"I just feel like this could have turned out better," Noelle tells Susie.
"It turned out pretty good, I think." Susie squeezes her tighter, and oh so carefully nuzzles her head into the center of Noelle's chest. Under other circumstances, this might have been exciting, but right now it's a comfort more than anything else. Well, Noelle would be lying to herself if she pretended it's not just a little bit thrilling. She finds herself absentmindedly stroking Susie's back under her shirt gently, drinking in her body heat.
The last two weeks have been a whirlwind of quiet chaos. Noelle wasn't around for the worst of it, but Officer Undyne issued Susie an emergency protection order and allowed to take temporary custody. Susie's father is in police custody for suspected abuse, and Ralsei has vanished into the dark world without a trace.
No one has dared go back to the dark world after Susie's reappearance - Toriel and the other adults have been far more vigilant in the last several weeks, the school's security has been tightened with extra cameras and a better lock, and Susie herself is under far more surveillance from seemingly the entire town.
The break is over, and Asriel has gone back to college. Last Noelle heard, Kris is still angry with him. It's hard to not be in the know, considering that her gir- friend lives with Kris now. Kris was so cold to Asriel after Ralsei left - just remembering the way their eyes locked on to Asriel's makes Noelle's skin prickle.
Noelle visits the Dreemurr household more than she ever has in the past. It helps that Kris has mellowed out with the pranks and dropped most of their general cruelty.
"It's too bad about Ralsei and Kris," Noelle whispers. They're sharing Asriel's bed, technically Susie's now. They have the room to themselves, with Kris staying over at Kid's house. Noelle is pretty sure they want to distract themself from recent events. With Ralsei gone, the bedroom probably just serves as a cruel reminder of what could have been - especially when Noelle is over.
Susie groans. "I know. It sucks. I feel kinda guilty about it, but…"
"I know," Noele murmurs.
Susie lifts her head, then, gazing at Noelle with an intensity that nearly makes her wilt. It takes all the strength she can muster to not look away from those golden eyes. It's just hitting her now what an intimate position they've shifted into. They had started out sitting together on the bed to talk, and then Susie had playfully grabbed Noelle's antlers, and now she's pretty much straddling her...
"Susie?"
Noelle is only a little surprised when Susie launches her face forward to meet Noelle in a kiss. Her lips are chapped, but Noelle finds that she doesn't care. Susie is warm, so warm -
her hand is still under Susie's shirt-
One of them, she's not sure who, breaks the kiss to gasp for air.
"Noelle," Susie breathes at the same time Noelle says,
"Susie."
Those beautiful yellow eyes are gazing into hers again. Noelle's gaze is torn between Susie's eyes and her lips. She wants-
She wants so, so much.
"P-please," she squeaks out, slipping her free hand under Susie's shirt, stopping at her stomach. For a moment, or maybe two, they stare at each other. Noelle's soul is aching, burning with desire so strong it nearly hurts.
"Please," Susie echoes, the corner of her mouth tugging upwards just enough to make Noelle's soul quiver before leaning down to kiss her again.
If it weren't for the rips in the sheets, Susie might have thought that she just dreamed last night up. "I'll, uh, just say I did it in my sleep."
"Right."
They stare at each other far too long to be comfortable. Luckily, they're saved from any more awkwardness when the bedroom door swings open to reveal a groggy looking Kris.
"Really?" they grunt, shouldering past Susie to throw their backpack down on their own bed. Their face is as blank as ever, but their body language makes no secret that they're upset.
"How did you know?" Susie asks at the same time Noelle mutters, "Sorry."
Without ceremony, Kris throws themself on their bed, not even bothering to remove their shoes.
"You guys aren't being subtle at all." There's a sullen edge to their voice, so Susie takes the cue to leave them alone. Noelle seems to pick up on it too.
"Sorry," she offers again. Kris just gives her an irritated wave.
"Whatever."
Wordlessly and with only a slight dash of guilt, the girls creep downstairs - not just to give Kris some space, but also for breakfast. Susie should be used to this by now, especially after her time with Ralsei, but having food in the house, and then being allowed to actually eat it still feels wrong and foreign, like her father will burst out of his room at any moment to snatch the bowl away from her, ask her what the hell she thinks she's doing-
"Your cereal is gonna get soggy," Noelle interrupts her horrible thought spiral gently.
Susie offers her a weak smile before shoveling the only somewhat mushy sugar puffs into her mouth with record speed.
The rest of the morning goes by quietly. Susie walks Noelle to the driveway - she wants to visit her father again today - and Kris sulks in their room while Susie paces restlessly in the living room.
Ralsei's skin prickles the second he steps back into the dark world. Something is wrong. The air is stale, lifeless. It sends a shiver down his spine.
Quickly, he hurries to his castle. The entire town is empty, but it's never bothered him until now. Where is everyone, anyway? Surely the town wasn't always empty. Maybe he just got too used to Susie's company.
He'd gotten used to living on his own, hadn't he? Still, the immense feeling of wrongness is hard to ignore even as he pushes open the heavy door to his castle home.
Despite the unnatural stillness, and his fur standing on end, Ralsei finds nothing amiss inside his home. It's a bit empty now, and some of the dust is back, sure, but overall it's still the same place.
So why can't he shake the feeling that something is terribly wrong?
As soon as he enters his kitchen, he's assaulted with the after images of Kris, Susie and Noelle, either helping him bake or polish off the last of some cupcakes or the Lightner food Noelle brought. He can hear Susie laugh at some stupid joke, see Kris perched up on the counter in some strange way, see Noelle hugging her backpack to herself at the table. But as soon as he sees it all, it vanishes, leaving him alone in the suddenly too-big kitchen.
He's being silly. He just needs to dust and maybe whip up a batch of cupcakes or some other treat to start feeling at home again. He just misses Kris and Susie, is all. Heck, after he gets the kitchen dusted off he can break in his kitchen again and make some cookies to share with Lancer. Yeah, that's what he needs. A good baking session, followed up with some company.
Despite the heavy weight that's settled in his gut, he wastes little time getting to work.
Humming a melancholy tune to himself, it's not long before he's putting the finishing touches on a small batch of cupcakes. His fur is still standing on end, but it's alright. The cupcakes are carefully loaded into his pack as Ralsei chides himself for not visiting Lancer in so long. He hasn't taken the time to just hang out with him in a while; he's sure he'll appreciate a surprise visit.
Something about leaving the great door feels so final it makes his skin crawl, and Ralsei has to fight the urge to turn around and go back to his castle. He's being so childish right now. He's just a coward with a bag full of cupcakes.
Oddly enough, the pervasive stillness lingers even after the great door and into the fields. He never realized how lonely he felt before Kris and Susie showed up, apparently. Well, he won't be lonely long. It's only a few hours to Lancer's castle.
It's just a little disconcerting that he doesn't run into anyone else along the way. It's fine. Everyone is probably just sleeping. Ralsei did get maybe a little too used to the light world's day and night cycle, after all.
The sense of dread only increases as he gets closer to the Card Castle. It feels so silly, but at the same time, all too urgently real. Ralsei ends up making the trip to the throne room in complete solitude and deafening silence, not realizing until he's out of breath that he's broken into a sprint somewhere along the way.
Every last hope that he was just being silly flies out the window when he finally lays eyes on the crumpled heap that is Lancer.
A/N: Yeah, there's supposed to be lemons after the first cut, but that's illegal on FFN dot net ;)
What a great time to remind everyone here I have an archive of our own account (crow_feathers) with more content on it ;))