"You can't enter the party."
"...Why not?" Kris asked the Rudinn Ranger standing in front of him. The purple snake's eyes flitted behind its helmet's visor, and Kris followed the look. It led him towards his suit of worn-down armor, and Susie carrying a suspiciously Ralsei-shaped bag over her shoulder, who was doing a particularly bad job at not squirming.
"Because you look like a band of escaped criminals trying to hide your stowaway from being executed by a particularly annoying ruler who I had taken part in a meeting to 'take care of'." It explained.
"... So we need to-"
"To get changed, yes." The high-level Darkner finished. Kris liked the guy. Didn't beat around the bush too much.
"So can we get changed inside of the castle, or am I supposed to go find one of the nonexistent buildings you have for changing." The human said bluntly, and he could've sworn the R. Ranger rolled its eyes at him as he opened the door into the castle.
"You can change in one of the rooms on the third floor. Try not to screw up this plan, guys. I only get paid in grapes. That he immediately taxes and makes me feed to him."
Kris and Susie said something half-heartedly about fixing that and left the Darkner immediately. They seemed like the type to complain about their boss for all eternity when they had only... less than an hour. They walked around all the floors and up all the elevators towards the room they could change in.
"This place has a tedious design," Kris commented on the elevator.
Susie nodded and Ralsei mumbled in agreement in the bag that made the monster remember that her teammate was inside it.
"Shouldn't we, err, let Ralsei out of the bag," Susie asked, and Kris shrugged.
"Eh, we're probably fine, but it couldn't hurt until we get our disguises."
"What, are we going to get into a phone booth and transform into the Super Fun Squad?" Susie snickered.
"Heros for fun and free food." Kris chuckled.
Ralsei mumbled something that was probably funny, so the non-bagged heroes just laughed as they went into the changing room. Ralsei gave the rest an annoyed look.
"Why did you have to put me in a bag of all things?" The Lightners looked at each other, then back to the Darkner, and shrugged. The Dark Prince sighed and shook his head, astounded by their nonchalant-ness.
"Anyway, Kris, what's the plan going to be?" He looked at the human with a questioning gaze and Kris nodded. The air in their closed-off room turned cold as they fully took on the weight of the situation and its severity.
"We're going into the party, and act as casual as possible, trying not to drag too much attention to ourselves altogether."
"That sounds pretty basic to me." Susie's coarse voice added, with a polite nod from Ralsei.
"We'll be doing so until Ralsei's execution is announced. Then, all of us will reveal ourselves and our plan to the DK. I will handle the explanation, as Ralsei has little sway over him, and Susie has made herself known as the type to attack nameless foot-soldiers." A glance from under Kris' fringe made Susie rub the back of her head.
"Sorry." Kris sighed and walked over to put a hand on her shoulder. "As long as you recognize that was a mistake and do better, it's fine." Kris held back from adding that he couldn't judge without being hypocritical.
"After that, the rest is on the DK." Kris nodded, and the rest of the Fun Gang gave him an expectant look that soured when they realized he was finished.
"That's all? That's your genius plan?" Susie asked incredulously.
"Reveal the plan we've spent hours on and hope he does what we want?" Ralsei added, uncharacteristically judgemental. "I'm sorry Kris, but you have to admit that's an extremely risky plan."
"That's why I have a plan B." Again, they expected him to go on when he had nothing else to say.
"I can't believe you're our leader." Susie sighed, facepalming. Ralsei mimicked her motion, and Kris laughed it off.
"Hey, this is a really simple situation with really simple solutions. He either agrees to the deal, or we move to plan B." Silence followed his words.
"I can't believe we're trusting Ral's life to this shi- crappy plan." She corrected herself as Ralsei looked at her. He sighed as well.
"Yeah, I honestly can't believe it either. But, we don't have any other plans, so we have to make do with what we have." Ralsei explained, and Susie smirked reluctantly.
"That's always how it is with Kris' plans." The three of them all chuckled at that, and Kris moved topics before they started complaining about his other plans.
"Anyway, Ral, we need a spell that can give us some outfits and you a disguise. Can you find one in your spellbook?" Ralsei nodded, opened out his hands so darkness could fill the space as he pulled the book out from his inventory. Flipped through the pages, he found a spell that did exactly as what they needed. Susie was outvoted and nominated as the first test subject, and Kris wanted to be the one to cast the spell. He'd been hammered by magic since school ended, and he wanted to show he wasn't completely moronic when it came to spells.
"Didn't you say humans can't use magic?!" Susie complained.
"Never hurt to try," Kris replied with a conniving smirk. As he cast the spell, Shadow Dress, the shadows from the corners of the room slithered out and wrapped themselves around Susie, molding into the form Kris desired them to be. He wished all spells were this cut and dry. Put what you want in here, and presto! You got a Susie in a yellow dress that matched her eyes. Though, Susie didn't like the dress.
"C'mon man! Couldn't you at least give me a jacket or something cool to wear over this?" She complained. Kris shook his head and sighed.
"This is DK's party, and he's just high enough off his fumes that he'd take extreme offense to anyone who didn't wear something extremely formal."
"So sucks to be us?" The human nodded at the monster's response. She groaned at that.
"Well, at least you look good in that," Ralsei added. "I'll have to wear something weird so they don't recognize me." He huffed at the thought. Kris was a tiny bit surprised that the two of them cared about what they wore so much. But then again, he understood not wanting to conform to the whims of someone who planned to kill one of their own. And, he didn't want to wear something lame either. The human shook his head and sighed.
"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. But, I think he'd take offense of we just wore some standard outfits, so let's add our touch to 'em." He said with a small smile that Ralsei replicated. Susie scratched the back of her head.
"Just don't make the clothes weird, 'kay?"
The first set of clothes was made weird purely to mess with Susie. Susie then, after knocking Kris upside the head, made Ralsei make their outfits, though he revealed that if his imagination were left to dictate the design with no other limitation... well, the clothes made them feel a bit too fancy, let's just say. So in the end, Kris ended up making the clothes anyway, much to Susie's irking.
But they were all a little annoyed that when they entered the Throne Room where the party was held, everyone was wearing the same things they wore all the time. When he Susie mentioned this, the nearest Rudinn mentioned that they lived in the castle and the Diamond King just assumed that it was their most formal attire, as to please him. So there the Fun Gang stood, dressed in their Sunday Best while everyone else was in the Tuesday Pretty Good.
Ironically, the party was behind schedule and Ralsei's 'big reveal' as the banners put it, was delayed by another 30 minutes. The Gang had decided to split up and enjoy the party. It was terrible.
The decorations were plain, the music was nonexistent at best, and the atmosphere made it severely clear that attendance was mandatory. Hell, Clover's party had been better put together, and she had 3 separate personalities to appease at the same time. Susie and Kris ended up leaning against the wall next to the punch bowl, while Ralsei made sure to greet every person at the party like the polite prince he was. Even though it was celebrating his death, but details.
"This party blows," Susie said for the third time the last minute. She was tapping her boot that she refused to change out of against the black stone floor, which matched the black skull clusters Kris added to her pale yellow dress. Kris enjoyed the makeshift design he'd come up with and looked down at his tuxedo with mild disappointment. Standard black coat, with a blue shirt underneath and a pink and black striped tie. He was feeling a little nostalgic, so he went for his classic colors. It was also a good sign that his old color scheme brought memories he wanted to remember. It showed he was getting better and moving past it all. Or he was repressing those memories. Win-win either way.
"You're telling me," Kris responded autonomously, then actually noticed the punch bowl they'd been standing next to. Susie followed his eyes and went over to get a drink.
The punch, like everything the Darkworld that wasn't black, was glowing, this time in neon yellow. The cups were, you guessed it, black and plastic, as well as the ladle. She poured some in her cup, then chugged it- and spit it out to the side Kris wasn't standing near, thankfully.
"Damn, this drink is awful!" She swore, wiping her mouth against the back of her scaled hand. Kris rolled his eyes behind his bangs. Even if you put Susie in a fancy dress, you could never get her to be fancy. Kris decided to ask her a question before she did ate all the food in the party out of spite.
"Why didn't you magic us up some clothes too?" Kris asked. "We both know you'd never give up the chance to dress us up in something embarrassing."
She snorted at that. "Yeah, I wouldn't. But magic makes me feel super tired. Like doing laps in gym after skipping lunch tired." Kris thought it made sense. Magic died out on the Surface centuries ago, so maybe monsters had lost their touch at magic over the years. Kris was about to mention this when he caught Susie looking at the punch bowl like it had just backhanded her mother. He rolled his eyes under his long hair.
"C'mon, it can't be that bad." He said evenly, walking over to get his cup. When the liquid pressed against his tongue, his body immediately reached and spit it back into his cup.
"Why is it so watered down?!" With such an extreme color, you'd expect the taste to be just as extreme, but instead, it tasted like a gallon of water with some grapes squished into it. He placed the cup back onto the table, forsaking it to be the 'Forgotten Drink' that one person always leaves behind at events.
"See?" She said triumphantly, then she remembered she was right about a bad thing and sighed. "This party blows," Susie said matter-of-factly, crossing her arms and nodding like the same line she'd repeated for the greater part of 20 minutes was some piece of forgotten wisdom. Kris scoffed.
"You're telling me," the human shook his head at his scaled companion.
Then, something interesting happened for a change. The DK, in all his egotistical glory, stood up from the throne he'd been sitting in since the party started. He put his six hands together and looked around with an expecting smile. Someone got the hint and began clapping for him, and soon every employee the Darkner had begun clapping for him, though it was the most half-hearted applause Kris had ever heard. Then again, the Rudinn's only have one hand peer person so they may be trying their best. He let the applause seep through the air as his ego grew to a size comparable only in powers of ten. When he finally gave his triple clap, every immediately stopped clapping.
"Yes yes, my wonderful subjects, I am glad you all can applaud me as I so rightfully deserve." God Kris wanted to shove his fist so far into the Darkner's face that everyone could see his fist clearly through the other side.
"And I am glad you all have gathered to celebrate the traitor's Big Reveal, and I am glad to be able to give a little speech about that mutineer before he arrives." Kris' eyes widened, and he could see the same panic on Susie's face. They needed to find Ralsei. Whatever the DK was going to say about him was probably not the best for him to hear. Yet they couldn't see him through the crowd of Darkners that were forcibly gathered. And he couldn't just sprint through the crowd without raising suspicion. Kris turned back to his friend, and they locked eyes and nodded. They then went their separate ways to sift through the crowd and either block out his words or comfort him.
"As all my subjects know, there is only supposed to be one Dark Fountain." Kris desperately wanted to tune everything about tonight out while he searched through the crowds for the exact opposite of Ralsei. He'd set him up in the same outfit he usually wore except without his hat and inversions to his regular clothing palette. Aka, Ralsei was wearing dark red and had his true white fur exposed, making him his evil twin.
"But the Fountain in this very castle is new, given to your previous ruler, who failed to guard it." Kris felt his great disguise was biting him in the ass, as he had to look for Not-Ralsei. But he'd practically given up on trying not to draw suspicion, whispering Ralsei's name loudly.
"Though, our original Fountain and its guardians met a similar fate." Oh no. Questions filled Kris' mind as he began to search more desperately. Were Ralsei's parents killed? What about the rest of their subjects? What had killed them? Why was Ralsei left behind when someone knew he was there?
Did Ralsei know all this?
As the thought crossed his mind he found the Darkner, staring and trembling at the green Darkner's words. That was all he needed to disprove his assumption.
He pushed through the Hathys that surrounded his friend, most likely trying to sympathize with him, and was about to grab him when he heard his mutterings.
"You can do this, you can be strong." The words came from his muzzle, and something Kris had never felt shone in his heart. Doubt.
'Should I? Should I hold him and coddle him?' He wanted to smother him and hold him tight until all his fears melted away. He'd thought he only wanted to comfort him, and it was the best thing he could do. But, hearing Ralsei's doubt changed something and realized he'd been smothering him. Smothering them both, fighting for them, teaching them, comforting them, appeasing them. When was the last time he'd let them think or feel for themselves, and not forced his views and choices onto them? He was on a journey across time and space to better himself, and yet he was actively hampering his friend's growth.
What kind of friend does that? A shitty one.
Then, once more, a choice appeared before him. Comfort him, or do not?
His mind flashed to his half-brother. He'd taken no hesitation to hold him, to forgive him. He'd needed him. But was this any different? Of course. He wasn't Ralsei, and Ralsei wasn't him. Did he need him to comfort him and try to protect him for the truth like the hero Kris wanted to be for them both, or did Ralsei need him to be there for him, to support him?
A single breath left the human's blue lips before he made his decision. He simply put his hand on the Darkner's should, and felt his heartache as Ralsei looked at him questioningly. He stood by his choice, and simply nodded to his friend. Ralsei stood up a little straighter under Kris' grasp of him.
"In the end, the former jester's actions left him alone, and the King's orders not to enter the grounds of the Dark Fountain left him abandoned." Kris' hand tightened its grip on Ralsei's red sleeve, as he found more reasons to dislike the dethroned King. And he faintly recalled Ralsei's discomfort when they had first met Jevil. He also had something solid to hate the Jevil for. Not that he needed them, but they were good for future reference. His red eyes searched to meet the Darkner's, and he found a dark green that hid sadness. But his gaze was strong, and Kris knew he'd made the right choice to be there with him. To finally let him grown, and... blossom.
"Though, I am sad to say that the child of this story has become a traitor who defies his king." Kris couldn't help but chuckle at that, and his friend laughed lightly at his reaction. The moment was over, as the DK began hyping up the story's ending.
"Now, the moment we've all been waiting for, guards, bring me our guest!" He pointed at his necklace of Rudinns who all looked at each other, confused.
"Uh, boss? We haven't found the prisoner yet." A Rudinn Ranger said casually.
"...What?" The DK said, to which all the serpentine Darkners shrugged. "We tried to tell you hours ago, but you were too busy making us feed you our paychecks to listen." Kris could hear Susie's snickering from the other side of the room. He shook his head and told Ralsei to get ready for the Bigger Reveal.
The DK's face had now scrunched up in rage and embarrassment for both not having his prisoner and talking up said prisoner.
"WELL, THEN WHERE IS HE?!" He bellowed towards his apathetic employees who simply shrugged at him. That was their cue.
Kris then jumped onto the nearest table and grabbed the room's attention by clapping his hands so hard it sounded like a lightning strike.
"Hey! This has been a party I will... never forget, so because of that, I'd like to give you a present." Confused eyes followed him as he waved Ralsei over, and helped him onto the table.
"Listen, I have no time for your games, now get off those tables!" He shouted at Kris, who only smiled at him while ignoring the sting of his palms.
"Now now, I've only just started talking." He shook his head condescendingly. Ralsei stood awkwardly in front of everyone's gaze, yet bowed despite this. When he stood back upright, Kris let his spell be undone, and Ralsei returned to his regular outfit. Ralsei's hat then returned from his inventory in a dark mist over his head and simply fell onto him.
"Found the prisoner." One of the Rudinns said proudly, to which the others all nodded and agreed. The DK didn't take the reveal in stride as the rest did, however. His eyes bugged out comically, and his jaw dropped, just not quite reaching the floor. Susie, wanting a better view, hopped onto the table alongside the others.
"Oh, don't you worry about prisoners, because I have a deal you just can't say no to!" He smirked, his love for tricks and ploys turning him into a conniving salesman.
"Y' see," Kris explained. "You could attempt to execute my friend here, which would cement you as a fool for all of eternity," The verbal punching bag inhaled to interrupt, but he talked past it. "Or you could receive the Diamond Kingdom in all of its entirety, along with any of your subjects who are willing to go along with you, so long as you return the throne to the rightful heir, give up in your attempts to execute Ralsei, and never return to this castle ever again." The indignation on the Darkner's face made Kris' smile broaden. He really was prideful.
"What if I don't take this gift of yours?" He said eventually with a sneer.
"You would be a fool to not take such a non-violent gift from me," Kris said simply. "But, if you choose to do so, I'll be forced to resort to plan B." Kris' excellent poker face helped him hide the joy he felt while explaining. He expected the DK's pride to overtake his cowardice and pick B. And he was so excited to execute it.
The future would be set in stone with the Darkner's next sentence. The human could feel his teammates' worries and anxiety washing over him. But he held his gaze with the soon-to-be-dethroned king. He was practically itching to force the king off that chair.
"Well, as you are not royalty, much less a member of the Kingdom Of Diamonds; Holders Of Unbreakable Truth, so I do not believe you would be able to come up with a single good plan, much less two." He sneered.
"So, I should take up my role as the last member of my line of royalty, and put your truth to the test. Guards, take them to the dungeon as forcefully as you can." With a lavy wave of his six appendages, a squadron of Darkners formed from all the participants who surrounded the table the Fun Gang had commandeered. Kris sighed and shook his head. Wow, was he predictable or what? Without a word, his team stood beside him, back to back to back.
"So, now will you tell us the plan?" Susie grumbled as she summoned her axe and glared the entire Jigsawry squadron into submission.
"Simple. We hold a coup." Kris explained as he jumped into the crowd of Darkners and intimidated them into accepting his 'mercy' with a crimson look at his drawn blade. They quickly ran away, stating something about not getting paid/fed enough for this.
"... A what?" Susie replied, putting a particularly aggressive Head Hathy into a chokehold with her axe's handle. Kris couldn't help but feel a bit of morbid pride at that.
"A coup is an act of replacing a government system or figure of power, usually through violence," Ralsei explained while pacifying the particularly tired ones in the crowd, who were dragged to the opposite side of the room by everyone else so everyone could complain about the Fun Gang, conscious or not. Kris nodded, and a familiar silence passed between the trio.
"... That isn't your whole plan, is it?" Ralsei asked the human and gave Kris the stink eye when he didn't respond.
"What? It worked last time, didn't it?" Kris muttered after giving sparing a couple of Darkners who weren't completely afraid of him yet but with actual ACTs this time.
"If you meant to brand Spearmint as a war criminal, then yes," Susie added unhelpfully.
"...I hate that the nicknames you give us are so good, Violet." Kris said, using all of his conversational skills to steer the conversation towards a less Kris-did-something-stupid direction. Though Ralsei's unimpressed gaze showed Kris that he still had a long way to go in the art of casual misdirection.
"Anyway," Kris hilt-bashed the skull of a Rudinn who decided to replace his easily dodged long-range magic with his easily dodged short-ranged attacks. "I kind of want today's mission to be over with, so can I get a Blue..." Kris could practically feel the smugness radiating off of Susie at the realization she can hurl him like a dodgeball again. Before he knew it, he was grabbed by his back, lifted over a certain purple dinosaur's head, and chucked while said dinosaur screamed "BOMBER!"
Really, in Kris' opinion, Blue Bomber wasn't her best name, but it was already used twice so it's there forever now.
As the living missile shot forward, he remembered a pretty interesting thing. Wasn't there a big three-headed Darkner who-
Right, Clover was a teenager by nature, so she probably dipped as soon as the party got boring. Which in this case meant immediately.
Kris then resumed his next attempt at regicide as he hurtled towards the DK shield first.
...Kris realized he does attempt regicide a fair bit.
Sadly, Kris only crashed his shield at the spot right next to the egotistical Darkner, when he'd wanted to turn him into a fine dark mist. He looked over to meet the eyes of the man he almost crushed like a ladybug. A small smirk appeared on Kris' face, that he quickly smothered before it could turn into his sadistic grin. But he saw the effects of the clanging of his murder attempt via shield rang out throughout the throne room, bringing a deafening silence. The same silence Kris' target had heard throughout his imprisonment.
Oddly, pity made its way into the human's heart. The Darkner before only sought power because his kingdom had been massacred and abandoned, while he had to become a prisoner of a mad king.
Then he remembered that he'd done the exact same thing to Ralsei, and the pity died right where it had sprouted. Right as he was about to make his final deal with the DK, the Angel felt something.
Cold. A sharp numbness that held onto his spine and chilled the very blood in his veins. The feeling started before everything went from hell and back.
The throne room door was slammed open and as the Diamond King was sitting forwards, he saw the being first. His eyes widened, and his white and green body paled. Kris didn't even know white could even get paler!
Kris turned around all the same, and many things happened in a moment.
First, Kris noticed the metallic being was hurtling towards him. Second, he raised his shield to meet the dull gleam of metal. And finally, he recognized the enemy.
The presence, the strength, and the fear they brought was the only introduction it needed, and the fearful silence was the theme it deserved.
It was The Knight.
And when he recognized the suit of armor and the dull sword, Kris was already sent crashing through the back of the throne as something that couldn't crack did, and he impacted against the stone wall of the room, and several things that could crack, did.
As his world blurred together and his sense were numbed by pain, a single melancholy thought pierced the pain.
'Seems we weren't the only party crashers today...'
Well... I am really bad at scheduling and keeping promises, as you can tell. I've also become thoroughly ashamed of the beginning chapters of this story, so I will be rewriting that self-insert garbage and turning it into self-reflective recycling instead while I am working on the last main chapter for Chapter 2.
Anyways, thank you all for reading, be sure to leave reviews telling me I'm a garbage writer and why I should never pick up a pencil ever again.
Later.