S11-11
Protected

Another peaceful day in the lives of Kris and Susie. Ian and Abigail were staying over at their grandmother's house for the weekend, meaning Toriel would get to spend time with them for a couple of days.

On this nice Saturday evening, the two made their way to the village of the Darkners, visiting their old friends.

"Kris! Susie! Welcome back!" Ralsei greeted them. He'd grown over the years, his cloak having been replaced by a green scholar robe, yet he retained his green hat, but with his old scarf wrapped around the top, and it no longer made his face black as coal.

"Well, you've certainly changed." Kris remarked.

"No denying THAT obvious fact." Susie added.

"Yeah, I did, didn't I? I've missed you both so much." Ralsei pulled the two into a warm embrace, which they returned.

"So, what's new?" Susie wondered.

"Well, you remember how I was a prince back in the other world?" Ralsei asked.

"Yeah, but you had no subjects." Kris replied.

"That's right. I decided to take a more... reasonable position. You're looking at the Moonlight Village's greatest scholar. Lancer's the mayor here. He may have been reckless and carefree before, but under my guidance, Rouxls Kaard has tutored him into a benevolent leader. Speaking of which, here he comes."

Lancer approached them, now of the size and stature of an average adult, his tongue no longer sticking out, and wearing a business suit and a tie with a polka dot pattern, but instead of circles, there were spades. Above all that, he had facial hair! "Kris and Susie Dreemurr, it brings me great joy to see you both again!"

"That's not how you normally talk!" Susie was right.

"I know. Ralsei and Rouxls Kaard steered me in the right direction. The way I've been doing it since then has felt... right. It's like my very soul was telling me I was doing it correctly. Anyway, how have you both been?"

"We've been doing well." Kris stated, resting his head on Susie's shoulder, making her smile.

"Oh, here comes Rouxls Kaard. Just so you know, I finally convinced him to stop talking in Early Modern English, so he should be more... intelligible." Ralsei stated.

Rouxls joined the conversation. "Ahh. The heroes return. How are the kids?"

"They're staying with their grandmother for the weekend, so they'll be back home tomorrow afternoon." Susie replied.

"Good. By the way, I have a request for you. A favor, if you will. We recently discovered the absence of Lancer's childhood motorcycle. I believe we left it back in the Dark Realm, and we were wondering if you could spare some of your time to recover it."

"Kris, what do you think?" Susie asked her husband.

"I guess we're on a scavenger hunt. Might as well look around for anything else that might've been left behind, right?"

"Good call."

Since school was closed for the weekend, Kris and Susie could enter the building freely, and they found that the unused classroom used for storage was unlocked.

One transition later, the two found themselves plummeting into the abandoned Dark Realm. During the descent, Susie took a hold of Kris, carrying him bridal-style before her sturdy legs made impact with the ground, after which she let him back on his feet, their outfits having been changed once more.

After eventually making their way back to the empty Card Castle, Kris and Susie started searching for Lancer's old room. Sure enough, the motorcycle was right by the remnants of the bed, which was seemingly stripped bare of all essentials, reduced to nothing more than a rusted frame.

Checking the old display, Kris found that it had more than enough fuel left to make the journey back, so he stepped aside as Susie took hold of it. She hoisted it up on here shoulder like her old axe, then turned towards the door. "Let's roll."

Once they arrived at the old elevator, which was somehow still operable, Susie pressed the button for the first floor. The trip back down would take a while, so the two passed the time with small talk.

"Why do you think Lancer would still want his old motorcycle?" Kris wondered.

Susie put the motorcycle down on its wheels. "Well, from what I've heard, he's had this thing for his whole childhood."

"It's basically something he's grown so attached to that he wouldn't want to let it go."

"Well, when you put it that way, I guess we're not so different. We've all got at least one thing from our childhood we'd want to keep."

Once the elevator reached the first floor, something strange happened. The elevator shook violently for a moment, the light and the display above the door went out, and the panel with the buttons sparked and blew out.

This whole event startled Kris, making him grip Susie's waist with both arms, which she felt, understanding that he was frightened, and for admittedly good reason.

Nonetheless, they continued on their path, exiting the newly broken elevator, getting on the motorcycle, and driving it back to where they could leave the Darkner Realm.

As the two passed through a dark forest, they got the feeling of being watched.

"Susie, I don't think we're alone."

"Yeah, I'm thinking the same thing."

Out of nowhere, a horrifying laugh was heard, but it wasn't the dethroned King of Spades, the voice was nowhere near deep enough to be him.

During the ride, a strange scythe was found with its blade stuck in the ground. As Kris reached over to pick it up so he could examine it, the scythe seemingly blinked out of existence. From the darkness of the forest, that strange voice was heard once more. "The bars come down, the world is free. I come in, there's no one here. Seems like everyone lost the game. Everyone... but you."

"Game?" Kris wondered aloud.

"What game?!" Susie demanded.

"You've made a mockery, a MOCKERY, of the game you call life. You broke the rules, the RULES! And that means... you are disqualified." A shadowy figure was then seen standing in their path.

"This guy's talking nonsense."

"Susie, run him over." Kris whispered.

"That'll knock some sense into him." Susie revved up the motorbike's engine again, then went full throttle, charging in at high speeds. The figure vanished, leaving behind a crudely drawn speeding ticket stuck to the dashboard. On the other side of the sticky piece of paper was a note.

"Chaos, chaos. I can do anything." ~Jevil

"Alright, 'Jevil'. What is it you're planning?" Susie asked aloud.

"Only to play this game with the rest of the world, the WORLD! We'll have so much fun, FUN!"

Without warning, a scythe flew out of the dark forest, its blade barely scraping against Susie's left cheek, leaving a visible scratch.

Another scythe came spiraling through, cutting Kris's right shoulder, which caused him to wince in pain and clutch it, a trickle of red dripping from between his fingers.

"KRIS!" At the sight of Kris's bleeding shoulder, something awakened within Susie, making her blood boil, her adrenaline rise, and her eyes become an angry yellow with a hint of red, accompanied by her green irises becoming black and squinting into thin slits. Susie turned off the engine and got up off the motorcycle, staring into the dark of the woods, listening for the sounds, waiting for movement.

The faintest rustling of leaves reached her ears, causing her to jerk her head around and face the source of the sound.

Within moments, the sound of another scythe slicing through the air could be heard, triggering her reflexes, and she caught the thrown weapon the moment it came within her reach, a deathly scowl forming on her face.

Once again, she waited, listening for the faintest sound of movement. The sound of a twig being stepped on without breaking prompted an immediate and accurized response as Susie threw the scythe, hearing Jevil's shriek as the weapon hit its target. That loud a noise alerted Susie to Jevil's exact location.

Without an instance of hesitation, Susie leaped into the woods, finding Jevil pinned to a tree by the scythe lodged in his arm. She grabbed him harshly by the neck and growled at him, her sharp teeth shown right before his eyes. "You hurt Kris again- In fact, you hurt ANYONE I care about, and I will find you, and eat both your arms, and then both of your legs, and then I will eat your face right off your head. Do you understand?"

Jevil's insanity was quickly fading, replaced by a newfound fear, stemming from the Monster tightly clutching his throat. "Please..."

"Yes! So, you will be this armless, legless, faceless thing, won't you? Rolling down the street... like a log... down a hill. Do you feel me?"

"I... I promise... not to... hurt... anyone. No more... games... Just... PLEASE DON'T KILL ME!"

"Good." With that, Susie released her grip on Jevil, going back to normal and returning to Kris so they could continue on their way.

On their way back to the sealed Dark Fountain, Susie made a pit stop, searching the empty buildings for anything to help Kris's bleeding shoulder. She found a few abandoned first aid supplies, using them to sanitize Kris's wound before applying a layer of treated bandages to staunch the blood-flow, thus stopping the bleeding.

"Does that feel better?"

"My shoulder still stings, but it doesn't hurt as much. Thank you."

"When I saw that you were hurt, I... I don't know what came over me. I guess I kinda lost it."

Once Kris and Susie returned to the Moonlight Village, they gave Lancer back his motorcycle, then informed Ralsei and Rouxls Kaard of their encounter with Jevil in the woods of the empty Darkner Realm on their way back. Kris was brought to a medical station in the village, where the old bandages were replaced as Ralsei cast a Healing Prayer to help his wound heal a lot faster. With that done, Kris hid his bandaged shoulder under the sleeve of his shirt, hoping it would be gone before anyone else noticed.

"Susie, thank you for protecting me from that... psychopath."

"You know I'll always be there for you."

I AM NOT DOING ROUXLS KAARD'S EARLY MODERN ENGLISH SPEECH PATTERNS! That would be an absolute nightmare.

Do NOT harm Susie's friends or family, or else she'll go all Venom on you, with her senses and reflexes in a full-on hypermode. Jevil's gonna have nightmares.

See you all next time.