Yeah. Noelle,” Susie repeated. 

“...Holiday?” 

“Yeaaahh?” Instantly, Tenna’s entire demeanor changed, his expression brightening as he clasped his hands happily. 

“Oh, Noelle! It’s been so long since I’ve seen her! She must have grown so much!” Oh yeah. Susie had forgotten how close the Dreemurs and the Holidays used to be. That Noelle and her family had used to go over to watch movies and stuff. Of course Tenna knew Noelle. “Kris, you should bring her by to visit sometime!” Kris drew back, ducking their head down to hide their eyes, and Tenna faltered slightly. “Um. How- is she?” he asked haltingly. 

“Good? I think?” Susie answered for Kris. She got the sense that they didn’t really want to talk about this. They always clammed up when stuff like this was mentioned. Their family and Noelle’s, before whatever happened happened and made everything go to hell. “We have bigger problems! Like Ralsei killing us!” Tenna shook himself to bring himself back to attention. 

“Right! Of course. Alright, no dice on that plan.” He hummed to himself, scanning the room as if it might offer some kind of answer. Suddenly, he snapped his fingers, screen lighting up with the image of a glowing lightbulb. “Aha!” 

“What!?” Susie demanded. 

“Who’s your teacher?” 

“Uh, Alphys?” Susie told him. He pumped his fist victoriously. 

“Perfect!” Kris peeked back out, tilting their head curiously. “Let’s see. Alphy’s class, and Kris, you’re a junior in high school now, yes?” Kris nodded affirmatively. Tenna’s smile softened, just for a moment, before his massive showman’s grin returned full force. “Well then have no fear! I have the solution to your problem right here!” 

“THEN SPILL IT!” Susie snarled. Tenna jumped at the sound a little, but his grin never faltered. 

“Well, fortunately for you fine viewers, Toriel and Azzy used to sit in the living room and discuss homework occasionally! And I just so happen to remember a particularly stress-inducing project, from one Ms. Alphys, at the beginning of his junior year of high school.” Susie blinked in surprise and Kris raised their head to listen more carefully. “If I remember correctly, and I rarely don’t, I know what the assignment was.” Susie tried not to linger on the ‘particularly stress-inducing’ portion of that explanation. She was unsuccessful. 

“How stressful are we talking?” 

“Well, he kept joking about dropping out of high school and just living in Toriel’s basement in perpetuity, but he did that quite a bit anyway,” Tenna said. Out of the corner of her eye, Susie saw a small smile curl Kris’s mouth before something heavier settled in their expression and they looked down again, hunching in. 

“Whatever,” Susie said quickly. “Just tell us what the assignment is already!” 

“Well, she might have changed it since Azzy was in her class, or I could have-”

“JUST TELL US!” Susie snarled. Tenna stumbled back in surprise and Kris snickered softly. 

“Alright, alright, I suppose I’ve built enough suspense for one episode!” Tenna said quickly. “From what Azzy said, it was a science project. Seeing as it’s the beginning of the year, the parameters were rather loose. You simply have to identify a scientific principle that impacts everyday life in your town and create a presentation on the process!” 

“A what now?” Susie asked. 

“Well, Azzy’s project was about the chemical reactions that took place when Toriel baked her pies!” Tenna beamed at the memory, doing a little, joyful spin. “Oh, it was wonderful! Toriel accused him of picking the topic just to convince her to bake them more often, but that sure didn’t stop her from baking up a storm! And it was fascinating!” His expression soured ever so slightly for a moment as he added, “all things he could have learned from the edutainment segments though, no need for all that computer usage.” Susie rolled her eyes, patting Tenna comfortingly on his forearm, which was about the only thing she could comfortably reach in his current position. 

“Anyhow, that’s all I remember! But I’m sure you can think of something! Like I said, it’s a very broad assignment!” Susie turned to Kris to see if they had any suggestions. They offered none. Tenna glanced between the two of them nervously. “Here,” he said after a moment too long of awkward silence. “How about… I get you two some hot chocolate- or tea? Or anything else, whatever you want! And then we can try to think of some topics! After all…” He spread his hands dramatically, little magic sparkles flying from his fingertips, “...You can learn anything on TV!” 

“Okay, okay,” Susie said, waving him off. He pulled back slightly, flinching at something Susie couldn’t identify. 

“Only if you want to! A-and I don’t mean to- School is still important! Very, very important! I’m only-”

“Chill, dude,” Susie cut in. “Let’s do it. Free hot cocoa? Count me in.” 

“O-oh,” Tenna said. “Oh! Wonderful! I’ll be right back.” He vanished into the kitchen so quickly that he almost seemed to be teleporting. Susie winced, turning to Kris. 

“Hey, dude, is it just me, or has Tenna been acting kinda weird?” she asked, voice low. Kris pursed their lips as they thought about it. They reminded her that he hadn’t exactly been in the best state when they entered his Dark World. Maybe, they suggested, this was just him readjusting. “Yeah, I guess…” Kris tilted their head inquisitively, prompting her to continue. “I dunno man, it just feels like it’s… more than that.” She sighed, wringing her hands. “You think it’s ‘cause he’s still here? Like, ‘cause we haven’t found anybody to adopt him yet?” 

Kris’s head snapped toward the floor, and their hands rose to wrap around their torso. They looked almost ashamed, and Susie instantly felt bad for mentioning it. They probably felt bad that they hadn’t found anybody too. They’d probably been asking around while they looked for clues and stuff and hadn’t been able to find anybody that they trusted. 

“And then there’s that shit with whoever his business partner was,” Susie added. Kris nodded slowly, brow drawn in contemplation. “Like, I wouldn’t be worried about it, but you saw how he looked when he mentioned it.” Kris pursed their lips but didn’t say anything. Their eyes flicked to hers, but it felt like they weren’t looking at her. 

Her gaze flicked over to the boxes in the corner of Tenna’s room. Had her attention not been brought to them yesterday, nothing would have seemed amiss. But she had been paying attention enough to realize that one of them was now missing. She had a guess about which one it was. The important one. The one with potential answers to what was going on. 

“ALRIGHTY!” Tenna burst back into the room, two mugs in hand and a wide grin on his face. Susie tore her eyes away from the boxes, praying he hadn’t noticed her staring at them. “Let’s get started!” Susie followed him to the table and scrambled up onto the chair. After a moment’s hesitation, Kris sat down beside her. Tenna claimed a chair across from them, folding into it awkwardly to accommodate his resting height. 

“We should really get you some bigger chairs,” Susie noted before she could catch herself. Tenna winced at the suggestion, antennae curling inward. 

“No need,” he said. “Wouldn’t want to cause anyone any trouble! I’ll be out of here in no time, no need to worry about me!” Oh. Right. Right. Susie went to say something, maybe an apology for bringing it up, or an insistence that he still deserved to be comfortable while he was here, but he cut her off. “HERE!” He slid the mugs across the table urgently. Kris stared down at theirs uncertainly, one finger coming up to poke the substance at the top. It wasn’t marshmallows like what was in Susie’s mug, nor was it whipped cream like she first thought. 

“Oh! Aha, I just-” Tenna coughed into his hand. “I remembered you always liked to have it with ice cream! So it would melt in and get creamier as you drank, remember?” Kris’s hands tightened around the mug and Tenna shrank down a smidgen. “Do you… not like it that way anymore?” For a moment, Kris said nothing. Then, quietly, they mumbled out that they preferred the kind from QC’s diner. With the homemade marshmallow bunnies. Tenna wilted even further, to the point that the chair actually fit him now. “Oh. O-of course! Of course, that makes perfect… sense.” 

“Here, we can trade,” Susie said, passing Kris her mug and snatching theirs. “Ice cream and hot chocolate? Count me in.” A small smile appeared on Kris’s face as they accepted the trade. Susie took a swig of the hot chocolate, enjoying the way the melting ice cream added an uncharacteristic thickness to the drink. “Dude, this is great,” she said. She tapped Kris on the head and they snickered a bit as they batted her hand away. “What other epic ideas you got in here?” 

“Oh, Kris has always been a clever one!” Tenna agreed. “Kris, you remember how you’d always try to guess the twists to every movie! Haha, even the ones with no twists to speak of! It was… always…” Tenna trailed off as Kris shifted uncomfortably. They ducked down so that their hair covered their face again, shoulders hunching in defensively. Tenna took in a quiet, shaking breath, clasping his hands on the table. 

“Ooookayy,” Susie said. “Can we get back to not getting murdered?” 

“Yes!” Tenna squeaked out. “Yes, yes, let’s get to work! This will be a piece of butterscotch-cinnamon pie, folks!” Susie gave him a thumbs up with one hand and clapped Kris on the back with the other. Tenna grew a few inches, which she took as a good sign. Kris reached out and took a sip of their hot chocolate. Okay. Okay, we’re good. We’re fine. “We’ll have you fine contestants a topic in no time!” 

They did not have a topic in no time. As it turned out, even a group project with ‘broad parameters’ was nigh impossible when the group in question consisted of perhaps the stupidest monster ever born and Hometown’s mascot of slacking off. The natural life cycle of plants? They were starting their project too late to get any good information. The chemical reactions inherent in baking like Asriel had done? Susie didn’t even know what that meant. Not to mention it made Kris start clamming up again, so that was a complete and utter no go. A study on the evolution of the songbirds in Hometown? Made her think of Berdly, which was weird. And also she had no idea how evolution worked and Kris refused to tell her beyond just repeating something about humans being monkeys that Tenna insisted was a horrible oversimplification. All it proved to Susie was that humans were even weirder than she’d originally thought. 

By the time she’d polished off her hot chocolate and gotten a refill (with extra ice cream because the novelty had not yet worn off on that particular revelation), they were a grand total of zero percent closer to picking a topic than they’d been. Tenna had resorted to flicking between channels and praying that something came on that gave them all some kind of revelation. This strategy had also proved unsuccessful. 

“Oh!” Tenna said as the channel flicked to an ad for a new, industrial oven. “How about looking at the differences between gas and electric ovens to decide which one is more effective!”

“THERE’S DIFFERENT KINDS OF OVENS?” Susie demanded. Kris giggled at her outburst. Tenna nodded. 

“It could be fun to analyze!” Tenna said. “You could explain how they use different methods to achieve the same result: Delicious baked goods!” 

“Maybe…” Susie assented. Tenna grinned, scribbling the topic idea down on a piece of paper. Susie glanced over the table at the list. It was currently four actual ideas long, none of which she was particularly excited about. Realistically, she knew that they should just pick whatever option was easiest and call it a day. Alphys was terrified of her, she could probably get away with straight-up plagiarizing Asriel’s project anyway. She didn’t need to try, they just needed an easy topic that would get Ralsei off their backs. But something just… wouldn’t let her. 

None of the ideas they’d come up with seemed interesting at all. Of course, she knew they wouldn’t be, it was school after all. But she couldn’t stop thinking about what Noelle had said earlier that day, about finding something that was actually worth learning about. It was absurd, school was boring by design. And yet, Susie couldn’t get it out of her head. Or maybe she just couldn’t get Noelle in general out of her head. 

“Oh, you could focus on food in general!” Tenna suggested. “Talk about why cooking food is so important!” 

“Uh, ‘cause it tastes good?” Susie suggested. 

“Well, partially. But there’s also the matter of safety! You could do a presentation on how cooking kills dangerous bacteria in food!”

“The what now?”

“Well, uh…” Tenna pursed his lips, trying to work through his explanation. “A lot of raw food has illness-causing pathogens. At least, that’s what I remember from the edutainment segments? Lightner food works differently, after all. But it’s why you’re not supposed to eat raw eggs!” 

“You’re- not?” Susie asked. She looked over at Kris, who shrugged. 

“NO!” Tenna shrieked. “You could get sick!” 

“Huh,” Susie said. “Thought that was total bullshit, honestly. Like how you’re not supposed to go in the water after eating, y’know? Just some shit parents made up so kids did what they wanted.” 

“Yes, well, not eating raw food is very true and very important,” Tenna informed her. 

“Never got me sick,” Susie informed him. “Heh. Guess I’m just that good, right, Kris?” Kris gave her an affirmative thumbs up. “That bacteria shit’s got nothin’ on me!” Tenna grimaced at the thought. 

“Still…” he said weakly. After a moment, he shook his head, realizing they weren’t going to back down. “Well, what do you think? That could be an interesting topic!” 

“Eh,” Susie said noncommittally. Tenna jotted it down anyway. “All this stuff is so boring.” 

“Well, of course it is!” Tenna grumbled. “School is such a dreary way to spend a day. Why sit in a classroom, listening to a teacher drone on for hours, when you could learn just as much from some good old-fashioned television! There’s nothing a good edutainment segment can’t-” He broke off, coughing into his hand. “I-I- Not that it’s not important! School is very important and you should go, even if it’s boring sometimes! A good education is key!” Susie raised an eyebrow and he turned away, screen flickering. 

“Oookaayy?” Tenna’s unbroken antenna twitched nervously. 

“HERE!” He jumped back into flipping through channels, the pace even faster than before. Susie watched him uncertainly, trying not to linger on his sudden tonal shifts. Something was so clearly going on. It felt like it was getting worse, though she couldn’t be sure. She glanced over at Kris, resolving to talk to them about it tomorrow. No matter what, they had to find Tenna a home. He wasn’t… happy here. With them. With her. And that was fine, she’d known that already. Sure, she’d miss him a bit, but this was for the best. She didn’t mind. 

“Oh! You could look at refrigerators!” Tenna jumped in, cutting off her train of thought. 

“Huh?”

“You could look at how the electronics in a refrigerator work to keep food cold!” he continued. His screen was currently frozen on a still from some kind of reality show, a monster girl in the middle of opening the fridge. 

“That sounds really boring,” Susie informed him. Kris nodded in agreement. “And last time you started talking about electricity, you started doing math.” Tenna’s regular face returned, though tinged a light pink with embarrassment. 

“Well…” He trailed off, unable to think of anything useful. Susie sighed and let her forehead thunk onto the table, earning a surprised yelp from Tenna. Her vision flashed pink and yellow and she belatedly realized that she’d come dangerously close to slamming her glasses against the table when she dropped. 

“Sorry,” she whispered, hoping her muffled voice carried enough for Spamton to hear her. He didn’t respond. 

“I have some old edutainment tapes,” Tenna suggested quietly. “We could go through some of those? They might give you some better ideas?” Susie groaned at the suggestion and Kris gave her a small pat on the back. 

“This is pointless,” she lamented. “School’s the worst.” All that this venture was teaching her was that she’d been completely right. She just wasn’t cut out for this whole ‘education’ thing. She couldn’t even pick a topic in the first place! How was she supposed to actually do the project? There was a reason she didn’t bother coming to school. This was hopeless. 

“Let’s just do the stupid food thing,” she said finally. She folded her arms on the table and rested her head on them so she could at least look up at Kris and Tenna. “At least that way we can just eat a ton of shit and say it’s for our project.” Kris nodded sagely at that point. 

“Excellent idea, Susie!” Tenna beamed. She didn’t remind him that it was his idea that she’d had nothing to do with. Part of her almost felt… guilty? That Tenna was doing most of the heavy lifting here? That she hadn’t come up with anything herself? She gave herself an internal shakedown. Since when did she care about half-assing a school project? She was just being stupid. And the thought of Noelle’s disappointed expression when she’d talked about sucking at school had nothing to do with it. 

“See?” Tenna continued. “Crisis averted! And little Ralsei will be none the-”

“I KNEW IT!” Susie turned around, very calmly, to acknowledge their new companion. She did not scream in terror, smack her arm into the side of the table as she tried to turn around, and promptly throw her chair off-balance and send it, with her still in it, crashing to the floor. 

“RALSEI!” Tenna yelped, shooting straight to his feet without falling flat on his ass. Kris shot Ralsei a quick wave and took a long, slurping sip of their hot chocolate. 

“Wha- What are you all doing!?” Ralsei demanded. He turned to Kris and Susie. “Why were you guys running through Castle Town before school ended?” He turned to Tenna. “Why did you lie to me when I asked!?” 

“Aha, well, it’s actually a rather funny story-” Tenna began, fidgeting with his tie. “We were just-”

“DOING THINGS,” Susie jumped in. She untangled herself from the fallen chair and stumbled to her feet. “JUST. TOTALLY NORMAL THINGS.” Ralsei looked between the three of them, his mouth hanging open in quiet surprise. 

“Why are you skipping school!?” 

“We’re not skipping,” Susie corrected. “We were there ‘til lunch!” Kris nodded eagerly. “We’re just taking a well-deserved break!” 

“But- You- Wh- I still don’t get why you lied to me!” Ralsei squeaked, rounding on Tenna again. 

“I WAS COERCED!” Tenna yelped, holding his hands up.

“TRAITOR!” Susie snarled. He shrugged apologetically. 

“Is this because you were skipping class!?” Ralsei demanded. Susie opened her mouth to answer, only for him to catch sight of the paper in front of Tenna. “What were you guys doing?” To his credit, Tenna made a valiant attempt to grab the piece of paper and get it out of Ralsei’s line of sight. Unfortunately, in his surprised panic, he was unable to get his fingers around it. Instead of grabbing it and pulling it out of the way, he knocked it to the floor. 

Susie lunged for it, but Ralsei was closer to its trajectory and managed to snag it from the air first. He lifted it, adjusting his glasses as he read what was written. 

“OH NO YOU DON’T!” Susie cried. She leapt towards him, but he managed to sidestep out of the way. She hit the floor instead and remained there, accepting her defeat. The edges of her glasses sparkled with small, glitching lights. Was he fucking laughing at her? 

“Is this…” Ralsei began. Susie let out a groan of utter despair, covering her head with her hands. “YOU TWO!” Ralsei shrieked. Even without seeing him, Susie could picture the affronted, twisted-up expression on his face. “Were you guys trying to come up with a topic for your project!?” 

“No?” Susie tried. She peeked up from her spot on the floor and found Ralsei looking down at her with the most unconvinced expression anyone had probably made in the grand history of ever. 

“Before this goes any further, I’ll have you know that I was brought into this against my will,” Tenna noted. 

“IT WAS YOUR IDEA!?” Susie shouted, leaping to her feet in order to point at him angrily. He brought his hand up to his mouth in a poor attempt at hiding his smile. 

“Kris, Susie, school is important,” Ralsei said, shaking the paper in his hand for emphasis. “You can’t leave things for the last minute!” 

“In our defense, it usually works out,” Susie said. Kris nodded their agreement. Ralsei facepalmed in response. 

“Guys,” he said again. 

“Hey, we started, right?” Susie said defensively. “That’s gotta count for something!” Ralsei looked back down at the paper, chewing his lip as he considered the situation. Susie could see his resolve flickering and leaned closer eagerly, just to put the pressure on a little further. Tenna watched the scene with some mixture of concern and thinly veiled amusement. 

“Did you pick one?” Ralsei asked finally. 

“Uhhhh…” Susie looked up at Kris for help and they informed Ralsei that they were about ninety percent of the way there. Ralsei did not look pleased by that answer. “We kinda picked one!” Susie corrected quickly. “We just gotta do a little more research first, y’know!” Research being eating. Preferably cake. “Come on, dude, pleaseeeee, we’ve been doing school all day.” Ralsei sighed, handing the paper up to Kris. 

“Okay,” he said finally. “I guess you have been working hard on it.” 

“YES!” Susie cheered. “Aw, man, you’re the best.” Ralsei tugged his scarf up at the compliment. Susie breathed a sigh of relief at the fact that his love for them managed to overpower his cruel defense of school. 

“But you have to promise me you’ll keep working on it!” 

“You got it, boss,” Susie said, too relieved to argue. She’d thought for sure they were gonna get banished again. Kris gave Ralsei a crisp salute. 

“You guys…” Ralsei said, his smile giving away his attempt at appearing exasperated. 

“So, now what?” Susie asked. “I think we did enough work for one day.” Kris quickly voiced their agreement. 

“Oh!” Ralsei jumped in. “That reminds me! I came up here to ask you something, Mr. Tenna!” 

“Me?” Tenna asked. “O-of course! Anything you need!” 

“Well, it’s more, I want your opinion on something. Since you were the ruler or your Dark World.” Ralsei rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. “I showed Queen already but…”

“I understand,” Tenna said. “I remember she always used to be a bit… much.” 

“Y-yeah,” Ralsei said. “She kinda just kept telling me it would be better if I added more acid.” 

“Checks out,” Susie noted. “So what is it?”

“O-oh! I’ll show you!” Ralsei said, turning towards the door. Moments later, he halted in his tracks and turned back around, looking up at Kris. “If, um, that’s okay with you, Kris?” Kris hopped down from their chair and gave Ralsei a thumbs up, telling him to lead the way. “O-okay!” 

The place Ralsei led them to was just a bit outside the castle. Susie and Kris had missed it during their mad dash for the castle, on account of the whole ‘running for their lives’ thing. With the threat of imminent banishment now behind them, they were able to take in what was, in hindsight, a very eyecatching development in Castle Town’s layout. 

A huge portion of the town had been cleared, cordoned off with rudimentary fencing as construction took place. Several Darkners milled about, mostly Plugboys and Jigsawrys, but Susie also spotted many others working there. The foundation of something was already laid out, and the sound of drilling occasionally wafted up from the area. Susie took it in with fascination. She’d never actually seen the Darkners working on anything like this. They usually built so quickly that she didn’t get a chance to see the process. 

“O-oh! Rory, over here!” Ralsei flagged down a Rudinn ranger as they passed near the fence, several rolls of paper tucked under their arm. At Ralsei’s beckoning, they came over to the fence and pushed it open, stepping out into the open with the rest of them.

“Prince Ralsei!” they greeted. “How can I help you?” 

“I just need to borrow your blueprints for a minute if that’s okay?” Ralsei asked. “I wanted to get Mr. Tenna’s opinion!” 

“Whatever you need,” Rory said, passing them over. “We have enough copies. Just pass them to someone when you’re done.” 

“Will do!” Ralsei said. Rory dipped their head to the rest of them before returning to the construction site. “That’s Rory,” Ralsei introduced belatedly. “They offered to be project manager for this! It was really nice of them, especially since I… don’t know how construction works.” 

“Sick,” Susie said, snatching one of the blueprints out of Ralsei’s hands and unrolling it. It proved to be entirely illegible. “Uh. What is ‘this,’ anyway?” A shadow fell over her as Tenna leaned over to read the blueprint over her shoulder. She glanced up at him to see if he had any idea what it said, but he seemed equally confused. 

“Well!” Ralsei said, reclaiming the paper and unrolling everything on the ground in front of them all. “I’ve been thinking. We’ve got a lot of new recruits coming in, and it’s been hard for some of them to settle in. A-and there’s… probably going to be more soon.” Susie grimaced at the implication. “So I wanted to make somewhere for everyone to come for help! Kind of like a… a community center!” He tapped the blueprint in the middle, which was the most understandable out of all of them. Not that the competition was particularly steep. 

“I think it will be good to have a place where anyone can go for help, no matter when!” Ralsei continued. “At first, I wanted to make it part of the castle, but so many people live there now…” Tenna fidgeted with his tie, antenna twitching. “So I decided to build one! The other Darkners have been so very nice about it, look how many of them pitched in to help!” Susie grinned, clapping him on the back. 

“Hey, that’s pretty cool!” She looked back down at the blueprint. “What sorta things you gonna add to it?”

“W-well, that’s what I wanted Tenna’s opinion on,” Ralsei said. “I want it to be a one-stop-shop for everything anyone needs while they’re settling in. Like, help setting up where to live! Or if we go to another Dark World that doesn’t use Dark Dollars, they can come here instead of having to set up another temporary bank!” Tenna and Susie shared a shudder at the memory of their bank experience. 

“Yeah, good idea,” Susie said. Tenna nodded in urgent agreement. 

“A-and I wanted an actual hospital. Or at least some place people can go to get help. Since there’s nowhere to really go right now.” He picked up one of the blueprints and looked it over. 

“Well, all that sounds wonderful!” Tenna said. 

“You think so?”

“Absolutely,” he assured Ralsei. He knelt down to get a better look at the blueprints. “You should add an amphitheater!” he said suddenly. 

“Why?” Susie asked. 

“Well, lots of reasons! It could be a centralized location if you need to make town-wide announcements, you could host community nights, have performances, the whole shebang! Let me tell you, Ralsei, nothing brings a community together like the theater!” 

“That’s… that’s actually a really good idea!” Ralsei said. He scrawled a small note on one of the blueprints. 

“You’ll find that I’m full of them,” Tenna preened. “Of course, you’ll have to make sure you get a good sound and light system set up! I’m sure that one of my emplo-” He cut himself off, his smile instantly becoming more strained. “One of my former employees would be happy to help you. Of course, if you want the best insight on things of that sort, you’d be better off asking-” He froze again. His hand, resting on his leg, curled into the fabric of his pants. “Mike,” he finished after a moment. “Haha, Mike! Yes, that’s what I was going to say! Good old Mike, can’t be beat when it comes to the tech side of things!” 

“O-oh,” Ralsei said. He shared a glance with Kris and Susie at the mention of Mike. “Yes, I’ll make sure to ask… him.” Of the three of them, Susie had no idea which one would actually be the best to ask about the tech side of things. It was probably Battat, but that guy… he freaked her out a little, if she was being honest. “Was there anything else you think I should adjust?” 

“Oh- um…” Tenna leaned closer to the blueprint, very clearly unable to understand a lick of it. “Nope! I think you’re good as gold, Ralsei buddy.” 

“Yeah, dude, this looks si-” Susie broke off as her vision was suddenly bathed in pale pink and yellow yet again. She blinked in surprise, glancing down at the blueprint… only to find part of it lit up in white. Wait a damn minute. “Uhh… what’s this part?” she asked, pointing to the highlighted portion. 

“I’m… actually not sure,” Ralsei said. “I’m not great at reading the blueprints yet.” 

“You might wanna… check that?” Susie suggested. The color in the glasses strengthened for a moment before fading back, which Susie really wasn’t sure how to interpret. 

“O-okay!” Ralsei said. He grabbed his pen again and circled the portion Susie was pointing at. “I’ll have Rory take a look at it before they start!” 

“Yeaaah. Good?” The color in the glasses faded away almost completely, though a slight tint remained, as if just to remind her that Spamton was watching and that she should therefore not do anything stupid. “Good,” she confirmed. Tenna tilted his head, looking at her curiously. There was an intensity to his gaze that made her skin prickle just a bit. 

“What about you, Kris?” Ralsei asked. “What do you think?” Kris gave him a double-thumbs up and he beamed. “Oh, this is so exciting! I can’t wait for this to be finished!” 

Ralsei spent the next while telling the three of them about his hopes for the new community center. All the things it would do, the way it would bring Castle Town together, how it was the biggest project he’d taken on since the town’s formation. Susie didn’t understand half of what he was talking about, but she listened anyway. The excitement in his voice was enough to make it worth it, even if she had nothing to meaningfully contribute to the conversation. 

Tenna made up for it, sharing occasional ‘I used to run a Dark World’-type insights that Ralsei listened to with rapt attention. As they spoke, Susie couldn’t help but wonder what he’d been like before. Before things started falling apart and he became terrified of losing everything. What was TV World like when things were at their best? What was Tenna like before things went to hell?

And, perhaps the biggest mystery of all of it: what was Tenna’s secret business partner like? What was TV World like when it wasn’t just Tenna in charge? What happened that made him leave? 

They talked until Tenna was spotted by a passing Shadowguy. The Shadowguy waved at him, seeming friendly enough, but Tenna froze up the instant he was spotted. He excused himself moments later and practically fled back to the castle with a mumbled apology and a half-assed excuse. It would have been annoying if it wasn’t so concerning.

Ralsei returned the blueprints to the construction crew, new notes added. They ended up at the SpliceCream shop from the day before. It was Ralsei’s idea, as much as he insisted on Kris picking the location. His eagerness had been… pretty obvious, in an adorable kind of way. Susie could hardly fault him for it, and who was she to turn down free dessert? And so they all ended up on the bench from the day before. 

“Soooo,” Susie began. “I, uh, did the thing.”

“The thing?” Ralsei asked. 

“That you said. Yesterday. I, uh, asked Noelle.” Ralsei’s eyes widened in surprise and Kris froze, tongue still sticking to their SpliceCream. 

“R-really?”

“Well, yeah. I said I would, didn’t I?” Kris leaned closer, demanding to know exactly what she’d talked to Noelle about. She couldn’t be sure, but she was pretty sure she heard a nervous tremor in their voice. They were probably just as nervous about involving Noelle as she was, weren’t they?

“Just the code,” Susie assured them. “Since she’s smart and stuff. Thought maybe she’d be able to figure it out.” Kris nodded slowly, some, but not all, of the tension going out of their shoulders. 

“And?” Ralsei asked urgently. 

“Couldn’t figure anything out,” Susie admitted glumly. “But! She did have a good idea about where we can check next!” Kris and Ralsei both turned to her, watching her intently. “Uh, Kris, you remember how your dad used to run the police and stuff?” Kris stiffened. “Noelle said he might, y’know. Know the code and stuff. Since he was in charge.” 

“That’s a good idea!” Ralsei said. “If he was police chief for a long time, he’d have to have gone to the shelter a couple times!” 

“Yeah! And he’ll totally tell Kris! I was thinking we could go talk to him after school tomorrow and stuff! What do you think, Kris?” Susie turned to Kris excitedly, only to find them staring directly at the floor. Their hand was wrapped around their SpliceCream so tightly that the cone had cracked where they held it. “Kris?” For a moment, they were completely quiet, their entire body inexplicably tense. 

Finally, they shook their head, the motion stiff and almost painful-looking. Their dad had left the police force a long time ago, they said. They would have changed the code after he left, for security reasons. There was no point. He wouldn’t know. 

“Oh. Yeah, they… probably would,” Susie admitted. “But it can’t hurt to try, right? Hey, worst case scenario, he gives us a shitty code, right?” Kris bit their lip and turned away. “Hey, Kris? Are you-” Suddenly, they shot to their feet, tossing their unfinished SpliceCream in a nearby trashcan. “Woah, dude-” They announced that they needed to go. Toriel would get worried if they stayed out too late. As they spoke, Susie slowly became aware of the color spreading across her vision, growing brighter until her entire field of vision was technicolor. Static skipped nervously around the edges, as if she needed any more confirmation that everything was getting weird. 

“Right, of course!” Ralsei said quickly. “W-we’ll talk more tomorrow, okay?” Kris nodded, a single jerk of their head, before turning to go. 

“Yeah. See you tomorrow, Ralsei,” Susie said. She stood to go, but Kris looked over their shoulder and shook their head. “Uh, aren’t we leaving?” Just them, Kris told her. They had to go run some errands. Boring stuff. “Dude, if it’s boring, then you totally need me there,” Susie insisted. Their hands clenched at their sides and they shook their head again. Oh. Oh. 

“O-or not,” she said shakily. “Whatever you gotta do man. Have fun being totally lame and boring without me.” She hated how obvious their relief was. “H-hey. See you at school tomorrow?” For several, excruciating seconds, they didn’t respond. Then, finally, they agreed before waving quickly and heading off, back to the gateway. Had she done something wrong? What did I do? Why can’t I help you? 

“Well, um… you should probably head home too,” Ralsei said. Susie stayed where she was, watching as Kris disappeared from sight. Home. Back to that cold, empty apartment with the empty fridge and threadbare blankets. The place where hearing voices from the living room meant hiding in her room. The place where sleep was almost impossible unless she was truly exhausted, because it never felt safe enough. 

“Actually, uh… You think I could maybe… stay here tonight?” she was asking before she even thought about it. Ralsei blinked in surprise. 

“Won’t your parents be worried if you don’t come home?” Worried? What a joke. 

“Nah,” She said. When Ralsei balked, she quickly added, “They’ll just think I stayed over at Kris’s house again.” That seemed to calm Ralsei down. She decided to write off the sudden spike of static in her glasses as being related to whatever happened with Kris earlier. “Sleep’s sleep, right? Not like being in the Dark World makes sleep not work or whatever.” Ralsei hummed in confirmation.

“Well… okay!” Ralsei said. “That’s what I made your room for!” 

“Sweet,” Susie said, hoping her relief wasn’t too obvious. 

“I-I should get back to the construction site,” Ralsei said. “But please tell me if you need anything! I could bake you a cake, or get you some tea, or I can change out your blankets if you need new ones, or-”

“I’ll let you know,” Susie said. Actually, that cake idea didn’t sound half bad. She might take him up on it. “Have fun.” 

“Good night!” Ralsei said, turning to leave. “Sleep tight! Don’t let the bed-bugs bite!” Susie rolled her eyes at the cheesy line, waving him away before he embarrassed her any further. He took it in stride, laughing as he vanished. 

“Geez,” she muttered under her breath, a fond smile on her face. “What a loser.” 

Chapter Text

Susie had no real idea what time it was in the Light World. It was difficult to tell, what with the whole ‘perpetual darkness’ thing that Castle Town had going on. It could have been one hour since she and Kris returned to the closet, it could have been five, she really had no way of knowing. But one thing she was dead certain of was that it was nowhere near time to go to bed. 

Which meant she had no idea what to do with herself. Ralsei was busy working on the community center and Kris had… left. Which meant Susie had to decide what to do for herself here. Or go to bed early, which was lame and boring. She wasn’t enough of a loser to go to bed at what was, at the latest, 6:00 pm. Probably. Maybe? 

She considered swinging by the TV building, but the games didn’t sound all that fun solo. Then again, maybe Lancer was around! Now there was an idea. They could play the music games or dig holes or whatever. It didn’t really matter. Everything was fun when Lancer was involved. 

Plan for the next few hours firmly in place, Susie set out to locate her little partner in crime. She swung back up through the castle first to see if he was in his room and found it vacant. Checking the basement yielded no results beyond getting grumbled at by the old Spade King, so she booked it out of there pretty quickly. Queen’s room was also tragically Lancer-less. Which meant the most likely Lancer location was the bakery. 

She checked a few other buildings on the way, poking her head into some of the new shops without taking time to linger. Another Addison had set up shop, she noted, the orange one. The store wasn’t quite set up yet, but it looked interesting enough. The Color Cafe was livelier than usual, courtesy of the trio of Shadowguys currently performing. The music was nice, but there was no Lancer, so Susie didn’t stick around. Seam’s Seap also had no Lancer. 

She finally found herself back at the bakery and stepped inside, finding the counter uncharacteristically devoid of both Lancer and Malius. Instead, it was being manned by a disgruntled-looking Bloxer. Well. ‘Manned’ was probably a strong word, considering that they were completely ignoring the counter in favor of doing pull-ups on the shelves behind them. 

“Uh… yo?” Susie tried. The Bloxer shot an irritated look over their shoulder, only for their expression to shift the moment they realized who they were looking at. 

“Lightner!” they greeted cheerfully, dropping off the shelf to come over to the counter. “How can I help? Looking for baked goods? I’m told that’s what they sell here. Or maybe you’re looking for a brand new work-out routine, because let me tell you, me and the boys have been brewing up some new regiments that are sure to get you pumped!” 

“Sounds sick,” Susie informed them. “But, uh, not right now.” The Bloxer let out a disappointed huff, crossing their arms. “Sorry.” 

“Well, there’s always next time,” the Bloxer sniffed. “So, if you’re not here for our work-out routine, can I interest you in some pastries? Cookies? Whatever else they sell here?” 

“Nah. I’m just looking for Lancer,” Susie said. 

“The little round prince?” the Bloxer asked. 

“That’s the one!” Susie confirmed, punctuating it with a snap and a pair of finger guns. “You seen him?” 

“Yeah, he left a bit ago,” the Bloxer informed her. “Heard construction noises, so he went to see if Prince Ralsei needed any ‘help of the hole-based variety.’” Susie could’ve smacked herself. Of course Lancer would’ve sniffed out the ongoing construction and gone to poke around. That was his jam. 

“Classic,” she muttered. The Bloxer nodded in solemn agreement. “By the way dude, why’re you here instead of Mali-” As if fate itself had decided to answer her question, the little bell above the bakery door jingled as the door opened. In the doorway was a Swatchling, colored in nervous blue as they shifted back and forth. In their hands was something that looked kind of like a radio, though a bit too strangely designed for Susie to quite say that’s what it was. Off-center, like the cars in Cyber World. Like the everything in Cyber World, frankly. 

“Oh great,” the Bloxer muttered. They raised their voice, glaring at the Swatchling threateningly. “Mr. Malius is booked and busy for the next week!” The Swatchling winced at the tone, looking down at their radio-thing. 

“Huh?” Susie asked. 

“Oh. Well, we’ve got a lot of people in town nowadays, so Malius is getting more business than usual,” they explained. “He’s a pretty brilliant guy, but even he can’t keep up with being the only guy fixing stuff out here.” 

“I went to Sweet Cap’n Cakes, but they said they don’t do repairs anymore since their music career is taking off,” the Swatchling mumbled. “It’s just, it’s my brother’s and he let me borrow it and I feel terrible about getting it broken.”

“Too bad,” the Bloxer said. “Get in line. Everybody’s got a sob story.” 

“Sucks, dude,” Susie said sympathetically. The Swatchling looked up, as if noticing Susie for the first time. 

“Oh! Hero!” they said. They lifted one wing to wave to her, nearly dropping the radio in the process. They laughed sheepishly, wrapping their arms around it more tightly. 

“You gonna buy a baked good or what?” the Bloxer asked. 

“I-”

“Don’t make me show off the new combo I learned!” they threatened, looking very much like they wanted to show off the new combo they learned. The Swatchling let out a frightened squawk and quickly excused themself. 

“Damn,” Susie noted. 

“People these days,” the Bloxer muttered. “Malius is a busy man!” 

“Yeah, I guess,” Susie said. “Anyway, thanks for letting me know. About Lancer. I’m, uh, gonna head out.” 

“Come back soon!” the Bloxer called as she made her way to the door. “Trust me when I say our work-out regimen is worth it!” Susie waved awkwardly over her shoulder and stepped outside. 

The Swatchling was still there when she exited the building. They were leaned against the bakery wall, hugging the radio to their chest and staring out into the distance very intensely. It looked rough. Normally, Susie wouldn’t really care. The Swatchling broke it, that was their problem. But… she understood that, didn’t she? Breaking shit even when you’re trying as hard as possible to be careful. She was projecting. The Swatchling’s situation was nothing like hers. But still…

“Hey, dude, sucks about your brother’s radio or whatever,” she said. The Swatchling blinked in surprise, eyes refocusing. 

“Yeah…” they said sadly. “I know it doesn’t seem that urgent, but… he really cares about this. He’s always playing it and he trusted me with it and I got it broken…” 

“Blows,” Susie said. “There’s really nobody else who can fix that thing?” 

“I already checked with Sweet Cap’n Cakes, but they don’t take repair jobs anymore. And everyone else that used to take repairs is so busy nowadays…” The Swatchling let out a long, whistling sigh. Susie grimaced. This was quickly entering ‘I have to comfort someone’ territory, which was not a strong suit of hers. 

“Uh… I mean, if your brother’s chill and all it’ll probably be fine? Like, he’ll totally be pissed, but he’s your brother. Just tell him it was a mistake and… pay for a new one or something?” The Swatchling’s mouth wobbled dangerously. Ah. Shit. 

“It’s not about that! I know he’d forgive me. It’s just that he’s had this one for so long and I don’t want to be the reason he has to get a new one. I know I could buy him a new one… but…” They took in a shaky breath. “I just want to fix it…” 

“Yeesh,” Susie whispered under her breath. “That’s… cool of you? But, like, not really anything you can do, right? If there’s no one who can fix shit around, then-”

“WAIT!” the Swatchling burst out suddenly. Her color jumped all the way up to yellow in her sudden excitement. “You could help me!” 

“I- huh?” Susie asked.

“Yes! Everyone in Castle Town’s heard about it by now! How you fixed up Mr. Tenna after he was gravely injured!” 

“Oh, no, I didn’t-”

“The Darkners from TV World were talking all about it! They said you were amazing!”

“But it wasn’t-”

“If you can fix Mr. Tenna you can definitely fix my brother’s Rad.io!” The Swatchling beamed down at her in excitement and she wilted under the force of their gaze. 

“I, uh, dunno if I’d be able to-”

“Please, just take a look?” the Swatchling begged. “No one else is going to have an opening for weeks! It’s… okay if you can’t fix it, I know it’s not the same kind of machinery as Mr. Tenna is, it’s fine if you don’t… I just really don’t want to let my brother down…” Oh fuck, fuck shit fuuuuck, what did she do here? She had to say no, that was the way to go. She wasn’t going to be able to fix the radio, she had no idea what she was doing. Say no. Say no. 

“I, uh… I guess I can take a look. If you want.” FUCK, that wasn’t what she’d been supposed to say at all! 

The Swatchling lit up, turning bright red. They thrust the Rad.io into her hands eagerly, grinning ‘ear to ear.’ 

“Oh thank you! Thank you so much, I won’t forget this! You really are a hero!” 

“Yeaaaah,” Susie said. 

“Oh I owe you everything! Thank you thank you thank you!” Susie opened her mouth to reiterate that she probably wasn’t going to be able to do anything, but the Swatchling was already skipping away, relief practically leaking off their body and onto the road. 

“Hey, hold up, I don’t even-” It was too late. The Swatchling vanished around a corner and was gone, leaving behind their brother’s Rad.io and a very perplexed Susie. “Shit,” Susie hissed. She glared at the hunk of junk in her hands as if it was somehow to blame for all of this. Actually, scratch that, it totally was. Stupid Rad.io. 

Maybe she could just pretend to give it a go? Bring it back to her room for a few days then tell the Swatchling they’d broken it so bad she couldn’t do anything about it? That was probably the easiest way to go. That was the smart thing to do. But she couldn’t get their face out of her head. The sheer relief when she’d promised she’d look, the way they’d been so guilty about it because they didn’t want to break their brother’s trust. Ugh. Ralsei and Kris’s stupid lovey-dovey shit had gotten to her worse than she thought. 

But what was she supposed to do? She didn’t know the first thing about electronics, much less how to fix them! Chances were she would just break the thing worse if she started trying to work on it. She didn’t fix things, she broke them. Sure, she had healing magic now, but she couldn’t exactly heal the radio. Just like she hadn’t been able to heal Tenna. The only way she’d been able to fix Tenna was because of-

She froze as the idea hit her. Maybe she didn’t have to fix the thing at all. She could help the Swatchling after all, as long as she played her cards right. They were on better terms now, right? He’d protected her fridge and stuff, and he’d been willing to talk to her yesterday. And he’d said he enjoyed doing this kind of stuff. ‘Old times sake’ or whatever. Susie may not be a mechanic… but she did know a mechanic. This… might just work. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------

A few minutes later found Susie back in her room, Rad.io set carefully on her floor as she tried to decide on her next move. She definitely didn’t want to strangle him again. But she had no idea if he’d actually come out if she asked him. He didn’t really seem to like being out and about. Or maybe he just didn’t like being out while Jevil was out, because of course he had weird history with the clown too. At this point, she was going to be more surprised if they ran into someone Spamton didn’t know. And hate. He seemed to hate pretty much everyone. Except Kris, it seemed, but he had tried to kill them, so she really didn’t know. 

Deciding that she had very little to lose, she set the Dealmaker back on her bed. She took the Jevilstail off too, mostly because it felt weird to keep one of them on without the other. They kind of felt like a package deal to her now, which she was sure Spamton would resent. Jevil would probably love it though. 

“Okay,” she said, more to herself than either of them. She stared at the Dealmaker, trying to ascertain if it was staring back. She couldn’t tell. “Uh. Hey.” There was, as expected, no response. “I wanna talk to you ‘bout something. You, uh… wanna come out?” The Dealmaker remained perfectly still and unmoving. She huffed out a sigh, glancing around the room for answers. Realistically, she knew it was up to him. She wasn’t going to threaten him again. She just… really didn’t want to let that Swatchling down. They’d asked her to help them. To fix something. She wanted to help them. 

She turned back to the Rad.io, trying to figure out what part of it was even broken in the first place. Part of it looked a bit dented, and closer inspection revealed a panel on the back that didn’t fully click into place, but other than that, she had no idea. It was entirely incomprehensible. Of course it was. She didn’t know why she’d thought she might be able to see anything. Who was she kidding. She didn’t-

“HEeY HAY H EY! LIgHT NER!” Susie jumped at the sudden noise, barely catching herself from tripping and stepping on the Rad.io. She whirled around, finding the Dealmaker on her bed replaced by the decrepit little puppet that inhabited it. He had his hands on his hips, and the corners of his mouth were stretched into the widest smile she’d seen on him yet. 

“Were you waiting until I turned around so you could fucking scare me!?” Susie snarled. Spamton tipped his head back and let out one of his wild, grating laughs, which was about all the confirmation she needed. “YOU LITTLE SHIT!” She lunged for him and he easily darted out of the way, causing her to bang her arms against the bed instead. It was soft, at least. 

“I [Will and testament] NEITHER [[Confirm]] NOrR [[Access denied]]!” Spamton chirped, still laughing to himself. 

“Oh you think you’re reaaaal funny,” Susie growled. 

“IM [Top 10 most famous comedians],” Spamton replied, brushing imaginary dust off of his blazer. Actually it probably wasn’t imaginary, considering the state of the thing. 

“Har har,” Susie said, waving him off. Still, she couldn’t help but feel the smallest hints of some strange, warm fuzzy feeling at the fact that he’d actually showed up. She’d felt like they were doing better since the last time they talked, but having it confirmed was nice. She didn’t want to be walking around wearing a guy that hated her guts. 

“I [[Tell it like it is]] YOuE,” Spamton added. “YOU [Folks] COUld LEARN A [Thing One]     FORM TYOUR OLD PAL SPAMTON G.                 SPAMTON.” 

“Oh, sure,” Susie drawled. He turned his nose up at her, crossing his arms in distaste. 

“SOmOENES [[Jealousy]],” he said. 

“What? Of that cheap jumpscare? Please. I’ve been jumpscaring people since before you were born,” Susie snarled. He turned to give her his best deadpan stare.

“IM [[Anti-aging cream]] TAHN YOU. ByY [The song of the new decade].” 

“It’s a metaphor,” she said. 

“[[Incorrect buzzer]].”

“Nope, I’m right,” she said, knowing damn well she wasn’t. Spamton seemed to realize this was a pointless battle, because instead of responding, he hopped off the bed and crept his way over to the Rad.io curiously. Susie watched him go, feeling a bit of the nervousness from earlier creep back in. “Uh, be careful with that.” 

“[Broken], RIGHT?” 

“Yeah.” He’d probably been listening in, now that she thought about it. She was pretty sure he was always listening at this point. It didn’t seem like he ever went to ‘sleep’ or whatever Jevil did. “That’s… actually what I wanted to ask you about.” He turned around from where he’d crouched by the Rad.io, watching her expectantly. “You, uh, saw what happened, right?” Another loud laugh was her answer. 

“SSAw THE [Hole in one]!” he confirmed. “YOU JU ST COULDNT [Fight back] THAT [[Peer pressure]] AND [How to tell you’re being guilt tripped]! HAEHAEHAHE! CAnT T BE A [People pleaser] IN THIS PLACE, KID! [Kindness] IS THE eFIRST [Step stool] TO bEBTRAYAL. SsOON YOULL HAVE [Nothing] AND [No one]! AbaNDONED FOR THE [Slime]! HEAAHEAERAHHAE. EVERYoneES JUST LOOKiNG oUT FO R [[Yourself]]!” 

“Geez, dude,” Susie muttered. He shrugged. 

“CANT LIET THEM TAKE [Advantageous position] OF YOUu, [[Scary Monsters]]!” He tapped the Rad.io lightly, realizing something. “AVtANGE OF [False promises]!! DO YoO>U EVEN H4Ve THE [First thought] HOW TO [Repair manual] THISs [Hunk of junk]!?” A loud giggle crackled out of his voicebox. 

“I panicked, okay!?” Susie snapped. “They wouldn’t let me talk!” Spamton continued to laugh at her misfortune. “Look, that’s why I need you.” Only then did he finally stop, head tilting as he began to pay closer attention. “I was wondering if, uh… you could fix it?” Spamton froze, his hand slowly coming up to point at his chest. 

“M<3? [Y]?” 

“Well, you’re a mechanic and stuff, right? You said you used to fix stuff. I figured maybe you’d know how?” For a moment, Spamton remained exactly where he was, giving no indication one way or the other. Then, his expression darkened. 

“IS THIS [[Equal payment]] FoOR EHTTHE [Pancake mix] yeST33RDaY?” he hissed. “ShODULVS [Know how] IT WAS [Deals too good to be true!].” 

“What? No!” Susie said quickly. “No, the Flapjax yesterday was free! I said it was free! No… weird freaky deals or whatever.” Spamton looked unconvinced. “Look, dude, you don’t gotta if you don’t wanna. I just… don’t wanna let them down, y’know?” Spamton’s teeth clicked together as he thought this over. Susie tugged at her bracelets nervously, waiting for him to come to a decision. He sure was taking his sweet time deciding here. 

“Here, we can make a deal if you want,” she tried. That seemed to get his attention. “Anything you want outta the fridge if you fix that thing. How’s that sound?” Spamton turned slightly, looking over at the fridge. Just as she’d expected, the offer seemed to be really tempting him. He had to be starving, didn’t he? As far as she was aware, the only stuff he’d eaten since they’d met him was the soda and Flapjax she gave him. Not exactly a full meal by any stretch of the imagination, and when it came to ‘full meal,’ Susie was pretty good at stretching the imagination. 

“AANYTHIng?” 

“Sure, dude,” Susie said. Was there anything in there she didn’t want him touching? She didn’t think so. As long as he didn’t eat all of the cake Ralsei had left her. He might do that, actually. 

“dDEAL!!!!” Spamton declared suddenly, leaping to his feet and grabbing her hand to shake it. She expected him to beeline for the fridge, but he instead returned right to the Rad.io, rubbing his hands together as he took it in. He knelt down, running his hands over it, taking it in with barely contained excitement. It was strange. She hadn’t expected him to be this into it. She’d been reasonably sure he enjoyed his mechanic work to some degree, but he was nearly vibrating. Weird little freak. 

“IMM GOinG TO [Needs] [[Hardware store]],” he said after a moment. 

“Huh?” 

“TOOLS,” he said. He tapped the Rad.io contemplatively. “[[Half off screwdrivers]]. adND [Peachy-keen]- [Claymore]- [Cat]-” A cough. “PL<<#IERS. AT LEAST.” 

“Uhhh… cool?” Susie said. “Where do I… get that?” He shrugged. “WELL I DON’T KNOW, MAN, I DON’T DO THIS SHIT!” she wailed. “You’re the mechanic, asshole!” She almost thought she saw him flinch as she said it. 

“FIenE, FI NE,” he said. “LET mEM [Thinking about college?]!” He placed his hand on his chin in an almost comical display of concentration. Susie covered her mouth to hide a small snicker at the image. There was something about the severity of his expression that was in complete contradiction with his strange appearance. Or maybe it was the simple intensity of it. Seeing him focus intently on something that wasn’t killing her.

“[Eureka]!” he declared after a minute, his plastic fingers clicking together in a vague approximation of a snap. “IK NWO WHERE YOU cAN [Locate] [Half-price toolbox]!” 

“Arright. Just lemme know and I’ll go get ‘em,” Susie said. Spamton opened his mouth to answer, only to halt suddenly, the word catching in his mouth. He grimaced, closing his mouth sharply before opening it to try again. 

“[Trash heap] ShOULD STLiL [Possesion] HISO LD [[Maintenance]]!” 

“Tenna?” 

“[Correct-a-mundo]!” He drew back a bit, tapping his fingers together. Closing off, just like he always did when Tenna came up. 

“Oookay. Cool. I’ll go ask him then.” 

“BUT dDONT [Mentioned] ABOUT [Number 1 rated salesman 1997]!!!” Spamton yelped, leaping to his feet. 

“Dude, relax. I’m not gonna say anything. I’ll just say I’m… working on a project or whatever.” Spamton’s shoulders sagged in relief and Susie rolled her eyes. “Chill. We made a deal, remember?” 

“R- [Right on the money],” he confirmed. 

“Exactly. Don’t worry about it.” She turned back to the door. “Don’t break anything while I’m gone.” He didn’t respond. She turned back around. “I’m serious.” 

“YEHAH YEAH,” he muttered. “NO [Breaking and entering].” She glared at him for a few more seconds anyway, just for good measure.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This time, Susie had finally figured out how to not barge directly into Tenna’s room without permission. Taking her cue from Ralsei earlier, she stopped right at the frame of the door, where the sensors wouldn’t notice her, and knocked there. The door, just as she’d predicted, remained closed. Of course, this didn’t stop her from then banging on the door frame as loud as possible while shouting Tenna’s name. Couldn't be too polite. 

“S-SUSIE!” Tenna’s head shot out of the door, nearly at eye-level. Susie yelped and jumped back. 

“FUCKING SHIT, WHY IS EVERYONE JUMPSCARING ME TODAY!?” she wailed. Tenna’s good antenna curled in confusion but she didn’t grace him with an explanation. She took in his position more fully now, realizing that he hadn’t shrunk down. He was instead bent into a near perfect right angle, head turned to face her. “Uh. Why are you standing like that?” 

“Like what?” Tenna asked. Susie gestured in his general direction, raising an eyebrow. He cleared his throat and straightened back up to his full height. “You, uh, just… startled me, is all.” Susie rolled her eyes. “Anyway! What brings you back so- soon?” 

“Oh. Uh, yeah. I was wondering if I could borrow something?” Tenna lit up instantly, ushering her into his room. 

“Of course! Anything at all, whatever you need! We’ve got it all, folks! Knick-knacks, whirly-gigs, thingamabobs, the whole shebang!” Susie snorted at the little jazz hands he was doing. “No whirly-gigs?” he prodded. 

“Nah,” she said. “I was just wondering if you had any tools? For, like… mechanicking?” Tenna’s screen flickering in confusion and he tilted his head slightly as he considered her. 

“In what sense?” 

“Just, uh, one of the Swatchlings had a broken radio- Rad.io? I dunno. But anyway, they kinda gave it to me, and I said I’d try to fix it, but, uh. I don’t have any tools and shit.” Tenna gave her an odd look and she shifted her weight between her feet uncomfortably under the scrutiny. “Uh. Tenna?” Her voice seemed to snap him out of whatever he’d been thinking about. He shook his head sharply, antennae straightening out. 

“Tools! Yes, of course! I should have some old…” His voice wavered. “Ahem. I think I have an old toolkit lying around. Far too small for me to really use effectively, which is, um. Which is why I’ve been putting off maintenance, a-actually! Yes, that’s… why!” Too small. Perhaps because it had once belonged to a little puppet. Now that she’d figured them out, everything was making a hell of a lot more sense. 

“Just get new ones, dude,” Susie told him as he guided her deeper into the room. 

“I would, but there’s only so much time in the day! I’m a well-oiled machine, Susie dear. I’ve been managing just fine.” Susie went to argue, but he cut her off with a sharp snap as he located what he was looking for. 

“Aha!” He dug through some of his boxes and it occurred to Susie for the first time that he hadn’t unpacked… anything. Even the VHS tapes they’d watched together were all back in their box. Another reminder piled on top of all the other ones. That he’d be out of here soon. No Tenna to run to when she and Kris forgot to do their homework, no Tenna to host old movie-marathons, no Tenna making Flapjax in the morning. Which was how it was supposed to be. Of course it was. 

“Here we are!” he announced. He pulled something out of one of the boxes, holding up a large leath bag. Or, at least, large for someone in Susie’s weight class, Tenna’s hands still dwarfed the thing. It was clearly well-worn, scuffed and scratched all across the surface. The clasp that held it together was broken and it was instead held closed by a piece of rope tied around the body of it. Well-loved, was the descriptor that came to mind.

Tenna’s entire expression shifted as he looked down at it, his face tightening as if to fight back any attempt at a more revealing change. He shrank down slightly, his good antenna pressing flat against his head. She was pretty sure she could see his hands shake where he held it. 

“Tenna?” she prodded. He flinched at her voice, antenna curling awkwardly as he tried to straighten it back out. 

“S-sorry! Must’ve, ha, got lost in thought for a second there,” he said, voice wavering. “I haven’t…” He choked on his words and took a second to clear his throat. “Haven’t pulled this out in a while. I’m surprised little Ralsei even thought to bring it!” His fingers curled into the leather almost protectively, and Susie was once again hit with just how bizarre whatever history those two had must be. She’d been ragging on Spamton for all of his secrets, but Tenna was just as bad. Whatever had happened with Spamton, the deal with Mike whoever he actually was, not to mention a mysterious secret business partner, who had been so thoroughly eradicated from TV World that it had taken this long to even learn he had existed at all. Secrets upon secrets, with the single connecting thread that they seemed to be eating Tenna alive. But at least she knew one of them now. Maybe she could use that. Maybe she could help. 

“Why do you have those if they’re too small?” she began, trying to test the waters. Tenna jumped at the question and his screen flickered so harshly it almost shut off. 

“It’s not… J-just-” They belonged to someone else. Come on, just say it. Tell me. He gritted his teeth, turning away from her. “Golly, I don’t know what’s going on with me today. Haha, don’t mind me Susie! Getting all worked up over a bag of old tools! How… silly of me.” 

“Hey, dude-”

“My apologies!” Tenna squeaked. The bag was shoved into her arms with enough force that she nearly toppled over. “Look at me, holding you up when you clearly have an important project to take care of! Learning repair work! I knew you had the heart of a mechanic! Ahaha, you fixed me after all! I know you had help, but still!” He was gesturing so quickly that his hands blurred in Susie’s vision. He looked like he physically couldn’t stop moving, or maybe that he was afraid to. Susie hugged the bag to her body, adjusting her grip to distribute the weight better. 

“Uh, yeah,” she said. “Thanks?” 

“Of course! Any time, any place, whatever you need, sweetheart!” He glanced down at the tools in her hands and his smile twitched, straining at the edges. “Anyway, I won’t keep you any longer! Go fix up that radio! I’m sure you’ll do wonderfully!” 

“Yeah…” Susie said. She looked down at the toolbag. “Hey, Tenna-”

“YES!?” They both flinched at the volume and Tenna drew back, tugging at his collar sheepishly. “Aha. Yes, Susie?”

“...Nevermind,” Susie decided. “I’ll see you later, okay?” 

“U-uh, yes! Yes, of course. Stop by whenever you like! I’ll be in here. I’m, um. Always in here!” He waved her goodbye as she left and she tried not to visibly shudder. She was royally screwing up this whole thing with him, wasn’t she? He seemed to enjoy spending time with her and the Fun Gang, but… he wasn’t happy. He wouldn’t be happy. He needed a new home, someone to watch him and let him do what he loved. This wasn’t enough. She… wasn’t enough.

She slammed the heel of her hand into her forehead, trying to jostle the thoughts out of her skull before she lost sight of things. She could unpack whatever that was later. Right now, she had a job to do. Something smaller. Something easier. Something she could fix. Or… something Spamton could fix, she supposed. She wasn’t even… doing anything. Just like fixing Tenna, just like with the group project, everyone else was doing all the work while she just rode on their coattails. Somehow, she’d never felt guilty about that before. 

Jevil hadn’t gotten up to terrorize Spamton while she was gone, which was honestly a bit of a surprise. The puppet himself was walking circles around the Rad.io when she reentered her room, like a cat stalking its prey. She could hear him muttering under his breath, but he broke off as soon as he heard her enter the room, head snapping around almost 180 degrees at the sound of the door opening. She was torn between finding that cool or unsettling. Maybe a healthy dose of both. 

“Got ‘em!” she announced, holding up the bag. Spamton’s gaze traced down from her face to the toolbag in her hand, mouth dropping open in quiet surprise. He stared at her for a good several seconds, long enough for her to start shifting uncomfortably. “Do you want ‘em or not!?” she demanded finally. 

“HE KEPT THOS E [Two by two]?” Spamton breathed. 

“What do you mean? I thought you knew? That’s why you told me to go to him, right?” Spamton’s jaw creaked as he opened and closed it silently, like he was literally chewing on whatever he wanted to say. 

“ASSUMED HED [[Replacement parts]] WITH [Brand new models],” Spamton told her. “THOSE ARE [Soooo last decade].” He gaped at the voice interruption, utterly affronted. Susie laughed at him, which he couldn’t really complain about considering what he’d done to her earlier. “AT LEAST. A DECADE. OLD,” he forced out. 

“I mean, he kept the blue thing, right?” Susie prodded. “The… egg or whatever?” 

“PIPIS,” Spamton told her. 

“Yeah, that.” Spamton scratched at his neck, eyeing the toolbag like it might jump out and attack him. Considering it was associated with him, the probability of that happening was pretty high, actually. Sentient toolbag with a thirst for blood wouldn’t even break into Susie’s ‘top five weirdest Spamton details.’ 

“[@#*$]ING [Old timer],” Spamton spat after a moment. “TOO [Sentimentality] FOR HI>>S OW9)N. G--#OOD.” Susie didn’t comment on that, mostly because she had no real insight to offer. 

“I guess?” she said finally. Spamton’s attention snapped back to her and he shook himself as he refocused. 

“ENOUG H ABOUT [[CRTs]],” he snapped. “YOUR OLD [Chum] SPAMTON G. MADE YOU A [Deals too good to reufse!]! [It is now time!] TO> SHOW YOU WHAT [This old] [[Email]] CAN DO!!!” He skittered over, holding his hands out expectantly. Susie glanced down at the bag in her hands, then back down at him. She raised an eyebrow. 

“You sure, dude?” Susie asked. “This is pretty heavy. Might crush you.” Spamton’s entire head did a little circle, making perfectly sure that she was aware of how hard he was rolling his eyes. He made a grabby gesture with his outstretched hands. “Your funeral,” Susie said. 

She dropped the bag into his outstretched arms and he stumbled back, nearly collapsing under its weight. To her surprise, he still somehow managed to stay on his feet, though she could see his arms shaking with the strain. He hauled the toolbag over to where the Rad.io was still lying on her floor and plopped it onto the ground. She chose, in a rare moment of consideration, not to comment on how winded he looked. 

“LETS GET A [Looksee] ATTHE [Goods]!” he chirped. He eagerly untied the rope binding the bag shut and dove inside, his entire upper body vanishing into the bag as he dug through it. 

“Don’t drown,” Susie commented. Spamton ignored her, talking to himself too quickly for her to pick anything up. After a bit, he emerged from the bag and held up a screwdriver victoriously. 

“FOUND Y<<OU!” Spamton shouted. He cradled the tool in his palms, running his thumb along it lovingly. “ALL THIS [Time flies] AND YOUR3 STIL [Delovely] AS EV33R!” Susie snorted at the display and he shot her a glare. “YOU WNAT THIS [[Hunk of junk]] FIXED UP OR [Not my monkeys]!?” 

“Sorry, sorry,” Susie said, making sure to shoot him the smuggest grin she could muster. Just so he was fully aware that she was not sorry and would be making fun of him for this later. Once he’d fixed the Rad.io and couldn’t hold it over her. He gave her a dismissive wave, tugging the bag closer as he sat down by the Rad.io to get to work. 

She watched silently as he unscrewed the back panel and gently set it aside, revealing the inner workings of the device. She leaned closer to get a look before she remembered she didn’t actually know shit and drew back. Spamton leaned forward, grabbing something else out of his toolbag, and Susie turned away in embarrassment before he noticed her staring. 

With all of her tasks exhausted, she didn’t really know what to do with herself anymore. She didn’t particularly want to just leave Spamton in her room alone. He’d been well-behaved so far, but it always made her nervous, knowing there was someone in her area without her there to monitor. But there wasn’t exactly anything else to do. 

Her brain, unbidden, suggested that she go hang out with Tenna again. Sure, she’d been bugging him a lot that day, but he’d probably enjoy watching more movies. Or having another tea party or something. But after how he’d been with the toolbag earlier, she would feel weird showing back up to bother him. Besides, that wouldn’t solve the Spamton-in-her-room-alone problem, and she seriously doubted that Spamton would want to tag along. 

She ended up grabbing a couple Flapjax from the bag in her fridge and plopping onto her bed to eat them. It probably didn’t count as much of a dinner, considering they were a) pancakes and b) Dark World food that didn’t actually satiate her real hunger. Then again, Susie probably wouldn’t have had much of a dinner either way, so she’d take the weird magic pancakes, thank you very much. She ate slowly, listening to the quiet tapping of Spamton’s plastic fingers on the Rad.io and his occasional quiet muttering. At least one of them was having fun.

As she sat there, she felt the strange want creep back in, that weird, uncomfortable feeling that yearned to know more about what was going on. Some vestiges of when she’d been younger, probably, and hadn’t accepted that she was an utterly hopeless student. The same kind that had pushed her to learn healing magic. She wanted to understand what Spamton was doing. How he’d fixed Tenna, how he was fixing the Rad.io, all of it. She wouldn’t though. She knew she wouldn’t. Just like when she’d been trying to learn how to read as a kid, or starting math a year behind the other kids. 

She scarfed down the last of the Flapjax to wash down the taste of whatever sour feeling was creeping up her throat now. There was no point wallowing in things that couldn’t be changed. She had her own set of skills. Like beating the shit out of people. And healing, she supposed. The outlier to the rule. The one thing someone had managed to teach her. 

Her eyes skated back over the bed to where the Jevilstail was still lying, inanimate. Maybe she should see if she could get Jevil to wake up. They could play card games or something. That seemed like something he might enjoy, or maybe she was just stereotyping. He’d at least make things interesting, though Spamton probably wouldn’t appreciate his presence. Still, it could be-

“[@#$&].” Susie was snapped out of her thoughts by a sharp yell from across the room. “[@(#*], [*$@&], [@#&$].” Spamton’s voice was shaking, angrier than even he usually sounded. The static seemed to have picked up too, vibrating through the room. Susie jumped off the bed, turning to look at the puppet on her floor. Spamton was still sitting in front of the Rad.io, but he wasn’t working. One hand was clutching something she couldn’t see, and the other was curled into a fist, slamming repeatedly against his leg hard enough to look like it hurt.

“Woah, dude, what’s up!?” she asked. Spamton didn’t respond, nor did he turn to look at her. He stumbled to his feet, throwing some tool Susie didn’t know the name of at the floor. It bounced with a sharp, metallic clang before sliding into the wall. Spamton’s hands shot to his hair, tugging at it with enough force that Susie could see pieces tearing out. He was still talking to himself, censored curse words that only seemed to frustrate him further. 

“Dude, chill!” Susie shouted. He didn’t even seem to hear her. He yanked one hand free, taking a chunk of hair with it. Susie darted around to stand in front of him and found his glasses entirely obscured by static. His free hand whistled through the air, knocking against his temple repeatedly. Susie flinched at the sound as his fist clacked against his skull, as if she’d been the one being hit. The scene was entirely foreign, entirely unlike anything she knew about him yet. Terrifyingly foreign. And yet, somehow, horrifyingly familiar. “STOP IT, MAN!” She lunged forward without thinking, just needing it to stop, grabbing him by the wrist just as he wound up for another hit. 

He froze entirely at the contact, his face snapping up to look at her. For a moment he just stood there, breathing heavily as he watched her with some inscrutable emotion painting over his face. Then, a line of color sparked across his glasses and he yanked his hand out of her grip. He stumbled away from her. If she didn’t know any better, she’d say he almost looked scared. 

“What the fuck was that!?” Susie demanded. He winced at the volume and she took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down. She clasped her hands, trying to figure out what to do. She had to be calm, right? Try not to freak him out any further. Try not to think about what this reminded her of. She wished Noelle was there. Noelle had a calming kind of presence. She was the kind of person that birds landed on out of nowhere, who could probably save a dying plant just by giving it some encouraging words. A far more comforting person than Susie the school bully. But Susie the school bully was all there was, so Spamton was just going to have to deal. 

“Oookay,” she began, very obviously stalling for time while she wracked her brain to figure out her next move. At least Spamton seemed to focused on trying to smooth back his tousled hair to notice the waver in her voice. “Soooo… is the Rad.io like… completely fucked?” That seemed to be the most reasonable explanation for why he’d gotten pissed, right? The thing was just beyond repair and he got frustrated? 

Slowly, Spamton turned, looking down at the Rad.io and the miscellaneous tools scattered around it. His hands clenched and unclenched at his sides. Susie could see a couple strands of hair caught between the joints. 

“...NO,” he said finally, forcing the word out as if someone had chained his mouth shut. 

“Huh?” 

“ITS nOT [[Beyond saving]],” he said. The intrusion was different than the usual ones. It didn’t sound like some random ad like she’d gotten used to. It sounded more like the… other ones. The ones where his mouth would fall open and he’d scream for help in this raw, unfamiliar voice. She didn’t like it. 

“Oh. That’s… good?” she tried. He tsked, kicking at the floor angrily. “So if the thing’s fine, what the hell happened?” Spamton’s jaw clicked shut and he turned his head away. Honestly, she didn’t know what she’d expected. But she’d had enough interactions with him now that she was pretty sure she had him figured out. He was a stubborn bastard, but Susie had stubbornness in spades. She just had to wait him out. 

Sure enough, it only took a little bit of particularly intense, judgemental staring for Spamton to give in. A long, bitcrushed sigh rattled out of his mouth and he glanced over his shoulder, back to where Susie was standing. He made his way back over to the radio, plucking his screwdriver back off the ground and clutching it to his chest as if it was a teddy bear. 

“CANT [Fix] IT,” he said. His voice was sounding better, though she could still detect an uncharacteristic nervousness to his movements. Not that she blamed him, at that point. 

“I thought you just said it’s not-”

“NO,” Spamton snarled, whirling on her. “IT CAN BE [Fixer upper]. I CANT [[Save]] IT!” Susie blinked slowly. 

“Like- You don’t know how?” He groaned in frustration, one hand coming up to tug at his hair again. Whatever stability he’d been able to muster collapsed in an instant, his mouth falling open as the tirade poured out of him. 

“ITS TOO [Itty bitty]. A--E#LL [Soft] [Delicate] [Teeny] PARTS [And services]!” He waved at the Rad.io angrily. “DON TKN2(OW [Why on earthh] I [Believe in yourself] I C.,OU>>@#LD STILL- I COUL@#(dfD STILL- I COULD STILL- [!#$&].” He waved his hand in front of her, the segments clicking together as he moved. “THIS [Disgusting] BO->@DY. THIS [Shambling corpse] OF A [Long-nosed doll].” He let out a laugh, loud and angry and almost painful. 

“THAT S HOW [The cookie crumbles], KID!!! ON E DAY YOUrE [King of the mountain], NEXT DAY YUORE JUST A [[Broken]] [Marionette]! ABANDONED TO HHTHE [Slime], LEF TWITH [[Nothing and no one]].” His hands were shaking so badly now that the screwdriver fell out of his grip and clattered to the floor. “HAEHAEHAEHAHAHEAE! NOTHING>k. NOT [Even Steven] YOURE OLD [Hot bod].” 

Susie watched him with silent, but growing, panic, even more lost than before. He was glitching badly now, his body twitching as he stood there. He didn’t even seem to notice it happening, or if he did, he didn’t care enough to acknowledge it. He stared down at his hands, his laughs quiet and spasming. They almost sounded like sobs, though his face was free of tears and his smile still stretched his face as far as it would go. She hated everything about it. Geez, what was she supposed to do here, she hardly knew the guy, how was she supposed to help with this? 

“O-okay, hang on,” Susie hissed. “Just… gimme a second.” She tried to pull back and dig through everything he had said. He’d been talking so quickly and with so many interruptions that she could hardly string together a coherent thought out of it. What was the fucking deal with him? He said it was fixable but he couldn’t fix it, but he knew how to fix it, so why couldn’t he fix it? 

“MY. HANDS.” 

“H-huh?” Susie asked, startled out of her impressive attempt at forming a coherent thought. “What?” Spamton gritted his teeth as he seemed to manually drag himself back into the present. His glasses flickered and he tugged at the fraying sleeves of his blazer, pointedly avoiding her gaze. He looked almost guilty, or maybe ashamed was a better word. Embarrassed that she’d been privy to his outburst. She knew she would’ve felt like shit if she had a breakdown in front of him. Or anybody, frankly. Made sense that the feeling was mutual. Maybe, part of her whispered, whatever shreds of sanity he’d gotten back after NEO weren’t as much of a blessing as she’d thought they’d be. 

“THEYRE NOT AS [Roll for dexterity] AS THEY [Once upon a time] TO BE,” he explained, slowly and deliberately, as if every word was a potential landmine that would send him spiraling again. “TOO [Small]. T>WO [[Feeling stiff?]].” He gestured to the Rad.io. “CNAT [Do the work] WITH [[Small components]] LIKE BEFORE. NOT WIHT THIS [Dad bod], NOT [Constructed] OUT OF [@#&*]ING [Recyclables].” 

“Oh,” Susie breathed. She made her way over to the Rad.io, leaning down to look at it. Crisscrossing wires and small connection points, all clearly requiring a delicate touch. She could understand it now, how difficult it might be for Spamton to work with it. Small, stiff fingers that made careful movement difficult. Articulated joints for shit to get caught on. And being made of plastic probably made things difficult to grab. But then that raised the question…

“How’d you do this stuff before then?” she asked. Spamton tilted his head uncertainly. “Like, how come all that stuff’s only a problem now? Did you have tricks for it before? Is it ‘cause you’re old now?” Spamton stiffened. 

“I [Resent] TAHT<,” he told her. She recognized the strategy instantly, the attempt to brush the whole thing off with a familiar brash attitude. Just pretend it’s fine and it’ll go away. The small pang of guilt she felt wasn’t enough to wash away the relief she felt as the conversation found its way back to familiar territory, nor was it enough to stop her from letting it. She wasn’t built for that emotional shit. Neither, it seemed, was he. 

“Dude, you’re, like, ancient.” She actually had no idea how old he was. At least Toriel age, she assumed. Though now that she’d said it, he was probably going to be in his twenties or something, just as a cosmic fuck you to Susie specifically. Spamton’s expression darkened in familiar offense. Anger that felt far less dangerously visceral than before. 

“AND YOUER                          !” Spamton shot back. What the intended insult was, Susie had no idea. She barked out a sharp laugh and he crossed his arms haughtily. 

“I’m serious, though,” she reminded him. “‘Cause, like, if you had tricks for it before, maybe we can figure it out and stuff. Improv-style.” Spamton leveled an unimpressed glare in her direction for a few seconds. Then, his expression shifted as he seemed to realize she was being genuine. 

“NO [Tips and tricks],” he said. “THE WHOLE [[Figure]] WAS [Make a change].” He tapped his jaw. “[Number 1 rated salesman] WASNT ALWAYS A FRe33AKDSHOW [Dummy].” 

“Wait, wait, hang on,” Susie said, holding up her hands. “Like, you weren’t a puppet before?” 

“DING DING DING!” Spamton announced. “THEREy YA GO, [[Scary Monsters]]!” 

“Then what were you!?” she asked. He opened his mouth to reply, but she beat him to it. “Wait, you were one of those Addison guys, right!? I remember we talked to them about you! I kinda thought they just knew you, but you were one! Holy shit that makes so much more sense.” Spamton’s throat clicked in displeasure, but he seemed to stay steady. 

“DONT [Compare and contrast] ME TO THOsE [[Cheapskate]]!!” he snarled. “THOS E [Ungrateful] DEGENRERATES mEAND [Nada] TO ME. JEALOUSS [Freeloaders], ALL OF THE3#M!” 

“Geez,” Susie teased. “Is there anybody you like!?” Spamton crossed his arms. 

“WHY SHOULD I? IVE BEEN [Beat] ON, [Stepped] ON, [Kicked while you’re down], [Spit] ON, [@#*$]ED OVER, AND [[Is anyone there?]] OFFEREd DSO MuCH AS A [Stale bagels]!!! YOUVE GOT TO [Fend for yourself], KID! CANT GIVE A [@#^$] ABOUT ANYoNE ELSE BEUT [Me me me]! I COdlu NT CARE LESS IF THEY [[Deceased]] TONIGHT!”

“You’re kind of fucked up, you know that?” Susie informed him. He laughed at her, but at least it sounded more amused and less like he was about to cry. “Little freak.” Spamton shook his head in displeasure and Susie turned away from him, returning her attention to the Rad.io. 

She couldn’t tell if Spamton had made any progress at all, or if he’d been unable to do much of anything. It was nonsense to her. And if Spamton couldn’t fix it, then that was that. She’d have to just give it back to the Swatchling, still broken, and tell them to wait for someone else to have the time to look at it. She hated the thought of it. Of watching the Swatchling’s excited expression fall back into hopelessness. Of disappointing someone who’d trusted her. But that was how it was. In hindsight, she probably should have seen this coming. That was who she was. 

Almost unconsciously, she reached out and took one of the wires in her hand. She rolled it in her fingers a bit, analyzing the way it connected back into the rest of the device. After a moment, she let the wire drop from her hands, an almost impossibly stupid idea creeping into her head. It was undeniably moronic. Destined to fail. But if they were already out of options then there wasn’t really anything to lose. She pulled that pragmatic explanation over herself like a blanket, using it to smother the part of her that wanted to know. 

“D’ya think you could maybe… like, show me what to do?” Susie asked before she could second guess herself. She glanced up at Spamton, who was staring at her in confusion. “Like, you tell me where things go or what I gotta fix, and then I can do it?” She flexed her hands for emphasis. When he still didn’t respond, she felt her resolve chipping away, a bead of sweat rolling down the back of her neck. “Just, since I kinda promised I’d-”

“[Okie dokie],” Spamton said, the clear dejection in his demeanor at complete odds with the chipper voice of the vocal intrusion. Still, agreement was agreement! He approached her, bringing a hand up to his glasses. “LET ME JUST [[Compress]] AND ILL-”

“Actually!” Susie cut him off. The small amount of code he’d already begun dismantling reassembled itself into his hand. “Uh. I was thinking maybe you could, like… explain it? And stuff?” She could feel her face heating up as she said it. It felt like such a childish request. Especially knowing how hopeless she was. The corners of his mouth turned downward slightly. 

“IM NTO EXACLT Y [Communications degree], KID,” he reminded her, tapping his throat for emphasis. “CANT [[Explainer]] [@#*$]. WONT MAKE [Sense and sensibility].” Susie grimaced at the way the statement stung. It was familiar and not, a problem she understood in principle even if the mechanics weren’t the same. But maybe… maybe that meant this could work. 

“I mean, it’s not that bad. I’ll just, like… figure it out or whatever. Just gotta be patient, right? Hey, look, it’s like… I’m pretty dumb so it’s gonna take me forever to figure stuff out, and you can’t talk good so it’s gonna take you forever to say stuff. So it like, cancels out.” She wilted a bit under the force of Spamton’s resulting blank stare, rubbing the back of her neck sheepishly. “Or not. It’s whatever, not like I care or anythi-”

“SOUNDs LIKE A [[Lost the plot]], [[Scary Monsters]]!” Spamton declared. “DONT [Snap my neck] ME WHEN THIS GO<>@ES [Down the drain]!!” 

“Wait, really?” Susie asked, cursing herself for how obviously eager she sounded. Spamton shrugged, plopping himself on the floor beside her. 

“NOTHIGN [[Looking for better ways to spend your time?]] TO DO,” he said. She could see something warring on his face, that angry frustration before fighting with some other emotion that Susie wasn’t smart enough to identify. “AND I WNAT THAT [Five course meal],” He added. He paused, scratching at his jaw. “OUR [Ne wdeal] STIL L [[Apply now!]], rRI&.>GHT?” 

“Yeah, dude,” Susie said. “You’re still basically fixing it, right? So yeah, deal’s still good.” Spamton clapped his hands together once, loudly, with a sharp plastic clack. 

“THEN WHAT’S THE [[Please hold]]!?” 

“I’M WAITING FOR YOU!?” Spamton waved her away in favor of gathering his tools back up from around him. She could see a slight tremor in his jaw as he moved, and his gaze lingered longingly on each tool he picked up. The frustration was still there, she could see it. He was just trying to push it away. Hiding it behind that false confidence and snark so he wouldn’t seem vulnerable. So he wouldn’t seem weak. Like an easy target. 

“A-_@HLRIGHT, [[Scary Monsters]],” he declared, picking up a tool that looked a bit like a pair of really poorly designed scissors, or perhaps one of those long novelty grabber toys. He reached up to tap it against her nose. “[[50% off pliers]]!” He waved the thing in front of her and she held her hand out, at which point he dropped the pliers into her waiting palm. “TIME TO GET THIS [Showtimes are on the hour] ON THE [Road work ahead]!!!!!” 

Chapter Text

“NOW YOUU [Want it need it] THE [[Real deal]]- [Ratchet]- R.>FMS-” A loud cough and the sound of plastic hitting against itself. “R. F. CABLE.” 

“Uh… that’s this one, right?” Spamton leaned closer, his nose almost brushing against the inside of the Rad.io. He glanced down at the wire in her hand, then back up at her as if to ask if she was serious. 

“THATS ThE [[Power supply]],” he told her blandly. Susie waited to see if he’d correct the intrusion, but he left it as it was. Power supply, then. “THi>>#sS [Number 1].” He tapped a wire a bit further in and Susie grabbed it. “[[Gentle breeze]]- [The soft touch]- GENTLY. HOL y [@#$&] WEASELS, KID.” Susie rolled her eyes but loosened her hold on the wire. “WERE TRYING TO [[Can he fix it?]], NOT [Ripped apart]!” 

“Okay, okay, geez, I get it,” Susie said. He crossed his arms in disdain. “Now what?” 

“[[Checkmate]] THE [Connect with people today],” Spamton reported. “C-[Connecticut]- [Constellation]- [Concord]-” 

“Connecty-bit?” Susie guessed. 

“YUES. THAT.” Susie nodded, leaning forward and tracing along the wire in her hand. Her finger found the point where the wire connected into… some other component that Spamton had probably explained earlier but that she had since forgotten. She jiggled it a bit. 

“Uh… feels kinda loose?” she said. “But might just be ‘cause it’s supposed to be like that.” Spamton shoved his head up under her arm, ignoring her yelp of protest, and tapped the connection himself. 

“[[Correct]]!” he declared. “[Loosey-goosey].” 

“Get out of my face, dipshit!” Susie snarled, shoving him away from her lightly and ignoring his amused giggles. “How do I fix it?” 

“[[The power of friendship]],” Spamton informed her dryly. Susie tried to smack him in the head but he ducked out of the way. He scurried away, burying himself in his toolbag again and rifling through it for a moment before producing the tiniest wrench Susie had ever seen. 

“You get that custom made or something?” Susie asked him. The wrench was promptly chucked at her head. She snatched it out of the air, shooting the disgruntled puppet a smug, toothy smile. 

“ITS FOoRE [[Be precise]], JACK[!@#],” he informed her. Absently, she decided she’d been fully correct in her original assessment of the man. He definitely swore more than her. And she didn’t care what he said, it counted, censored though the words may be. 

“Okay, okay, fine,” she grumbled. “What do I do with it!?” Spamton dragged his hand down his face, the plastic screeching against itself in what Susie was pretty sure was an intentional effort to piss her off further. Still, he skittered back over to her and reclaimed his place at her side, trying, and failing thanks to his small stature and lack of strength, to push her even further out of the way. 

“[[Tie it up]],” he told her. 

“Tie it?”

“NO, N>>O,” he said quickly. “T--TT>.i- TIGHT.EN.” 

“Tighten it?”

“Yes. [@#$*].” She nodded, adjusting her hold on the wrench and placing it against the connection point while Spamton watched her like a hawk, or perhaps more like a seagull that had just noticed you holding a fry. 

“Uhhh. Which way?” she asked.
“[Righty tighty lefty loosey],” Spamton told her. He slammed his mouth shut, and she was pretty sure she saw his face redden slightly at the pretty obvious fact that the specific voice clip he’d grabbed was from some kind of children’s show. 

“So, right?” she asked. He nodded in confirmation, not trusting himself to try speaking again. She stared down at the Rad.io, trying to remember which direction was which. She was right-handed, right? So then right was the direction of the hand she was holding the wrench in? She knew there was some trick about making Ls with your hands, but she could never figure out which way they were supposed to go, so that didn’t help. But she could hear Spamton’s fingers tapping on the floor impatiently, so she just took a guess. 

A few turns of the wrench quickly revealed that she had guessed wrong. 

“THATS [Left behind]!!” Spamton shrieked. 

“YEAH I FIGURED THAT OUT, ASSHOLE,” Susie shouted back. She shifted her hold on the wrench and began turning it the other way. After a few turns, she was able to feel the connection point tightening again. “Uh, how much of this am I supposed to do?” she asked. 

“UNTIL IT [[Stop and go]],” Spamton said. He paused, looking up at her to see if she’d managed to understand his meaning. She shrugged helplessly and he let out a long sigh. “OooNCE IT [Feel the breeze] LIK>>E DOING [More more more] WILL [[Crack snap pop]] ITTT.” 

“Break it?” Susie guessed. 

“[Correct]!!” Susie grimaced and continued turning the wrench. She was hardly the best person to judge when something was close to breaking. Many a toy car had been lost to her inability to know her own strength. And she couldn’t afford to break this. She’d made a promise. She turned the wrench a couple more times, until the resistance started to feel greater, then yanked her hand back as if the Rad.io was suddenly going to grow teeth and try to bite her. 

“Uh. Is that good?” she asked. Spamton once again invaded her personal space, this time crawling over her leg so he could lie over her thigh and reach the component. She considered picking him up by the back of his shirt like a scruffed cat, but he finished what he was doing before she could act on the impulse. 

“ALL [Good as gold]!” he informed her. She let out a sigh of relief and he giggled. “NOW, ON TO [Bigger and better]!” 

How long they’d been at this, Susie didn’t know. It had to have been an hour at least, probably more. Just like she’d predicted, it was slow going. Her and Spamton seemed perfectly designed to make the worst pairing possible. A guy who can’t explain things right trying to teach a girl who can’t learn things right. She’d thought maybe it would cancel out, but instead it just made everything go at a snail’s pace. 

But they were trying, and somehow, despite the slow drag of progress they were making, Susie didn’t… hate it. Spamton, she had decided, was kind of funny when he wasn’t being a dick. Or maybe he was just the amusing kind of asshole. And for all he had insulted her as he worked, he never called her stupid. Jackass, sure. Asshole, dipshit, and probably a plethora of other censored insults that would kill a nun on the spot. But never stupid. Never slow. 

Every step took forever, but by this point, they’d worked out something of a system. Spamton gave her one step at a time instead of a list of instructions for one part, because she wasn’t great at keeping track of too many instructions at once. And she made sure to wait for him to get out what he needed to say without interrupting him. She’d repeat what she understood back to him and he’d elaborate as needed, and they’d keep going until one step was done and they could move on. It was slow, but it was effective, and they weren’t exactly in any position to be picky right now. 

And Spamton sure as hell knew his stuff. Even with the glitches corrupting his speech she could tell. His entire body lit up as he explained what each component did, hands flying about erratically as he tried to illustrate with nothing to draw on. It was the first time since she’d met him that he actually seemed like a person, for lack of a better description. Someone with a life beyond the madness that had corrupted him. She doubted she was internalizing any of it, but she listened to him anyway, as best she could. Because she wanted to know something at least, and she doubted she was going to find anyone who knew more. It was fruitless, but in the moment, the fantasy was nice to indulge in. 

“NOW,” Spamton said as Susie gently replaced the wire she’d been checking. “THE [@#$*].” 

“The huh?” Susie asked. 

“WHAT THE [@#$*] THAT WA.>>SNT EVEN A [#&$^]ING [Vulgarity]!!!” Spamton yelled, waving angrily up at the ceiling. 

“You sure?” 

“YES IM [(*#&]ING SUrRE,” Spamton snapped. He coughed loudly into his hand, harsh enough that a couple pixels split off his head from the effort. “C-C-” Another, final cough. “CA. PA. CIT. ORS.” He grumbled unhappily as he finally got the word out, fingers clicking sharply against the floor. 

“Capacitors?” He nodded and Susie turned back to the Rad.io. She recognized the word from something Spamton had explained earlier, but… Actually, wait a minute. “That’s… these guys?” she asked, gesturing to the weird little metal cylinders that were scattered through the inside. She waited for a laugh and a disbelieving ‘No, that’s actually the whatever, dumbass,’ but it didn’t come. 

“YES [Indeedy!],” Spamton informed her. She blinked in surprise. 

“Oh. Sick.” 

“[[Caution]] T--AEK OUT THE [Wire mother] AND PULL THEM [Out and about],” Spamton continued. 

“Take… the wire out of the capacitors, and then pull the wires out of the Rad.io?” she echoed. Spamton shook his head. “Take the wire out of the capacitors and take the capacitors out?” 

“YES.” Susie nodded, hesitantly reaching out to take one of the capacitors in her hand. She half expected it to explode considering how insistent Spamton had been about making sure it was properly ‘discharged’ earlier, whatever that meant. She gave it a tug, only to realize it was screwed into the damn backboard. 

“Uhhhhh… how do I do that?” she asked. Spamton tilted his head, creeping closer to give the Rad.io a better look. 

“EUGH. PIECE OF [*&#%],” he informed her. “[Hold, please].” He returned to his toolbag, which Susie was slowly becoming more and more concerned about the capacity of because how the hell did he have this much stuff in there. Sure, it was pretty massive, but still. He had pulled out an entire drill gun at one point and then immediately followed it up with some kind of mallet. What did he even need a mallet for? 

“THINK [Fast and furious]!” he called, giving Susie just enough warning to catch whatever tool was being thrown at her now. That was another thing she was learning about Spamton. He seemed incapable of handing her things normally. Every tool she’d been given today had either been chucked at her head, dropped unceremoniously into her lap, or misdirected into her wall, forcing her to get up and trudge over to retrieve it. Maybe he was just a really big fan of playing catch. 

The tool now in her hand was an amusingly long screwdriver, with a disproportionately tiny tip at the end. She was pretty sure there was a joke in there somewhere, but she wasn’t clever enough to think of it on the spot. 

“TAKE THE [Screwball] OUT,” Spamton instructed her, “BUT DONT [Island of the lost] THE*M.” 

“Take the screws out?”

“AND DONT LOSE THEM,” Spamton emphasized. 

“I’m gonna eat them,” Susie decided. 

“DONT,” Spamton told her. “[Flavor] LIKE [@#$^].” Susie stared at him, a surprised laugh huffing out of her chest. 

“How the hell do you know?” she asked.

“[Desperate times call for desperate measures],” he declared. 

“Like eating screws?” He rolled his head in exasperation and waved her away towards the Rad.io. To be fair, it wasn’t like she had any place to judge Spamton’s weird eating habits. But to be even more fair, even she didn’t take it to the extent he did. She really had to step up her game. 

She unscrewed all the capacitors she could see (and also almost unscrewed another component before hastily putting it back and praying it wasn’t ruined) and gathered the tiny screws in a pile at her side. Spamton scampered back to her side just as she finished with the last one, holding a suspiciously also-screwdriver shaped object in his hand. 

“ARE THERE MORE SCREWS!?” Susie demanded. Spamton laughed, shaking his head. 

“NOT A [Screwdriver],” he said, dropping the item into her lap instead of the hand that she specifically held out to take it. She picked it up, turning it over in her hands and concluding that it was, in fact, not a screwdriver. “[[Soldier keep on-]].” He groaned in frustration, seemingly already able to tell that this one was going to be a nightmare to say. “[Somewhere over-]- [Salty-]-” It took him another several distorted ads before he finally managed to force out a frustrated “SOLDERING [[Iron ore]]. IRON.” 

“Soldering iron?” Susie echoed. That, at last, was a familiar word. “That’s the thing with the wires, right? Where you heat them up to make them stay together.” Spamton nodded excitedly. 

“GOOD [[Memory card]], KID!” he said. There was a genuine excitement in his voice that had Susie’s cheeks heating up. Like he was actually happy she’d remembered. 

“I, uh, remember it from when we fixed Tenna,” she told him. “That thing the Zappers did.” 

“[We have a winner, folks!],” Spamton chirped. “ITS THE SAME [Principle parts], BUT INSTEAD OF [Fixer upper] ITsS [[Taken apart]]!” Susie tilted her head, leaning closer to the Rad.io uncertainly. 

“Uh, okay? How?” 

“JUST [Drop it like it’s hot] RIGHT A>..T THE [Baseline] AaND THEN [[Gather up]] WITH THhISSS!” He punctuated the sentence by holding up what appeared to be a clump of wire, woven into a thin sheet and wrapped around a spool. 

“Okay, I’m gonna need you to say all of that again,” Susie informed him. He’d lost her at ‘drop it like it’s hot’ and she hadn’t recovered. Spamton let out an annoyed huff, busying himself with separating out a chunk of the wire in his hands and gnawing a chunk of it free with his teeth. He spat out a piece about five inches long and tossed the rest over his shoulder, clearly aiming for the bag but missing by several feet. He didn’t bother going to collect it. By this point, Susie’s room was starting to look like a small warzone. 

“[[If you or a loved one]],” he muttered to himself, returning to the Rad.io and experimentally poking at the capacitors. 

“What?” Susie asked with a small laugh. He shrugged. 

“NOTHiNG.” He hummed contemplatively before turning back to her, holding out his hands expectantly. When she didn’t react fast enough for him, he jumped forward and snatched the soldering iron out of her hands. “II CAN [Do anything]-” He halted the instant to voice line was out of his mouth, every part of his face that could move recoiling in disgust. Susie snickered and he shot her the most irate look he could muster. “[@#$^]ING CLOWN,” he muttered. Susie glanced over at the bed to see if Jevil had any reaction to the situation, but he stayed put. Sleeping, maybe. 

“I CAN [[Do it]] THIS [Part of your world],” Spamton informed her, with much greater success. “NOT AS [Precision required].” Susie wilted instantly, doing her best to not show the hurt that sparked through her. Right. Of course. She’d known it was too good to last. Of course Spamton had gotten frustrated with her inability to understand him or follow instructions or learn things with any efficiency. It had been nice while it lasted, she guessed. 

“Oh. Yeah. Cool,” she said, hoping her disappointment didn’t show. Spamton nodded, once, before he pushed her aside a bit to get better access to the Rad.io. This time, she let herself be scooched over. As he set up, she busied herself with examining the spikes on one of her bracelets and trying to ignore how disappointed she felt. There was no reason to feel disappointed, she’d known it wasn’t going to last. 

“YOU [Watch the clock]?” 

“Huh?” Susie asked, looking back up to see that Spamton hadn’t even started yet. He was watching her instead of working, head tilted curiously. 

“WATCHING,” he repeated. “ARE YOU. W@TCHING?” 

“Oh. Uh, yeah, I guess?” Why he wanted her to watch, she didn’t know, but she couldn’t deny that she was mildly curious. Just a bit, a slight intrigue, nothing real or serious or desperate. She just wanted a taste. It’s not like she was starving for it, for more and more knowledge about this stupid little not-radio. Cause that would be stupid. That was for nerds and shit, and that’s not who Susie was. 

“GOOD,” Spamton said, nodding his head for emphasis. He scooted to the side a bit, clearing Susie’s line of sight so she could see what he was doing. Carefully, he flicked the button on the soldering iron and held it to the top of one of the capacitors where the wire connected to the top of it, heating the wire up. Then, with his other hand, he carefully held the strip of metal he’d chewed off earlier and began heating that with the soldering iron as well, pressing it into the heated metal at the connection point. As she watched, the melted metal seemed to be sucked up by the strip, leaving the surface of the capacitor cleaned as he pulled back and the wire popped free. If she watched more closely, she could notice that his hands were shaking the whole time he worked. 

“Yo,” she breathed. “How the hell did it do that!?” 

“HMM?” Spamton asked, setting the capacitor and his tools aside. 

“The thing with the metal? How did it, like, suck it up like that?” she asked. Spamton paused, turning the question over in his head. His plastic fingers clicked against the floor as he thought, a quiet static hum emanating from his chest. 

“NO [@#$^]ING [Blue’s Clues],” he said finally. Susie shot him a disgruntled frown that hopefully hid how genuinely disappointing she found the answer. Spamton just shrugged, picking the copper wire-thing off the floor and biting off the part that had sucked up the molten metal. “[[Capillary action]], I THINK.” 

“Whazzat?” Susie asked. 

“SOMETHING ABOUT [Molecules] OR SOME [#$^@],” he informed her. “NEVER FOCuSED ON THE [Why]. IF IT [Work] I T WORKS.” 

“Hah! Yeah, guess you’re right. That shit’s for nerds,” she said. That was her normal philosophy, after all. ‘If it works it works.’ She never really cared about why. But something about this… all of this. It was different. Not exactly that she wanted to wade through all the theory and science, but more that she wanted to have all the knowledge available to her. Learning it still sucked, but it was almost like it was… worth it. Did it even suck? Sure, she’d gotten frustrated several times over the course of their little assignment, but not once had she seriously considered stopping. She chalked it up the fact that she’d promised the Swatchling and ignored the other motives. 

“[All right],” Spamton announced. Suddenly, Susie’s lap was occupied by the soldering iron and the metal strip, freshly cleaned. She blinked in surprise. “YOUR [Turnstyle]!!!” 

“Wait, what?” Susie asked. “I thought you were doing it?” Spamton crossed his arms, looking up at her in disbelief. 

“[[Demonstration]],” he said. “E3ASIER TO [Show and tell] THAN [[Trying]] TO [Speak clearly].” He scratched at his jaw, looking away uncomfortably. “WHATEVER, I CAN [Finish] THIS [[Part]] IF YOU-”

“NO!” Susie said, far too quickly. “Uh. I mean, that’s cool, I’ll… try it, I guess.” Spamton giggled at her, but he also scooted aside to give her access to the Rad.io again. She stared down at the interior in surprise, still not quite recovered from the fact that he hadn’t just been shutting her down. He’d just wanted to show her. Switching up his teaching strategy because the one he was using hadn’t been working. He hadn’t given up on her. Just like- she shut down that line of thought before it even got its legs underneath it. 

“Okay,” she breathed. “Uh, like this right?” She clicked the button on the soldering iron and leaned in close, carefully pressing it right to the connection point. When Spamton didn’t immediately start screaming at her, she carried on, holding it in place until the metal had melted. She grabbed the strip of metal, glancing at Spamton for approval, and held it to the melted metal the way he had. It seemed to absorb a bit of the molten metal, but not the way it had when Spamton did it. 

“GOTTA [[Hot to go]] THE [Copper],” Spamton informed her. Right. She remembered he'd moved the soldering iron over the sheet instead once he got to this part. She switched her hold, watching, mesmerized, as the metal was sucked up into the sheet and off the capacitor. She set the soldering iron aside and pulled the wire free, shocked to find that it came free with no issue. 

“[Turn it off]!” Spamton reminded her, snatched the soldering iron and switching it off again. 

“Whoops,” Susie said. Spamton rolled his head, chucking the soldering iron right back at her. “That was right though, right?” He let out a quiet huff. 

“YE@AH, YEAH, NOT [[Terrible]]. FOR A [Newbie],” he admitted. 

“SWEET!” Susie shouted, pumping her fist in the air and nearly knocking him over in the process. He let out an animalistic snarl that sounded like a cat hissing through an air vent, smacking her hand aside. 

“WATCH THE [Goods]!” he snapped. 

“Get out of my space, then, asshole,” Susie shot back. 

“YOU WANT MY [[Helping hand]] OR NOT!?” Susie didn’t think of a clever response in time, so she just introduced him to her middle finger instead. Blunt teeth snapped closed dangerously close to it and she yanked her hand back. 

“Cheezus, man!” she said. Spamton tilted his head curiously. 

“[Cheez-itz]?” he echoed back. Susie blinked, running the word through her head again. Since when did she say Cheezus? She was pretty sure the only person she’d ever heard say that was… Noelle.

“Whatever,” she said, waving him off and ignoring the weird feeling suddenly forming in her chest in the process. “Do I gotta do the rest of these or what?” 

“[Yeast],” Spamton confirmed. “ALL OF THEM.” Susie nodded, reclaiming the soldering iron and holding the copper thing back out to him. He didn’t even bother grabbing it, just clamped his jaw around the saturated end and bit it clean off. 

“That’s some crazy bite strength, dude,” Susie told him. 

“HAEHAHEAHAEHAE. ITS A [Talented],” he preened. 

“Pfft, sure. Mine’s still better,” she said. He shot her an incredulous look and jerked his thumb towards the Rad.io. “Yeah, yeah, I’m getting to it. Loser.” A sharp clicking sound emanated from the back of Spamton’s throat and he jerked his head away to pointedly look at the floor. Susie laughed in his face, which was fair play as far as she was concerned. She was pretty sure she’d never had an interaction with such a high proportion of insults before. Except maybe with Kris, but Kris’s insults were usually subtle, non-verbal, and diabolically evil. It probably would’ve pissed her off before, but nowadays, it was one of the few things that could make her lose her shit laughing. 

She finished removing all the capacitors and lined them up in front of the Rad.io. Spamton inspected each carefully with a weird little device that read numbers she didn’t understand. Upon doing so, he declared that nine of the ten were fine, but one was dead. He then scurried back over to the toolbag that Susie had decided was definitely magic somehow and produced another capacitor. How he even had one lying around, Susie didn’t know. When she asked, he informed her that a good salesman was always prepared. His random spare capacitor that he just apparently had was a little smaller than the others, but he assured her that “THE [[High voltage]] I S [Correctamundo],” whatever that meant. 

“Hey, dude, what’s that thing?” Susie asked as Spamton chucked the useless capacitor at the wall and replaced it with his in the line-up. 

“THE WHAT?” Spamton asked. 

“The thingy you checked the capacitors with,” she elaborated. Spamton reached down and picked the thing off the ground, waving it in front of her for confirmation. 

“MULTI. [Meter stick],” he said. He groaned in frustration. “[[Many]]- [Multi-purpose]-” He shook his head, walking over to her and just pointing to the label at the top of the thing. 

“Mul…ti…meter?” Susie read out haltingly. 

“YEADS,” Spamton said. 

“What’s it do?” 

“READS [[Data]],” he said. He pointed her to a dial at the bottom with a couple settings along it. Voltage was the only word she recognized, but the thing was set to something called ‘capacitance.’ “TELLS YOU IF THE [Capacity] IS [Dead or alive].” 

“Yeah, but how?” Spamton frowned, grabbing one of the capacitors off the ground and turning it over in his hand. 

“READS [Current],” he said. He picked up one of the wires on the multimeter, the red one, and held it to the capacitor. “[Stay positive],” he said. 

“What?” Susie asked dryly. 

“POSITIVE. END,” he said. “VOLTAGE.” Susie had no idea what that meant and her confusion was clearly evident, because Spamton let out a long, exasperated sigh. “ITS LLIKE A [[AAA batteries]],” he explained. “ITS A [Circuitry]- CIRCUIT.” Susie blinked noncomprehendingly and Spamton groaned in frustration. “H-HERE.” He clasped his hands, focusing intently on something. For a moment, nothing happened, save for the sound of his hands creaking where he held them. Then, the air above him flickered, something black and solid taking shape. Something like a dark screen appeared behind him, flickering weakly as green pixels fought to take place across it. Spamton gritted his teeth, straining with the effort as a green diagram of some kind finally appeared across the black surface. 

“YOOOO,” Susie shouted, staring up at it in surprise. “That’s sick dude, I didn’t know you could do that! It’s like those weird little ad-things the other Addisons make, but like… cooler.” Spamton paused, glancing between her and the image he’d conjured. 

“WHAT?” he asked. 

“It’s like… y’know in movies, where the hackers pull up those cool scheme-atics and stuff?” Susie said. “It’s like that!” It was pretty sick, in a retro kind of a way. Spamton just stared at her, mouth hanging slightly open. His hands shook and the screen he’d conjured flickered to match. “Dude, you good?” 

“NEVER [Mind over matter]!” he yelped. “U-UM. CIRCUIT.” He gestured to the diagram he’d made, giving it a once-over, adjusting a couple things, then turning back to Susie. She leaned closer, scanning the incomprehensible image. Vaguely, she remembered seeing something similar in Alphys’s class a day or two ago. It hadn’t made any sense then either. 

“What’s this for?” she asked. 

“[[Electric]],” Spamton told her. “SOME [@#$#] ABOUT [[Electron flow]], I DONT [@(&#]ING KNOW.” He tapped part of the image that had started distorting badly and it evened out a bit. “[Pooint of order] IS, EL3CRITCY [Go with the flow] FROM [Plus] TO [Minus sign],” he explained. 

“Huh?” Susie asked. She stared at his diagram, feeling stupider by the second. The hell was any of this even supposed to mean? 

“STUPID [@#$^]ING [Voicebox],” Spamton hissed. His glasses flickered, dark static appearing across the surface for a moment before he shook his head and composed himself. “THHhERES [Two sides],” he began again, slowly, picking up the capacitor and tapping the top of it. “[Plus].” He pointed to one of the metal brackets. “AND [Minus].” He pointed to the other. “THE [Energy drinks] GOES fFROM [Positive energy] TO [Negative] ADN THAT MAKES [[Electric boogaloo]]. THE [Multiplication] M3AssURES THAT. MAKES [Certain] ITS [Workaround].” As he spoke, he waved at the diagram with the capacitor in his hand, gesturing to the flickering little arrows moving from the plus end of what Susie assumed was the battery but was labelled ‘baterie.’ 

“How the hell is that supposed to work?” Susie asked. 

“[@#$^] I DONT KNOW!” Spamton snapped. “I JjUST [Do your part] IT!” 

“That doesn’t help!” 

“GOOD [@#&*]ING [Christ], [[Scary Monsters]].” He waved his hand and the diagram disappeared. Susie watched mournfully as the pixels dissipated. She was used to not knowing shit, she didn’t know why this sucked so bad. Or maybe she did. Maybe it was because she’d felt like she was close that time. Like she almost understood it, but something, Spamton’s inability to properly explain or whatever was wrong with her brain stopped her right before she crossed the finish line. It pissed her off. 

“L-LETS JUST [[Done and dusted]] THIS [(*&$],” Spamton grumbled. His shoulders were hunched in and he looked far more withdrawn than Susie was used to. She wondered if just maybe, he was frustrated with it too. Disappointed that he hadn’t been able to explain it properly. 

“Yeah. Good idea,” she said quickly. They sat back down and recollected the capacitors quickly, lapsing into an uneasy silence. At least the rest of the task was easy. Spamton showed her how to replace the capacitors and re-solder the wires in the right places. It was something about circuits again, making sure the negatives and positives were all lined up. That much made sense at least. It had to match. She didn’t understand the thing about currents at all though. 

With all the wires restored, she carefully screwed all of the capacitors back into place. By some miracle, she hadn’t lost any of the tiny screws she’d taken out earlier and was able to put everything back into the Rad.io in a way that certainly… looked right. She wasn’t sure it was, but Spamton didn’t start screaming at her, so either it was right or they were both fucked. Spamton had her briefly check a couple other things and then they were done. The back panel was slotted back into place and screwed in and their mission was over. There was nothing else to do. Either it worked or it didn’t. 

“Ooookay,” Susie groaned, stretching out her back, cramped from hours of hunching over the tiny little radio. “That’s it, right?” 

“YES,” Spamton confirmed. “[Moment of truth].” Susie nodded, spinning the Rad.io around to face them. She scanned the surface for a second before finding something that looked power-button-y. 

“Think it’s gonna work?” Susie asked. Spamton shrugged unhelpfully and she chucked the first tool she could grab at his head. He dodged it expertly. 

“[Turn it up] ALREADY!” he snarled. 

“OKAY, OKAY, FINE!” She took a deep breath, reaching an inexplicably shaking hand towards the power button. Moment of truth. Nervousness warred with excitement as her finger hovered over the button. Maybe she’d failed completely and was going to have to tell the Swatchling that she’d completely let her down. Or maybe she’d actually done it. The idea was almost scary to think about, for reasons she couldn’t explain. 

“[Just do it]!” Spamton groaned. “IM [Dying] OVER HERE!” 

“FINE!” Susie snapped. She clicked the button with as much force as she could without breaking the whole thing all over again and held her breath as she released it. She heard clicking beside her and discovered that Spamton had crept closer to her, watching the Rad.io curiously as well. 

The silence couldn’t have lasted more than three seconds, but it sure felt like longer. But then the Rad.io crackled to life and the room was instantly filled with the blaring of loud techno music. Little neon lights flashed across the surface, dancing in time with the pulsing sound, and the room practically shook with it. It almost hurt with how loud it was, but Susie couldn’t even bring herself to move, for fear that even the slightest shift would cause everything to snap out of alignment and break the thing again. 

“[@#$*] YEAH!” Spamton shouted, breaking the stillness for her. “[Number 1 rated salesman]’s STILL [*!@^]ING GOT IT! TAKE THAT, YOU [@#*&]S!!!” 

“Holy shit,” Susie breathed. “HOLY SHIT! WE ACTUALLY FIXED IT!” The tension finally snapped and she was released, instantly jumping to her feet and throwing her hands in the air, trying to get rid of the excess energy brought on by her unmanageable excitement. “IT WORKS!” 

“IT [[Working condition]]!!!!” Spamton echoed, looking equally elated at their success. 

“LET’S FUCKING GOOOOO!” Gripped by the euphoria of the moment, she held out her hand to him, and by the same token, he willingly clapped his own hand against it instead of drawing back. She let out a breathless, relieved laugh, joined moments later by glitched-out cackling. 

“AND THATS [Howsabout] ITS [Done done done]!” Spamton cheered. 

“It actually works!” Susie shouted again. “Okay holy shit, it’s really loud.” She finally regained enough rationality to stumble her way over to the Rad.io and turn the volume down to something that didn’t make her uncomfortably aware of her eardrums. She couldn’t quite bring herself to turn it off completely though. Part of her was terrified that if she turned it off, the illusion would break and it simply wouldn’t turn back on again. She wasn’t sure she could handle that. 

“Ha. Y’know, that kinda… didn’t suck,” she admitted. Spamton laughed quietly from where he was still standing behind her. Looking over her shoulder revealed him to be looking through his toolbag again, though with less feral urgency than before. 

“[[Not half bad]],” he conceded. “ITS NO [Cungadero].” 

“What?” Susie laughed. 

“ODDS AND ENDS LIKE TAHT [AM Radio] PAY THE [[Bills piling up?]],” Spamton continued. “BUT NOTHING [Beater] A CcCAR.” Susie tilted her head curiously. 

“Oh, yeah?”
“[Most assuredly].” Susie snorted, turning away from him to look at the Rad.io. Moments later, she heard his plastic hands click together sharply, followed by the soft taps of his footsteps as he appeared beside her again. “SO. THE [Device] I S [[Repair manual]]. SHALL WE [Discus] [Payment plan]?” 

“You’re a greedy piece of shit,” Susie informed him. 

“WE HAD A [Deals too good to miss out on]!” Spamton reminded her. 

“Okay, okay!” Susie said, snickering to herself as he glared at her. “Fine.” She made her way over to the fridge and opened it, only to be immediately shoved to the side as Spamton bolted to it, digging through the mountain of items inside. “GEEZ, DUDE, I WAS GONNA LET YOU LOOK!” Susie yelped. Spamton didn’t respond. “AND THE DEAL WAS ONE THING!” 

“RELAX, IM AN [[HonestMan]],” Spamton grumbled, still half-buried inside her fridge. 

“And don’t eat that whole cake, that shit’s mine,” Susie said. Actually, just as a precaution, she took the cake out herself. She’d already had pancakes for dinner, why not an entire cake? 

“[Bingo]!” Spamton announced. He returned from the fridge with what appeared to be a cold Darkburger in hand. Susie raised an eyebrow as she looked at it. 

“You, uh… wanna heat that up?” she asked. She actually wasn’t sure if she had a microwave in here. But, like, probably. Ralsei had thought of everything else, it would be pretty out of character if she didn’t have a microwave. 

“NO,” Spamton said simply. Guess it didn’t matter. 

“Cool,” she said blandly. She made her way over to the far side of the room and plopped down on the floor, leaning back against the wall and letting some of the tension out of her muscles. She could still hear the quiet, comforting techno music from the Rad.io, confirming that they had really managed to fix it. That she’d managed to fix it. It was almost impossible to believe. Somehow, what had happened with Tenna wasn’t just some fluke, utterly unreplicable. She’d actually managed to fix something. Again. She couldn’t help the flutter of pride in her chest at the thought. 

After a moment, she heard the hesitant click of Spamton’s footsteps and glanced back up, finding the puppet creeping back over to her. She watched him as he slowly, uncertainly, made his way towards her. She wasn’t sure what his deal was, but she gave him a quick nod. That seemed to do it, and he closed the rest of the distance and settled against the wall next to her, about a foot or two away. 

With nothing else to do, she dug into the cake Ralsei had baked her, grabbing a chunk of it and shoving it down her mouth. It was pretty goddamn good. Ralsei just seemed to get better every time. The frosting ratio was almost perfect this time, and there was some kind of fruit involved that added a nice quality to the flavor. She licked her fingers, humming in approval. 

Spamton did not savor his meal in a similar manner. Instead he unhinged his jaw farther than Susie had ever seen it go, shoved the entire Darkburger inside, and then tipped his head back to swallow it whole. She really should’ve seen it coming by this point. 

“Dude, why do you eat like that?” she asked, shoving another handful of cake into her mouth immediately after. Spamton glanced up in surprise, not expecting to be addressed. “And how the fuck do you not choke.” He shrugged, tapping his throat curiously. 

“CANT [Chew your food],” he informed her. “JUST [@#*$]ING FALLS [Out and out].” He gestured for her to lean closer and opened his jaw again, demonstrating the mechanism. He was right, Susie realized. He could only open his jaw up and down, there was no dexterity to it. Plus, without any lips, there was no way to keep food in his mouth if he separated his teeth to chew. 

“Oh. Damn, that sucks,” she observed. Her tone sounded a lot less sympathetic than she actually felt. It genuinely seemed like it sucked. 

“YOU GET [Used car] TO IT,” Spamton said easily. Susie shrugged, taking another bite of her cake. She could still feel Spamton’s gaze on her as she ate, watching her like a hawk. Actually, maybe it wasn’t her he was looking at. 

“You wanna try it?” she asked. Spamton glanced up at her, teeth clicking uncertainly. “It’s free. Or, uh… Y’know what, we can say it’s cause you, uh… protected the fridge yesterday?” She still had no idea how successful he’d actually been at that, but he seemed placated by the suggestion. “Here.” She scooped up a smaller handful of cake (she was in a sharing mood, but not by that much) and offered it to him. She expected him to take it with his hands like a normal person, but honestly, she should’ve known better. Instead, he just leaned over like some kind of animal and snatched the cake out of her hands with his fucking mouth. 

“EUGH,” Susie yelped, snatching her hands back. “Dude, what the fuck.” Spamton scarfed down the cake, laughing the whole way. “At least warn a guy!” 

“[You snooze you lose],” Spamton declared, swiping a few stray crumbs off his face with the sleeve of his blazer. She couldn’t exactly argue with that. It wasn’t like she was much better, but at least she chewed her food as she scarfed it down in record time. As if to further drive the point home, she realized that she was more than halfway through her cake already. Damn. 

“Hey,” she said, glancing over at Spamton. “Uh. Thanks.” Spamton’s mouth opened, teeth parting in quiet surprise. He stared up at her uncertainly, looking far too confused for a simple thank-you. “Y’know. For helping me fix the Rad.io. And not calling me stupid and stuff.” 

“O-O..>>OH,” he choked out. “Y3@H. WHATEVER. JUST [Business], KID.” Susie frowned, tilting her head as if changing the angle she looked at him from would somehow let her see through his secretive demeanor and find something underneath that would explain… whatever the hell this weird little freak had going on. He was still such a mystery together. It felt like the more she learned about him, the less she understood. 

“Oooookay,” she said, rubbing the back of her neck as she tried to clear some of the sudden awkwardness out of the air. “Cool.” Spamton huffed out a quiet laugh, and maybe she was going crazy, but the sound seemed to have less static around it than usual. “Anyway, I’m fucking exhausted.” That much was true, at least. Who knew sitting on the floor for however long and messing around in a radio could be so tiring. She shoved the last of the cake down her throat and got to her feet, brushing the crumbs off her pants and going over to her bed. 

“WHATRE YOU [Do]?” Spamton asked. 

“Uh. Going to bed?” she told him. He looked up at her suspiciously, getting to his feet. She ignored him, picking the Jevilstail up off the bed and placing it on the floor instead. She didn’t particularly want to share a bed with Jevil. He seemed like the type to hog the blankets. Or draw shit on your face in sharpie. Actually, he’d probably do that anyway. 

“You can… go back to being glasses, I guess?” she said, glancing back over to where Spamton was still standing awkwardly by the wall. “Or you can go out or whatever.” For a moment, he just stood there, glancing around her room uncertainly. Just as she was about to ask if he was all good, he seemed to make up his mind, bringing his hand up to his glasses. The first thing she realized was that his hands were shaking again. 

The second thing she realized is that he was being an idiot. She lunged forward just as he vanished into the glasses, barely managing to dive underneath him and catch the Dealmaker before it hit the ground. 

“STOP DOING THAT!” she snarled. One of these days, these idiots were going to get themselves killed doing that shit. “Holy shit.” She dragged the Dealmaker over to where she’d dropped the Jevilstail, placing it on the ground beside it. She almost just left them there like that, but couldn’t quite bring herself to. She didn’t know how much they could feel while inanimate, but there was some level of awareness. And sleeping on the floor kind of sucked, especially a stone floor like this one. She would know. 

Eventually, she grabbed one of the pillows off of her bed and threw it on the floor, resting the two items on top of it instead. Feeling moderately better about the two of them, she flopped down onto her own bed without bothering to change her clothes. Did she even have pajamas here? Probably did. She didn’t have the energy to check. 

It was strange, going to sleep like this. On a bed that was actually soft and comfortable and had pillows that weren’t so worn out that they barely cushioned her head or a blanket so threadbare it did next to nothing against the cold. When she’d had sleepovers, like at Kris’s house or with Tenna, it never felt permanent. It was always a makeshift situation, a couch or a pillow for, not a bed. This felt different. Her room. 

She knew she technically had a room at the apartment, but it hardly felt like it. One shitty poster on the wall was all that delineated the space as hers. Nothing like here, in Castle Town, where the entire room had been designed with her in mind. This room was hers. It was her stuff in the fridge and her decorations lining the walls. There was a lock on the door that actually worked, that kept out anyone she didn’t want barging in at three in the morning demanding to know if she’d somehow stolen some shit she’d never even seen. It was a strange, alien feeling. She almost felt… safe. 

And somehow, even with two people in the room that had both nearly killed her and her friends, she slept far more soundly in that room than she ever had in that apartment. 

Chapter Text

“Okay, this is getting ridiculous!” 

“Not my fault you’re slow.” Before he could react, Susie reached out and snatched a fry off of Berdly’s lunch tray, earning an indignant squawk and an attempt at smacking her that nearly caused his entire lunch to spill onto the floor. 

“And it’s not my fault that every ingrate in this archaic school takes five hours to select one of three options!” Berdly replied. When his further attempts to glare Susie out of her seat continued to fail, he let out an angry huff and resigned himself to sitting down next to Noelle once again. The monster in question was currently doing a very poor job of hiding her laughter behind her hand. 

“Maybe you just walk slow,” Susie decided. 

“I walk at a perfectly acceptable pace! I have struck the ultimate balance between safety and efficiency!” Berdly huffed, taking an aggressive bite of his grilled cheese. “I refuse to stoop to the level of these rule-breaking hooligans. Running in the halls.” Susie snorted, snagging another fry. “HEY!” 

“Sorry, man. You snooze, you looze. And you, dude? Are snoozin’.” She punctuated the statement by throwing the fry up in the air and catching it in her mouth. Noelle squeaked in surprise, eyes going wide at Susie’s flawless catch. 

“That’s so cool!” she said. 

“Nah, it’s nothin’,” Susie replied. 

“Of course not. Any self-respecting monster over the age of five should have developed the necessary hand-eye coordination for that little trick,” Berdly said. 

“You try it, then,” Susie prodded. Berdly froze, eyes flicking down to his lunch tray then back up at Susie. 

“Well I- I mean- W-Weren’t you taught that it’s rude to play with your food!?” he squawked out. 

“Sounds like you’re trying to chicken out,” Susie declared. She stole another fry to repeat the trick with, just for good measure. 

“I can’t do it either!” Noelle attempted to assure him. His feathers puffed up in irritation. 

“O-of course I can do it! Please, as if something that simple would be out of my impressive skill-set!” 

“Impressive,” Susie echoed sarcastically. Berdly’s head snapped around so he could glare at her. Noelle buried another fit of giggles in her sandwich. “Prove it, then.” 

“I-I don’t need to prove anything to you!” Berdly hissed. 

“Hey man, if you can’t do it-”

“I CAN DO IT!” Berdly shrieked. “Just watch!” He grabbed a fry and tossed it up into the air, opening his mouth to catch it. The trajectory turned out to be completely off, resulting in the fry landing on the floor a good two feet away. Berdly’s feathers somehow puffed up even further. 

“Nice,” Susie drawled. 

“Shut up!” Berdly yelped, scrambling to collect the fry off the floor and throw it into the trash. He missed that too and ended up having to trudge over to the trashcan to drop it in. “I simply haven’t warmed up! My next shot will be flawless!” 

“Sure,” Susie said. 

“Gloat while you still can, Susan. Prepare to have your measly victories put to shame!” 

As Berdly attempted the trick again, this time smacking himself in the face with the french fry, Susie thanked her lucky stars that she hadn’t missed lunch, because it would’ve been devastating to miss this display. And also to miss the only chance she had to hang out with Noelle, but she didn’t want to linger on that for too long. It seemed like the more time she spent with Noelle, the weirder she started to feel, and she had absolutely no idea what to do with it. It was probably better to just ignore it and wait for it to go away. 

She’d come dangerously close to sleeping through the entire school day that morning. As it turned out, waking up on time was a lot harder when one had curtains that actually worked. It also didn’t help that the night/day cycle in the Dark World was a much less obvious shift than a burning ball of fire appearing in the sky. Normally, it wouldn’t have been a problem. But lunch was… important, she supposed. Important enough for her to brave the discomfort and hunger, all for the chance to spend half an hour with someone who she was almost certain she was allowed to call her friend. 

Luckily for her, Ralsei had remembered she was spending the night at some point and rushed to wake her up. It had taken him a good few minutes, too, just banging on her door as loud as he could force himself to. Susie could be a pretty heavy sleeper. She’d had to be, if she was going to get any sleep at all. The thing was, he could’ve gotten her up sooner if he’d just come into her room and shaken her. He was the prince after all, he had to have a master key or something. He just… hadn’t. That, along with the strange, warm feeling it caused, was another thing she was trying not to think about. 

This was a week of firsts, it seemed, because that morning had been the first time Susie rushed to get to school. She’d never experienced that before, waking up and being panicked that she’d be late. But she didn’t have a clock in her room in Castle Town, and as such, she’d had no way of knowing if she’d missed lunch. And she really hadn’t wanted to miss lunch. Because of Noelle, and that confusing, Noelle-adjacent feeling she was trying not to focus on. 

“I- Clearly these fries are just not aerodynamic enough! It’s throwing off my trajectory!” Berdly said as another french fry smacked into the table instead of falling into his mouth. 

“Dude, what? They’re french fries,” Susie informed him. 

“Non-aerodynamic french fries,” Berdly huffed. “You know I’m right, Noelle!” Noelle, it turned out, was too busy trying to smother her laughter in her lunchbox to provide any kind of coherent response. “Noelle!” 

“You just gotta practice it, man,” Susie told him. “It’s not science.” 

“The saying is, ‘it’s not rocket science,’ Susan,” Berdly replied unhelpfully. 

“I KNOW THE SAYING, JACKASS.” 

“And it is science,” Berdly continued. “If I just pick out the most aerodynamic french fry, properly calculate the angle of ascent and descent, and apply the correct force, physics dictates that-” The fry will land in front of him, he’ll try to catch it but be too surprised to do so and instead knock it onto the table, and Susie will get yet another snack. 

“Nice math,” Susie informed him, snagging the result of his careful calculations off the table before he could reclaim it. Berdly stared at her, feathers still puffed up in a poor imitation of a koosh ball. 

“Well- It’s a juvenile trick anyway!” he decided, seemingly finally giving up. “And a waste of perfectly good food!”

“You’re only wasting it if you miss,” Susie reminded him. In lieu of an actual response, he turned his beak up at her as indignantly as possible before returning to lunch. 

“Susie’s right, it’s really not a big problem,” Noelle assured him, finally recovered enough to rejoin the conversation. “Like pen spinning. There’s no trick to it, you just have to keep practicing!” 

“Pen spinning?” Susie echoed. 

“Of course!” Berdly realized, clapping his wings together victoriously. “Noelle, if you would be so kind as to lend me a pen?” 

“O-oh. Sure!” She pulled her pen case out of her backpack and produced a thin green pen. In keeping with her… entire theme, the pen was painted to look like it was wrapped in colorful Christmas lights. Noelle really took the whole Christmas theme to heart. Though, having been to her house, Susie wasn’t exactly surprised. She’d probably be pretty loyal to the brand too, if she grew up in a place like that.

Absently, her mind drifted back to that picture they’d found under Noelle’s bed, the one where she’d been dressed up all cool and emo. She’d said it was Catti’s idea, but Susie couldn’t help but wonder if she’d liked it too. She’d certainly looked like she did, in the picture. It was why she’d looked so good. Not just the makeup and the outfit, but the self-assured pose, the defiant look in her eyes. That had looked good. Noelle wore confidence well. She also wore it rarely, Susie was starting to notice. 

“Here!” Susie blinked, refocusing on Noelle as she was in the present, smiling shyly, half-hiding behind her hair, and holding out the pen she’d just pulled out. Berdly snatched it from her eagerly. 

“Many thanks, my dear Noelle!” He turned to Susie, waving the pen ominously. “Now, Susan, prepare to have your feeble mind: blown.” He lifted the pen dramatically and balanced it on top of his wing as if he were about to write with it but had changed his mind halfway. “Are you prepared!?” 

“I guess?” Susie said. 

“That lack of enthusiasm won’t last long,” Berdly assured her. “Observe!” With a final, unnecessary flourish, he flicked the pen where it was balanced on his wing, expertly spinning it across the feathers for a few seconds before flicking it up and catching it again. Noelle clapped politely and Berdly preened at the attention. “Now that is a trick that requires some actual skill!” 

“Eh,” was Susie’s eloquent response. Berdly’s head snapped around to look at her. 

“Feign nonchalance all you want!” he said. “I see right through you! It’s only a matter of time before you give up this charade and admit just how much you admire me! It’s written all over your face! You wish you had a talent quite as impressive!” 

“Nah,” Susie informed him. If she was being fully honest, the trick actually was kind of cool. But it would be a cold day in hell before Susie admitted to being impressed by something Berdly did. 

“Give it time,” Berdly pushed on, undeterred. “One of these days you’ll realize what a waste of effort it is to fight your affection for me.” Susie took another fry. By this point, she was pretty sure she’d taken out a solid half of Berdly’s lunch, which she would’ve maybe felt bad about if he wasn’t Berdly. He snatched his tray out of the way just a second too late, curving his body around it protectively. “Just get your own!” Noelle giggled quietly, unsuccessfully trying to mask the sound with another bite of her sandwich. 

“Hey, what about you?” Susie asked suddenly, her attention returned to the person she was actually here to hang out with rather than the (admittedly difficult to ignore) intruder.

“Hm?” Noelle asked, mouth still partially full. 

“You got any cool tricks?” Noelle blinked in surprise. She took a moment to finish chewing and swallowing her food before responding, something Susie took note of because of how absent it was from her own social circle. She did not hang around a particularly polite collective, nor one with any knowledge of table manners.

“Oh. Um, not really,” Noelle admitted. “Not as cool as yours, anyway.” Susie frowned, turning to share a displeased look with Kris only to be starkly reminded of the current lack of Kris beside her. Another file was slid onto the ‘things Susie is trying very hard not to think about because thinking about them might make her lose it’ pile. Kris was probably fine. Totally fine and also totally not avoiding her. Definitely. 

“Well obviously. There’s no need to worry about it, Noelle, even the most talented members of the student population couldn’t hold a candle to my skills,” Berdly said, which was more comforting than Susie had expected but less comforting than she would have liked. 

“I mean, you got that crazy thing with the ribbon,” Susie pointed out. 

“Oh, that’s easy,” Noelle replied. 

“Bullshit,” Susie snapped. “It turned inside out or something! It doesn’t even make sense!” Noelle snickered, waving Susie away modestly. 

“It’s really not as hard as it looks,” she insisted. 

“If you’re referring to the way my dear Noelle ties the bows around her giftboxes,” Berdly cut in, “then she is correct, it’s not nearly as difficult as it seems.” Susie was about to retort with an incredibly clever comeback, such as calling him an asshole, or perhaps a loser, but he beat her to the punch. “I simply find it too basic a design! Which is why I wrap my gifts with a more efficient innovation: the premade bow.” The usual bluster around his tone did very little to counteract the embarrassed puff of his feathers. 

“LAAAAAME,” Susie informed him anyway.

“It’s just a matter of practicality!” Berdly snapped. “Those are precious seconds, wasted!” 

“Just admit you can’t do it, dude!” Susie laughed. 

“I COULD DO IT IF I WANTED!” 

“Yeah, sure, like you could definitely catch those fries in your mouth,” Susie reminded him. Noelle turned away this time, a strategy shift that was still unhelpful in hiding her laughter. Berdly shot her a betrayed look. 

“You steal my seat, you steal my lunch, and now you insult me? Surely even you should have some level of decency!” he huffed. 

“Lemme know if you find it,” she replied, picking at something in her teeth with her pinky claw for good measure. Berdly made the wise decision not to dignify that with a response. 

“S-so!” Noelle cut in. “Did you get the code?” Susie and Berdly both turned simultaneously, equally confused by the question. “For your project?” Noelle elaborated. 

“OH. Yeah. That,” Susie replied. “Uh. Not yet.” 

“Kris’s dad didn’t know?” Noelle asked. She frowned, twirling a strand of hair between her fingers. “Sorry. I wish I could help more, but-”

“Nah,” Susie cut her off. “We, uh. We didn’t ask him.” Noelle blinked in surprise. 

“Why not?” Berdly demanded. “Finally came to your senses and picked a better topic?” Susie grimaced at the unintentional reminder of yesterday. She almost wished they could just do their project on fighting the Knight or something. Finding a real topic had turned out to be an actual nightmare, and helpful as Tenna was, there was little he could do to make school not awful. 

Noelle had said school might be fun if she found something she liked learning about. By the law of things-making-sense, the same logic should apply to this project. The project would suck less if she and Kris found a topic that was actually cool. The only problem was that the project was about science, and science was, as all subjects in school were destined to be, really really lame. There just wasn’t anything Susie enjoyed learning about, frankly. Not since the old man taught her how to heal, and he was gone. 

Unbidden, her thoughts drifted back to last night and the Rad.io on her floor. She would’ve followed them, if not for the unfortunate fact that she had to actually respond to Berdly’s question. 

“Kris said there was no point,” Susie answered honestly, exclusively for Noelle’s sake. “‘Cause they probably changed the code after he quit and stuff.” Noelle wilted further. 

“O-oh! Oh, yeah, that, uh, makes sense. Sorry…” 

“It’s fine,” Susie assured her quickly. “It was a long-shot anyway.”

“What, so you just gave up?” Berdly asked indignantly. 

“I thought you wanted us to give up!” Susie shot back. 

“I want you to realize that your unspecified project topic that involves skulking around safety-hazard riddled old bunkers is a complete waste of time!” Berdly corrected. “But if you’re going to insist on this foolishness, then the least you could do is follow-through!” 

“Kris is right, though,” Noelle said. “T-they probably did change the code.”

“In this backwater village?” Berdly asked. “I’d be surprised if they’ve updated a single law since the 1600s,-” 

“I don’t think Hometown existed in the 1600s,” Noelle murmured. Susie snorted, shooting her an amused look that was met with a small giggle. 

“-you really think they’d go through the effort of updating the code to a rickety old shelter that hasn’t been used since it was built!?” Berdly continued. 

“I mean, if it’s important-”

“It’s not,” Berdly cut in. Susie grimaced, hoping her companions didn’t catch the shift in her demeanor. Not important. If only he knew just how wrong he was. “But regardless!” he barrelled on. “In a true scientific inquiry, no avenue, no matter how absurd it may seem, is left unexplored!” 

“He does have a point,” Noelle said after a moment. Berdly’s chest puffed out proudly at that. “It can’t hurt to ask? I mean, worst thing that happens is he doesn’t know it, right?”

“I mean… I guess,” Susie said. She was pretty sure the same thought had crossed her mind when Kris first shut the idea down. To be completely fair, it wasn’t like they had anything to lose from asking. It wasn’t like they were gonna get anywhere with Noelle’s mom. There was no way she was letting that guitar out of her sight. Noelle was right. The worst thing that happened if they asked Kris’s dad was that he just didn’t know, and that just left them where they already were. 

Something was bothering her though. The way Kris had acted when they suggested asking their dad… they hadn’t just seemed like they didn’t think it would work. They’d seemed actually uncomfortable about the idea. Like the whole conversation was making them nervous. Like they didn’t want to ask in the first place. 

“You can always just swing by after school!” Noelle continued. “His store’s usually open on weekdays.” 

“Oh. Uh, yeah,” Susie said, mostly just to confirm she’d heard. “Guess it couldn’t hurt.” 

“Exactly,” Berdly said haughtily. This time, Susie ignored the fries and went straight for the remaining half of his grilled cheese. Unfortunately, its position on the tray allowed Berdly to snatch it out of the way before she could get a good grip on it. “You animal!” 

“Worth a shot,” Susie said. 

“You can have some of mine if you’re hungry,” Noelle said quickly. She held up half of her sandwich, still wrapped in the plastic. 

“No kidding!?” Susie asked, lighting up. She snatched the sandwich out of Noelle’s hand, only to halt moments later as the rational part of her brain caught up to the hungry part. “Uh… what about you though?” Her eyes traced back down to the sandwich guiltily. She didn’t know why she had so many qualms about this when it came to Noelle. It had been like this yesterday too. Were it anyone else, she wouldn’t have hesitated to scarf down any food she was offered. But something about taking Noelle’s food made her feel… guilty? 

“I’m fine, I’ll just have a snack when I get home!” Noelle said. Which was true, wasn’t it? Susie had seen her house. She probably had mountains of food hiding in rooms Susie hadn’t even seen during her and Kris’s ill-fated spy mission. She’d be fine. Somehow, taking the sandwich still felt weird. Even weirder than yesterday, when Noelle had made an entire separate one just for her to try. For no other reason than wanting to do something nice. Noelle was so bizarrely nice. 

Maybe that was the crux of the whole problem. She cared about Noelle in a way she couldn’t quite place. Something like how she felt about Kris and Ralsei, but also a bit different. A different flavor of friendship, maybe. Just as annoying as the other kind, because it had the unfortunate consequence of making her worry about the well-being of people that weren’t her. 

None of that was enough to stop her from shoving the entire sandwich into her mouth. The french fries she’d stolen from Berdly weren’t exactly a full meal, after all. 

“Thanks, dude,” she said. Noelle’s face ticked up a shade, though it wasn’t quite as bad as yesterday. Maybe whatever condition she had was clearing up. Susie wondered, briefly, if she should ask about that. Was that a thing to be worried about? Then again, if Susie thought about it, she definitely got embarrassed around Noelle a lot more easily than other people. So maybe it wasn’t a condition at all. Maybe… maybe Noelle had the same thing Susie had? That weird feeling whenever they were around each other that was like being friends, but with a bunch of random, extra embarrassment tacked on? 

“So stealing half of my lunch wasn’t enough? You had to go after poor, sweet Noelle as well?” Berdly scoffed. Susie shot him an irritated look but didn’t think of a particularly good response in time. 

“It’s okay, I really don’t mind!” Noelle said. 

“I’d steal Kris’s lunch too, if they were here,” Susie informed him. She meant it as a lighthearted jab, but she couldn’t help the bit of bitterness that seeped into her tone. She swallowed it down and tried to ignore it. Kris was just looking for clues. The matter of why they felt the need to do that without her was… something she wasn’t going to devote any more thought to. They were probably just splitting up! That made sense. Covering more ground. They could look for clues in town, and Susie could look for clues in… school. It made total sense. 

“Yes, well, they aren’t,” Berdly pointed out helpfully. 

“Yeah…” Noelle concurred. She glanced around the dining hall, presumably to confirm. “Are we sure they’re okay?” 

“Well, their pattern of behavior has been very consistent thus far. Therefore, the evidence would conclude that they have some kind of pre-scheduled activity that they’ve begun taking part in that is occupying their morning,” Berdly informed them, pushing his glasses up his beak for good measure. 

“But like… what?” Susie asked. 

“I haven’t the slightest clue,” Berdly said. “If anything, you should be the one with that information! Seeing as you and Kris have gotten awfully close lately.” 

“Yeah!? Well- I-” Susie trailed off, belatedly realizing there wasn’t really an insult in that observation. She wasn’t even sure why she got so defensive all of a sudden. Or rather, she didn’t want to acknowledge why. Because Berdly was right. She and Kris were supposed to be friends now. Best friends, even. And if they were best friends, then Kris should be fine telling her what they were doing. Except they had told her, they said they were getting clues when she asked. That was the end of it, right? They were just trying to solve the whole Dark World mess. It made sense. 

Except she couldn’t shake the feeling that she was missing something. That they were hiding something from her, not telling her the whole story. Not wanting to talk to their dad, only showing up for the second half of the school day, it was just weird. Not to mention that spooky phone call they’d gotten after the festival. Something about how scared they looked when the phone rang had stuck with her. And then when she’d told Tenna, he’d gotten all weird about it too. He’d said it was nothing, but…

“Maybe they started volunteering?” Noelle suggested. 

“Kris?” Susie asked incredulously. 

“I’m going to unfortunately have to agree with Susan here,” Berdly said. “Such a thing would be extraordinarily out of character.” 

“Gee. Thanks,” Susie drawled. 

“I don’t know what else it could be. Maybe they got a job?” 

“What kind of employer would willingly have a student working during school hours!?” Berdly asked, affronted. 

“Maybe they’re just sleeping?” Susie suggested blandly. 

“A tragic, but likely conclusion,” Berdly agreed. Noelle frowned uncertainly and Susie decided that the explanation definitely didn’t hold any water. Toriel just wasn’t the kind of mom who’d let Kris sleep in like that, especially not for three days. If Susie were to guess, Kris was probably telling her they were going to school and then just… not doing that. Alphys was too much of a wuss to call home. Besides, Toriel worked at the school anyway, it’s not like there was anyone at home to call in the first place.

Her line of reasoning was abruptly cut off by the ringing of the lunch bell. Berdly shot to his feet, trying to return his lunch tray before the swarm of students beat him to it. By the looks of things, he wasn’t going to be all that successful. 

“I just hope they’re okay,” Noelle said, packing up her lunch.

“Yeah. I’m, uh. They’re probably fine,” Susie said. Fine, if she ignored how miserable they had seemed when she came back from lunch yesterday. If she set aside the phone call, or how secretive they’d started being, or the way the most random things seemed to suddenly make them uncomfortable. Who was she kidding?

“I know I don’t… spend as much time with them as usual,” Noelle began. “But they seem more like themself lately.” 

“Huh?” Susie turned towards her in surprise. 

“I m-might be totally wrong!” Noelle corrected quickly. “I-I mean, I don’t really hang out with them anymore, I’m probably just being stupid! But… they were kinda weird last week.” 

“Kris is always weird,” Susie reminded her. 

“Well yeah,” she agreed. “But it was a different kind of weird, you know?”

“You said something like that, back at your house,” Susie said, the memory of the conversation dragging itself up out of the swamp of her brain. 

“Y-yeah.” Noelle got to her feet, grabbing her lunchbox and beginning to make her way out of the dining hall. Susie fell into step beside her, trying to ignore the stares the rest of the student population was giving them. She was used to being stared at weirdly. This shouldn’t be any different.

“I know they haven’t been at school a lot,” Noelle continued. “But ever since the festival-” Susie grimaced at the reminder “-I feel like they’ve been acting more like they usually do.” 

“I dunno…” Susie said. “They’re really quiet now. Like, they’re always kinda quiet, but even when they talk and stuff.” And they just seemed so much sadder. Always one step away from completely shutting down, like they were barely holding their head above water. 

“Gee… I guess it’s been longer than I thought, huh?” Noelle said. There was something strange lacing her voice, too weary to just be called ‘sad.’ Were Susie the type of person to use more flowery language, she might describe the tone as melancholy. A different man, far too familiar with the feeling of Noelle’s situation, would call it mournful. “We used to hang out so much. Maybe they just… changed and I didn’t notice.” 

“Maybe…” Susie said doubtfully. “I dunno. Maybe Kris just has different kinds of weird and they cycle through ‘em.” Noelle laughed a bit at that, which Susie considered a victory. Still, she couldn’t shake the feeling that Noelle was right about something. Maybe Kris had been acting weird? To be fair, she’d only started really talking to them within the Dark World. Going through that was bound to shake up anyone’s personality at least a little. Look at Berdly. He’d gone full stupid in a single day in the Dark World. Look at her. She hadn’t even fully thought about just how much the Dark World had changed her, but the difference was… stark. 

It would make sense if Kris had been a bit out of sorts for those first few days then, wouldn’t it? Maybe Noelle was right and they were just… readjusting, now that the initial panic had worn off. But if that was true, then… what if she wasn’t imagining the sudden distance between them? What if Kris had only ever hung out with her because she was the only other person who understood what she was going through, and now that things were settling down, they were realizing they didn’t actually like her?

She slammed her fist against her head, trying to manually knock that train of thought off its tracks. That was bullshit. Kris was her friend. Even if those first few days in the Dark Worlds had been weird, they still hung out with her. They still had fun in Castle Town together, even without the adventures. It wasn’t like the Kris that had been in those Dark Worlds with her and the Kris now were completely different people or something. It was just them adjusting. Hey, she had adjusted too! That didn’t mean she didn’t want to be friends anymore. 

“Are you okay!?” Noelle squeaked, and Susie belatedly realized that she was walking next to someone and therefore probably shouldn’t start beating herself up without explanation. 

“Yeah! All good,” she said, far too quickly. “Just, uh… thought I felt a… fly.” 

“O-oh,” Noelle said. The befuddled look on her face told Susie she didn’t quite believe her, but was kind enough to let the matter lie. 

“Anyway, uh-” Susie had not actually thought of an end to that sentence, but fortunately for her, she was cut off before she had to admit it. 

“Traitors!” Susie glanced over her shoulder as Berdly finally shoved his way through the crowd of students currently exiting the cafeteria to reach them. “You couldn’t wait a measly two minutes!?” 

“It’s ‘cause you’re slow as hell,” Susie reminded him. He huffed in irritation, waving them out into the hall and towards the classroom. 

“Well hurry it along then, we’re gonna be late!” 

“YOU’RE THE ONE SLOWING US DOWN.” Berdly ignored her in favor of pushing his way to the front of their little group and dragging them down the hallway to Alphys’s classroom. Susie jerked her thumb at him, shooting Noelle a look that hopefully adequately conveyed the concept of get a load of this guy. 

Kris was already at their desk when the three of them returned to the classroom. They were hunched over it in much the way drunk girls hunched over toilets in bad movies, utterly drained of life and looking a bit nauseous. Susie could’ve been imagining it, but it seemed like they looked worse with every passing day. There was something so tired about the way they were sitting, eyes glazed over as they stared unseeingly at their desk. Not tired in the way that someone was when they didn’t get a good night’s sleep. Tired in the way that someone is when they’ve already slept fourteen hours and still can’t muster the energy to go about their day. A bone-deep kind of tired. 

“Are they dying?” Apparently Susie wasn’t the only one who had made that observation. 

“What?” she hissed. 

“Well, I don’t know much about human physiology, maybe this is what they look like before succumbing!” Berdly said. Noelle let out an affronted squeak, though there was a queasiness to her expression that suggested the idea had already taken a few extra steps in her head. 

“That’s stupid,” Susie told him. He shrugged unhelpfully before dragging Noelle over to their adjacent desks at the front of the room. Still, there was something about it that gave Susie pause. He’d clearly been making a joke, but there was more to it. Something about the way his gaze lingered on Kris just a bit too long. The slight edge of worry that had snuck its way into his grating voice. 

Susie dropped down into her chair behind Kris, locating a crumpled wrapper in her pocket and chucking it at the back of their head. They startled much more aggressively than she would’ve expected for something like that, taking a moment to settle before they turned back around. 

“Yo,” she greeted. A small smile crept onto their face as they met her gaze and she took a moment to gloat at the stupid little voice in her head that had been bugging her earlier. See? We are friends. Dick. She leaned in a bit closer, lowering her voice. “Didja find anything?” They hesitated for a moment before shaking their head sullenly. “Damn.” Kris bit their lip, glancing around the room worriedly. “Don’t worry, dude, we’ll figure it out.” 

They fell silent as Alphys entered the classroom and began the lesson, some age-old instinct forcing them to quiet down as she began teaching. It was a habit Susie had never developed, but she found herself following Kris’s lead in these kinds of things. Probably force of habit by this point, since Kris did most of the leading during their Dark World adventures. Not so much when they were hanging around Castle Town lately, though. 

“Hey,” Susie said after some arbitrary amount of time had passed and she’d had enough of half-listening to Alphys explain some nonsense she had no hope of understanding. Kris glanced over their shoulder curiously. “Did you, uh…” She trailed off, tongue suddenly heavy in her mouth for some reason. “Did you find anybody that might wanna, y’know. Adopt Tenna?” She’d… really been slacking on that these past few days. Just because there was so much else going on. It wasn’t like she was avoiding getting it done. She wanted him to get adopted. That’s what she’d promised him, after all. 

Again, Kris shook their head, glancing down at the floor guiltily. Susie bit the inside of her cheek, mulling the issue over in her head. How hard could it be to find someone who wanted a TV? 

“I mean… maybe we just give him to that guy in the ghost house?” she suggested. “He seems like he doesn’t get out much, he’d probably watch TV loads.” In fact, when they’d swung by his house that first day after TV World, Susie had assumed Kris was going to give him Tenna right then and there. She still wasn’t sure why they hadn’t. Even now, they seemed uncertain. “You worried about giving him to the wrong person?” This time, there was no hesitation before Kris’s nod. 

“Yeah… It would really suck if we gave him to someone who just threw him out again.” Out of the corner of her eye, she caught Kris’s fingers tightening around their pencil. “Hey, not like it’s your fault your mom chucked him.” She tried not to let any bitterness leak into her tone. Even she could tell she was unsuccessful. 

It wasn’t like she blamed Toriel for it. Toriel didn’t know, she just thought Tenna was a TV. She hadn’t been awake in TV World, hadn’t gotten to meet Tenna. She had no idea how much he cared about her. How much he cared about Kris. Toriel had no way of knowing that he was smart or funny or actually kind of cool, in an out-of-touch kind of way. She didn’t know he was a person. So Susie couldn’t fault her for throwing him out. Even if part of her, the irrational part, the emotional part, couldn’t help but be angry at her for abandoning him. It was like the convenience store skeleton all over again. She had no right to be mad at Toriel for stuff like that, normal stuff that she did with no ill will. She was mad anyway. 

Kris turned back around and Susie took that as her cue to tune back into Alphys’s lesson before her train of thought got any more unpleasant. Of course, it wasn’t like paying attention to class was going to be pleasant, in any sense of the word, but at least it would just be boring instead of making her guts start rearranging themselves without her consent. 

As expected, whatever Alphys was teaching was utterly incoherent. Just more math or whatever, which Susie wasn’t even going to try parsing through. She tried to pay attention to Alphys’s explanation and found herself utterly unable to focus. It was all just nonsense, a bunch of words scrawled on the board with no way of understanding them. Things were so much easier when you could just do them. A healing spell learned out of necessity. A radio with the parts exposed and picked apart. A teacher who actually gave a shit. 

She gave up on trying to pay attention to class.

She thought about ditching again, but she doubted she’d get away with the same move twice, and as little as she respected Alphys, she didn’t want to get Kris in trouble. And she definitely didn’t want to just ditch them. If they were going to suffer through class, they were gonna do it together. Solidarity or something like that. And then they could go hang out in Castle Town after school. She was dying to see how the community center was going. Plus, the TV studio might’ve added some of the other games by now and she really wanted to make Lancer play the cooking game. 

Part of her wanted to go out looking for clues after school, but… it was doubtful they’d find anything useful. Kris had been looking around all morning for three days in a row and found jack shit. The only avenue they probably hadn’t explored was…

Berdly, loathe as she was to admit it, had a point. Asking Asgore couldn’t hurt. If Kris had been looking around for the past three days and still found nothing, then they needed to start looking elsewhere, and if their reaction was anything to go on, Susie doubted Kris had visited Asgore on their searches. 

Maybe that was it. After all, she’d seen Asgore when they’d visited Noelle’s house, and he definitely seemed like… a lot. Maybe Kris just didn’t want to talk to him right now, considering how weird things were. Especially with their mom, who Susie was currently avoiding for non-convenience-store-skeleton-related reasons. That had to be it. That would make total sense. They just didn’t want to waste time on a possible dead end that would just make them feel weird. Susie could understand that much. 

If that was the issue, then Susie would just go alone! Easy peasy. She’d already been missing the beginning of the school day anyway. Kris would probably look for clues again tomorrow, so there was no reason for Susie to be at school until lunch. She’d just swing by Asgore’s store, which she definitely remembered the location of, ask him about the code, and then report back. Problem solved. 

That, at least, made her feel a little better about their lack of progress on the code. Having a plan was definitely better than not having a plan. Even if said plan was probably going to result in a total dead end. That was tomorrow-Susie’s problem. Today-Susie could just live comfortably in the knowledge that a plan existed at all. 

But all of that still left the issue of Tenna, because something told her talking to Asgore was not going to somehow give her the perfect insight on who to give him to. And she really had to give him to someone. He was clearly miserable in Castle Town, she’d have to be an even bigger idiot than she already was not to see it. She’d promised him she’d find him a home and she was gonna do it. She was not procrastinating. She wanted him adopted. Adopted and happy and somewhere she’d probably never see him again. 

She let out a long sigh, dropping her head down onto her arms and letting the fabric of her jacket swallow her a little. She just didn’t know how she was supposed to find him somewhere to go. How was she supposed to trust… anyone in this town? How did she know that whoever she gave him to wasn’t just going to get bored with him and chuck him out a week later? 

And how would she know that whoever they gave him to would even be someone he liked? She couldn’t just abandon him with someone he hated! But… she hardly knew him well enough to make that call. She hadn’t even known him a full week yet. How would she know if whoever adopted him was someone he’d like? 

There was so much she didn’t know about him, so many secrets that made it impossible to place what kind of person he’d actually want to live with. There was Spamton and there was that mysterious business partner she still didn’t know shit about and there was whatever he was hiding in that one box he’d freaked out about. There were too many things that Susie didn’t know. Things he probably wouldn’t tell her if she asked because he was turning out to be a really cagey bastard sometimes. Things that she needed to know if she was going to help him. That’s the thing that pissed her off the most, probably. The way she wanted to help him so badly but didn’t have enough of the pieces to do it. 

But then again… if she was going to Castle Town later, the place was crawling with his old employees. There were Zappers and Pippins and Shuttahs and Shadowguys everywhere. She could probably talk to one of them, but… then again, they were pretty weird with Tenna. There was the whole thing with the contracts, and then his whole freakout. Not to mention how awkward he acted whenever he saw them around Castletown. 

But she knew Elnina and Lanino were at the Love Dojo now, and they had been his second in commands. If anyone knew about this stuff, it had to be them, right? They’d been in Tenna’s story, so they definitely knew Tenna’s business partner. Maybe they’d known Spamton too. Maybe they’d be able to help her out. 

And if they couldn’t, well… she did know where to find another source, but… 

She really didn’t want to talk to Battat. 

Chapter Text

Heading to Castle Town was strange today, though Susie couldn’t place the exact reason. Maybe it was the sullen way Kris stood next to her in the hall while they waited for the rest of the student population to filter out for the day, their expression too… downtrodden to just be their usual lack of general enthusiasm. Maybe it was the way Berdly kept looking at her and Kris suspiciously as he left the classroom. 

Or maybe it was how awkward Noelle looked as she left. The way she glanced over at Kris and Susie and almost looked like she wanted to go over to them before thinking better of it. She’d seemed nervous, but in a different way than she normally was. Something about it didn’t map onto Noelle’s usual shyness. Part of Susie was pleased that she knew Noelle well enough by now to recognize the shift in demeanor. The rest of her was just worried about what that shift might suggest. 

Still, she did her best to shake the weirdness off, reassuring herself that she was probably just blowing things out of proportion. Shit was stressful for everybody. With more effort than she would have liked, she set the lingering nervousness aside and followed Kris into the closet. 

Ralsei wasn’t there to greet them at the gateway, which was simultaneously very good and just a little disappointing. It had been nice that he did, before. Something about someone being so excited to see her that he would wait right by the gateway to greet her. She’d… never had that sort of thing before. Someone whose face lit up when he realized that Susie had walked through the door. Sort of. Metaphorically. Something? That Susie emerged from the gateway. Same difference. 

In the end, though, the small part of her that mourned the loss of Ralsei’s eager greeting was far outweighed by the part of her that was eternally proud of him. It meant he was out hanging out with other Darkners. Doing stuff for himself. Making… other friends. Which was good, because Ralsei really needed some. Besides, her and Kris were still his best friends, and that wasn’t going away any time soon!

“Think he’s at that community center thingy?” Susie asked. Kris gave her a thumbs up before continuing to stand around absently. She leaned closer, trying to check their face to see if they were sick before realizing that she had no idea what human sickness looked like. Hell, she barely understood monster sickness. “Uh… we gonna go, dude?” Kris startled before seemingly realizing that she was waiting for them to lead the way and stumbling into an awkward walk, leading her further into Castle Town. Just more weird shit to add onto the pile of weird shit. Everyone was weird and everyone was shit. She didn’t have enough brains for this many weird, shitty people. Hell, the one she did have barely worked anyway.

“Dude, you sure you’re good?” Susie asked, despite knowing the answer she was going to get. Sure enough, Kris shot her a weak, unconvincing smile and a shaky nod. It was about what she’d expected, but Susie was nothing if not stubborn. “You look like shit. Still. Like, you always kind of look like shit, but this is, like… premium shit. High grade stuff.” Kris gave her a slow, baffled blink before a small snicker escaped them, muffled by their gauntlet. 

“I’m just saying!” Susie defended, clubbing them affectionately in the shoulder. “Seriously, though.” Kris bit their lip and jerked their head away to examine the cobblestone underneath them instead. “Dude. You know, if, uh…” She trailed off before the thought could reach completion. You can tell me. I’m here if you need to talk. Something stupid and sappy and entirely unhelpful. She’d heard it all before and it was never worth shit. Just words. Nevermind that she wouldn’t exactly… mind listening to Kris’s problems. If they wanted to tell her. Which they wouldn’t, because Susie was the last person you wanted to have a deep, emotional conversation with. 

“If someone’s messing with you, you just let me know,” she settled on. “I’ll pummel ‘em so hard they’ll just be a stain on the road!” It was an easy promise to make. After all, if Susie had one thing going for her, it was strength. If there was someone in school bugging Kris, or even someone not in school, she could just clobber them. Boom, done, problem solved. It was nice to pretend the problem was something she could fix for a moment instead of confronting the likely reality that this was something infinitely more complicated. 

Kris informed her that they’d keep that in mind, but their resulting smile was weaker than she would have hoped. Something was definitely fucking them up. She almost went to dig further, but was thwarted by the two of them finally reaching the town proper. 

Entering the town did not, however, alleviate the strangeness of the day, because Ralsei still wasn’t anywhere to be found. Instead, their half-hearted conversation was interrupted by a vaguely familiar voice, paired loosely to an even more vaguely familiar voice, coming from over by Swatch’s Color Cafe. Looking at it now, Susie could hardly remember what it had looked like before. Swatch had taken it over completely. She took a brief second to wonder if that weird chef guy and his definitely evil and villainous cakes were even still in there or if he’d had to flee to another establishment. The train of thought did not have time to go far, thanks to the aforementioned vaguely familiar person. 

“Heroes!” Looking over at the Color Cafe revealed a swatchling, currently colored in a bright, excited yellow. The figure took a second to snap into place in Susie’s memory, already making her way over to them by the time Susie figured it out. 

“Hey… you,” Susie said, flashing a smile that could only be described as whatever the opposite of award-winning was. Kris dryly informed her that it was a good save, patting her shoulder patronizingly. “I’M TRYING!” Susie snarled. Kris ignored her in favor of shooting a pair of finger guns at the swatchling. 

“Oh!” the swatchling said, feathers darkening just a touch towards orange in embarrassment. “I, um. I didn’t even introduce myself yesterday, did I?” Thinking back to the conversation, Susie actually had no damn clue if the swatchling had said her name. Most of Susie’s mental real estate had been taken up by panicking, different panicking, and a couple prayers to any deity that was both listening and hadn’t abandoned her yet. Still, she wasn’t about to let an out like this slip through her fingers. 

“Yeah,” she said, as smoothly as possible. “Yeah, totally.” 

“My apologies!” the swatchling said quickly. “My name is Canary. It’s a pleasure to meet you!” She held out her wing for a handshake that Susie took a second too long to accept, causing Kris to beat her to the punch. They shook Canary’s wing, grinning up at Susie smugly the entire time. She was torn between being relieved that some life had returned to their body and wanting to wring their neck. The relief won by a narrow margin and they were spared for the moment. Canary awkwardly removed her wing from Kris’s grasp, glancing over at Susie nervously. 

“I just wanted to thank you again for agreeing to help me,” Canary said. “I know it was on very short notice and it was awfully impolite for me to ask something like that of you, so I’m eternally grateful!” 

“Oh shit!” Susie said, smacking herself hard enough that it actually stung a bit. “Dude, I totally forgot about the radio!” Kris tilted their head curiously. “It’s fixed, I just left it in my room. I mean, I think it's fixed. Like, it works now, but I dunno, it might just… break again? Stuff does that sometimes.” A spark of indignant static shot across her vision, announcing the presence of the glasses she’d hastily thrown back on that morning. 

She could practically hear Spamton in her head. YOU SERIOUSLY THINK MY CRAFTSMANSHIP IS SHIT ENOUGH TO JUST… BREAK? WHO DO YOU THINK I AM? SPAMTON G. SPAMTON DOES NOT DO THINGS HALFWAY. Of course, it would probably be a lot less legible, interspersed with various censor bleeps and inserted ads, but she was pretty sure she got the gist of it, if the irritated crackling still around the edges of the glasses was anything to go by. 

“You really fixed it?” Canary asked, cutting off Susie’s train of thought yet again. 

“Uh. Yeah. I guess,” Susie said. Kris looked up at her in surprise and she pointedly avoided their gaze, suddenly embarrassed for a plethora of reasons she didn’t have time to fully shape into something coherent right now. “I can, uh…” 

“Oh thank you!” Canary cut in, grabbing Susie’s hand and shaking it with enough force that a lesser monster would’ve lost it. The gesture gave off the feeling of someone who desperately wanted to hug the other party hard enough to snap their spine, but was being held back by some combination of respect, politeness, and arbitrary I-used-to-be-a-butler rules. “Thank you so much!” 

“YOU’RE WELCOME,” Susie choked out, freeing her hand so she could smack Kris upside the head for laughing at her. Spamton was, unfortunately, out of reach, but she had some guesses about what the current lighting around the edges of her vision indicated and she did not appreciate it. Give him one meal and suddenly the guy becomes the most annoying accessory ever made. She dreaded the idea of what Jevilstail would be like if it had Spamton’s communicative capabilities. “Uh, so, do you, like… want it back…?” This time, she smacked Kris preemptively. 

“I wouldn’t want to trouble you any more than I already have,” Canary replied quickly. “You can just leave it with Swatch whenever you have a chance! Or I can come with you now! Whatever is more convenient to you, heroes.” 

“Uh…” Kris managed to salvage the situation by informing Canary that they’d leave the radio with Swatch. Or at least, that’s what Susie gathered from the one word reply of ‘Swatch,’ but they could have also just been saying Swatch’s name because it was, in fact, a good word to say. 

“Of course! I don’t even know how I can begin to repay you.” Susie could see the tension physically draining out of Canary’s body. Geez, she’d been stressed about that thing. 

“Yeah. Cool. Uh, I mean- No problem,” Susie stumbled out. Her performance review for this conversation was going to be terrible. She half expected some kind of ‘Mission Failed’ message to pop up on her glasses, what with her inability to form a single coherent sentence. She wondered if Spamton could do that. Probably not, otherwise her vision would be filled with bullshit every time she put the glasses on. Or maybe he just hadn’t gotten bold enough to start yet. Lulling her into a false sense of security before filling her vision with terrible, terrible ads. 

“Please, if you ever need anything,” Canary continued, “don’t hesitate to ask!” 

“Willlll dooo,” Susie agreed. That finally seemed to assuage the swatchling, who vanished back into the Color Cafe with another few awkward waves and insistent greetings.

“Geez,” Susie muttered, unsure what she was really complaining about, Canary or her own inability to function or some secret third thing that somehow had to do with Spamton and radios and Noelle all at once. Probably all of the above, but Susie wasn’t in the mood to give that the thought it needed. 

Kris, it seemed, was. As soon as Canary was gone, they turned to look at her quizzically, demanding to know what all that was about. 

“Oh, uh. She broke her, like, radio… thing?” Susie said. “And ‘cause she heard I helped fix Tenna, she asked if I could fix it. And I wasn’t gonna, but she kept talking so freakin’ fast, man!” Kris glanced over in the direction she had vanished before nodding their agreement. “So, uh. Yeah.” Kris informed her that they hadn’t realized she knew how to do mechanic work. Susie grimaced at the reminder. 

“I, uh. Don’t. Really.” She tapped the frame of her glasses, eyes flicking down to Kris. Sure, he didn’t want Tenna knowing, but that’s because he had some kind of weird history with Tenna that he refused to tell her about. This was Kris. She was pretty sure he wouldn’t mind if she told Kris. Hey, he was the one who kept talking about how they were ‘birds of a feather’ or whatever. He seemed to like Kris. She still gave him a couple seconds to complain before speaking again. 

“Your weird dumpster friend helped me,” she informed Kris. “That Spamton guy.” Admitting it felt… weird. It was a relief, though why it was such a big one was lost on her. It was just nice to tell someone else. Kris’s eyes widened, their eyes shifting between looking at her to looking at her glasses instead. They were silent for a moment, just standing there and watching her. Watching Spamton. It went on for long enough that she started to feel a little uncomfortable under the scrutiny. “Uhhh… Kris?” 

They asked if Spamton had emerged from the glasses again. 

“Yeah. He can come out and stuff. The clown guy too. They, like, fought over my fridge.” It was only upon saying it out loud that she realized how absolutely bonkers the whole situation had been. The sadistic clown that murdered people for fun and the crazy dumpster guy who wanted to be god or something, scrapping like feral cats over cold Darkburgers. How the hell had her life gotten weird enough for that to just be something that happened? 

Kris fell silent again, their gaze just as indecipherable as always. If she were to hazard a guess, she’d say they almost looked sad. Or maybe disappointed was the better word. It made sense when she thought about it. After all, Kris was the one who went running around doing Spamton’s spooky errands back in Cyber World. They wouldn’t have done that if there wasn’t a reason. Or they could just not care and she was misinterpreting things horribly. Which was also likely. Susie wasn’t well known for her people skills, after all. 

“Y’know,” she continued, mostly in an attempt to break the awkward silence that had fallen over them, “they don’t… totally suck when they’re not trying to kill you. I guess.” Kris didn’t respond to that, but the color around the edges of her vision got a bit brighter. “You’re still an asshole, asshole.” Susie informed Spamton, jamming a finger into the bridge of her glasses for emphasis. “He’s an asshole, though,” Susie told Kris, just in case they hadn’t gotten the message. 

Kris snorted, and Susie caught sight of their eyes rolling through the veil of their bangs. They were summarily shoved to the ground. They made a valiant attempt to grab Susie by the vest and pull her down with them, but seeing as she probably weighed at least twice as much as they did, the end result was just them awkwardly dangling off of her vest before losing their grip and falling anyway. She pointed and laughed at them for good measure while they stumbled to their feet, not even bothering to brush the dirt off their armor. 

With stunning inefficiency, the two of them finally managed to get their shit together and start making their way back over to the community center construction site. Having put their two brilliant minds together, they had concluded that this was the most likely Ralsei location, and, considering Susie’s information from the day before, probably held Lancer as well. Plus, Susie was really curious to see how construction was going. Knowing Lancer, all the holes were probably dug perfectly. Why a building needed holes before it was built, she wasn’t sure, but she was sure he was doing a great job. Maybe it was gonna have a basement. 

Arriving at the site immediately answered the question of what they needed Lancer for, because where there’d just been a bunch of vague machinery and random markers thrown up, there was no a massive hole spanning pretty much the entire site. It was deep enough that the plugboys hopping in and out of it vanished entirely over the side. Looking at it, it was definitely Lancer’s handiwork. No one else here was that good at digging holes. And if they were, Susie wouldn’t admit it. 

Kris and Susie, being the good, law abiding citizens they were, ignored the tape and fencing put up around the construction site and just went right in, exchanging a couple brief greetings with the Darkners they passed. Kris, Susie noted, still hadn’t gone back to talking to everyone the way they used to. It seemed like they’d finally gotten sick of it, a fact that was only surprising to Susie because it had taken more than a single day to happen. She still didn’t know what the appeal had been before. Just another inexplicable Kris detail. They had a lot of those. 

“-15 feet is tall enough?” Susie perked up, catching wind of Ralsei’s voice and turning to look. She found the little Darkner standing to the side of the construction site, hunched over a workbench with the rudinn ranger from the first time they visited the site. Her brain failed to supply their name. 

“The higher we go, the more effort it will take to heat the building, and if Castle Town follows the same seasonal patterns as Card Kingdom, that could be a problem during the winter. Not to mention how it would limit our space,” the rudinn ranger replied. 

“Yeah…” Ralsei agreed sullenly. 

“15 feet should be more than enough to accommodate the Darkners here,” the rudinn ranger assured him. He seemed unconvinced. 

“Yo,” Susie greeted, taking the brief silence as her invitation to step in. Ralsei, who really ought to be used to her greetings by now, nearly tripped over air upon hearing her voice. 

“S-Susie! Kris! You’re back!” he squeaked out. 

“Uh, yeah? Dude, we come here every day.” 

“R-right. Sorry, you just startled me.” Kris told him that it was fine, as Susie was very startling. 

“HEY!” Susie snapped, before catching up to what they’d said and realizing that it was actually kind of a compliment. It was just that damn smug tone they were using. Made it sound like they were making some kind of joke she didn’t get. 

“Don’t worry Susie, I don’t think you’re all that scary!” Ralsei attempted to assure her. 

“WHAT?” 

“U-um, I mean, you’re really scary?” Ralsei tried again. She glared at him for a minute before deciding to let the insult slide. 

“Hmph. Better,” she told him. He let out a relieved sigh. “Hey, what’re you guys doing?” Susie asked. 

“We’re just finalizing some last details,” Ralsei informed her. “Lancer’s almost done digging the foundation, so we have to get everything all set before he’s done. Just in case we need to fix something.”

“Kinda difficult to fix a problem once you’ve already started building the thing,” the rudinn ranger confirmed. “While I’m sure the young prince wouldn’t mind returning to do some more digging, I do think we should determine this now, so as not to inconvenience him.” 

“I’M NOT INCONVENIENCED!” Lancer’s voice called from somewhere within the massive hole. “A hole well-dug is a time well-spent!” 

“Lancer!?” Susie shouted back. 

“In the freshly soil-coated flesh!” Lancer informed her. Her snout wrinkled at the descriptor. 

“Hey, Lancer?”

“Yeah?”

“Never say those words in that order again,” she told him. 

“Okie-dokie!” His head finally popped up over the side of the hole, and loathe as she was to admit it, the descriptor had been apt. He looked less like a person and more like some kind of mole. At least he looked pleased with himself. “Do you like my magnum opus?” 

“Magna-what-now?” Susie asked. 

“Magnum opus!” Ralsei repeated helpfully. “It’s like… your greatest achievement. 

“Greatest achievement so far!” Lancer corrected. “I have big plans, toothpaste boy. Big, big plans! Just you wait!”

“Hell yeah,” Susie agreed. 

“Please don’t tunnel into my room again,” Ralsei pleaded meekly. His pleas went unheard and unacknowledged. 

It was, shockingly, Kris that brought them all back to the matter at hand, asking Ralsei what he was debating with the rudinn ranger.

“Oh, yeah,” Ralsei said. He turned back to the blueprints, wringing his hands uncertainly. “Me and Rory weren’t sure about ceiling heights.” Susie’s first reaction was to thank the vague concept of god for the fact that Ralsei had said the rudinn’s name before she had to admit she didn’t remember it. This was twice she’d gotten away with it today. Her second reaction was to actually realize what Ralsei had said. 

“Ceiling heights?” she echoed incredulously. “Why are you worried about ceilings?” 

“Well, it’s a delicate matter,” Rory said, waving a hand over the blueprints. “It affects storage, heating, structure, all sorts of important factors. And that’s before you consider the way it impacts perception.” 

“Wow,” Susie said. She glanced over at Kris. “That’s a lot of… words.” Her companion nodded their queasy agreement. Ralsei didn’t look much better. 

“Prince Ralsei is concerned that a height of fifteen feet for the standard rooms and hallways won’t be sufficient to accommodate all denizens of Castle Town,” Rory continued. “While I understand the concern, I think anything higher is excessive.” They turned to look at Susie, giving her a quick appraisal. “Though I do appreciate you bringing the concern to our attention. The initial height of nine feet was an oversight on our part.” Susie blinked. 

“Uh- What?”

“Yes! Thank you, Susie, I can’t believe I didn’t think of it!” Ralsei added. 

“What’re you guys talking about?” Susie asked. Ralsei gave her a confused once-over. 

“Remember? Yesterday when you looked at the blueprints?” Susie cast her mind back to the day before, trawling for the event in question like a fisherman casting his line out into a sharknado. Fortunately for her, the memory in question turned out to be a shark, which was pretty easy to snag in her current predicament. 

“O-oh! Yeah, that. Good thing you, uh, checked that,” she said, recovering flawlessly. That must’ve been the thing Spamton had been worried about. 

“It’s not a huge problem in the bigger places like the auditorium,” Ralsei carried on. “But there’s other parts of the building that are going to have a more… standard layout?” Rory nodded in confirmation. “Standard layout. And I’m worried those parts will be too small.”

“I don’t believe there are any Darkners in town that wouldn’t be accommodated by a fifteen foot ceiling,” Rory said. Susie glanced down at the blueprints, completely lost. She’d never learned what measurements actually meant, at least not in any way she could visualize, and as such she had no goddamn clue what fifteen feet actually looked like. It sounded like a lot. “The tallest Darkner in town currently is Mr. Tenna, and he’s able to alter his height at will.” Susie could’ve rolled her eyes as the realization hit her. Of course that had been why Spamton noticed that the ceiling height was too low. She wondered if he had Tenna’s exact measurements memorized, being his mechanic and all. Did Tenna even have exact measurements? Logic told her that he had to have some kind of ‘resting’ height that served as his default, but maybe not. He was definitely smaller in Castle Town than he’d been in TV World, at least. Though… he did say he got smaller when his mood was worse, so… She decided that she didn’t want to think about that right now. 

“I’m just worried that we might run into other Darkners similar to Mr. Tenna’s height,” Ralsei explained. 

“I doubt it,” Rory replied. “Though… I suppose the concern is a rational one.” They glanced back over at Susie. “What do you think?”

“Me?” Susie asked incredulously. 

“Seeing as you’re the one who noticed the problem in the first place, I would value your input,” Rory continued. Oh shit. The hell was she supposed to say here? She had no idea what Rory had been talking about with all the building… stuff from before. How was she supposed to weigh in on this? 

She waited, desperately, for Spamton to make a decision one way or the other, but contrary to his piss-taking from earlier, he’d gone eerily silent. In a moment of desperation, she glanced over her shoulder at the Jevilstail. It gave no indication either way, which gave her enough time to realize that any advice Jevil gave would probably make the building structurally unstable on principle. 

Her gaze found its way back to the blueprints, which were just as incomprehensible as always. There was so much stuff going on that made zero sense. Stuff about heating and storage and perception, whatever Rory meant by that. But, if she thought about it purely on principle… 

She thought back to Tenna’s room, with its too-small chairs. To the way he’d gotten stuck in the door of the bank. Castle Town was magic, surely whatever consequences there were couldn’t be that bad. And the community center was supposed to be for everyone. No matter who. No matter if they were probably going to be gone before it was even finished. Besides, if nothing else, she trusted Ralsei’s judgement. He’d gotten them this far. 

“I’m with Ralsei,” she decided. “You can probably make ‘em a little bigger, right?” Ralsei’s expression brightened, almost as if he hadn’t expected her to agree with him. She punched him for it and he took the blow in stride. Kris gave them a double thumbs up, just in case anyone needed further confirmation. 

“Well…” Rory glanced between the three of them, clearly deciding that arguing at this point was above their pay-grade. “If you’re willing to shoulder the extra heating costs and the other adjustments for stability, then I see no reason we can’t raise the ceilings.” 

“Of course!” Ralsei said immediately. “I’m on it!” Susie shot him a pleased grin and Rory shrugged. 

“Alright. I suppose we should get to work then.”

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was another hour or so before Susie finally left the excavation site, fully alone. Well, mostly alone. 

She and Kris tried to convince Ralsei to take a break from the community center and come play games with them, but he was insistent that he had to sort everything out with Rory that day so actual construction could get started. Why the community center seemed so much more high effort than all the other buildings in Castle Town, which seemed to just spawn in every time she visited, Susie didn’t know. But Ralsei was unshakable, so she and Kris were forced to strike out alone.

They ended up helping Lancer dig for a bit, letting him teach them his ‘expert technique.’ Susie was pretty sure she’d nailed it by the end. Her claws, it turned out, made for some pretty effective excavators. Kris had been surprisingly good at it too, though their digging strategy was distinctly… dog-like. Then again, who was she to judge an effective strategy? It had been a blast, until she remembered that she had a mission today that she really couldn’t afford to keep putting off. So, she bid her farewells and began the long trek to the (still unfortunately) rebranded Love Dojo on the other side of town. 

She hoped she’d made the right call by ditching Kris. The conversation would probably be easier with them there, but they always got weird when Tenna was involved, and Susie didn’t want to make their day worse than it already was. Plus, she needed someone to distract Spamton, because she was pretty sure that he’d lose his shit if she went on this mission with him still there, but she didn’t put it past him to follow her if she just left him somewhere. 

Of course, if she admitted it, that wasn’t her only motivation for leaving him with them. There was also the way they’d looked at her when she mentioned that she’d been talking to him. The whole mess the two of them had gotten into before she and Ralsei caught up. She figured that maybe Kris wanted to talk to him. Assuming he came out at all, because he was pretty shifty about what he responded to. It didn’t matter either way, because it still meant that she had the chance to ask some questions without getting a strobe light injected directly into her retinas. 

The Fun Gang hadn’t visited the Love Dojo in days, not since it first rebranded. Why the others didn’t go, Susie didn’t know, but she, for one, found the rebrand terribly boring. The old dojo used to have fun challenges and cool prizes. The Love Dojo was just fighting Elnina and Lanino again, and Susie hated fighting those two. It wasn’t nearly as fun as any of the other fights they got into in the Dark Worlds. They just kept gushing about how much they loved each other the whole time, and then Lanino would set her on fire or something. Not her idea of a good time. 

Unfortunately for Susie, they had been Tenna’s second in commands, which made them her best option for insight into her current issues. They may be weird and lovey-dovey, but at least they weren’t actually trying to kill her anymore. Unlike some people. She still didn’t completely trust the Mikes not to jump her in an alley somewhere. 

Entering the Dojo immediately unleashed a wall of sound so potent that she just assumed her entire face got folded back from the force of it like some kind of cartoon character. The music itself wasn’t particularly aggressive, just the same overtly sentimental garbage from before, but the volume was so astronomically high that it was a miracle anyone escaped with their eardrums intact. Maybe they didn’t.

A familiar jigsawry sat in the center of the dojo, slumped over dejectedly as the music played around him. Susie was inclined to share the sentiment. The bloxer and the pippins in the corner seemed happy at least. 

“Boss number two!?” the jigsawry yelped, shooting to his feet in surprise as Susie approached him. “Geez. Haven’t seen you in a while,” he informed her. “Not that I… blame ya.” 

“Yeeeeeeaaaah,” Susie agreed, rubbing the back of her neck awkwardly as she took in the disgustingly heart-heavy decorations around them. “Sorry, dude.”

“No, no, I understand,” the jigsawry said wearily. “This place ain’t what it used to be.” Susie nodded sullenly. “Say, where are the rest of your troupe? Aren’t there usually three of you heroes?” 

“Yeah, they’re, uh… busy,” Susie informed him. He sighed wearily. 

“No need to spare my feelings. They didn’t want to come here. Come on, you can tell me.” 

“Nah, they’re actually busy,” Susie said. “Ralsei’s working on the community center thing and Kris is… talking to somebody.” She really hoped they weren’t going down into any creepy basements this time. Maybe leaving them alone with Spamton was a bad idea. “Anyway, you think I can talk to Elnina and Lanino?” The jigsawry grimaced. 

“You can certainly try. They’re…” He broke off with a shudder. “I only ever see them in the back room. They just keep complimenting each other. You’d think they’d run out, but…” He shook his head. “They don’t come out unless someone is willing to fight them. Something about ‘proving their mutual respect.’ Man, I don’t know. I just wanted to make a training dojo, I didn’t ask for this!” Susie awkwardly mimed patting his shoulder in what she hoped was a comforting gesture. He seemed to appreciate it. “Anyway, if you want to talk to them, your best bet is probably to… fight them.” 

“Greeeat,” Susie drawled. Of course she couldn’t just talk to people. Where’d be the fun in that? The prospect in and of itself made her angry enough to want to fight them. “Can’t I just kick the door down?” 

“I’d… advise against it?” the jigsawry said. Susie glanced over at the door that presumably led to the rest of the dojo, thought it through, and decided that he probably had a point. At least if she was fighting them, she’d have their full attention. Plus, it wasn’t an actual fight, so she didn’t need Kris to figure out that ACTing stuff. She could just pummel them. A little. A light pummeling in a purely training context. With any other opponent, the thought would be almost fun. 

“Fine,” she conceded. 

“So you want to…” The jigsawry sighed in exasperation, pulling a small device out of his… pocket? Where the hell had he been keeping that? “...fight lovers?” Susie grinned, pulling her axe out. 

“Bring it on.” 

Shifting into a battle without Kris there was always a bizarre experience. Usually when they fought people, she’d get a bit of a warning first as Kris’s soul appeared out of their chest before the darkness of battle magic surrounded them. Without Kris, there was no warning shot. It was just nothing, and then sudden darkness, accompanied by the appearance of her opponents and the dojo’s music finally shifting from that sentimental bullshit into something only slightly more cool. Marginal improvement was still improvement! It made the sight in front of her piss her off only slightly less. 

“Finally! An opponent!” Elnina declared, her wand arching out in front of her in a dramatic flourish. 

“A worthy foe to face our united front!” Lanino agreed, mirroring her movement. 

“Prepare, heroes-” Elnina paused. She took in the scene, analyzing the obvious lack of Kris and Ralsei. “Prepare, hero,” she corrected flawlessly. “To face the wrath of our glorious sun!” 

“And our dazzling crystal!” Lanino finished. Vaguely, Susie was reminded of some old show she used to watch. Something about catching animals in balls. All she remembered was that the heroes had a corny catchphrase and reminded her of these two. She doubted they’d appreciate the comparison. Kris would. She was immediately regretting not bringing them along, if only because this would be a lot more fun with them there. 

“Let the battle begin!” Elnina and Lanino declared together, followed moments later by the boxing ring springing up around them. 

With no Kris to guide her on the matter, and just enough latent irritation at being put into this situation in the first place, Susie didn’t even bother trying to ACT and just fired off a shot at Lanino as soon as she could. The blow hit him in the shoulder, but he hardly stumbled thanks to the dampening effects the dojo had on attack magic. It was one of her favorite things about it, though Kris rarely let her test it out, always insisting on ACTing, even here. She liked that she could actually fight here without worrying about hurting people. As much as she… cared about the Darkners they came across, she did kinda miss beating people up. Just a little. 

“Tonight’s weather is…” Lanino and Elnina declared with the rehearsed cadence of, fittingly, weather forecasters. 

“...crystal!” Lanino finished. 

“...shinerous crystal!” Elnina said. Why she added on the embellishment was beyond Susie. Maybe she was just being egotistical. That was the whole thing that got them broken up in the first place back in TV world. She didn’t really have much time to think about it, because moments later a familiar cloud and moon materialized above her, raining crystallized magic right on her head. She raised her axe, swinging haphazardly in an attempt to knock as many of the attacks aside. She managed to dodge most of them, but felt a couple bite into her arm where she miscalculated. Jerks. 

“Hey, so, uh…” she began ineloquently as the attack ended. “Can I like… talk to you guys?” The only indication that they heard was a slight tilting of Elnina’s head, but that could’ve just been a normal thing. She rolled her eyes, firing off another attack, this time at Elnina. It, too, did little damage upon connecting. 

“Tonight’s weather is…” 

“Like, we can still fight, can we just also talk?” 

“Sun!”

“Glorious sun!” 

“Great.” The burning suns descended upon her with a fury. Her dodging strategy this time landed her in the corner of the ring, unable to move any further, which landed her a couple nasty blows to the chest. She was starkly reminded of her first time fighting these two, back in Tenna’s game. Silly as they were, they’d definitely given the Fun Gang a bit of an ass-whooping. Not that Susie would ever admit that out loud. 

“Guys!?” she asked. Still no reply. She couldn’t even tell if they were actually ignoring her or if they were just so caught up in things that they didn’t even realize she was talking to them. She hit Lanino again, figuring she could just go for an even fifty-fifty split until one of them pissed her off. It probably would be Lanino, actually. His attacks weren’t as solidified as Elnina’s, which made them annoyingly difficult to parry. 

Fortunately for her, Elnina commanded the next attack, which allowed Susie a bit of grace. This time, her strategy was to just spin her axe above her head as fast as was physically possible, knocking the projectiles aside by sheer force of probability. She tossed her axe into the air and caught it easily as the attack ended, just to show off a bit. The slight widening of her opponents eyes told her they were either impressed, horrified, or both. Damn she wished Kris and Ralsei were here. 

“Heh. Pretty sick, right?” They did not respond, dampening her excitement just a bit. “Man.” She fired off an attack at Elnina, who didn’t even try to sidestep it. “Seriously though, can we please talk about something?” She was quickly realizing that this was not her forte. Ralsei and Kris were the talkers. The guys that chatted with everybody and tried to gather information and shit. Susie was supposed to be the one who beat people up. Trying to have a functional conversation sucked. 

Lanino and Elnina prepared their next attack, the ominous figures of their cloud and moon forming above her yet again. At this point, she was pretty sure the little pricks of their muted magic were pissing her off more than if they were doing actual damage. Part of her almost wanted to just bail and go talk to the Mikes, but something told her that would somehow be worse. She was in it now, wasn’t she?

“It’s about Tenna, jackass!” Susie snarled, attempting to knock aside a sun with her axe anyway, despite the fact that they were largely incorporeal. She didn’t really expect that to get a reaction either, but the magic around her seemed to stutter for a moment at the mention of Tenna’s name. The attack wound down, the only casualty currently being the smoldering ends of Susie’s hair. 

“Tenna?” Elnina asked, the first time one of them had actually spoken directly to her in… forever, probably. She wasn’t sure she’d ever had an actual conversation with these two. Kris had done all the talking back in TV World, mostly because they weirded her out. They still kind of did, but this was for Tenna. This was… important. 

“Yeah,” Susie confirmed. 

“Is something wrong?” Lanino asked. “Is he okay?” 

“What? Yeah, no he’s…” She hesitated, just for a second. “...fine.” He wasn’t, not really. He was miserable here, out of his depth and on his own. And she was letting him down. 

“Hm,” Elnina said, lips pursing uncertainly. She fired off her next attack anyway, which was kind of a dick move in Susie’s opinion. 

“It’s about- getting him adopted and stuff,” Susie explained, knocking crystals aside as she did. Elnina and Lanino exchanged a surprised look. 

“Adopted?” Lanino asked. “What do you mean?” Susie blinked in surprise. 

“Didn’t he tell you guys? We told him we’d find him a new home, y’know? Like, somebody to watch him.” She had forgotten which one she’d attacked last, so she did a mental eeny meeny miney moe and hit Lanino. “Remember?”

“...No,” Elnina said as they mustered their next attack. “I had no idea he was… leaving.” She glanced over at Lanino, who shook his head. 

“Yeah, that’s the whole deal,” Susie informed them. “Shit- Geez, man, these stupid fucking suns!” Lanino gave her an odd look, unsure of whether to take her anger as a compliment or an insult. She hoped it came across as the latter. “We’ve been looking for somebody to adopt him, but… I, uh, don’t really know where he’d wanna live. And you guys used to be his second in command, I guess, so I thought maybe you’d know.” She hit Lanino again, just because the suns were pissing her off. 

“He’s… really going?” Lanino asked. “Just like that?”

“Yeah, dude,” Susie informed him. She braced her axe and did her little spin trick again, to less success. Must’ve not spun it fast enough that time. “Did he seriously not tell you guys?” Elnina and Lanino exchanged a long look before shaking their heads at her in perfect, unsettling unison. 

“We… haven’t seen Tenna since we arrived here,” Elnina admitted. Susie paused right as she was about to fire her attack, tilting her head in confusion. 

“Seriously?” Lanino nodded in confirmation. 

“Neither have any of the others,” he added. “A couple of them have seen him around town, but he never stops to talk. Just a greeting here and there before he runs off.” Susie blinked, drawing back. “It’s your turn.” 

“I KNOW THAT!” Susie snarled, firing off a rude buster right at him. He at least had the common decency to look frightened by the wave of raw aggression radiating towards him. That prick was lucky magic was muted here, or she was pretty sure that much irritation would’ve killed him on the spot. She glanced at his Dojo-HP, disappointed to find that it was only down to 57%. 

“We just assumed he was having trouble settling in,” Elnina admitted. “We had no idea he was planning on getting adopted.” 

“Really? I kinda figured you were all, like… going with him,” Susie said. “Like, all of TV World and stuff.” They shook their heads. 

“We had no idea,” Lanino said. “He… he really said that? That he’s leaving?” 

“Well, yeah. We promised we’d find him a new home,” Susie said. Lanino and Elnina shot each other an equally troubled glance. 

“You don’t think he’d really… leave without saying goodbye, do you, Sunshine?” Elnina asked. 

“I don’t know, Dewdrop,” Lanino replied. 

“Eugh,” Susie said, even though no one asked. Lacking a Kris or a Ralsei to turn to, she glanced over her shoulder to hopefully commiserate with Jevil. The tail flicked behind her, which she decided to believe meant he agreed. 

“Do you think that’s why he’s been so distant?” Elnina asked. 

“I don’t know. It could be,” Lanino said. “But…” 

“Oh dear…” Susie tried her best to pay attention while still avoiding the barrage of attacks coming at her. This whole thing was turning out way weirder than she’d expected. His old staff wasn’t going with him? He hadn’t even told them? What the hell was that about? 

“I mean… he has kinda been acting weird,” Susie decided aloud as the attack ended. 

“Weird?” her opponents asked simultaneously. It was kinda creepy. Like those twins from that old movie, the Gleaming. She assumed. She’d never actually seen it, just the references. Maybe Tenna had it on VHS. It seemed like his thing. 

“I dunno. Like, sketchy,” Susie said, which even she could tell was an unhelpful reply. She fired a half-hearted blow in Elnina’s direction, more out of habit than anything else. “I guess he just kinda looks…” Miserable. Pissed. Lonely. Like he hates it here. Like he’s hiding something. “Shitty?” was what she settled on. 

Elnina and Lanino looked around nervously, first at each other, then over at her, then back at each other again. The tension in the room was palpable, and not just from the currently still active-battle. The romantic battle music was seeming less and less appropriate by the minute. She almost shouted for someone to turn it off. 

“I mean… Tenna’s always been prone to-”

“Yes, but surely he wouldn’t-”

“Maybe not normally, but this was a very difficult time!” 

“But we’re all safe now!”

“It’s Tenna. You know how he gets…” 

“And it has been so much worse ever since-”

“But he-”

“I just wish we knew what happened-”

“It’s all so-”

“What are you guys talking about!?” Susie wailed. They both jumped at the sudden intrusion into their half-conversation, which Susie acknowledged with a satisfied huff. Jerks. Disturbing jerks, somehow having half of their conversation telepathically somehow. The Jevilstail twitched in what she decided to interpret as annoyance. 

Elnina and Lanino looked at each other sheepishly. There was a clear nervousness to their demeanor that hadn’t been there before, but also something that seemed a lot like genuine worry. Susie felt just a small piece of her annoyance with the pair filter away. Sure, they were weird and sappy and kind of irritating, but they certainly seemed like they cared about Tenna at least, and that was what really mattered right now. 

“You’re… really trying to find him a new home?” Elnina asked again, her tone carefully steady. 

“Yeah,” Susie said. “I just wanna make sure it’s a good one, y’know? One he’ll like. I don’t… really know him.” It hurt to admit, far more than she wanted it to. Why the hell did it hurt that bad if it was true? 

“A home he’ll like,” Lanino echoed. He shook his head sadly. “I’m… not sure we can be of much help there.” Elnina nodded her agreement. 

“We’ll be the first to admit that Tenna is something of a difficult person,” she said haltingly. “He’s a stormcloud, always moments away from bursting. He’s never been the easiest man to work for.” Lanino grimaced, glancing down at the magic-darkened ground. 

“He’s not that bad,” Susie defended, unsure of why she did. “He’s just…” She couldn’t think of something in time.

“Don’t get us wrong, he’s a dear friend of ours,” Lanino cut in quickly. “We love him dearly. But one can love the sun while still realizing that its rays will burn if left unattended.” Susie picked at her bracelets uncertainly, her discomfort now growing strong enough to overpower her annoyance at the needlessly flowery metaphors. 

“He just…” Elnina sighed, tracing along the edge of her wand. “He loved the Dreemurr family. We all did, but Tenna’s connection to them was… different. Special. They were everything to him.” 

“Yeah…” Susie agreed. That much, she knew. She could see it every time he talked to Kris, every time his screen lit up at the mention of his old family. He loved them so fiercely. So powerfully. A protective older brother or a kind, friendly uncle. A father. A real one. The embodiment of what a loving parent should be. Kris was lucky to have him, even if his attempts to connect were hamhanded at times.

“I… Damn,” Lanino said. “A new home. A new home alone.” He grimaced and Elnina reached out to rest a hand on his arm comfortingly. “Can he really bear it? He’s hardly adjusting to Castle Town. An entirely new place, with no one familiar?” 

“Maybe that’s what he needs,” Elnina suggested. “Somewhere where he can start fresh, without any of the baggage that pollutes his rivers. So he can move on from the Dreemurrs.” 

“So he can move on from-” Lanino cut himself off as Elnina shot him a sharp look. 

“What?” Susie asked. They glanced between each other, offering no reply. 

“I’m sorry we can’t help you,” Elnina said instead. 

“Truly,” Lanino agreed. “Tenna is a dear friend of ours, but I’m afraid that as the years have gone on, he has drifted further and further away.”

“I don’t understand it…” Elnina murmured. “He’s always been so afraid of change. Why would he want to leave us now?”

“I don’t know, Dewdrop. Surely he knows we would want to help him?” Susie glanced between the two of them uncertainly. 

“Uh… Didn’t you guys, like… ditch him back in TV World?” Lanino and Elnina froze, staring at her far too intensely for her liking. “Which was cool! Like, all good, that was… cool of you guys. Cause he was kind of trying to trap us. But…” She shook her head. She had no clue where she was going with this. 

“He was making a bad choice,” Lanino said after a moment. “It’s… A good friend has to know when to put their foot down. Tenna is a difficult man, but he’s also our friend. We want to help him.”

“It’s just that sometimes, helping means challenging them a little,” Elnina said. “You can’t grow unless you struggle.” 

“Exactly! I mean, look at us! Our love hit a rocky patch and we both did things we’re not proud of,” Lanino said. Elnina nodded sagely. 

“But we refused to let the challenge defeat us! We learned from our mistakes and became better for it!” 

“And now, our love is the strongest it’s ever been!” They leaned in, nuzzling noses and whispering quiet ‘oh, you’s’ to each other that sounded a lot like how eating straight frosting felt. Susie tried not to look as distressed by the display as she felt. She doubted she succeeded, but fortunately, Elnina and Lanino were too wrapped up in being disgusting to care. 

After what felt like forever, they finally stopped, turning back to Susie again. 

“Our point is, we…” Lanino trailed off, running a hand through his hair uncertainly. 

“We want to help him,” Elnina finished for him. “However we can. And if that means finding him a new home, then… we can try. We’ll put our heads together and see if we can help you.”

“Oh. Sweet,” Susie said. Elnina nodded stiffly. 

“But, please tell him to at least say goodbye?” Lanino added. “He’s still our friend. He…” Lanino let out a long sigh, clasping his hands around his wand. “He hurt a lot of us. He can be intense. Prone to outbursts. But he was also going through… a lot.” He pinched the bridge of his nose, leaving Elnina to finish the thought for him. 

“We just miss him,” she said.

The fight ended with little fanfare and no clear victor. Elnina and Lanino had promised to do some thinking and try to help her find Tenna a home, but none of that comforted her as much as it should have, not when the rest of the conversation was so utterly bizarre. She felt like she was more at a loss than when she first decided to talk to the two of them. But, she did know one thing at least. 

She needed to talk to that godforsaken TV. 

Chapter Text

Tenna was in his room when she got there.

Realistically, it made perfect sense. She’d only ever seen him leave it twice, when Ralsei had been giving him his tour of the town and when they’d all gone to look at the community center building site. Since then, he’d always been in his room when she was in Castle Town. She supposed it hadn’t quite hit her how abnormal that was until now. Most of the other Darkners mingled around town. Hanging out, settling in, running shops, all sorts of stuff. Queen didn’t leave her room all that much, but she also shared it with a bunch of random other Cyber City citizens. But, apart from the first day when he’d initially been settled in, Tenna had been living fully on his own. 

He needs to get out more, Lancer had said. She was finding that, as with most things, Lancer was right on the money.

As she approached the door, she could hear faint music coming from inside the room. It wasn’t loud enough for her to make out the details, but it was enough that she could feel the pulse of it through the door. 

“Tenna?” she called, banging on the side of the door and trying not to trip the sensors. “Open up, dipshit!” This garnered no results, so she continued her assault on Tenna’s doorway. Further inspection did reveal that the music wasn’t actually from his room. It was, in fact, just spill-over from Queen listening to her techno shit at twice the normal volume. Which was saying something, considering how loud the normal volume was already. She wondered how thin the walls between Queen and Tenna’s room were. Maybe he couldn’t even hear her knocking over Queen’s music. 

“Ten-” she went to knock again, only to completely miscalculate the angle she was at and accidentally trip the sensor she’d been trying so hard to avoid. Tenna’s door whooshed open.

The room was unchanged from the last time she’d visited the day before. The mangled pillow fort was still in the corner, falling over where half the chairs had been stolen for their tea party. The pile of boxes remained shoved into a corner, still packed and still missing a single, innocuous piece. The same barren, incongruous furniture, all mismatched and all just a bit too small for their supposed owner. It reeked of being temporary, the same way Tenna’s room always did. It was worse today, off the heels of her conversation with Elnina and Lanino. 

“Tenna?” Susie called, poking her head through the door. A quick glance around the room yielded no sign of Tenna. “You in here?” 

In the moment, she almost believed that he wasn’t there. That he was out on the town, reconnecting with his old employees or making new friends or maybe just getting some fresh air. That he was on his way to say his goodbyes right now, and she’d just caught Elnina and Lanino before him. Almost. 

She was about to just leave when something caught her eye. Tenna’s too-small table was still strewn with various papers, evidence of all the late-night scripting he’d been getting up to. It was tough to see from her vantage point, considering that Tenna’s table, while too small for him, was still almost taller than her, but most of the papers seemed to be pretty standard fare. Just plain white printer paper, illegible notes scrawled across them in black ink. But there was one thing that seemed out of place.

One of the papers sat right at the head of the table, like that was what he’d been looking at last. The single light on in the room glinted off of a glossy surface, reflecting back at Susie. If she stood on her tip-toes (and also climbed the door frame just a little), she could tell that the paper was fully colored. The red stood out to her the most, though she could also see a bit of yellow and one particularly distracting blob of white. 

She had entered Tenna’s room before the situation even fully registered in her brain. With the door now having slid closed behind her, she could determine that Queen’s music was only slightly more quiet in Tenna’s room than it was out in the hall. She was definitely playing it louder today than normal. 

Susie made her way over to the table, still absently scanning the room to see if Tenna was anywhere around. His absence in the room was starting to get a little worrying. She wanted to believe it was because he was out in town. She doubted that was the case. The way Elnina and Lanino had been talking about him… the fact that no one had seen him beyond one or two hasty interactions… Christ, she had no idea what was going on with him. That was the whole reason she was here in the first place.

Up close, she couldn’t quite see over the top of the table, making it impossible for her to actually get a good look at the paper there without climbing onto one of the chairs. It was at this point that it finally occurred to her that this was actually a total violation of Tenna’s privacy and she should probably just stop now. It was rude and weird of her to be here if he wasn’t. But…

She couldn’t shake the feeling that the paper on his table was important, somehow. Surely she could just take a… quick look at it. Besides, he was the one who had left it on his table. If you’re going to leave stuff lying around, then it belongs to the house, not you. Besides, it’s not like you’re the one paying for it. A frustrated growl forced its way out of her throat and she shook her head, trying to force the thought out. She wasn’t going to be like that. That wasn’t what this was. She was trying to help his stupid, stubborn ass. She was just gonna take a quick glance, and then she’d be on her-

“Susie?” Susie just narrowly managed not to visibly jump out her skin, but it was close. Instead, she took a very inconspicuous deep breath, smoothed out her hair in a way that did no smoothing whatsoever, and slowly turned around. 

“Tenna!” she greeted, trying to squash down the suspiciously guilt-shaped emotion currently crawling around her stomach. She hadn’t actually done anything. No need to feel like she’d been caught stealing from the cookie jar. “H-hey, dude! I was just lookin’ for ya!” 

Tenna’s screen flickered as he tilted his head contemplatively, and it was only then that Susie finally realized just how small the beam of light hitting her currently was. Her initial assumption when she’d turned around was that he was leaning down to look at her, but that wasn’t it at all. Tenna was standing largely straight, yet his screen was less than a foot above her. Small. He was small. At least, smaller than Susie had seen him since they brought him back to Castle Town. 

“Oh! Sorry, I…” He trailed off, and she couldn’t be sure, but she could’ve sworn she saw him lose another half an inch. “I didn’t think you were going to stop by today! I would’ve gotten the room more show-ready! Done a bit of spring cleaning, if you catch my drift! I don’t usually leave it this messy, I swear.” The resulting smile was one that Susie was certain wouldn’t reach his eyes if he had them. 

“It looks the same as always, dude,” Susie reminded him. 

“Ah. So it does.” 

“Yeah,” Susie agreed awkwardly. “So, like. It’s cool.” 

“Great!” Tenna said loudly. He paused, clearing his throat uncomfortably. “That’s good, then.” He scanned the room as if praying someone else would come in and continue the conversation for him. No one did, leaving the two of them standing there in awkward silence as Susie wracked her brain for a way to approach the actual reason she’d come to talk to him. 

“Um-”

“Right! The mess!” Tenna yelped suddenly. He shot past her, giving her just enough time to realize what it was that he’d noticed before he snatched it off the table and up out of reach. He gathered the rest of his papers as well, but it was hardly enough to conceal what he was really trying to hide. “I’ll be right back!” He vanished before she could even respond, taking what she was now certain was a crucial piece of evidence with him. Damn it. She should’ve just bitten the bullet and looked when she’d had the chance. 

“What was that stuff?” she asked when he returned, knowing full well he wouldn’t answer. Sure enough, his reply of “just some more scripting, you know how it is!” was basically nothing. It made sense, though. He’d been cagey since he got here. She didn’t know why she expected that to change. 

“So… did you… need anything?” Tenna asked. He asked her every time she came, she was pretty sure. If she was there because she needed something. As if she wouldn’t show up if she didn’t. 

“I, uh…” Shit. This was the part where she confronted him, right? She’d come here to talk to him about what she’d learned from Elnina and Lanino. To demand to know why he hadn’t told anybody that he was getting adopted. Maybe to ask why he’d been so weird since he got to Castle Town. Maybe to ask everything else. To solve the puzzle that was Mr. Ant Tenna. It should be easy for her. She was used to being blunt. To just speaking her mind when someone pissed her off, or when she was worried. But something about Tenna always made it twice as hard, as if saying the wrong thing would somehow make him leave her. It was all so stupid. Since when did she care about being tactful? 

She glanced over her shoulder, just in case Jevil had any sage advice to offer. He did not. 

A part of her that she refused to acknowledge almost wished she hadn’t left Spamton with Kris. Which was stupid, because Spamton would probably be the least helpful creature alive to have with her for something like this. In fact, he’d probably find some magical way to make it all worse. 

“I-”

“Are you hungry?” Tenna said, beating her to the punch. She must’ve taken too long getting her shit together. 

“W- huh?” she asked. 

“I was- I mean, I could make-” He glanced over at his fridge, frowning to himself. “I was going to make dinner.” His antenna twitched as he said it. Susie couldn’t quite decipher what that meant. 

“I, uh-” Now that she thought about it, she was hungry. She knew that technically Darkner food wasn’t really filling for a Lightner, but it was also better than nothing. And just because it wasn’t ‘filling’ or whatever didn’t mean it didn’t taste good. Dinner couldn’t hurt. It gave her more time to figure out how to approach the issue at hand. All of the righteous confidence that she’d stormed up to the castle with had long since evaporated, and she could definitely use a bit more time to put together a coherent plan of attack. And if it just so happened to mean she got to hang out with Tenna for a bit longer… 

Was it selfish that she enjoyed the thought of spending this time with him alone? 

“Just don’t set me on fire,” she grumbled finally. Tenna visibly brightened, but not as much as Susie would’ve expected. He was uncharacteristically… static. She was used to him bouncing between emotions like a dodgeball thrown into a wall, sad one second, elated the next. Crazy mood swings, kind of like a kid she’d known when she’d lived in Tennessee for a bit. 

She’d liked that kid, now that she thought back on it. She’d been some kind of plant-like monster. Susie remembered that she got angry really easily, or suddenly got really sad when she was happy a second ago. They’d never actually talked, because Susie had already decided by then that she was better off going it solo. But she remembered feeling like she got it, whenever that other kid got pissed and started chucking stuff across the room. 

In hindsight, part of her wished she’d tried talking to her. Wondered if maybe the feeling had been mutual and that monster girl could have understood her too. How many people had been like that in her life? People not quite like Kris, because nobody could be like Kris, but maybe… friends nonetheless? Did it even matter, if she would’ve lost them immediately after? She’d only stayed in Tennessee for two months. 

“C’mon, man, I’m starving to death!” Susie declared, suddenly grabbing Tenna’s arm and dragging him towards the kitchen in the hopes that she could leave that particular train of thought behind in the main room. 

“You’re what!?” Tenna yelped. 

“Metaphor!” Susie replied. That’s not what a metaphor is, you simpleton, Berdly said in her head. Get the fuck out of my head, she said to the Berdly in her head. Tenna seemed torn between concern at her previous statement and the previous excitement of her accepting his offer. He ended up settling on the latter, a smile creeping up onto his face that, while small, felt a lot more real than the others he’d been giving her today. 

“Alright!” Susie declared, clapping her hands as she shoved the kitchen door closed with her shoulder. “Let’s fuck this kitchen up!” 

“Yes! Let’s (in a way that the censors won’t kill me for) get started!” Tenna agreed. Susie rolled her eyes at his family-friendly demeanor. “Let me just…” He paused, slowly gazing around the kitchen uncertainly. “I’ll…” He glanced over at the door, then back at the stove, around the empty countertops. His antenna twitched and his mouth pressed together as he contemplated something Susie wasn’t privy to. Then, finally: “I’ll be right back.” 

He returned to the room perhaps two minutes later, carrying with him the biggest book Susie had ever seen in her life. It was massive even in Tenna’s hands. It probably still would’ve looked big even if he was at his full height instead of the measly 6’7”-ish he was at currently. The thing was probably massive enough to qualify as a tome. 

“Dude, what the hell is that?” Susie asked. 

“My cookbook!” Tenna informed her. “I, um. I had to go find it, since I haven’t unpacked… Since…” He shook his head, distracting himself by plopping the book on the counter with a loud bang. “It has all of the family-favorite recipes! Butterscotch pancakes, butterscotch pie, butterscotch cookies, butter-”

“Geez, dude, you really like butterscotch,” Susie laughed. Tenna let out a weak chuckle, his antenna twitching nervously. 

“O-of course I do! It’s a family favorite! I-I mean, who doesn’t love butterscotch?” he agreed, though his voice was straining again. Probably because of the mention of the Dreemurrs, because Susie wasn’t quite stupid enough to not recognize who he meant by ‘family.’ His family. The people he cared about more than anything, no matter what. The people he really loved. 

“I mean, obviously there’s more than just butterscotch recipes,” he continued, unprompted. “A well-rounded diet is vital!” 

“Is that why it’s so fucking massive?” Susie inquired. 

“I knew you’d get it!” Tenna preened. “The bigger the cookbook, the better!” His expression soured slightly, his proud smile taking on an almost sinister edge. “And to think that small-nosed mood-killer thought it was impractical,” he muttered. “That kind of thinking is exactly what kills creativity! It just sucks the joy out of everything! As if-” He glanced back over at Susie, cutting off his rant as the volume began to rise. “Ahem. Nevermind. Forget I said anything.” He shook his head, distracting himself by flipping through the cookbook with an unwarranted level of intensity. 

“Now, Susie!” His voice had flipped on a dime, the familiar booming tone of his stage persona appearing seemingly out of nowhere. “The audience is just dying to know! How do you feel…” He spread his arm dramatically, gesturing to the page of the cookbook he’d settled on. “...about SPAGHETTI!” The air above him glimmered weakly, almost as if he wanted to create one of his fancy word-art-things but couldn’t quite muster the energy. Still…

“Spaghetti’s the shit,” she told him, holding her fist to her mouth to mime speaking into a microphone. His grin grew instantly. 

“That’s what we like to hear, folks!” He swept the cookbook off the counter it was sitting on and over to the one by the stove, leaning it against the wall to prop it up. “Now, without further ado: let’s get this show on the road!”

Tenna was a whirlwind, tearing through the kitchen at a pace that Susie couldn’t even hope to keep up with. It was the energy she remembered from his stage. Or rather, an echo of it, contained, still, in that abnormally small body. She couldn’t help but feel guilty as Tenna whipped around the room, grabbing all the ingredients and utensils he’d need to cook. As happy as he seemed, he was still… small. 

It was like smiling, he’d told her. The more downtrodden he felt, the more difficult it was to stay big. What was going on with him, then, for him to be at least six or so feet shorter than what she assumed to be his resting height? Was this his actual resting height, and he’d just been… really happy before? 

She doubted it. 

She should ask about it. 

She should check if he was okay, even when every instinct in her recoiled at the thought of some kind of stupid, emotional conversation.

She didn’t.

“Now!” Tenna said, punctuating the statement with a sharp clap that brought Susie tumbling back to reality. “Let’s get started!” She hardly had time to react before a random bowl was plopped into her arms. She only narrowly managed to actually catch it. 

“Huh?” Tenna’s smile faltered, his hands drawing back as he seemed to realize he’d gotten ahead of himself. 

“Oh! S-sorry, I shouldn’t have assumed,” he said sheepishly. “I just thought maybe you’d want to… help? I don’t know, it’s just, Toriel always used to cook with Azzy and Kris and it looked really fun to, well… cook together, so I thought maybe…” He shook his head. “Sorry. It’s silly.” Susie swallowed heavily, trying not to let the words replay in her mind. The thought of Toriel in the kitchen, playing some lousy jazz music in the background while she tried to keep Kris from eating the flour. The thought of her teaching her kids how to cook, even if they didn’t quite get it yet. Cooking as a family. The comparison Tenna had drawn. 

“You, uh, you definitely don’t want my help,” she admitted, a small laugh curling around the statement. “Best I can do is microwaving shit.” 

“Oh come on, it can’t be that bad,” Tenna said. “It’s like that lovely movie, Tira-mouse-u. ‘Anyone can cook!’” Susie could vaguely remember the movie, but the only detail she could recall was that everyone had randomly thought the main character’s name was ‘Tiramouseu’ instead of… whatever his actual name had been. She didn’t remember. And it was about mice, but that was pretty obvious. 

“If you let me cook, I’m burning the entire castle down,” Susie deadpanned. Still, she couldn’t deny that something about the idea wasn’t entirely unpleasant. Maybe… Maybe if she’d managed to help fix the Rad.io, she could learn this too? Was that possible? For her to be able to not fuck up something else? She hadn’t expected that Spamton would be able to teach her, not really, and yet…

“Even if you do, you’d still only be the second worst contestant to grace TV Time’s Cooking Stage,” Tenna assured her. “And you are not beating his performance anytime soon.” 

“Seriously?” Susie asked. 

“Oh, without a doubt,” Tenna confirmed. “I believe it’s the closest we’ve ever come to having actual honest-to-god on-stage casualties. It wasn’t even a difficult challenge! I was trying to take it easy, seeing as he was relatively new at the time, but I’m fairly certain the product he created constitutes an attempt at chemical warfare.” Tenna gave an exaggerated shudder at the memory. “Worst part was that he kept insisting he’d followed the recipe perfectly! I mean, there is simply no rational way for a recipe for chocolate chip cookies to be misinterpreted in such a way! I had half a mind to tear the stage manager a new one, I was convinced he must have somehow been given the wrong recipe, but no, he hadn’t!” Susie snorted at the display, taking a quick glance over at the cookbook. 

“This dude sounds crazy. Was this the same guy that the other contestants ganged up on?” 

“No, no, this was far before that,” Tenna answered. “This was… It-” He broke off suddenly, as if his throat had been inside a clamp that had just been tightened. His screen stuttered, going fully black for just a split second. “Sorry, I was just… thinking… I’ve been thinking a lot today, actually! Haha, just… having a good think!” 

“Riiiiiight,” Susie said, shifting uncertainly. She opened her mouth to ask… something, but whatever stupid question she had brewing was shut down as Tenna turned on his heel, once again shutting down whatever spiral he was starting to go down. 

“Enough about him! We have a dinner to cook!” He glanced over his shoulder. “What do you say?” And maybe she was just feeling stupid today, or maybe she didn’t want to disappoint Tenna when he already seemed so out of sorts, or maybe she was still high off her success with the Rad.io, but whatever the reasion…

“Sure. What the hell. Your funeral, man.” 

---------------------------------------------------------------------

It turned out that Susie’s cooking skills could probably best be described as ‘worse than was ideal, but far better than was expected.’ Was she a good cook by any stretch of the imagination? Absolutely not. But was the product currently looking largely edible? She actually had no idea on that front, Susie’s concept of what counted as ‘edible’ wasn’t exactly traditional. Tenna seemed pleased with the result, though.

Susie had decided to count the whole venture as a win, especially because whatever they were making was not ‘spaghetti.’ Sure, spaghetti was involved, but they hadn’t even gotten around to boiling the stuff yet! Instead, they’d spent the better part of the hour doing random, unrelated shit like cooking tomatoes, dicking around with onions, and throwing eight billion powders into various pans. In Susie’s experience, spaghetti involved a grand total of two steps: boil water. Put in spaghetti. It was not turning out that way.

“Now, Susie, if you could grab me the oregano?” Tenna called from where he was currently by the stove, stirring his strange concoction that was far too complex to be actual spaghetti sauce. 

“The what?” Susie asked. 

“One of the little glass containers. It should be labeled!” Tenna reported. Great. As if that helped her. Still, she trudged over to the pile of ingredients he’d gathered before they got started and started sifting through them, praying the orange or whatever would just randomly appear in her hand. She managed to find something that seemed right on her second pass through the pile. She also nearly chucked it at Tenna’s head on pure instinct before remembering that the container was glass and therefore fragile. She was going to strangle that stupid dumpster-puppet. 

“This it?” she asked, coming over to stand beside him instead. Tenna glanced down at the container, screen lighting up as he plucked it from her hand. 

“Yes! Excellent, thank you, Susie!” 

“Oh. Sick,” Susie replied. “I’m kinda killing it, actually.”

“You’re doing great, sweetheart." She’d meant it as a joke. The sincerity of Tenna’s response was almost enough to knock her off her feet, and she felt a bit of heat rise to her cheeks at just how honest the praise had felt. “Totally ‘killing it.’”

“NOPE,” Susie said immediately. “Nope, you don’t get to say it.” 

“What?” Tenna asked innocently. “Why not?” 

“Because it- It just sounds weird, dude. You’re supposed to say old people shit. Like, uh… I dunno, radical, or something.” His good antenna did an amused little loop above his head. 

“I’ll have you know that we’ve been saying ‘killing it’ since before you were born,” Tenna retorted. His grin widened, the pixels around his face distorting slightly to create the illusion of wrinkles. “Kids these days.” For all she might poke at him for being old, his old man voice needed some serious work. 

“You’re shitting me,” Susie said, rolling her eyes. It didn’t have the desired effect, mostly due to the fact that she was laughing the whole time. Tenna’s screen sparkled happily as he returned it to its usual display. 

“Well, my point still stands,” he said. “You’re quite the natural! I’m sure you’ll be cooking in Michaelin star restaurants in no time!” He was definitely giving her too much credit there. She was pretty sure Tenna had been doing at least ninety percent of the work the whole time they’d been cooking. The best she’d done was toss him a few ingredients, poorly chop an onion, definitely not tear up thanks to said onion, and stir a bowl of goop. Besides… she was definitely thinking too hard about it, but she couldn’t picture herself actually cooking as, like, a thing. There just wasn’t any spark there. Nothing that made her want to learn more, nothing that made her want to keep doing it no matter what, nothing that made her, stupid as it was, picture herself, years down the line, still doing it without ever getting bored. Nothing like with…

“How did your project go, by the way?” 

“What!?” Susie yelped. “Come on, dude, not school. We had a good thing going!” Tenna chuckled easily, adjusting the heat on the stove and finally adding some of that Oregon stuff to his pan. 

“I wouldn’t dream of it,” he said. “I meant your mechanics project. Whatever you were working on yesterday.”

“Oh. Oh, yeah,” Susie said, her eyes instantly lighting up as she realized what he was talking about. “Yeah, the Rad.io!” 

“Yes, that!” Tenna agreed. “Whatever that is! How did it go?”

“We fixed it!” Susie said. “Dude, it was crazy, we actually fixed it!” 

“I knew you would,” Tenna said brightly. “You fixed me, after all.” 

“It was pretty crazy,” Susie continued. “It took us all fuckin’ night, but we showed that stupid thing what’s what!” Tenna laughed at that, moving the pan of ‘sauce’ to another burner. He grabbed another, massive pot from a cupboard and filled it with water, setting it on a separate burner to boil. As he did, Susie saw his mouth fold in confusion, and he turned back to her curiously as he finished. 

“‘We?’” he asked. Susie blinked, tracing back through what she’d said in a panic. Well, shit. 

“Uh, yeah. Me and my friend,” she said. “The, uh. The guy who helped me fix you.” Tenna’s good antenna twitched in surprise. 

“Right!” he said after a second. “You really should introduce me to this friend of yours at some point. He seems to really know his way around classic electronics!” He paused, curving in on himself slightly. “And, um. I would like to… thank him. For that.” 

“Yeah, uh…” She paused, fiddling with one of her bracelets as she tried to think it through. Technically speaking, she could just tell Tenna who it was. Spamton wasn’t here right now to stop her. She could tell Tenna that it was his old mechanic who’d helped her fix him. His old mechanic who she’d met in Cyber City and who’d kinda gone clinically insane and also apparently been turned into a different kind of Darkner than he was initially and… who she’d promised to keep a secret. Who had helped her, even when he didn’t have to. 

She couldn’t. As much as she wanted to just get the whole thing over with and stop with the secrets and shit, she’d promised Spamton not to tell Tenna about him. Even if she was pretty sure it would solve a lot of bullshit if he stopped being a damn pussy about it and just came clean. 

“He’s kinda weird,” she settled on. “Doesn’t really talk to people.” 

“Oh!” Tenna said. “O-of course. I understand! No… problem.” He did not sound convinced, and the inch or so he lost off his height wasn’t helping his case either. Susie grimaced but held her ground. She wasn’t about to fuck Spamton over like that. She knew what it was like, to have someone tell a secret they’d promised they wouldn’t. The last time it had happened to her, she’d had to move three cities over. 

“Um. Regardless, I’m glad it all worked out!” Tenna said weakly. “I’m sure you did a wonderful job!” 

“Yeah, uh… It wasn’t really that bad,” Susie said. “Just that one of the capacitors was kinda fucked. Well, not really, it wasn’t messed up, it was just dead, kinda like a battery? It wasn’t working anymore, so the electricity wasn’t going through right, so the Rad.io was just like, turning itself off randomly.” She experimentally reached out and snagged a bit of the sauce Tenna had left behind in the pan. It tasted surprisingly good for something with that many ingredients. “It was really damn stupid though, cause I had to take ‘em all out first, and there were like seven of those things. And then I had to resolder them and everything, and we almost ran out of solder. And then the soldering iron died cause the stupid thing was electric so we had to wait like five hours. And I-” 

She broke off as she finally looked up, catching sight of Tenna’s screen as he watched her talk. The expression on his face wasn’t one that she was familiar with, and it certainly wasn’t one that she particularly knew what to do with. He was watching her so intently, the way someone might watch a really intense movie scene, but there was also something strangely melancholy in his expression. It was like he was simultaneously looking at her and looking past her, at something that she had no way of seeing. There was a slight wobble to his mouth now. His hands were clasped together so tightly that any movement in them was stalled completely. His good antenna was draped backwards, not quite pinned like when he was nervous, but definitely lower than it usually rested. 

“Uh… Tenna?” she prodded. The instant his name left her lips, he seemed to snap back into reality, shaking himself all over in a way that would have been comical if not for how he’d looked just moments before. 

“Whoops! Sorry, Susie! Got lost in thought for a second there!” He turned on his heel, pulling the lid off of the pot of water that had finally started to boil. He gestured to the packet of still un-opened spaghetti on the counter. “Care to do the honors?” 

“Finally,” Susie groaned. She grabbed the spaghetti and shredded the packet open with her claws, dumping the contents into the pot with little care. Somehow, shockingly, only three pieces of dry spaghetti escaped the pot, which Tenna quickly snatched up and tossed in as well. He grabbed a spoon and gave the pot of spaghetti a few stirs until all of it had softened enough to be fully covered by the water. Absently, Susie noted that, if nothing else, his current shorter height seemed to make it a lot easier for him to maneuver around the kitchen. She hated the idea. She wished the kitchen was fucking massive, so big that Tenna couldn’t reach half of it unless he was happy 24/7. Unless he loved living here so much that he never shrank below fifteen feet. Unless he liked it so much that he stayed. 

“We’re almost done!” Tenna reported. “And in record time, too! Folks, I think this performance may be one of the best we’ve seen so far! It seems that a T-Rank may just be in the cards!”

“T-rank?” Susie asked incredulously. 

“You heard me!” Tenna boomed. “The most exceptional rank, reserved for only the most dedicated contestants!” 

“Cause I didn’t burn down the castle?” Susie teased. 

“PRECISELY!” Tenna declared. This time, the word appeared behind him easily, sparkling in excited pink with little hearts floating all around it. He looked ridiculous. She wished she had a way to take a picture and show Kris. She was sure they’d get a kick out of it. 

He smiled as she laughed at him, turning around so he could strain out the spaghetti and throw it into the pan of surprisingly good sauce. He mixed it around until the spaghetti was completely indecipherable under all the sauce it was covered in before producing two plates from the cabinet above him and tossing a generous helping of spaghetti onto both. 

“And that, folks, is how you make…” He lifted the plates with a dramatic flourish. “...Spaghetti Bolognese.” A couple little fireworks exploded around him, and he did a few little bows for added effect. 

“Spaghetti baloney?” Susie echoed. 

“Close enough!” Tenna decided. He made his way over to the door to the kitchen and, instead of asking Susie for help since both his hands were full, simply reached up with one leg and managed to turn the handle with his knee. 

“Dude, what the hell?” Susie asked. 

“What can I say? It helps to stay limber. A good host should be able to demonstrate his own physical challenges!” Tenna informed her. He pushed the door open with his hip and led her into the main room, setting the food down on the table. “Now, I think we’ve more than earned a good meal! All in a day's work!” 

“Don’t gotta tell me twice.” 

She couldn’t be certain what it was. Maybe it was that ever-present magical quality that all Darkner food seemed to possess. Maybe it was that Tenna really did know what he was doing. Maybe all that random bullshit he’d added into the sauce actually did have a point and wasn’t just there to make whoever was cooking seem cooler than they were. 

Maybe it was the fact that they’d made it together, in as little as Susie had actually contributed. Maybe it was the fact that Tenna actually seemed happy about the whole process, instead of pissed at the fact that he had to take time out of his day and food out of his pantry to feed her. Maybe it was because this was now the third time she’d managed to help with something new without completely ruining everything. 

Whatever it was, Darkner food or not, this was the best food she could remember having in a long time.

They ate in silence for a few minutes, Susie too busy shoveling food into her mouth to talk and Tenna uncharacteristically unwilling to fill the silence himself. It was the kind of silence Susie was used to, sitting awkwardly across the table from someone who barely knew her and certainly didn’t care to try. She’d sat through her fair share of silent, uncomfortable dinners, trying to eat her food while ignoring the looks from across the table that told her she hadn’t earned it. Somehow, though, this silence didn’t feel like those ones used to. 

There wasn’t any underlying tension. No sense that she was encroaching, that she was taking food off Tenna’s plate just by existing. It was different. Real. It was sharing stale corndogs with Kris by a tree outside the fairgrounds. It was stealing fries off of Berdly’s lunch tray. It was Toriel’s butterscotch pancakes and Noelle’s absurd, five-ingredient sandwiches. It was… nice. This silence was nice. 

It was in that silence that she finally found the words to ask the question she’d come here for in the first place. 

“Why’d you not tell everybody you were getting adopted?” The question was disgustingly simple for how difficult it was to ask. Tenna stilled across the table, his gaze flicking up at her for just a second before turning back down to his plate, shifting the spaghetti around with his fork uncomfortably. The chair still didn’t fit him like this. It was too big now. 

“What?” he asked after a second. “What do you mean?” 

“I, uh…” She let out a long sigh, pushing her empty plate aside so that she could slump over onto the table instead. “I talked to the weather guys earlier.”

“Elnina and Lanino?” Tenna asked sharply, leaning forward. “H-how are they? Are they settling in alright?” You’d know, if you ever got out. You’d know, if you weren’t hiding in here. What are you hiding from? 

“They’re fine,” Susie grumbled. “They took over the dojo and made it all about, like, weird love shit.” 

“That does sound like them,” Tenna replied. He propped his head on one hand, gazing just over Susie’s right shoulder. There was something somber in his expression. Or maybe resigned was a better word. 

“Tenna…” She trailed off, unable to come up with the rest of the sentence in time. This was hardly her strong suit after all. She wasn’t a talker, she was a fighter. She solved problems with her fists. 

God, she wished all of her friends' problems were just people. Physical assholes that she could beat the shit out of and be done with it. That Ralsei’s feelings of inadequacy all came from a father she could beat into the ground instead of the simple reality of his existence. That Kris’s family was messed up because of a single convenience store skeleton she could threaten. That, if she just kicked Noelle’s mom into a bloody pulp, her dad would suddenly get better and her sister would come back. 

That she could just find the one person hurting Tenna and tear them apart, instead of having to find someone who would take him away.

“I- I was going to, don’t worry!” Tenna said. For a self-proclaimed actor, he was entirely unconvincing. “I just… didn’t want to get anyone’s hopes up! Just waiting until everything was sorted out! It’s bad practice to announce a special episode before you have the logistics all hammered out, after all!” His fork speared through the remaining food on his plate, but he didn’t take a bite. “No need to worry about me, Susie! I have it all under control. Everything’s… under control.” It would’ve been a lot more believable if the chair didn’t seem to grow behind him as he spoke. 

“Oh. Um… yeah,” she said weakly. She didn’t know what to do here. What to do with him. She wanted him to be happy, and he clearly wasn’t happy here. He wanted to be adopted. To move on to something better. He deserved that, didn’t he? She knew what that was like. But…

“I, uh. Just… You gotta say goodbye to people,” Susie forced out. “I think. Cause, uh, sometimes it’s goodbye forever.” A young couple with hopeful smiles and too many mouths to feed. A little girl with vines for her hair and a temper everyone else refused to understand. An old man with a laugh like a revving engine and the energy of someone half his age. 

How many times had Susie left without saying goodbye? By this point, it was probably too many to count. Sometimes, it hadn’t been up to her at all. The car would just come in the morning and a familiar middle-aged woman would step out, and Susie would gather what few belongings actually belonged to her and be on her way. Other times, she’d tried to do it herself. When things got really bad and she couldn’t handle the suffocation of it all, she’d gather her shit in the middle of the night and hop out a window with no destination in mind except for away. She’d never been smart enough to get away with it. 

It hadn’t taken her long to stop bothering with it. She learned not to get attached, because sooner or later, she would prove to be too much. Too rough, too bitter, too damaged to keep, and then they’d send her back and she’d be across the country before she knew it. There was no need for a goodbye when nobody cared about you and you didn’t care about anybody either. Goodbyes were for people who understood you. 

She tried not to think about the possibility that it could happen here, too, despite how real it was. She just wouldn’t let it happen. She’d hide in Castle Town or fight off an army of them if she had to, but she wasn’t leaving this time. Not when she had goodbyes that would hurt. She’d die before she had to leave them behind. Noelle. Lancer. Ralsei. 

Kris. 

“I don’t… I don’t think they’d want to see me.” Susie’s head snapped up at the sound of Tenna’s voice. It was quiet. Far more quiet than she was used to hearing him. He was hunched over the table, about her height, his screen flickering too weakly to keep his nose physically projected like it usually was. “I-It was all just very complicated all around!” he continued, some more brightness forcing its way back into its tone. “I’m sure emotions are still running a little high, considering how, um… heated things got back in TV World. I mean, we all had our reasons! Everybody had their reasons! And it’s all perfectly fine, all in the past, forgive and forget! Hah.” His smile was looking more like a grimace by the second. 

“It’ll be much better this way! Everybody gets a fresh start, none of that old baggage to weigh us down!” 

“Yeah…” 

“A-and I’ll be sure to say all my well-earned farewells once everything’s set!” Tenna rambled on. “I’m sure everyone will miss me terribly, I mean, how could they not? Never fear, Susie, I’m sure they’ll throw the most extravagant going away party you’ve ever seen! Just, uh… not…” His screen flickered, once, twice, and then went dark. “...yet.” 

It was silent again. This one was not nearly as comfortable as the first had been. 

“Yeah. Yeah, that… checks out, I guess,” Susie said finally, mostly because she had no clue what else to say. There was something so undeniably off about him right now, but she just couldn’t put her finger on it. Something bitter and old and buried under so many layers of denial that she couldn’t even begin to reach for it. But one thing was clear. None of that old baggage. How was it that she never seemed to fully grasp how unhappy he was here? 

“Don’t worry, man. I’m workin’ on it,” she forced out, past the tightness in her throat that she had no reason for and the ache in her ribs that she couldn’t quite name. Past the feeling that she would refuse to call familiar. 

She’d stayed, once, with an elderly couple in Minnesota. They’d been lonely since their kids moved out. That’s why they tried bringing other kids in, to see if that would fix it. If they could fill the hole in their lives with some random girl they got assigned arbitrarily. They lasted a grand total of seven months before they sent her back. It had hurt more than she’d ever wanted to admit. It had hurt because she’d tried. Most of the time, she had just resigned herself to being sent back eventually, so she didn’t even bother trying to be worth keeping around. But she’d tried with the two of them. She’d tried to be polite when they asked her questions and she’d tried to stay out of trouble at school and get good grades and she had tried to be enough for them. In the end she just… hadn’t been. 

“Uh… it’s gonna be weird without you here, though, right?” she was saying before she could stop herself. “Heh. Gonna be hard to hide from Ralsei and stuff.” Tenna lifted his head, though with his screen off, it was hard to tell exactly where he was looking. “I bet whoever we give you to is gonna be… sick, though. Probably have loads of cool shit. I-it’s gonna be great. I promise, I’m still workin’ on it. Me and Kris are gonna have you adopted in no time.” 

Her smile felt just as strained as Tenna’s had looked just moments ago. The worst part was that she wasn’t even sure why she was so bitter about all of this. This had been the plan from the start. Get Tenna adopted. That’s what she’d promised him, all those days that felt like years ago. She hadn’t hesitated in the slightest when she’d said it back then. Why the hell was she hesitating now? 

His blank screen watched her silently, no sound coming from him save for the faint crackling of static snow. She wished she knew what he was thinking about. Things would be so much easier if she could just read people’s minds. Then she wouldn’t have to keep guessing wrong and fucking things up.

“Susie…” Tenna said finally, his voice crackling sadly underneath the filter of an old television broadcast. The really old kind, the ones in black and white. “Susie, I-” His hand lifted from where it had been rested on the table, hovering between them half outstretched. The hesitance was obvious, the shaking uncertainty of whether to say what he was thinking or not. The problem was that she had no idea what it was, and as was so often her luck, Tenna’s decision fell on the less than optimal side. 

“It’s getting late,” he mumbled, grabbing her plate and stacking it underneath his own. “I’m sure your… family is wondering where you are.” Oh, yeah. Definitely. 

They probably haven’t even noticed I’m gone yet. 

“Uh, yeah. I’ll… yeah, I’m gonna head… out…” Wood scraped against tile as she stiffly pushed her chair back and dropped back onto the floor. Her gaze trailed over the room, taking in every single impermanent little detail and committing them to unwilling memory. Mismatched chairs around a too-small table. A pile of blankets that no one had bothered to clean up. Still-packed boxes, ready to leave at a moment's notice. 

“See ya tomorrow?” Susie said. She didn’t know why she did it, but Tenna’s head snapped up at the sound. His screen flickered in quiet surprise. 

“O-of course. You know you’re always welcome here.” He tilted his head, a small, weak smile appearing on his face. “I’d never pass up a visit from the Susiezilla.” And somehow, despite the turn things had taken, she couldn’t help the small laugh that fell from her mouth. 

“Damn right.”