Four Souls

by KJMusical

Love. An emotion that carries a lot of weight and impact behind it. But what happens when four people get involved with such a powerful emotion? Kris Dreemur, Susie, Ralsei and Noelle Holiday will get an idea. OT4. Krisuselsei (Kris X Susie X Ralsei X Noelle), might even be the first! Rated for strong language, (implied) sexual activity and distressing themes. You have been warned.

7. Blossom

Author's note: Aw yeah, another chapter of Four Souls everyone!

So this month has been interesting for me IRL. I've recently started working another job at a local supermarket, stacking shelves and assisting customers. We've had a new shopping market open up close to home and I've been working there for the last few weeks or so.

Despite all this, I've still managed to get this chapter done!

Now, before I begin, I must warn you all that this chapter DOES contain some references to suicide, sexual activities and masturbation. Nothing M rated or anything like that, but I do feel I should warn you all first regardless.

With all of that being said, let's begin.

---

Almost a week had passed since the incident between Kris, Noelle, Susie and Ralsei and Friday had rolled around once again. School was out for the next few days and the kids were looking forward to their various activities. Some planning to hang out with friends, others planning to spend their free time by themselves. For Kris, his time over the weekend was to be spending it with Asriel.

It had been so long since the two brothers did anything fun together, especially since Asriel went off to college. Now that he was back, Kris was determined not to let the opportunity go to waste. At this very moment, the two were sitting on the sofa in front of the television, their old games console plugged, focused on a heavy game of Super Smashing Fighters. Asriel was controlling Tsyuka on the screen and Kris was controlling another character, fighting against two AI players.

Years had passed between them, but they still played that game like pros, eyes glued to the television screen, fingers and thumbs slamming into the buttons of their controllers. "Hey Kris, you remember when we used to do these big all nighters playing this game?" Asriel asked his brother, not once did his eyes leave the TV screen. Kris briefly glanced over at his brother, before his eyes darted back to the screen.

"You suggesting we do that again? Maybe we should invite Noelle, Susie and Ralsei over if we ever do." Kris asked, smiling at the suggestion. Asriel's eyebrows raised as he let out a chuckle. "Nah, that wasn't what I had in mind. I'm surprised you still remember that. We used to do that all the time. Mom would get so annoyed at us whenever we did." Kris smirked as the two continued their game. Asriel then looked over at Kris. "By the way, I felt it was inappropriate to ask around him, but how do you pronounce Ralsei's name? I always thought it was said as 'Ral-say'." He asked the human.

Kris paused the game briefly and looked up, trying to think of an answer. He then turned to face Asriel as the answer came to him. "I'm not sure myself. I've heard monsters call him 'Ral-say', I've heard others call him 'Ral-see'. Heck, one monster even called him 'Rals-eye'. He doesn't seem to mind, since he doesn't really correct anybody. I'll need to ask him if I saw him." Asriel just replied with an intrigued little "Huh", as Kris unpaused the game, letting the two continue onwards with their electronic battle.

On screen, Tsyuka had knocked down an opponent with a tongue attack while the character Kris was controlling, a blue fox like creature, took out the other with a punch, sending them flying off screen where they exploded with a bright flash. A few seconds later, the opponent Asriel was fighting followed suit. The boys had won.

As the announcer spoke the winners, Kris put down his controller, seemingly reflecting on a memory of his. Asriel, with a fist pump and an excited "Yes!" to himself, smiled at the victory he and his brother shared, just like they had plenty of times before. Asriel then turned to face Kris, his smile fading when he noticed that Kris seemed a little upset about something, his eyes focused on the TV.

"H-Hey Kris? Are you okay? You look a little upset about something." Asriel asked. He could only watch his brother's face with concern, which only grew when the human didn't respond to his question. He focused his attention on him, trying to see what could be going on inside Kris' mind. Although, between you and me, if he could see what was going through his mind, he'd probably want to stay out of it.

Within the confines of Kris' mind, he was alone, Asriel was nowhere to be seen. Just him, sitting on the floor, the television in front of him. The glass screen should be a window to bright colours and happy memories for Kris. But here, it was showing nothing but snow, various pixels of black, gray and white dancing around the screen to a silent song.

Much like the color of the television, the void he was in was drained of color too. Beyond the reaches of the television's light was darkness, what should've been the rest of the living room was merely a big, black void that seemed never ending. The shadows appeared to dance against the sofa behind Kris with the static as the lights flickered with each erratic movement of the snow on screen.

Various emotions flooded his mind as he watched the pixels on the screen. Not one emotion was a positive one however. Things like helplessness, worry, anxiety, a lack of worth, even guilt (even though Kris was certain he had nothing to feel guilty about), were all around him in this space of his. The human stood up and turned around, looking beyond the sofa.

Amongst the darkness was Toriel, Asgore, Asriel, Noelle, Susie and Ralsei. However, they all had their backs to him, seeming to look forward into the never ending darkness. Kris didn't even need to see their faces, he had a strong sense of unease with them. He noticed their fists were clenched and every now and then, their bodies would twitch.

As he watched them, he was taken by surprise when the television suddenly switched off, plunging the void he was standing in into total darkness. After a few seconds, he noticed the others were gone, vanished in the darkness. It was only when he looked up that he saw something else. What he saw left him horrified.

Standing above him were the same people he held close to his heart. It wasn't like they were towering over him or anything. It was almost like they were reflections in a large mirror or like giant portraits, their eyes glaring down upon Kris. An already unnerving image, becoming even more fear inducing by the whiteness in their eyes. But that wasn't the most scariest thing for Kris.

It was the expressions on their faces.

Each of their faces, accompanied by the white eyes, had some form of twisted malice or hatred upon them. Toriel's face glared down at him with a disappointed scowl, Asgore's was contorted into a snarling mug, his teeth fully visible in the most animalistic manner and Asriel's had his eyes covered by a cloth, his mouth hanging open in what looked a frozen enraged yell. But worst of all were the faces on his friends.

Susie's face had a look of pure rage as she glared down upon Kris, her teeth gnashing in all their glory, ready to attempt to devour the human. Ralsei had a sordid glare in his eyes, his mouth drooped into a frown. Finally, there was Noelle. Her face was worst of all to Kris, considering this was her childhood friend giving him this look.

Her mouth was twisted into an evil looking smile. It wasn't like the same evil smile she'd have after successfully pranking Kris, but more like a smile with the utmost malicious intent behind it. This was a face he'd hoped to NEVER see on Noelle. He could imagine Susie making that sort of face, but not somebody as innocent as Noelle. The more he looked upon his friends, he realized an additional detail that he didn't notice before:

There were hand prints, planted all over their bodies. HUMAN hand prints. HIS hand prints!

"Kris!" Asriel's voice suddenly snapped Kris out of his nightmare state as just as quickly as he was out of it, he was back in the living room, everything back to normal. Kris took a double take around the room, calming down when he realized he was back home. "Dude, are you okay?" Asriel repeated, hoping that Kris would now answer him.

"Uh, yeah. I'm fine, I was just having a quiet think about some stuff..." Kris said, his voice wobbling with uncertainty, as though even he was unsure if he was really fine or not. Kris paused, continuing to look ahead, Asriel still watching his brother in concern. After a few seconds, Kris spoke, a noticeable drop in his mood present.

"Hey, Asriel? Do you remember all those times you and me hung out whenever dad was away? We used to play video games, eat junk food and listen to music until the sun came up. We'd even convince Noelle to come along with us on our nights up. I just... I wish we could go back to those days again. Things seemed so easier back then. You'd go hang out with your friends, not a care in the world. Me and Noelle wouldn't be so worried about school. All of us feeling ready to take on the world!"

The human paused. He then sighed sadly and shifted himself to face Asriel, before resuming his train of thought. "Now, it hardly feels like that sort of feeling is there any more. Noelle and I drifted slightly, you've gone off to college. You're only here for about a week or so, then your classes start again. Not to mention the things that went on between mom and dad. And... and..."

Kris couldn't continue. There was just too much on his mind in that moment. He wanted to reveal about what he did with Noelle, Susie and Ralsei. He wanted to reveal how miserable he had felt since Toriel and Asgore divorced. He even wanted to let him know about... how we wanted to take his own life at times.

How he wished he could do such... horrible things to himself, consequences be damned. How he wished he could take a knife from the kitchen, walk into the bathroom, fill the bath with water and cut away at his arm until his body went limp. How he...

How he almost went and hung himself with the cord of his dressing gown on Christmas day.

It was during said holiday of the previous year, shortly after his parents filed for divorce. Kris wasn't sure if it was mere winter blues or something else at the time, but he remembered he felt particularly low he felt that Christmas. Heck, he didn't even know the events leading up to it, but what he did remember was his actions at the time, something that even hurt him to think about.

Kris remembered dragging the computer chair close to the wardrobe. He then opened the door slightly and placing one end of the dressing gown cord in the door, closing it again to keep it there. He then stood on the chair, made a loop out of the free end and put said loop around his neck, putting on it until it was tight. There he was, standing on the desk chair, a makeshift noose around his neck. One last step and it would all be over.

He took a shaky breath, tears forming in his eyes. He lifted up his foot, preparing to take that literal last step of his life. He could just see it all now: he took a step forward, the chair would be pushed away and his body would drop, eventually reducing him to a lifeless puppet on a single string.

But before he could step off, he heard Toriel's voice call him down for dinner. He paused, unable to imagine how much hurt it would bring to her, Asgore or Asriel if they walked in and saw his body hanging from the door, the cord around his neck. He decided it wasn't worth it, at least, not on Christmas. He opened the wardrobe door, freeing the cord and stepped off the chair, removing the noose from his neck. Kris made sure to quickly wipe away his tears before leaving the bedroom.

Kris was brought out of the painful memory by Asriel wrapping his arms around him in a tight hug, a hug that Kris returned. "Kris, if you're worried about us leaving you, that's not gonna happen. I'm STILL gonna be your brother, no matter where I am. I love you Kris. Nothing will change that."

It took all of Kris' willpower to not burst into tears right there as Asriel held him close. After a few seconds, Asriel released the hug and said "Hey, I'm gonna go get my phone from upstairs." before getting up and walking up the stairs. Kris watched him leave, before pulling out his phone and bringing up the music player. He plugged in a pair of earphones and pressed play on a song.

He then sat back, his head resting against the couch, his earphones playing the song he had selected. It was a fast synth heavy pop track, male vocals and a bumping drum kit providing the main rhythm of the song. Every now and then however, a sample of someone screaming could be heard blended into the song itself, usually before a drop in the instrumental.

If you couldn't guess already dear reader, Kris had the whole soundtrack to the Phoenix on his phone. Lucas Sylva's actor, Connor Knight, managed to get so into character, he managed to make a music album in character to promote the movie. As well as acting in the role, he made music with a local producer to be used in the movie, showing how multi-talented he was. As mentioned in previous chapters, when the Phoenix was released, both the movie's soundtrack and Connor's album as the Phoenix character was released.

Kris remembered how critics praised the overall sound of the album and Connor's vocal ability, saying it was a pleasant surprise to hear from the actor. A lot of the songs were fast pop songs, quite fitting for the character he was playing, but there were also some slow ballads accompanying the faster tracks, including the song 'Find Your in the Smoke'. Kris owned BOTH the Phoenix album and the movie score.

He very much enjoyed the score, but he enjoyed the accompanying album a lot more. Often, he'd find himself singing the lyrics to himself while in school or humming a melody from the album. Sometimes, when he was home alone, he'd blast the song out loud and sing his heart out along with Connor's voice. It didn't help though, that the scream samples used in the songs did get the neighbors worried enough to call the cops.

That was awkward to explain.

"Yo, Kris!" Asriel's voice called out, Kris still vibing to the music, not hearing his brother. "Kris!" the older sibling called out. Still no response. Sighing in annoyance, Asriel walked over to Kris and using a finger, took out one of Kris' ear bubs, startling him out of his trance-like state. Kris suddenly look back, finding an annoyed looking Asriel beside him.

"Dude, you're gonna go deaf if you play your music that loud!" he said as Kris stood up. "Anyway, I just found something in our room. Come check it out!" he added, before grabbing Kris' hand and leading back to their room, leaving the games console on. The two boys got in and Asriel pointed out something on his bed, Kris walking up to it in surprise.

On Asriel's bed was a laptop, a few years old from the looks of it. Kris looked at it, a growing sense of confusion filled his mind, a direct contrast to Asriel's excited demeanor. The human gave a glance over to the goat next to him. "You brought me upstairs just to show me a laptop?" he asked. Asriel quickly took Kris' shoulders and held onto them with a strong grip.

"Dude, it's not JUST a laptop. That, is my old laptop from when I used to DJ! Do you not remember Kris?" Asriel explained, his smile not once leaving his face. It took a good few seconds for Kris to think about it, but the memories came back to him quickly after a while. He remembered Asriel used to be very big into being a DJ back in the days. Whenever the Dreemurs had a party, he'd usually be the one in charge of the music.

He'd have so much fun mixing songs and playing them for the guests as they danced. In fact, he even DJ'd at the school dance last year, before leaving for college! Kris smiled as the memories flooded back of him and Noelle dancing along to song as Asriel, with a smile on his face, played them from start to finish. "Oh yeah, I remember those days." Kris said with a smile.

"I literally picked up my phone and I saw it under my bed. I then took it out and came and got you." Asriel explained as Kris gently picked it up to examine it. The laptop, while dated, certainly looked brand new. Although Kris had a strong feeling that the laptop only LOOKED brand new because it hadn't been touched in years. "Do you think it still works?" Asriel asked, breaking Kris out of his wonder.

The human could only look towards Asriel. "Well, I guess there's ONE thing we could do to find out." Kris said, a smirk growing on his face. Asriel's smile grew wider at the comment. The two brothers seemed to have the same idea in mind, and they felt it was time to act on it.

---

The Flower King's shop floor was lit up by overhead lights that hung from the ceiling, casting brightness onto everything and everyone below them. Various flowers were lined up in rows and behind glass doors attached to the wall. Two staircases on either side led up to the upstairs area, an area that was cut off from the rest of the shop. On the left of the entrance was a till, with a yellow flower in a vase next to the cashier.

Ralsei was standing over the rows of flowers, a green water can in his hand. He tipped the nozzle towards the flora, allowing a trickle of water to leave the plastic and into the flowerbeds, becoming soaked into the soil. The prince had a smile on his face, happy that Asgore allowed him to work at the Flower King along side him. It made him feel even more welcome to this new environment. On top of that, Asgore, now his manager, promised he'd give him payment for the hours he puts into looking after the flowers and the shop itself.

After the watering can was empty, he put down the watering can underneath a flower display. He then turned his attention to the counter, taking a piece of cloth from a nearby wooden table and, after spraying some surface cleaner onto it, began to wipe it clean as Asgore came down the stairs.

Ralsei turned to face the older monster and smiled. "The flowers you wanted me to water are all done, sir!" he said with a warm smile. Asgore returned a smile of his own as he walked over to Ralsei, standing behind the counter with him. "You seem to be settling in nicely, Ralsei. You said you were brought here because Kris insisted, right?" Asgore asked the younger goat. Ralsei nodded, turning to face the human's father, briefly pausing his wiping of the counter.

"Yeah, he mentioned that you and Toriel would be nice people for me to meet. He already told me about Asriel, but still, it was nice to finally be able to meet him." he explained. Of course, it was nice of Ralsei to meet Asriel for the first time, especially after Kris talked about him so much, but the parts about Kris saying that Toriel and Asgore would be nice to meet wasn't entirely true. Kris DID say they were good monsters, but he didn't mention anything about Ralsei meeting them.

Asgore stood before Ralsei, gently removing his glasses. Once they were off, he gently laid them on the counter and had another good look at Ralsei's face. After a few seconds, he smiled. "You know something Ralsei? Aside from the highlights in your fur, you look a lot like Asriel when he was a child. Maybe you'll turn out just as handsome as he is when you reach his age." Asgore commented, causing Ralsei to blush at such a compliment. "Oh! Th-thank you sir. I've never had anyone call me handsome before." Ralsei said, gently scratching the back of his neck with his fingers.

He turned back to the counter, put his glasses back on and continued wiping. Asgore chuckled as he focused on the younger boy. "Ralsei, you don't have to call me sir. You can just call me Asgore. You're just as much family to me as Kris or Asriel." he reassured.

'Family.' Such a beautiful word for many people and monsters alike, but for Ralsei, it seemed to trigger something in him. Asgore noticed when the younger goat suddenly stopped wiping the counter and just looked forward at nothing. Asgore became concerned as Ralsei continued to stare ahead, his body quivering every now and then as a sob escaped his chest. He also seemed to notice that Ralsei's eyes appeared to look cloudy.

"R... Ralsei? Is something the matter?" Asgore asked. The younger monster didn't respond, only giving a sob in response as a tear rolled down his cheek. A familiar coldness overtook Ralsei's mind, filling it with painful memories that he tried so hard to block out. It was only a snap of Asgore's fingers in his face that broke him out of his trance. "Ralsei!" Asgore raised his voice in time with the snap. Ralsei quickly blinked and took a look around, calming down once he saw he was still in the flower shop. He turned to face Asgore, the look of concern still present on his face.

"Are you okay, Ralsei? It looked like something just upset you." Asgore said. Ralsei sighed as he placed the cloth under the counter. He could just tell him the truth, but instead, he decided to tell a little white lie. "I'm... I'm fine Asgore. It's just... I have bad memories of my family. Even the word brings them back." he explained to Asgore. The older monster hung his head down. "Oh. In that case, I apologize for bringing back any traumas you might've had there."

Ralsei rested his elbows on the counter he had just cleaned as Asgore briefly left his side to grab a nearby chair. He then pulled it back and sat down next to his co-worker. "If... if there's anything you'd like to talk about, you know I'm there for you, just like I was for Kris and Asriel." Asgore stated. This gave some comfort to the Dark World prince. He glanced down at the counter, before turning his head to face his manager.

"Hey, can I ask you a question?" Ralsei asked. Asgore turned to face him, eager to hear what question the younger monster was going to ask him. "What would you do if you did something with some friends that you regret the following morning?" was the question asked. Asgore was briefly surprised at such a question, before smirking. "Well, you're asking the right person for that. I've done plenty of things I regretted the next morning. Toriel would tell you all about the times I used to get drunk with Noelle's dad when we were younger." He said with a chuckle.

Ralsei could only smirk at Asgore's little comment before the older monster leaned onto the counter next to him. "What I would do in those situations is try my best to make things work. Apologies to those I've hurt, you know? Even if I don't remember doing so." he explained. Ralsei looked upon him, taking in every piece of advice Asgore was giving him. Asgore's tone became questioning as he returned a question of his own. "Why? Did you... did you hurt someone?"

Ralsei quickly looked over at Asgore. "N...No! I didn't!" he said in a brief panic. He then calmed down, letting his thoughts collect themselves. In a much calmer voice, Ralsei explained. "At least, I don't think I did. I was with some friends a few nights ago, we got drunk off something and-."

The talk was interrupted by a ringing sound. Asgore looked into his pocket and pulled out a mobile phone. "I'm sorry Ralsei, I just need to take this phone call. I'll be back in a minute." Asgore quickly said before walking out the shop door, answering the phone. Ralsei watched him quickly head out the shop, before resting his head against his hand. His head was clouded by a lot of thoughts.

He could've easily mentioned about how the friends he was with was Kris, Susie and Noelle. He could've easily said how he couldn't remember a majority of that night. He could've easily said he woke up next to them naked, leading him to assume they did something... lewd the previous night. But he feared it would break the poor older monster. The thought of Kris no longer the innocent boy that him and Toriel imagined him to be. The thought of their son in bed with three other people, engaging in fornication with them. It would break the parents if they were to find out!

And yet... Ralsei felt guilty for hiding this fact from him. He did say he could talk about anything to him and-.

"Hey Ralsei!" Asgore's voice called out from the shop door, disrupting his train of thought. Ralsei quickly stood up and turned to face him. "Y-yes?" the younger monster called out. Asgore held the phone out to him and simply said "It's for you.", causing Ralsei to walk over and take the phone from him, Asgore returning to the counter as Ralsei walked outside with the phone. "Hello?" he said down the phone.

"Hey Fluffy Boy, how's your new job doing?" Kris' voice asked down the phone. Hearing the human's voice through the device gave Ralsei a huge wave of relief. "Oh! Hey there Kris! Yeah, I'm enjoying my new work. Your dad is a really nice monster and he's so helpful and caring about me. He even said I remind him of Asriel when he was younger." Ralsei explained, chuckling a little at the last point. Through the phone's speaker, the prince could hear Kris laughing to himself.

"Yeah, I thought he would make that comparison when he saw you." Kris said through his laughter. In the background, Asriel's voice could be heard asking "What are you laughing at Kris?", to which Kris, presumably turning his head away from the phone since his voice was quieter, called back to him, answering with "I was just saying to Ralsei, that I thought dad would compare him to you when you were younger!"

This prompted Asriel to let out his own laughter, as Kris turned back to the phone, his voice much louder. "Hey Ralsei, I was just calling you up to invite you to something." he said. Ralsei blushed. He had never been invited to anything before in his life. "Wha...what is it Kris?" he stammered. Ralsei glanced down the street, towards where Kris' home was. So many things Kris could invite him to ran through his head. A party, a sleepover, another night of lewd activi- no! They were NOT doing all that again! Not after the first time!

"Well, Asriel found his old laptop with some DJ software on it and we thought we should have a little party to see if it still works. I'm gonna invite Susie and Noelle around too." Kris explained. In the background, Ralsei heard an "Oh shit! I looked everywhere for this!" from Asriel. Kris' voice got quieter as he spoke to his brother. "What is it?" Kris asked, Asriel responding with a "Dude, you remember that karaoke machine we used to play with? I just found it under my bed! We should try that out tonight too!"

Ralsei blushed at the thought of singing karaoke. Sure, he was fine with singing in the Dark World since it helped pacify enemies, but he wasn't sure about the thought of actually singing songs. Still, the prince thought it might be a little bit of fun. It would be just the boys, the girls and Kris' family there, so it wasn't like there would be HUGE amounts of embarrassment. Ralsei smiled as he answered. "Sure, I'll be more than happy to come down after work."

Kris then spoke. "Oh sweet dude. Me and Azzy will get it all set up. Just swing by once you're done." Ralsei walked back inside the shop. "Okay, cool. See you then Kris." he said, before hanging up the call and giving the mobile phone back to Asgore. The older monster watched him as he got back behind the counter. Asgore leaned onto the marble surface as he spoke to Ralsei. "So? What was Kris talking to you about?" he asked, inquisitively.

Ralsei looked over to face his manager. "Oh, Kris and Asriel found some music equipment, so they're gonna throw a little party to see if it works. I'm actually looking forward to it." he said with a smile. Asgore smiled back and gave Ralsei a gentle pat on the back. "I'm sure you and the others will have a blast together." he said, before walking away from the counter, back upstairs. Ralsei watched him leave before a customer walked through the door, ringing the bell and catching his attention. He walked away from the counter, greeting the customer that just walked in with a smile and a "Hello there, welcome to the Flower King. How can I help you today?" in the most polite tone he could.

---

The doorbell to the Dreemur residence rang, filling the house with sound. Toriel was focused on something in the kitchen when the bell caught her attention. Just before she could move to answer it, Kris called out with an "I got it!" as he jumped down the stairs, running to the front door to answer it. Pulling the door open, he was greeted by a familiar female face.

"Oh! Hey there Kris. I got here as quickly as I could." Noelle said with a smile and a wave to the human. The doe walked through the front door, meeting Kris with a hug. "Hey Noelle. Susie and Ralsei should be on their way, so take a seat and get comfortable." the human said. Noelle took a seat on the sofa in front of the television, which was playing the Phoenix movie Kris tried to show her. The shot was paused on a car outside of a building, a warehouse from the looks of it.

"Hi there Noelle!" Toriel called out from the kitchen. Noelle turned towards the kitchen and responded with a "Hi Toriel!" as Kris sat down on the sofa next to her, picking up a remote control and pressing play, which resumed the movie he was watching. Noelle was familiar with this movie and didn't want to watch on the television screen, for she knew how violent this movie could get, but at the same time, she just couldn't pull her attention, or curiosity for that matter, away. Kris smirked as his friend leaned closer to the television, intrigued by the events occurring in the movie.

---

Rouxls Kaard stood inside a dark room, his eyes were clamped shut, trying to focus his energy on his magic. It seemed to be working in his favor since as he moved his arms in a rhythmic manner, there were streaks of light that followed wherever his arms went. After that little incident that happened with the others, resulting in Ralsei being sent away with them, he was determined to find a spell to find their location and bring the prince back to the Dark World.

He was so focused on the spell, he didn't hear a Rudinn walk into the room. He only stopped once he heard a clearing of a throat behind him. The duke opened his eyes and turned around, facing the Rudinn as they walked closer to him. "Rouxls, Lancer is wondering about where Ralsei had gone for the last few days. He has apologized multiple times for his intrusion while you were casting the spell to send the Lightners back home." they said, the only response being earned was a sigh from the duke.

"I knew it was a bad idea to leave him on his own in the greenhouse. The young sire can barely keep his attention going for 10 god damn seconds before getting distracted." Rouxls muttered to himself, his voice so quiet that the Rudinn didn't hear a word he had just said. Rouxls then focused his attention back to the Rudinn in front of him before speaking up, his voice much clearer so that the Rudinn could hear him.

"I'm not entirely certaineth myself, but if I had to guess, Ralsei has gonest back to the surface world with Kris, Susie and Noelle. I just hope that he's safe up there-eth. While I can't get to him at the moment, I will try and look for a spell that'll at least, allow me to findeth his location. I might try and find another spell to allow me to visualize the area-est he is in too. As for now, tell Lancer that I'll need to have another talketh with him about wandering off and disobeying my orders... est."

The Rudinn nodded, adding in a "Yes sir." before walking out of the room. Rouxls watched them leave, before turning back to a nearby book. He turned a page backwards, the start of the spell present on the page. The duke stepped back and prepared himself to try out the spell once again. He felt as though time was running out for him. Who knows what was going on to Ralsei on the surface.

Of course, if he was with the other Lightners, Rouxls would be more at peace, since he trusted them to look after the prince. But then again, there was the chance Ralsei would get lost and into trouble while he was up there. He shook out those thoughts as he closed his eyes and began the spell again, the streaks of light returning with every slow movement his arms made.

---

Noelle screamed and covered her eyes as the horrors of a scene played out in front of her. On the television screen, Lucas had just killed one of the members of a rap duo that had knocked his song off the charts by slamming the back of his neck through a rusty nail, causing it to pierce through his throat and the now bloody tip of the nail to poke out of the front. A rather graphic death for such a character. He then turned his attention to the other member of the group, who was strung up with chains around his wrists, and started cutting into his abdomen with one of his flashy neon blades, recording his screams onto his phone.

Kris, compared to Noelle, sat there, hardly reacting to the massacre in front of him on screen. He had seen this movie so many times, the murder scenes at Lucas' hands didn't bother him any more. He remembered that they used to, the first time that he saw them. He would hide his face from the screen whenever a character met a grisly end. He would scream at every jump scare present in the film. He had nightmares for a few days, but then got over his fear by watching the movie multiple times, taking in how the movie was made and the amount of work that went into every scene.

"Seriously Kris, I don't understand how you can watch this movie and not feel any kind of fear!" Noelle said to her human friend, shocked by the lack of reaction from him. The human's eyes met his friends through his hair and he shrugged. "Once you start appreciating how much work goes into this movie, it becomes less scarier. It helps to watch it multiple times too." Kris explained. Before Noelle could make a statement, there was the sound of the doorbell.

"I'll get it." Kris said, getting up from the couch and walking to the front door. Upon opening said door, he was greeted by various shades of purple. He smiled as he recognized the figure standing before him. Susie stood there in the doorway, holding a crate of what looked like various alcoholic drinks in her hands. The reptile smiled at the human upon seeing him. "Hey Kris, I made it... despite your directions. I also stopped by the store and got some drinks for us." she said, holding up the crate.

Kris was uncertain about the idea of drinking, especially with what happened last time they got 'drunk' together. "Well, Asriel's almost done with the shed, so just leave the crate by the couch and we'll take it out once it's ready." Kris said. Susie responded with a simple "Sweet." as she walked in, placing the crate of alcohol down and placing herself down on the couch, next to Noelle, who was still huddled in the corner, blocking her face from the movie in fear.

Susie took note of Noelle's behavior and turned to face Kris. "You manage to break Noelle somehow, Kris?" She asked. The human shook his head. "Nah, we're watching a movie and the best part's come up. She's terrified of it." he explained, pointing at the screen. Susie turned her head to face it. Just in time too, since the shot on screen was focused on the blade being dragged across the strung up man's stomach, causing blood to leak out of the fresh wound, earning Lucas another scream for his music.

Susie jumped back into the fabric behind her and gasped at such a grotesque moment as she saw in the corner of her eye Noelle wince at the scene, complete with a moan of fear and disgust escaping her lungs. "Dude... what the fuck kind of movie are you guys watching?" she said, a noticeable tinge of shock in her voice. Kris could only smirk. He never thought a horror movie would get THAT reaction out of Susie, especially considering that SHE pulled a horror movie-esque prank on him and Noelle the same night they... did things together. "It's a horror movie. The Phoenix?" he said, sounding the title as a question, asking Susie if she had heard of it.

Susie was silent for a few minutes before replying with an "Oh yeah, I remember that movie. The city mayor tried to get it banned from the movie theatres when it was first released because of how violent it was.", finding a comfortable position to sit in. Noelle seemed to calm down as her hands slowly moved from her face, although Susie couldn't help but notice that her friend's face was shining a lot more red than usual. The doe averted her gaze away from Susie and towards the TV when she noticed her crush looking back at her.

Thankfully, that violent scene had ended and was now focused on Lucas at a computer, producing a new track. He smiled to himself as he placed an audio sample of his victims' screaming and modified it to sound like an electronic synth. This was a concept that, while creative and showed the viewer of the movie how callous and malicious Lucas as a character was, disturbed the hell out of Noelle.

That wasn't to say the movie was bad though, if anything, Noelle praised the movie for its intended reaction on her! Every piece of acting, cinematography, scoring, lighting, camera work, etc. made the movie worth watching, even if it was a movie she herself couldn't watch for longer than an hour or so. Going back to what was going on right now, she never thought she'd see the day she'd get close to her crush Susie.

It was only a few weeks ago that Kris had introduced the reptile girl to her, but it felt like only yesterday that he had done so. They went to the Dark World, met Ralsei, Lancer and others AND had a sleepover together! On top of all that, they enjoyed their time together! Kris was obviously gonna be her friend for life, but she felt like Susie and Ralsei would be monsters who would have a strong friendship with her, maybe in the case of Susie, their relationship could go further than friends.

That being said, that night where she, Kris, Susie and Ralsei got... 'drunk' so to speak, off that weird fruit's juices did give her a lot to think about. All the things she said to him, especially how he was, in her own drunken self's words, "so fuckin' cute" to her. Those were thoughts that rang true to her. Kris and Noelle had known each other for so long, there were points in her life where Noelle started to wonder if there was anything more between her and him. Her eyes glanced over at the human who sat down between her and Susie, the purple girl moving her legs to rest on Kris' lap, not that he seemed to mind.

Her mind ran through that night and its events multiple times. Kris' confession about how much he "LOVE loved" her, her own confession about being pansexual, the fact she never told him about ANY of her crushes for her fear of him getting jealous. She even remembered the part about Kris putting himself down, causing that little outburst she had calling him "fuckin' cute", which was, as Kris said at the time, the first time she had sworn in years. Sure, she wanted to swear so many times in life, but she was too good of a monster to do so.

Then... there was the main event so to speak: the kiss that they shared. That damn kiss. And every little one they shared afterwards. She still remembered the warmth of Kris' body on top of hers. The feeling of his tongue dancing around hers. The sounds of her moaning as he laid his two lips upon her neck, the feel of Kris' breath against her skin as he senselessly dry humped her and him breathlessly saying how he loved her between kisses. The whole thing had a rather inappropriate atmosphere to it, yet Noelle couldn't help but think back on it. With those thoughts came so many questions.

What if Susie and Ralsei HADN'T burst into the room before things got hot and heavy between the two? Would they have went all the way on that bed? Would they have lost their virginity sooner than they did? And what about Kris? Would he have dry humped her until he came? She remembered how she used to hump her pillow when she was... in the mood late at night. It felt dirty for a 17 year old to be having those thoughts, especially for someone as innocent as Noelle, but she couldn't help herself.

Her mind continued to run wild. There was one scenario that might've happened hadn't the other two burst into the bedroom: Kris and Noelle would've still been smooching, Kris would've been dry humping her all the same, but then, she'd more than likely start begging to Kris to fuck her. She was certainly thinking that during their hot and heavy lip on lip display of affection! She'd work her fingers around his boxers' waistband and rip them off, leaving his lower half exposed. Maybe she'd feel on his chest before taking the tank top off his body.

Then, he'd probably make some moves of his own, possibly groping her boobs as he tore off the vest, immediately followed by her pyjama bottoms. Once their clothes were discarded, they'd more than likely kiss heavily, maybe running their hands all over each other's bodies, loud moans of ecstasy escaping their lungs as they did so, before he'd move her legs apart, exposing... the 'basement' let's call it, to him before moving up to stuff her like a Christmas turkey with his di-.

The doorbell snapped Noelle out of such lewd thoughts. Kris moved Susie's legs off his lap and got up to answer the door. He opened the door and greeted Ralsei, but anything the boys were saying fell on deaf ears for the doe. "Thank god." Noelle thought to herself as she shifted her focus back onto the movie. As much as she felt like it was wrong to think that way, the very thought of her having sex with Kris was making her hot under the collar. She just hoped that neither Kris or Susie had noticed. Although, if Kris was okay with it, she wouldn't mind engaging in any kind of-.

She was snapped back out of her thoughts when she felt Kris sit back down beside her and Susie. A few seconds later, Ralsei walked up and sat next to Kris, Noelle being right at the far end of the sofa, towards the kitchen. From this position, she could see Toriel working, probably cooking another pie for tomorrow or something if she had to guess what Toriel was doing.

"Hey Kris, is this that movie you were telling me about?" Ralsei asked Kris, pointing at the screen. Kris responded with a simple "Mmm-hmm." and a nod, focused on the movie at hand. It also seemed Susie was taking an interest in the events on screen as well, as she leaned towards the television, fully invested in what was going on. Noelle sat up, realizing how cramped she was in the corner of the couch.

She turned to face her fluffy friend. "Hey Ralsei, can you move up a bit please?" she asked. Ralsei turned to face her, adding a "Huh?", before quickly adding an "Oh sure Noelle. I didn't realize how cramped you were." and shifting himself more towards Kris, giving Noelle more room on the couch. The group was silent for a few seconds, taking in the movie in front of them. Noelle then became curious.

She thought about how Kris used to tickle her when they were kids and now was wondering if Susie and Ralsei were as ticklish as she is. Of course, she felt Susie wasn't at all ticklish, or if she was, she more than likely would try and hide it. But Ralsei on the other hand...

The deer moved a sly little index finger on her hand closest to Ralsei and gently poked him where part of his ribcage was resting. Very noticeably, she saw that Ralsei seemed to jump a little, a sharp inhale accompanying such a motion. After settling back down, he shot a look over at Noelle. "Noelle, what are you doing?" he asked, confused at the sudden poke. Noelle paused for a second, before giving another poke to his ribs. Instead of a sharp inhale from Ralsei, Noelle got a little giggle out of the prince. It only lasted for about a second, but it showed Noelle that Ralsei WAS indeed ticklish. "Stop it!" Ralsei said, his face slowly turning red.

Instead, she smiled, giving another poke. This was much more fun than the movie in her eyes. Susie looked over at the two when she heard another small giggle and a "Noelle, seriously, stop it!" from Ralsei. She glanced over at them, just in time to see Noelle move from poking Ralsei's ribs to moving each of her fingers against them. This got a stronger reaction out of Ralsei, whose giggling was more noticeable as he tried to move his arms to shield where he was being tickled. Even Kris, who seemed fully invested in the movie despite seeing it so many times, was starting to look over, wondering what the hell was going on next to him.

"What are you guys doing?" Susie asked, Noelle poking her head around Ralsei and Kris to see her. "I think Ralsei's a little ticklish." the doe said in a teasing tone. Ralsei quickly replied with a "N-no! I'm not!", only to be proven wrong with another tickle to the ribs. Both Susie and Kris smirked at this as the human draw out his own arm and began to tickle the other side of Ralsei's ribs. Ralsei's giggles shifting into laughter as he quickly turned around to Kris, giving a snappy "Stop it!" to him, but this left Noelle with more areas to attack.

The two's pokes and tickles were eventually too much for the goat, who after a few seconds of holding back laughter, broke out, his laughing echoing around the living room, bringing wide smiles to both Noelle and Kris as they continued their tickle assault on him. "Guys...! Guys, stop it! I'm gonna wet myself in a minute!" Ralsei protested between laughs. Susie smirked as she watched the ordeal play out next to her.

Eventually, Ralsei leaned forward to the point that he fell off the couch, still in hysterics. But did that stop the human and doe from tickling him? Of course not! In fact, when Ralsei went down, the two followed after him, relentlessly tickling his ribs. They also made moves for his armpits and neck when Ralsei put his defenses up. Susie still sat there, not wanting to partake in such childish behavior. Even so, she couldn't help but smile at how much fun the three were having. It almost reminded her of better days when her mother was still alive.

Even Toriel, who was focused on whatever she was doing in the kitchen, had to peak into the living room as she heard the commotion. She smiled as she watched her son and his childhood friend tickle their new friend. Her eyes glanced over at Susie, who was watching it all and smiling at it. The goat mom was aware of Susie's reputation, but unlike their classmates who saw a ruthless brute with nothing but venom coursing through her veins, saw a fractured girl inside that hard shell. Toriel was determined to find out more about her and she knew exactly how to do it. But for now, she turned back to the kitchen to focus on... whatever it was she was working on.

Eventually, after long periods of tickling, Ralsei's laughter, for a brief second, shifting into noises that were almost akin to the sound of a baby laughing. Upon hearing what noise escaped his mouth, Ralsei quickly covered up his mouth as his cheeks flushed red with embarrassment. Noelle and Kris, who were relentless with the tickling of their friend, stopped upon hearing the sound, taken aback by such a noise. Even Susie's eyes went wide at the sudden sound Ralsei made as she leaned forward to meet the goat's eyes.

"Ralsei... was that... a baby's laugh you just let out?" Susie asked the prince. Ralsei's cheeks burned brighter at the question. "N-No!" he lied. Kris reacted quickly and made a tickle assault at the goat's ribs. Sure enough, another baby like giggle escaped from Ralsei's mouth, solidifying the sounds' origins. "You sure Ralsei? That sounded EXACTLY like a baby laugh there." Kris asked, a teasing tone in his voice, the same one he would use with Noelle.

Before he could continue his teasing, Asriel came through the door. "Hey guys, the shed's all set up. The music is ready to go, I've got some food all set up in there and I've also ordered some pizzas for us. They should be here in about half an hour or so." he said. Ralsei, Kris and Noelle quickly got up, excited to get the party started. Susie on the other hand, smiled at Asriel, pointing down to the crate of drinks. His eyes darted down to it, and went wide upon seeing what it was.

"Whoa. Susie, I didn't realize you drank. I never thought you'd bring alcohol here." he said surprised. Almost immediately following that statement came a "Wait, what?" from Toriel, as she poked her head back around from the living room. "Did I just hear that correctly? Did you bring alcohol here, Susie?", she asked the purple girl, an accusing glare on her face. Susie took a look around the room. All eyes were on her, awaiting her response. Toriel kept her accusing glare on her face, her friends eagerly waiting for her response.

"Yes...?"

That was all Susie could say with all the attention on her. She was trying so hard to give the impression she was ready for anything, but this time, she was nervous. Beads of sweat began making tracks down her face as she anxiously waited for a response from anyone else. She was expecting Toriel to throw her out of the house for doing such an act as bringing alcohol to her son's party. She was expecting her to go into the living room and tell her off. She was expecting her to-.

"Okay."

Wait... okay? Susie was confused by this answer. Even more confusing was the tone. It wasn't with anger or with disappointment, it was almost matter of factly, as though she expected the kids to be drinking tonight. Even the others had averted their gazes over to Toriel, looking just as confused as she was. "O... okay? Mom, what do you mean?" Kris asked, Noelle adding in a "Yeah. Usually, you'd be up in arms about the thought of us drinking alcohol. What gives for this occasion?" to the conversation.

Toriel shrugged. She walked into the living room and sat down on the couch as she explained her reasoning. "Well, you all are young adults, therefore you're all getting to that age where you'll want to start experimenting with new things. Partying. Staying up late. Alcohol... Sex. You've probably already experimented with pornography and masturbation by this point in your lives." she added, causing them all to blush. All except Susie who came in with a "Heh, Ralsei would probably know a LOT about that.".

The young goat blushed even harder and covered his face in shame. "Susie!" he said embarrassed, earning a laugh from the purple girl and a snort from Kris. Even Noelle and Asriel couldn't help but give a smile at this reaction. It was more than likely true on his part; Ralsei may not have had a shot at relationships, but he more than likely knew a thing or two about masturbation, maybe even gave a few strokes at it. Susie more than likely wouldn't admit it, but she also done so as well while her father was out and she was home alone. As for Kris and Noelle, well... we'll discuss their experiences later on.

As for now, Toriel raised a reassuring hand in Ralsei's direction. "Now, now. It's completely natural to do such actions." she said, giving some comfort to the prince. Toriel turned her attention to the others. "You guys go ahead and have your drinks. Just... be careful with how much you drink. I don't want a repeat of the time Asriel came home drunk and threw up on the kitchen floor. It took so long to get it cleaned and the smell hung around for a good few days afterwards." she finished, shooting a glare at Asriel with the last point.

Asriel glared back, uttering an annoyed "I said I was sorry mom!" to her. Noelle and Kris smirked and giggled to themselves, causing Toriel to smile herself, before Asriel shot them a glance which made them stop. With an "Alright guys, let's get this party started!" from Asriel, the group then walked out the door towards the shed, Asriel picking up the drink crate Susie brought over and took it with him. He then looked back up at Toriel. Her smile faded slightly as she gave one request to him before he walked out the door.

"Please watch over them. Make sure they don't drink too much."

---

The four walked into the shed and were taken aback by how the room was set up. Asriel walked beside them, a proud smile plastered onto his face as he passed them by. "Well, you guys can see how much work I put into setting this whole thing up. I hope it's worth it for you all." he said, as he put down the crate and made his way to a nearby table, his laptop all set up with a cable going under the table. The group had a good look around at their surroundings. Even Kris was surprised at how this looked, despite having helped Asriel at points.

The walls of the shed were covered in large soft white cloths, presumably Asriel's method of sound proofing the entire room. Attached to the cloths with thumb tacks were long rows of fairy lights of various colours. They almost looked like Christmas lights set up, giving the whole room a night club sort of aesthetic, which was more than likely what Asriel was going for.

The floor was covered up by some cardboard boxes that were opened flat and taped to the ground to prevent them from moving around whenever someone stepped on them. Darting across the cardboard floor were little laser lights, mostly red and greens, patterns forming then falling apart on the makeshift dance floor.

At the back of the shed was the table, Asriel's little DJ booth so to speak. The table itself was covered by a black table cloth, hiding away two large speakers underneath, along with what looked like a couple of smoke machines. Next to the laptop was a mug of something. The group assumed it must've been some kind of drink that Asriel had while he was working on the makeshift club they were in.

On the left side of the table, there was a small television, with the karaoke machine plugged in, showing a slide show of various images of tropical places, eagerly awaiting someone to step forward and input a song, while on the right was a glass bowl full of small pieces of paper and a few black markers beside it.

Another table was set up to their right, various food items set up in small plates and bowls, which adorned the table's surface. Foods such as chicken drumsticks, cocktail sausages, fish fingers, potato chips, bread sticks, a few chocolates and other candies, nachos (along with various dips) and other things, a large space on one end of the table made for the pizzas. There were also large bottles of sodas, juices and the like present on the table too, the crate that Asriel had brought in being placed next to the table on the ground. On the other side of the room were a group of chairs in a line.

"Oh wow. You really pulled out all the stops with this one Asriel." Noelle said, totally in awe at how the whole room looks. Susie watched the lights as they moved around the room. "Y-yeah. I've never seen a place like this before. I bet this must've been so expensive to set up." she said. Asriel stood behind the table, making sure the laptop was all set up. "Nah, not really. I had all this equipment for years. It was from when I used to DJ at school dances and stuff. I used to wear a costume while performing, but I think I threw it away."

Kris smiled at the memories. He remembered seeing Asriel DJ once. It was the last day of school before the summer that saw his brother leave for college and there was a massive school dance. Before the summer that had him go to the same high school his mother worked at. He remembered Asriel left school early that day and then came back to surprise everyone with his DJing. While he had an awesome time there and Asriel played a lot of sick music, mostly industrial and electronic music which the other kids loved, what Kris remembered the most was the outfit Asriel wore during the dance.

You see, for that dance, Asriel set his DJ booth up with an apocalyptic theme. He said it was to represent the ending of a world of being in that particular school and moving onto the next, but Kris felt he really chose that set up because it looked cool. For that night, Asriel went all out with his costume. He had a fake yellow scar going downwards over his eye, that, thanks to some glow in the dark paint, looked like it was glowing when put in the dark, his mouth covered by a black face mask that had purple lines going across it. He also used some latex and other hair products to make his fur look rugged for that night.

His outfit was even more outlandish than his makeup and fur style. He wore a light blue zip up hoodie that was splattered with UV paint, complete with a black hood and the words 'Anarchy Reigns!' on the back in glowing yellow paint, black baggy trousers and dirty brown combat boots. Beneath the hoodie was a black shirt with a large red X on the front and the bottom being yellow streaks, almost looking like flames. He also had black fingerless gloves and a chain necklace with a fake silver pendant of a dagger.

Kris had to admit it looked pretty cool on Asriel.

Going back to the party, Kris was snapped out of the party by Ralsei, who lightly tapped the human on the arm. "Kris, I must say I'm impressed with the amount of work Asriel has put in to make the shed like it is now." the prince stated with a smile. Kris didn't say anything in response, he just gave a smile of his own as he walked over to Asriel, who had finished setting up the 'booth'. Ralsei went and sat down on one of the chairs, eager to take in more of the sights around him.

Susie on the other hand, didn't need a chair to do such an action. She just stood there, her eyes following the various lights that were strung around the room. She was snapped out of it when Noelle tapped her on the shoulder and said "Hey, Susie." to her. Turning around, Susie was greeted by the doe's wide smile. "What is it? And why are you smiling like that?" the purple reptile asked. Noelle took a step forward, not once losing her smile. Susie was a little creeped out by this, showing this as she took a step back from her friend.

"I know you said not to talk about what happened between me, you, Kris and Ralsei, but it had been stuck in my head for a while. So, I did some research yesterday about this town and its laws. Turns out we share the same age of consent as England." Noelle explained. Despite this, Susie was at a loss for words. "So...?" she asked, before Noelle interrupted.

"So, if we DID anything sexual inside that bedroom, we have nothing to worry about. I know you were worried that you'd get busted for sexual misconduct with a minor, but since the age of consent in this town is 16, the same age as Ralsei, you're completely safe! You won't get arrested or charged with anything!" Noelle said, smiling even wider. The smile quickly dropped as she added "But I would still keep that to myself if I were you. If others found out you might've slept with a 16 year old, you wouldn't be breaking the law, but you would get some weird looks from other monsters."

Susie's eyes went wide at this. "So... so that means... I'm innocent?" she asked. Noelle nodded enthusiastically as the hiss of the smoke machines broke the brief silence, releasing white smoke onto the dance floor. "Yeah, you have NOTHING to worry about." the doe added. Almost immediately after she finished that sentence, the four cymbal crashes of Junior Senior's 'Move Your Feet' blared through the speakers, before the chorus of the song came in. Noelle's eyes lit up at the song, for just hearing brought back happy memories.

With a little jump of excitement, she screamed out "Oh, I love this song!", before running past Susie and onto the dance floor. Once she was in the centre, it was as though the world didn't exist any more as she moved her body to the rhythm of the song, letting herself get lost in the music. Kris watched on with amusement, as the speakers next to him bumped out the beats of the song. Ralsei and Asriel smiled as they watched Noelle dance to the song. To her, nothing mattered but the moment.

It felt like forever for the doe, but eventually the song ended, leaving her out of breath from all her dancing. She stood there on the dance floor with hands on her knees. "Hey... does anybody... have anything to drink?" Noelle breathlessly asked out loud. A few seconds passed before she felt something lightly tap against her ankle. She looked down and noticed a small can of what looked like flavoured cider. She picked up the can and looked over to where it came from. Her sight met Susie's, who was passing a can of what Noelle presumed to be the same flavoured cider she was given to Kris and Ralsei, Asriel stepping away from the DJ booth to grab something as well.

Noelle walked up to the group as Asriel picked up a bottle of spirit, mixing it with some orange juice he had poured into a plastic cup on the table. "You guys drinking that stuff already? We've only been in here for about 4 minutes." Noelle asked with a smile. Susie turned to face her. "Heh, I don't usually drink flavoured cider stuff, but I figured since it's with you guys, you might want something different. Usually when I drink, it's beers and lagers I have." the purple girl said as she picked up a glass bottle of beer.

She grabbed a nearby bottle opener and cracked off the lid, a fizz breaking the silence of the room. Noelle looked over at Kris and Ralsei, both of them holding the same liquor she was, a sort of mixed berry flavoured cider. The three of them went ahead and cracks their respected cans open. "If any of you guys wanna try another alcohol, go right ahead. Just make sure you leave some of that beer for me." Susie added, a little laugh following that request. Noelle giggled as Ralsei and Kris smirked. Asriel walked over to the group, knowing what was going to happen next. With a "Cheers, you guys.", Susie lifted up her bottle. The others followed suit with their cans (and cup), clinking them all together.

Once they lowered their drinks, Noelle and Ralsei watched as Susie knocked back the bottle and let the beer flow from the glass container down her throat. Kris followed suit, albeit slower than his friend, raising the can to his lips and letting some of the cider flow into his mouth. He coughed at the bitter taste of the cider in his mouth, but swallowed the liquid after recomposing himself. Despite the aforementioned bitter taste, he quite enjoyed the mixed berry taste also there. He glanced over at Noelle and Ralsei, who hadn't as much as taken a sip yet. It seemed even Susie noticed as well as her eyes focused on the two shy friends.

"Are you guys gonna drink or not?" Kris asked his friends, getting their attention. "Huh? Oh, yeah, we will. It's just..." Noelle began to explain, before she quickly noticed Ralsei next to her drink his can. Or, maybe I should say, chugged his can. Ralsei was leaning back slightly, knocking the cider back. He seemed intent on making sure every last drop entered in his mouth, one quick gulp after another. When the can was empty, Ralsei leaned forward to stand up normally. A few seconds passed before a loud belch escaped Ralsei's lungs, causing his cheeks to flush red. "Oh! Excuse me you guys." Ralsei said, embarrassed.

Kris and Susie both stood there in shock. "Holy shit dude, I didn't mean for you to drink the whole can in one go." Kris said, surprised at how quickly Ralsei emptied said can. Even Asriel had to input a "You need to be careful with alcohol Ralsei. You can end up doing a lot of stupid things if you get drunk, and not all of them are good or funny things." to the younger goat before taking a sip of his spirit and orange concoction as he returned to behind his laptop.

Ralsei turned to face the others. "Yeah, I don't think I'm gonna be drinking any more of that stuff. It just... tastes weird." he said. Susie shrugged. "Don't worry dude, that was my first reaction when I first started drinking too." she said. Now, the only one who hadn't drank yet was Noelle.

It felt like all eyes were on her, although they clearly weren't. Kris was more shocked at Ralsei's drinking that just occurred, while Ralsei and Susie were talking among themselves. Noelle slowly lifted up the can and sipped from it. One by one, the others turned their heads to face her with looks of surprise. Not one of them thought Noelle would actually try drinking, but there she was, drinking cider out of the can like it was nothing. Noelle was aware of what alcohol could do to her and potential outcomes of getting drunk, but she felt like she should try it while she was there with friends. She was in safe hands after all. She had an idea from the fruit's juices too!

After a few seconds, Noelle put down the can, noticing the others looking at her. "What? It's just cider." she stated, not seeing the big deal. To be honest, she didn't see what the fuss behind it was. Sure, it was bitter, but the berry flavour masked it. She could probably see herself getting drunk on these later in life. "I... I'm sorry Noelle. You've never drank before?" Susie asked the doe, who responded with a shake of her head. "No, my mom wouldn't let me. She's worried about what kind of person I'd become if I got drunk."

Kris smirked at this. "She's scared you're gonna go out, get drunk and get into a fight, isn't she?" the human asked, almost knowing the answer. Before Noelle could answer, Ralsei interrupted with a "Well, at least your mother is looking out for you Noelle.", complete with a cute little smile. Noelle blushed, scratching the back of her head with her nails. "Y-yeah. I guess..." she could only say. Ralsei turned his attention to the others and began talking to them, but Noelle couldn't make out a word he was saying, since there was a feeling growing inside of her.

This feeling... it was almost akin to the juices the group had tried. She felt... fuzzy inside. Unlike the juices however, this felt more emotional as opposed to physical. Noelle couldn't help but notice how fluffy Ralsei's fur was. Sure, she had been around Ralsei so many times, but seeing it up this close felt different for Noelle. It was almost the same feeling she had when she was walking through the forest. arm in arm with him. But it wasn't just that, there were other details she had noticed.

For instance, she noticed that his nose would make little movements whenever he was happy, almost giving the impression that he was sniffing something. She never noticed at first, but after being so close to him, she was just now spotting that little detail. She was actually surprised neither Susie or Kris brought it up first. Moving from his nose, she glanced at his glasses.

They were a little oversized for the younger goat, but there was something... cute about it in Noelle's eyes. If anything, they made his eyes almost glimmer, which were already gorgeous to Noelle since the first time she looked into them back in the forest. And the horns Ralsei had too... She had to admit it was odd, seeing a goat with pink horns. The deer wondered if he was born with pink horns or he chose to dye them like he more than likely did with parts of his fur. But either way, it was adorable to Noelle.

She was so focused on the goat boy that it almost startled her when she realized Ralsei was looking at her. She quickly returned to the dance floor with her drink in hand as Rihanna's 'Don't Stop the Music' began to play, Kris following her with a smile on his face. Ralsei watched her as the childhood friends got back into the swing of the music, dancing together without a care in the world. Over the music, Ralsei's attention focused on the deer girl. He couldn't tell her the truth, but there was something there that he felt for her.

Perhaps it was the way it was the way her antlers were shaped on her head and how they looked so... in place in Ralsei's eyes. Or maybe it was her golden hair which flowed and danced with their host as she shook, moved and bounced with her friend. Or maybe... it was her shy demeanor and chipper nature. Ralsei sensed that she was quite a shy girl around new people, but she seemed safe and happy around him, Kris and Susie. Was... was he starting to... FALL for Noelle?

Before he could think any more on the topic, Susie gently pushed past him, drinking from a beer bottle she had in her hand. She then put it down on the floor, away from the others and began to dance with them, finally finding the confidence to join them. Ralsei looked over at Asriel, who behind the DJ booth, was giving a little shoulder shimmy to the beat of the music playing, clearly enjoying himself.

Focusing back on the dance floor, the goat smiled at the sight in front of him. Noelle and Kris had their arms locked, moving around each other in a square dance, Susie clapping her hands and stamping her foot in time with the music. The two turned a few times before breaking the arm locks, Kris locking arms with Susie and repeating the motions, Noelle taking over the claps and stamps. Afterwards, Susie and Noelle did the square dance too. It was then they noticed Ralsei standing there, smiling at them.

"Dude, don't just stand there! Dance with us!" Susie called out over the music. Ralsei stood for a second, unsure of doing so. He then noticed Kris and Noelle waving him over, inviting him to dance with them. The goat paused, even shooting a glance at Asriel, who had stopped dancing behind the booth. The older goat tilted his head briefly towards his friends, insisting that Ralsei join them. After a few more seconds, a thought came to Ralsei's mind:

"Screw it."

He then smiled as he walked forward, joining the group. He locked arms with Kris and initiated another square dance, while Susie and Noelle did the same. With that, Ralsei lost himself to the music, dancing along with his friends, laughing and joking with them as he let this new music overtake his mind and made him move, every muscle in his body seeming to operate on their own as every move he made was in time with the song played.

He was especially full of glee when Noelle grabbed his and Kris' hands, both boys grabbing Susie's hands also, and began a circle dance with the four of them, turning and jumping in a clockwise motion in time with the music. He couldn't stop himself from laughing, especially when Noelle convinced Asriel and Toriel (who came in to give the party its pizzas) to join them too. Toriel wasn't much of a dancer, but she still seemed to enjoy being a part of the group's little circle dance.

Many thoughts ran through the group's heads as they passed the time losing themselves to the music. The usually stoic Susie was laughing and smiling along with the others, the thoughts of her father and worries about his drinking fading away, Noelle's worries of Berdly and the project vanishing, Kris' depression and negative thoughts disappeared in the moments he was dancing and Ralsei felt as though he belonged with his friends. He especially didn't mind if they did this more often at all, he was having so much fun doing this with his friends and Kris' family.

---

Time blurred for the four of them, the songs merging together after a while, but the feeling was there regardless. A lot of upbeat party songs were coming through Asriel's party playlist. There were some songs that Kris, Susie and Noelle heard before, there was some remixes of said songs, but overall, the group had a lot of fun together, dancing and talking among themselves.

They also had a blast using the karaoke machine. The group's choices of songs to sing varied depending on who was singing. Susie's choice of music were usually the more heavier rock songs like Bon Jovi, Areosmith, AC/DC and the like. Noelle's choices were more pop songs and upbeat songs, with music from Katy Perry, Charlie Puth, P!nk, Ed Sheeran and artists of that nature.

When it came to Kris, his was more varied. One minute he could be singing along to Sing by My Chemical Romance, the next minute he could've been singing Can't Feel My Face by The Weeknd. He actually managed to impress Susie and Ralsei with his vocal ability. Susie, Ralsei and Noelle would strain and struggle at times whilst singing, especially with high notes in songs. However, with Kris, he seemed to find a way to make his vocals hit certain keys and he seemed to have mastered breath control as well. He smiled as he sung along, knowing that his singing along to the Phoenix's songs would play off some day.

Ralsei on the other hand, didn't know any of the songs the others sung. Because of his, he wasn't comfortable singing on his own and mostly sung duets with the others. They even managed to get Asriel to sing a few songs, mostly bouncy electronic songs you'd hear in a club during the 90's. Everyone had a blast, although as the night went on, Kris, Susie, Noelle and Ralsei couldn't help but notice some... behaviours in each other as they sung and danced.

For instance, Noelle was singing 'Rude Boy' by Rihanna on the karaoke machine at one point during the evening. She was having a little performance of her own, which was to be expected, however the others noticed that she seemed to flaunt her body a lot more during the song. She would shake her hips suggestively as she sang, even giving a flirty little wink towards the others, especially while singing the more flirty lyrics. Judging by some reactions, it was getting them hot under the collar, watching Noelle showing off her body like that, especially with the boys.

Everyone, especially Kris, noticed that Susie seemed more literally hands on than usual. Normally, when she was trying to be polite, the purple reptile girl would place her hands on someone's shoulders. But here, in this party? She seemed to be more delicate with placing her hands on the others, especially with Kris, hence why he noticed it more than the others. Sure, he could chalk Susie's delicacy with Noelle and Ralsei up to those two being sensitive, but with Kris? He was tough, he could handle it! He dealt with a fair amount of abuse during their first time in the Dark World!

To the others, Kris seemed to be more awkward in his actions. He seemed like he was trying to be affectionate with the others, but his actions came off more awkward than affectionate. It seemed Kris was aware of it though, the others chalked his behaviour up to the alcohol he was drinking however.

You see, Kris seemed to take a liking to it. Maybe even, TOO much of a liking to them. He was on his 5th can of flavoured cider and was starting to show himself being a little light headed, swaying slightly when standing and seeming to find it difficult to walk in a straight line. When Susie noticed this, she walked up to him and took the can he was drinking off of him, complete with a concerned "Kris, lay off the alcohol dude! You don't want to uh, throw up, yknow? I don't think Toriel and Azzy would appreciate cleaning your puke off the dance floor."

Ralsei didn't seem to be as affectionate as the others, although there were still points they'd notice that he seemed away, staring at either Kris, Susie or Noelle for long periods of time. He'd only snap out of it when somebody called out to him. He'd distract himself from these feelings by dancing and drinking, although he wasn't drinking NEARLY as much as Kris was. He must've gotten the hint from his friends about drinking too much and too quickly.

But anyway, on with the story.

The house was silent, aside from the muffled music outside in the shed. The television was turned off and the inside of the house was dark. One would think that the Dreemur's were asleep were it not for the music outside. The front door opened and Susie walked inside, closing the door behind her. She took a look around at the darkened room before making her way through the living room and through the kitchen on the way to her destination: the bathroom.

She had excused herself from the party when she felt nature calling. She did drink a fair bit, so it was only natural for this to be the case. She walked inside the room, turning on a light switch and shut the bathroom door, locking it. There she was, alone with her thoughts inside that speckless room with the tiles that seemed to shine, even in the dark. Despite the distance from the shed, she could still faintly hear the booming of the bass from the music.

For a moment, she was concerned about the music disturbing the neighbours, but those thoughts faded from existence as she walked over to the toilet.

After she was done with her business, she got up and walked over to the sink. She ran the taps, allowing the water to dampen her hands before she added some hand soap to them, allowing her hands to be purged of any bacteria that may've been on them from her time doing her private business. She rubbed her hands against a nearby towel, drying her hands off before returning to the darkness of the rest of the house, making sure to turn off the light before doing so.

She made her way back through the kitchen. Although, as she entered the living room, she couldn't help but get the feeling she was being watched. Ignoring the feeling, she continued to walk towards the door. The purple girl grabbed the door handle before a rush of thoughts entered her mind. Susie could only stand there, going through every single thought as they came to her. Thoughts about her dad, about her mom, about her friends, about school and other things. She let her arm drop, releasing the door handle from her grip and after a few seconds, sighed.

Click.

A small sound and a shining of light against the wall startled Susie into turning around. She looked back into the living room, now basking in the rays of light from a nearby lamp. Next to it was that armchair that Kris apparently slept in often, currently occupied by Toriel, holding a small cup of tea in her hands as she looked upon the reptile, who was frozen in place from the shock of her sudden appearance.

"I've heard a lot about you, Suzanne Alicia Accrue. Your reputation around the school always seems to precede you." Toriel said, holding the cup in her hand. Susie didn't mind being referred to as Suzanne, but she always much preferred the name 'Susie'. Once she calmed down, she asked a simple question. "Were you there that whole time?" The goat mother chuckled, placing the cup of tea on the table that held the lamp, before answering.

"Oh no, I was upstairs originally, then I came down as you were in the bathroom. I overheard you talking to the others and thought I'd have a little talk with you. Nothing serious, just to see who you are."

She then gestured for Susie to sit down on the couch. The reptile girl obliged, although she was still a little weary about the whole situation. After all, this IS her friend's mom that she's talking to. "I understand that you're seen as a... bit of a brute to the other students. I hope that isn't too harsh of a statement for you." She continued. There was silence following what Toriel said, Susie taking a few seconds to realize Toriel was waiting for an answer.

"Oh! Umm... no, no it isn't. I can understand why they'd think that way about me." Susie quickly explained. Toriel watched the younger girl closely. She wasn't sure what, but she felt there was something there that the alleged bully girl wasn't telling her. She must've given her a sort of look, because she noticed Susie seemed to be a little bit more on edge than how she was when she first sat down.

"Well, I look at you and see more than that. I feel like there's something going on in your personal life that's making you into the kind of monster you are now. Maybe you can give me your side of things and I can help you." Toriel stated. She then shifted in her seat before continuing. "So Susie, if you are comfortable with doing so, why don't you go ahead and tell me a little bit about yourself?"

There wasn't an answer at first. Susie just sat there, her eyes avoiding Toriel's gaze, as if she was trying to distract herself from what was going on. Just the sound of the bass from the music outside provided the background noise for the whole setting. After a few more seconds, Toriel sighed.

"Look, Susie, I... I understand it can be scary opening up to a stranger like me, but I want you to know that I want to help you. If it makes you feel any better, I don't see the same brute others might do. I look at you and I see a girl that needs help and isn't getting it. Someone who's acting out because they desperately want someone to listen to their problems. Is this true, Susie?" Toriel asked, getting Susie's attention.

There was another pause before Susie answered with a "Y-yeah. In some way, it is." Toriel then leaded forward towards Susie, trying to show she was listening. "So, why not tell me about it? If you keep it bottled up, it will eat you alive Susie." The older monster said. Susie still wasn't looking Toriel in the eyes, despite those comforting words. It might've been that serious look on Toriel's face that made her uncomfortable. The way she almost seemed to glare at her.

Susie slowly turned to face Toriel as she spoke, folding her arms in the process. "Because nobody seemed to give a damn about my problems. They just know me as the bully girl of the school. Why try and change myself when everybody remembers me as the beastly bully bitch of the school?", being quick to add a "If you'll... excuse my language Ms. Toriel." to her statement upon noticing Toriel was scowling more at her profanity.

Toriel sat back, picking up her tea and sipping from it before answering. "Don't worry about swearing, Susie. Usually, I can't stand it when kids swear around me, but as a teacher and a councilor, I understand that they have different ways of expressing themselves. Also, I must praise your use of alliteration there." Toriel said, the last part with a smile. Susie glanced over at her, confused. "Alliter-what?" she asked.

"Oh, it's a writing technique where there's an occurrence of the same sound or letter at the beginning of words that are connected or adjacent." Toriel quickly explained. She then took another sip of tea before putting the cup back down. "I'll explain more another time. Going back to what you've said, as much as you said everyone sees you as the quote 'beastly bully bitch' unquote, I think it's still worth giving changing a shot. It might take a while, but I'm sure everyone will see a change in you soon enough if you give it a try."

Susie scratched the back of her neck gently. "Well, I've tried in the past, but they don't seem to notice. The only ones that seem to care about me at school are Noelle and Kris. Ralsei does as well, but he's not from school and I didn't meet him until much later down the line. There's also Berdly, but... he's a dork. And an arrogant one at that." she said.

Toriel exhaled at the mention of Berdly. This seem to give SOME comfort to Susie; for it sounded like Toriel thought Berdly was a pain in her ass as well. "Yes, Berdly is... a tough one to work with. I hope he hasn't given you, Noelle or Kris too much grief." Toriel said. This alone was enough to give Susie the confidence to look Toriel in the face, a smile growing onto her lips. "But regardless, you seem to hold the others and Ralsei to very high regards. Would you say you were close to them?" Toriel asked.

Susie's demeanor became more relaxed as she answered. "Well, yeah. They're my best friends. Some of the few people that don't care about my reputation. I guess I hold them close to me a lot more than others because of that. I do take the piss out of Kris and Ralsei, but I never mean it in a nasty manner." Susie paused for a moment, before leaning forward, as though she was about to share a secret with Toriel, the latter doing the same. "Although, between you and me, I can't help but get the feeling they feel... some kind of way about me. Especially Noelle and Kris." she added.

Toriel's eyebrow raised in intrigue. "Oh? Do you think that they have a crush on you? And supposed they did, do you feel any type of way towards them?" she asked. Susie blushed, she didn't want to go down this route, but she felt it would help get her feelings out. Who knows? Maybe this could be the start of something that could blossom into something beautiful for her and her friends? "Well..." Susie began, shuffling forward a little.

"I'll start with Kris. Me and him started getting into little adventures a few weeks ago. I did threaten to bite his face off the first time we met, but that was just an ego thing. I told him quiet people piss me off, but the truth is, it doesn't. Quiet people actually interest me. I wanna know more about them if they're quiet. While we were on these adventures, I found myself growing close to Kris. He's brave, he looks out for me, even after I make fun of him, and..."

Susie paused, wondering what else she could say about him. Toriel was listening intently, trying not to judge her, although Susie's comments about meeting Kris did rub her the wrong way a little. She was broken out of this train of thought when Susie continued, a blush forming on her face. "I would even say, that for a 17 year old, he's kinda handsome. Dare I say it, he looks... sexy even." The blush on her face grew brighter with that last statement. Toriel giggled at Susie's comment. "You're not the first one to call Kris sexy. Our neighbour Bratty was calling him that for a while when he went through puberty."

The playful nature quickly faded from Toriel as she then asked Susie a simple question. "Speaking of Kris, how is he and the others out there? Are they watching how much alcohol they drank?" Susie then regained some seriousness as she said "Yeah, they are. Ralsei and Noelle are being sensible. Kris on the other hand... I think he's taking a liking to it, especially the flavoured ciders. I had to tell him to slow down and take the can he was drinking off of him, 'cause he was starting to stumble when walking and swaying a little when he was standing still."

Toriel sat back, almost appearing not to be surprised. "Takes after his father, that boy does." She remarked. Susie gave off a "Hmm?", which made Toriel explain. "Back when Asgore, my ex-husband, was younger, him and Rudolph would go out often. They'd visit clubs, get drunk and they'd get up to all sorts of mischief. Rudolph was always sensible, even when he got drunk, but Asgore... Oh Asgore, he was a little reckless at times. A few nights, he'd be coming back to his home in the back seat of a cop car because he did something stupid." she said, laughing a little as she talked about Asgore coming back in a cop car.

Susie smirked and laughed a little at the imagery. Sure, she never met Asgore, but from what Kris told her, he was a very nice monster. Quite thoughtless and seemed too eager to please, bending over backwards to help others, even if it meant he'd be taken advantage of, but he was nice either way. After a few seconds of laughing, the room went quiet and Toriel returned to her councilor state of mind as she sat back in the chair. "Anyway, what about Ralsei and Noelle? How do you feel about them?"

Susie sat back. "Umm, Ralsei's... an interesting fellow. He's a big softie, but I think he's quite cute, in terms of personality AND appearance. He's always looking out for me and Kris, and he always wants the best out of us. He also blushes a lot around Kris. I dunno why, but I think he feels some kind of way about Kris. Maybe he feels that way about me, but I'm not sure at the moment. That being said, if either boys asked me to be their girlfriend... I guess I wouldn't mind it." She stated. Toriel only gave an understanding nod. With that, Susie continued.

"As for Noelle... well, I think SHE has a crush on me. I have a hunch about it. She blushes a lot more often while I'm around, she stammers a lot and... there's just other behaviour I've noticed out of her. And you know? I think she's cute also. I wouldn't mind being her girlfriend, I've been very protective of her as of late. It's also worth noting that I'm bisexual as well, Ms. Toriel." Susie confessed. Toriel's eyes went wide at this. Never in a million years would she have thought Susie Accrue would be bisexual. "Oh, I... never would've guessed to be honest." the older monster said.

Susie then leaned forward, a look of discomfort on her face. "Yeah, I barely tell people my sexuality. Mostly because I feel it's nothing worth talking about. Like... why does it matter if I wanna be with a guy or another girl? It's not hurting anyone, you know what I mean? I just don't understand why people feel the need to get so up in arms about people who are sexually different. Who the hell cares if for arguement's sake, Noelle wanted to be with me? You get what I'm saying?" Susie ranted, pausing to make sure Toriel understood her message.

Toriel nodded. "Yeah, I understand. I'm very happy that you weren't taught anything bigoted. I'm sure your family would be very proud and supportive of you if you came out one day to them." she said with a smile. Susie on the other hand, frowned as she sat back. "Yeah... yeah, I'm sure they would." She said, a noticeable sense of sorrow in her voice. This sudden change in Susie's mood did not go unnoticed with Toriel, who frowned herself at this.

"Susie? Are you okay? You seemed a little... melancholic with your response there." Toriel asked. Susie sniffed, a glimmer appearing in her eye that she quickly wiped. "Y-yeah, I'm fine. It's just..." the reptile began, before pausing. She looked away briefly, trying to find the words to say. "My family situation hasn't been all that good ever since... the car accident that took my mom away."

Toriel was speechless. She had a feeling Susie had issues, but not anything like this. At most, she would've thought it was some financial issues or prior bullying affecting her as a young adult, not the death of a family member. "I umm... I'm terribly sorry to hear that Susie. I had no idea you were mourning such a loss." Toriel eventually said. Susie, glimmers in her eyes, just shook her head. "Nah. I'm over it, to some degree. But my dad... he's become a wreck over it. He hits the bottles often, going out drinking multiple times a week and coming back completely... you know, shitfaced." she explained. To her, it felt like the room had vanished, just her and Toriel alone, as she continued.

"Even now, I still remember the accident. I was about 17 and we went on this road trip to a resort park as a family, one I used to go to all the time when I was a little girl. And we were coming back from the park. I believe it was coming up to 7:30 at night? I was in the back seat, mom was in the front and dad was driving. I distinctly remember that we were going around a corner. I remember that because I was falling asleep at the time. The last thing I remember before the crash itself was this bright light coming through the windshield and the screeching of tires."

Toriel took another sip of tea, listening intently to Susie's story. The girl then added "I don't remember much of the actual accident itself. According to the paramedics who helped me and dad, there was another car coming towards us. The asshole driving it was drunk and swerving all over the god damn road. My dad swerved us out the way, but the car skidded and slammed passenger side first into a telephone pole. That drunk driver didn't even stop to help us, they just drove off into the night. To this day, I hope he got into an accident himself... or at least, got pulled over and arrested."

Susie paused. "Take your time Susie." Toriel said, holding her cup of tea. The room was silent aside from the booming bass outside, playing an upbeat EDM song, a complete contrast to the heavy subject matter Susie was talking about. After a few seconds, she continued on with her story.

"After the accident, I just couldn't move from the car seat. Thank God another car pulled up, saw the accident and call emergency services for us. At the hospital, I found out that my collarbone and a few ribs were broken in the crash. My dad walked out of that crash with a broken arm and a few bruises on his torso. Lucky bastard." she muttered the last part to herself before speaking up. Her eyes were now releasing tears, which made tracks down her cheeks as she spoke.

"But the thing I remember the most was just before the ambulance arrived. All I could do in that back seat was look forward, dark fields beyond that broken windshield, my chest and shoulders in excruciating pain. My dad was sitting in the driver's seat, unconscious. For a good 10 minutes, I was the only one awake in that car. I look over at my mom and she... she was slumped over towards dad, her head resting on her shoulder, her face coated in blood. I called out to her to wake up, but she never did. I guess deep down, I knew she was already dead, but I was in denial. I just kept calling out 'Mom, dad, please wake up!' over and over again and neither of them responded at all! And mom... mom...!"

She couldn't continue. With another sniff, Susie placed her fingers against the corners of her eyes, resting her elbows on her knees. Toriel watched with empathy as the younger monster struggled not to break down in front of her. "I'm sorry Ms. Toriel. I HATE crying in front of others." the girl apologized, her voice muffled slightly by her hands. Toriel just shook her head.

"Don't apologize Susie. This is a private space for us. You can tell me anything here. If you feel that you have to, then cry. This is a safe place for you to let it out." Toriel said in the most reassuring tone she could. The memories of that night flooded Susie's mind. She recalled the look of her mother's corpse in the passenger seat. She recalled her voice shouting at her parents to wake up. The sound of silence following the accident aside from Susie's cries for help. All those horrid memories were too much for the reptile.

Her eyes clenched tight as her fingers moved from the corner of her eyes to completely covering her face as she began to weep, her body quaking with every sob she let out. Behind the mask of her fingers, Susie gritted her teeth as she continued to cry. This was actually the first time she had openly cried in front of someone in years. Toriel could only watch as the bad girl was reduced to an emotional wreck in front of her. The monster then stood up, walking over to sit next to Susie.

"Usually, I don't do this, but I feel like you're in desperate need of this." The goat said, before wrapping her arms around Susie. She then pulled the girl in and held her, Susie releasing her face from her hands and moving her face to bury it into Toriel's shoulder, her arms wrapping themselves around Toriel's back. The motherly monster was silent, gently holding Susie in her hug in an attempt to give her some comfort as Susie wept into her shoulder.

Unaware to either of them, a nearby window was slightly open. Outside leaning against the wall was Kris. He originally went by the side of the house to check on Susie, since she said she'd be a few minutes and he was starting to get concerned. He made it to the window just as Susie confessed to being bisexual to Toriel. His interest peaked, he stood by the window, listening in to the conversation, making sure he couldn't be seen. He didn't want to listen in on Toriel's private councilling session with Susie, but he couldn't pull himself away either.

As a result, he had heard the whole thing about Susie's accident and was starting to understand why Susie was the way she was. Why she seemed upset when she mentioned Toriel after their first time in the Dark World. After hearing all of that, it all made sense to the human. He quietly sighed to himself, walking back to the party, joining Noelle and Ralsei in dancing to the song playing through Asriel's DJ system.

---

Hours had passed since the party drew to a close. The house was silent and dark. Rays of light reflected off the moon shone into the living room. Outside, the shed's lights and music were all turned off, left to be just as silent as the rest of the house. Everyone was fast asleep inside the living room. Okay, that's not entirely true. Everyone was asleep, except for Ralsei.

No matter how much he tried, he just could not get himself to Dreamland. Maybe it was because the area was unfamiliar to him? Or maybe it was because he was still buzzing from the music and the alcohol? Or perhaps... he just had a lot on his mind. Even though it was hours ago, he still remembered how the party ended.

The four of them were in the middle of dancing to some song called 'All Night Long' by an artist named Alexandra Burke. They were so lost in the music that they didn't notice at first when a fish woman in a uniform walked into the shed. "Alright you guys, party's over. It's gettin' late and the neighbours are startin' to complain about the music." the fish woman said to those in the room. Noelle quickly put down her cider can and acted innocent upon seeing the police officer. Kris and Susie didn't seem to be too fussed about the sudden presence of police and Ralsei didn't know what to make of the situation.

The music was paused, reducing the shed into silence once again. Asriel walked away from the laptop on the table and walked over to the officer, who was helping herself to a nearby pizza slice. "My apologies officer, we were so focused on the music and having a good time that we didn't notice... wait, Undyne?" he said, seeming to recognise the officer in front of him. Upon hearing her name, Undyne's eyes went wide as she looked up at Asriel, the two's eyes meeting.

"Asriel?" she asked, seeming to be just as surprised as he was to see her, the pizza slice she was holding slipping out of her hand and falling back onto the table. It seemed that Undyne and Asriel knew each other from way back, as Undyne smiled widely. "Oh my god, it IS you!" she said happily as she threw her arms up and ran into Asriel, giving him a tight hug, the male monster, albeit surprised, returning said hug. "Geez, since you left for college and I joined the force, I didn't think I'd be seeing you again!" she added.

The two shared laughs together, Asriel even offering some alcohol to her. Normally, she'd say "Hell yeah!" and kick a few bottles back with her old friend, but she couldn't afford to do such an action while on duty. Eventually, the two walked into the house to chat some more, leaving the younger four alone in the shed. The silence was overwhelming. The DJ was gone, the music was off and while they knew the party would eventually end, they felt that it all ended rather abruptly for their liking.

Susie and Ralsei sat down in a couple of chairs next to each other, the purple girl leaving Kris alone on the dance floor, taking in the peace and the silence. It was only for a few seconds as another song broke the silence, this one quieter than the ones playing throughout the night. They realised it was playing through the speaker of a mobile phone. Susie recognised the song playing as she took in the whistling, since her mother would play it all the time while she was alive.

Laughing on the Outside by Bernadette Carroll.

She then noticed Noelle walking up to Kris, the song coming from her phone resting on the food table, most of the food gone. "Oh, merry Krismas..." she said to him softly. To Susie and Ralsei, the way Noelle spoke to Kris almost sounded flirty. "Care to dance?" she then asked, holding up a hand for Kris to take. After a few seconds, Kris raised his own hand and took it in Noelle's. The two then pressed their bodies close together, their hands still interlocked. Kris' free arm wrapped around Noelle's waist, her arm doing the same to Kris' waist.

A few seconds later, the two began to slowly sway and in the middle of the dance floor in time with the music, like so many young couples would do during the closing moments of their prom night. The lights slowly making motions around their figures as they slow danced, providing the perfect soundtrack to this little moment between the doe and the human. Susie watched the two before noticing Ralsei holding his hand out to her. "What do you want, Ralsei?" Susie asked. He just shrugged.

"Well, it looks like Kris and Noelle are enjoying their company. I thought why not try it ourselves?" he said. Susie took another glance at the slow dancing couple in front of her before looking back at Ralsei. With a sigh, she stood up, taking Ralsei's hand. The two made their way onto the dance floor, hand in hand and as a result, it wasn't long until the two were pressed close to each other, much like how Kris and Noelle were. The two were slow dancing, even when the song finished and another started up, this one being Slow Dancing in the Dark by Joji.

The softness of the music felt nice to Ralsei as he swayed with his friend in time with the music. Being so close to Susie made him feel rather... warm inside. He felt as though he couldn't be in any danger as long as he was close to her. He could even swear that if he focused hard enough, he could hear the reptile's heartbeat through her chest, beating at a steady rhythm. Susie was also taking a liking to being close to Ralsei. She shut her eyes and let the music take the two of them away.

Nothing mattered to her in that moment. Just her and Ralsei. It was surprisingly pleasant to her. It had been such a long time since she had slow danced with someone that she cared about. Sure, she made fun of Ralsei often, especially during their time in the Dark World, but at the end of the day, he was one of the few monsters that genuinely cared about her. She smiled as she held onto the goat boy in her arms, his heartbeat at a steady pace, beating through his ribcage and almost feeling in sync with Susie's own.

This peace was amplified slightly with the sound of Noelle softly singing along to the song. The two lovebirds turned to look at the other two, still in motion. Noelle's eyes were closed as her head was resting against Kris' shoulder, both her and the human's bodies seemed pressed closer together, almost giving the impression the two were hugging as they danced together, Kris' head resting gently on Noelle's shoulder as well. Ralsei then looked over at the human/deer pair, taking in how they moved with the song.

As they watched, there seemed to be a sense of longing between them the more they watched. It was almost as though they wished it was THEM that either Kris or Noelle was slow dancing with. Nobody else in their lives had been as close to them as Noelle and Kris were together. A ton of emotions ran through their minds. Enamor. Desire. Jealousy. Love even? There were so many that the two couldn't pinpoint them all.

They hadn't even noticed that the song had ended until they saw Noelle's head begin to lift from Kris' shoulder and Kris raise his own. The two stood there, still holding each other, but their focus seemed to be on each other. Their gaze locked on each other as they got lost in the other's eyes. An almost romantic looking set up for Ralsei and Susie. They suddenly noticed that the two seemed to be leaning towards each other slightly, Noelle's eyes beginning to close. Susie and Ralsei blushed. Were the two childhood friends about to kiss each other?

The answer came quickly with a big fat 'no' as Noelle seemed to realize what was about to happen. Her eyes shot open and she quickly backed away, breaking free of Kris' hold, which seemed to surprise him just as much as it did Susie and Ralsei. "Noelle... what's the matter?" Kris asked, sounding a little hurt by such a brisk motion. Noelle looked back at Susie and Ralsei, who were shocked at the motion. They quickly realized they were still holding onto each other and quickly let go, blushes forming bright and proud on their faces.

Noelle stood there, unsure of what to say. It seemed like not even SHE knew what was the matter. She didn't mind the idea of kissing Kris right then and there. In fact, he seemed happy to return a kiss should the two went ahead and actually did it. But just as quickly as the desire to kiss him came, it went and Noelle panicked, breaking away before such an act could be completed. "I... I'm sorry Kris. The idea of sharing a kiss with you feels a bit..." Noelle stammered, looking for an excuse.

Thankfully, Susie yawned, breaking the tension. "Well, I think this party's well and truely over. I'm gonna head back home. See you guys around." she said. She was about to walk out when Kris suddenly grabbed her arm. "Hey Susie, do you wanna stay the night? With me, Noelle and Ralsei?" he asked. This proposal drew shock from the others, who looked upon the human with wide eyes. "K-Kris! You never told me about a sleepover! I-I-I-I thought it was just a little party between us we were having!" Ralsei stammered. After that statement, it was Noelle's turn to speak up.

"Kris... if you wanted us to sleep over, you could've just said so over the phone." she said with a chuckle. Kris glanced over at the two before answering. "Honestly, I wasn't planning to either, but after having such an awesome time with you guys tonight, I figured why not invite you guys over to spend the night? Besides, it's probably more preferable than walking back home in the dark."

The group had a look outside, to find it almost pitch black out there, minus a few lights from the distant street and from the Dreemur household. Noelle shivered at the thought of walking back and Ralsei didn't seem to like the idea either. "Yeah... I think I'll stay with Kris." Noelle said, followed by Ralsei who gave a "I wouldn't mind sleeping over either.", his voice full of nerves, even if he tried so hard to hide them. Kris smiled at the two before turning back to face Susie, eagerly awaiting her response.

Susie didn't mind walking back home alone and she was gonna turn down the offer originally, but then she noticed Noelle and Ralsei looking at her, wanting to hear her answer if she's staying or going. She wasn't sure, but there was something in their eyes that almost seemed to beg her to stay. After a few seconds, she sighed and shrugged. "You know what? Fuck it. If you guys are staying here, I might as well do the same." Susie finally said, getting a smile back from Noelle and Ralsei. "Awesome." Kris said, before leading the group back indoors.

Ralsei smiled to himself as he thought back to those moments. Toriel and Asriel were both kind enough to let him, Susie and Noelle borrow their nightclothes, while Kris wore his usual PJs, something he wouldn't usually wear to sleep. He especially had to do so, since all of them were asleep in the living room, Kris staying down there with them since, according to him, it didn't feel right to have them sleep alone while he was upstairs in bed.

So there they all were: Kris and Noelle asleep on the sofa, both of them lying at either side, while Susie and Ralsei slept in the arm chairs, Susie in the one closest to the front door, Ralsei in the one closest to the kitchen. Both of them were reclined so that they could sleep better and everyone had a blanket and pillow each. Kris, Susie and Noelle were fast asleep with their respected items on them. Ralsei's pillow had the imprint of his head in it, while the blanket was covering him from the waist down.

He sat up in the armchair, watching the other three as they slept. "Guys?" he quietly said to the others. There was no response from his friends. "Kris? Noelle? Susie? Are you guys awake?" he asked. Again, nothing in response. Looked like they WERE fast asleep. "Geez, it feels like forever since I did something like this with friends." Ralsei said, chuckling to himself. He paused, the room being left silent for a few seconds. He then began to ramble to them, even though none of them would hear him. Maybe that was why he chose to do so then and there.

"You know, I had a think... about you guys. Ever since that night. Where we all woke up naked in that bed together. I know you guys said we wouldn't talk about it, but I can't help but think about a few things. Like... how I feel about you guys. Don't get the wrong idea; you guys are my best friends, especially Susie and Kris. But at times I wonder... what if we could be more than that?" he said. There was another pause, the only sound being Ralsei's gentle breathing.

His eyes glanced over at Susie, asleep in the armchair across from him. "Susie, I know you and me have had... difficulties at times getting along. You and me had very different mindsets about life, but somehow we managed to pull through all the same. I really admire your bravery and your willingness to defend your friends. Kris told me a lot about how you'd defend him against this Berdly monster you both talked about. He sounds like a real jackass from how you, him and Noelle describe him."

His train of thought was running wild and thunderous, but he had to take a minute to think of what to say next. "But overall, aside from your bravery, your appearance is kinda hot to me. The way your hair flows, how you look in purple, the yellow eyes you have. They're beautiful. I don't know if anybody else told you this, but they suit you wonderfully. I wouldn't mind if you became my girlfriend at some point, but... that's only if you're down for it. Maybe you don't feel the same way that I do."

His attention, now having said all he wanted to say about Susie, then turned to Kris. "Kris, you and me are real close. You know that, I know that. It's something I hold dear to my heart. Especially with all those hugs you gave to me. In fact, you might be one of the first guys that I... genuinely look up to. I wish I was as brave as you. Instead, I'm just... timid old Ralsei." he said, a little laugh to himself being added to the last statement. After the humour passed, he continued.

"Dare I say Kris, as much as I was embarassed by you being shirtless in front of me a few days back when we first came here, I have to admit, you're very toned in the stomach. Anybody that gets with you would be lucky to have a guy like you... maybe someone like me. I need to be honest: I've never thought about being with another guy before. It was always 'girlfriend', that was the one thing I wanted in life. That was until I met you. I think you're handsome, you're awesome, willing to defend us from threats and you're so strong too."

Ralsei blushed as he continued his confession to the sleeping human. "You might even be just as strong, maybe if not stronger, than Susie. I would love to see you both test your strength against each other one day. Heh, I remember seeing your eyes for the first time behind your hair. I must say, the first time I saw them, I didn't know what to think. They looked... 'hot', if that's what Susie would say. Like I said, I've never thought about being in a relationship with another guy, but if I had to choose someone, it would be you Kris. Since you're so kind to me, so understanding and affectionate too."

His cheeks burned brightly. He might've been the only one awake, but it felt embarassing to say those things to the human. "You ever think that maybe you and me could... work out as a couple?" the goat asked. After a few seconds of silence, Ralsei sighed. "Oh, why am I even asking you this right now?! You're fast asleep like the rest of the guys!" he said, making sure he wasn't loud enough to wake the others up. He took a minute to calm down, taking a slow and deep breath. "I... I think I've said everything I needed to say." he finished. There was only one other monster to confess to now.

"Noelle. I know you and me only met a few weeks ago, but I have to confess: you're one of the most adorable girls I've ever met. You're kind of like me in a way: you're quite shy, you're timid, you're a little bit of an introvert that's coming out of her shell, and you're... you're not afraid to be... well, you." he said, his eyes focused through the dark at the sleeping deer girl on the sofa, opposite Kris. "Not only that, but I love how your hair flows from your head to your shoulders. How energetic you were on the dance floor earlier. How..."

He paused once again. His cheeks flushed red once more at what he was gonna say next. "How you danced and looked at all of us during your karaoke of that 'rude boy' song. If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were trying to flirt with us. But even then, I doubt that's the case: you're more interested in Susie, I can tell. And frankly, I don't blame you. But I will say this: I do think you have a beautiful look on you and your personality suits it as well."

Ralsei sat back in his chair, his focus now on everyone equally. "I guess, what I'm trying to say is that... Oh jeez, I can't say it without it coming out like some... sappy love confession from one of the romance novels I'd read back at the castle!" he said, starting to get a little frustrated with his thoughts. He wanted to be entirely honest with his friends, but couldn't find the words. Another interlude of quiet hung over the room, before Ralsei sighed. "Screw it. I might as well just say it now. I... I love you guys. With all my heart."

There. It was done. Ralsei just spoke his mind. He smiled that it was all off his chest, but frowned when he remembered that the group was still asleep. Defeated, he sighed. "That's all I really wanna say to you guys. Maybe... someday. When the time is right, I'll say this to you all... when you're all awake." he said sadly. He then shifted in his makeshift bed, trying to get comfortable, before finally resting his head against the pillow and covering himself back up with the blankets he had.

"Well, good night you guys."

And with that, Ralsei shut his eyes, falling back to sleep, returning the house back to silence, aside from the soft breathing of the four. Unknown to Ralsei however, Kris' phone was sat on the floor, just in front of the couch. On it was a small app that recorded audio as he slept. And every last word Ralsei had said was now on Kris' phone, saved as one long audio file.