Author's Note: Okay, this took some sweet, sweet time to get finished! Between me getting a new job, spending time with family and overall writer's block, this took me WAY long to finish than I thought! Hopefully, I have a lot of ideas for future chapters, so therefore, it should be smooth sailing writing-wise from here.
Anyway, here's the next chapter of Four Souls. I hope you guys enjoy it and that it was worth the wait. :)
The skies above the town were a peaceful purple, as though a paintbrush had made a clean stroke across the skyline, fading into a calming blue as the day began to end. The sun having just vanished over the horizon, leaving an orange streak across the bottom of the sky's canvas. The sound of crickets provided the soundtrack to such a lovely image, adding to the peace and serenity of the moment. The quiet was replaced by the sound of boots crunching against gravel.
Susie walked down the road, her hands in the pockets of her jacket. Though her body was in motion, her mind seemed to be elsewhere as she continued onwards down the road. It had been a few weeks since her, Kris, Noelle and Ralsei become boyfriends and girlfriends and she was enjoying her time with them very much. Though, she was nervous. Tonight, she had made plans to visit Noelle's home and meet her family. Kris reassured her that him and Ralsei will also be there, but it did nothing to calm her nerves. She let her mind drift, presumably to block out the nerves. She smiled to herself as she thought back to earlier that day.
Susie, Kris and Noelle were in yet another boring class, Berdly taking the lead in the group reading as usual. Kris had fallen asleep a couple of times during said class, although she wasn't sure if it was because Berdly was THAT boring or if he didn't get much sleep the night prior, but either way, Susie would have to prod his back with the sharpest pencil she had in order to wake him up, usually with a start. After what felt like hours, the class eventually came to a close, the students rushing out of the door, eager to get back home.
Kris, unsurprisingly to Susie, fell asleep again, but this time, she decided not to bother with waking him. He'd only go back to sleep again after a few minutes. Instead, she sat back and waited until the class was empty. Even Berdly seemed in a rush to leave, probably to work on the project him and Noelle were supposed to be doing. Whether it was because he was in a hurry to leave or not, he never noticed Noelle never rose from her seat like she normally would. Instead, she just sat at her desk, her face buried in a text book.
After a few seconds, the classroom was empty, save for her, Noelle and Kris (along with Alphys, who was too focused on something on her computer to notice the class had ended). The room was silent, aside from the tapping of keys on Alphys' computer and the faint sound of Kris' soft breathing as he continued to reside with Dreamland. Susie took note of Noelle still reading and, after checking that Alphys was distracted, crumbled up a piece of paper into a ball. She then threw it in her direction, the ball softly hitting the back of Noelle's head. The doe was startled, her head perking up and glancing back, wondering where it came from.
Her eyes met Susie's who, with a smirk, gestured at Kris to her. Noelle focused on the boy behind her, slumped over on his desk, face buried in his arms, which were rested peacefully against the wooden surface. Noelle, upon realizing what she was looking at, raised a hand to her mouth and silently giggled to herself. "I swear Kris must've drank some NyQuil before coming into class. This must be the 7th time he's fallen asleep." Noelle said, behind her giggling. The purple girl held up nine fingers, earning a shocked look from her girlfriend. No way would she have guessed Kris fell asleep THAT many times in one class! "I think I'm gonna need your help waking Kris up." Susie said, a small wink accompanying her statement.
Noelle nodded, putting down the textbook and rising from her seat. The sound of the chair scrapping against the floor made Alphys start to take notice of the three. "Oh! I didn't realize you guys were-." Alphys began before Susie quickly shushed her, pointing at Kris, still asleep at his desk. The teacher could only watch as Noelle walked over to the sleeping Kris. Once both girls were standing on either side of Kris' desk, Susie gently lifted his head up, his face now visible to the world, complete with a little drool escaping his mouth. The girls shared glances, before Susie whispered a simple "Three... two... one." to her girlfriend.
With that countdown done, Noelle swooped in like a vulture towards Kris' face. Her lips made contact with his open mouth, full on smooching her boyfriend. Kris reacted by moving a sleepy arm to reach out to whoever was kissing him as Noelle broke the kiss and Susie came in, continuing the girls' kiss assault on their boyfriend. His face became a battlefield, being constantly raided by the bombs that were his girls' lips. It seemed when one let up, the other dropped.
Alphys watched in amusement as the girls continued to pepper kisses onto their boyfriend's face. Eventually, Kris turned, his eyes slowly opening as he groaned an "Alright, I'm awake. I'm awake!" to his partners. Kris then stood up, his face plastered with lip marks, earning a snort from Alphys, a rather immature response from someone who was supposed to be the teacher, and therefore, the adult. "You gotta start going to bed early Kris. Not to sound like Berdly, but your grades are gonna slip if you keep dozing off in class." Noelle said to him as he ran his fingers through his hair, trying to tidy it up.
It was at that moment Alphys noticed the ring on Kris' finger. "Oh! K-Kris? I noticed that ring on your finger a few days ago, but I never got the chance to talk to you about it. May I ask where you got it? It looks beautiful." she asked him. Kris lifted up his hand and took a look at the aforementioned ring. He couldn't just tell Alphys the truth, who would believe such an outlandish tale as the Dark World, Ralsei and the ritual? He was silent, unsure of how to answer it. Glancing over at Noelle gave her the cue to answer for him.
"We... we got it in the city a few weekends ago. We went there to meet up with a friend and we decided to get that ring when we got together." Noelle explained, as Kris put his hand back down. Alphys seemed surprised at an answer. "Wait, you and Kris are together?" she asked. Susie sniggered to herself as Kris and Noelle blushed. "K-Kind of. Me, Noelle, Susie and this other monster are together." Kris explicated, complete with him taking both girlfriend's hands in his.
Alphys noticed this action along with his words (as well as Susie and Noelle's own rings on their fingers) and went wide eyed. "Oh! I, um... I'm happy for you guys, I really am. It's just... it's been so long since... I've last seen anybody engage in... polyamory." Alphys stammered through her response, a fierce blush intruding on her face. Suddenly, a loud tonal melody rang out through the classroom, startling everyone, especially Noelle. "Oh! Sorry you guys, I guess I forgot to turn my phone off." she said embarrassed as she dug into her pocket and pulled out her mobile phone, the screen bright as the device vibrated in her hand.
'Berdly'
That name. That DAMN name on her phone. He must've just now realized that she wasn't with him when he left the classroom. The doe glanced at her partners, Kris shaking his head at her. She was with her partners and she didn't want to deal with any of Berdly's bullshit at the moment. With that in mind, she placed a thumb onto the reject call icon and swiped left, returning the phone back to silence. She then placed the phone back into her pocket. "Don't worry guys. Berdly's been really up in arms recently about the project. He's worried about me and him's grades slipping. He's worried we'll, in his words, end up as bad as Kris and Susie." Noelle explained.
The two aforementioned lovers rolled their eyes. Typical of Berdly to insult them when they're not there to retaliate. He was a coward and everyone knew it. Why, Kris remembered when Noelle told him about the time Berdly cowered into a corner in fear because he thought he heard a gun shot while setting up a party at his place, when really, the so called 'gun shot' was just a balloon popping from hitting a rogue safety pin. Kris wasn't there to see it, but it would've been hilarious had he seen it first hand.
"He doesn't know when to let up, doesn't he?" Susie added her own two cents into the conversation. "It seems like he only wants you around just to build his own grades up. I bet he'll ditch you once he's made it to the top of the class, Noelle. You are the student with the highest grades at the moment and it does give him a motive to try and usurp you."
Noelle shook her head. "Oh he wouldn't. He'd become VERY surprised by what I'm capable of if he tried." the doe said with a smirk. Kris then stepped forward. "Noelle, don't you worry one bit, okay? If Berdly tries to do anything, and I mean ANYTHING, to hurt you, me and Susie would kick his ass." he said, Susie nodding in agreement. Before Noelle could reply, Alphys rose from her seat and spoke up in the most authoritative voice she could. Although, being... well, Alphys, this authoritative voice came out more like a suggestion more than a statement.
"Neither you or Susie will be kicking anyone's ass inside this classroom, Kris! No matter... how much of a pain Berdly can be, I don't want you to get in trouble with your mother. You know what happened last time you both got in a fight." she said, her eyes drifting away from the three as she spoke about Berdly, before returning to them upon finding her authority again.
Oh, the group remembered that last fight. They remembered. Kris got in a heated argument with Berdly during lunch one Autumn. About what he couldn't remember. Regardless, in the heat of the moment, the bird got shoved into a nearby trash can, spilling his lunch (as well as some of the contents of the trash can) all over his feathers and clothes. Many thought that Berdly was gonna get back up and charge at Kris to retaliate. But instead, he got up, looked upon his ruined clothes, then legged it out of the mess hall, leaving everyone alone with Kris fuming over the argument that lead to the aggressive shoving.
It was a simple shove, but the aftermath was HUGE. Kris ended up spending time in detention after school, Berdly told his parents and they tried to get the human child booked for aggravated assault on their 'precious' son. Kris had to wonder if Berdly's parents were even AWARE of how much of a narcissist Berdly was being at the time. It wasn't Kris' fault that Berdly said something to trigger that response from him! If he had just kept his... beak shut, maybe he wouldn't have to have three separate washes to get the food stains out of his feathers and clothes! Either way, it took so much convincing from Toriel AND the school for Berdly's parents to drop the charges they were going to press against Kris.
Noelle then put a hand on Kris' shoulder. "I insist. I'll be perfectly fine, though I do appreciate the offer, my little knight in shining armor." she said with a cute little smile, complete with her running a finger down the human's cheek. Kris smiled back and after a few seconds, walked close to the doe. His arms trailed around Noelle's lower back, allowing him to pull her close to his body, as her arms also went around his lower back. The two then leaned in and shared a passionate kiss, an audible click of their lips separating echoing around the room when their kiss broke. Alphys smiled and sat back down, her eyes not leaving the lovebirds.
"I love you Noelle." Kris said with a warm smile. Alphys rested her cheek against her fingers as she watched her students' PDA. "I love you too babe." Noelle replied, as her arms raised to his upper back, pulling him into a hug, one Kris happily returned. Noelle smiled to herself, as she had earned a blush from Kris by calling him that name. He was still adamant about not calling any of his partners 'babe', 'baby' or anything along those lines. He never did so when they started their relationship and he never will. Something just... felt off with calling his friends those words, even if they are now in a relationship.
"What about me? Can't the dragon get a little love from the princess here?" Susie said, her voice filled with faux hurt. The two broke their hug, glancing over at the reptile, who was holding her chest, pretending to be heartbroken. Since the three of them (and Ralsei) were together, Susie learned to be more laid back with them, even going as far as to joke about with him. Pretending to be upset whenever two partners showed affection to each other was her go-to method of playing around with them.
Noelle smirked, letting out a small chuckle. "C'mon Kris, let's show Susie how much we love her before she starts bawling again." Noelle said, Kris nodding in agreement. Susie quickly turned away from them in the most dramatic manner she could, the back of her hand being used to cover her eyes, as though they were starting to water. "No, it's too late! The tears are already beginning to form!" Susie then said dramatically, earning a little laugh from Alphys, who couldn't take her eyes off the scene playing in front of her. It was like watching a romantic movie or a scene from one of the lovey dovey anime series she'd watch unfold in front of her.
Both Kris and Noelle, with smiles on their faces, walked up to the brute. Once they were on either side of Susie, Kris wrapped one arm around her waist while Noelle did the same. Susie suddenly felt a tight grip as her two partners pulled her close. "Guys, wait a minu-." Susie began to fake protest before she felt Noelle plant her lips onto hers. Once Noelle broke contact, Kris immediately took her place and it wasn't long until Susie was being subjected to the same kiss attacks she and Noelle gave to Kris just a few minutes earlier.
Alphys watched on amused as Susie's face was peppered by Kris and Noelle's kisses, Kris occasionally gently cupping Susie's cheek, making sure she could feel every bit of pressure his lips left. Susie, keeping up the dramatic façade, played into a sort of damsel in distress role as she pretended to push the two lovebirds away from her, complete with fake cries for help. She never pushed them away hard, just gently pressing her hands against their chest and giving a gentle, barely noticeable push against them. She actually enjoyed being kissed by her lovers, but she had a role to play as the tough girl who didn't need love, unless it was by her partners.
In fact, Kris and Noelle also enjoyed it when Susie did the whole fake fighting back performance. Usually when Susie did this act of hers, this would go on for a few minutes before she would 'give in' and start returning the kisses with whoever she was receiving them from. And this time was no different, for after a few minutes, Susie tilted her head down and began to softly kiss Noelle and Kris back as they continued to dot their lips all across her face, all the while Alphys watched with delectation and awe at the scene playing out in front of her. Susie, with her eyes closed, would kiss Noelle, break the kiss then focus her attention on Kris, repeating the same action. Once Kris and Susie separated, Noelle leaned towards her boyfriend and the two shared yet another kiss.
This went on for a few seconds or so. By the time they were done, the three of them were breathless, lip marks all over their faces, their hair ruffled slightly. There were even small bits of saliva on their faces from the kisses they shared. "It's cute, you know. That you guys... work so well romantically together." Alphys spoke up, sitting up straight. Susie smiled, before Noelle suddenly took her and Kris' hands in hers. "You guys, I'd like you both, and Ralsei too, to come 'round to my place tonight." the doe said with a smile. Susie's smile suddenly dropped.
"N... Noelle, you are aware of my reputation, right? Your mom would probably-." Susie began to protest, before Noelle interrupted. "Sure, my mom is a little bit of a control freak, but once she sees how good of a monster you are, she'll be more than happy to let you be with me." Susie glanced over at Kris, who just smiled back at her and nodded. Susie was still unsure.
On the one hand, it would be nice to actually meet Noelle's mother. Only Kris knew how Holly-Ann was for Noelle to turn out such a lovely girl and who knows? Maybe if she met Noelle's mother, perhaps she'd take an interest in her daughter being with a brute like her. On the other hand, said reputation could've probably already soured Holly-Ann's views on her. She probably wouldn't even allow her 5 feet on the property because of what she could've heard about the girl.
"C'mon, trust me! She'll adore you once she gets to know you." Noelle suddenly said. Susie glanced over at Kris, who, with a smile on his face, nodded. "Holly-Ann is really nice once you get to know her." Kris said, not once losing his smile. There was something that Susie adored within that smile Kris had. She couldn't put her finger on it, but there was something there that she liked about it.
Perhaps it was because Kris smiling reminded her of more innocent times. Back when her mother was still alive and her father wasn't a depressed alcoholic. Or maybe it was because of the fact that Kris was the first friend (and in effect, boyfriend) that she had in a long time. She remembered the last boyfriend she had was way back when she was about 15 and with a guy, who ultimately, turned out to be seeing another broad on the side behind the reptile's back.
When she found out about it, she ended up confronting him about it on the school yard in front of his friends. Of course, being a young boy, he tried to play the big man and acted like it was no issue at all in front of his friends, although this façade of his quickly vanished when Susie, in a fit of anger and hurt, socked him in the face so hard, that his friends thought for a minute that she had broken his jaw. In reality, all Susie did was knock out a few of his teeth and gave him a nosebleed.
Susie shook her head at the memory and turned to Noelle, who was frowning in concern, worried about the look on her girlfriend's face. "Alright, I'm down. It's a date." Susie finally said, a smile of her own forming on her face. The three of them walked out, Alphys giving them a wave as they left. Once they were gone, she went back to her computer, closing a video player showing an episode of Mew Mew Kissy Cutie and opening up a small chat window.
Susie snapped out of the memory when she saw the gates to the Holiday residence. The big imposing metal bars almost mimicking jail bars. Beyond the gate was a path, adored on either side by a small forest of trees, the mansion visible up a small hill that the path was paved upon. The path being littered with various bushes, flowerbeds and... a fountain?
"Wow..." Susie thought to herself. "That fountain must've been expensive for Noelle and her family to set up." The grass was very green and healthy too, looking virtually undisturbed, as though nobody walked on it. It was possible there could've been a rule of no walking on the grass, but still, such a sight was wonderful for the reptilian girl.
Susie took her phone and looked at the time. Seven thirty two PM. It was the beginning of the summer, yet it still took Susie's breath away at how quickly the town seemed to get dark. Not that she minded. If anything, it was beautiful. Sometimes on nights like these, she'd stand outside her home in front of the large window and just... observe the evening sky and all of the beautiful views that it created.
The only sound present in this very moment was the gentle rustling of leaves as the wind gently blew through the trees, making each piece of foliage play a sound unique to it, all of them playing together like nature was hosting a symphony. Susie could imagine just lying out here, watching the sky change colors as the day progresses into night. Eventually, she'd fall asleep listening to the wind in the trees, her back against the grass and her mind at peace. Something she hadn't felt in a long, long time.
She was startled out of her fantasy when she suddenly saw a gold and blue ring suddenly form next to her, seemingly out of nowhere. It was made of what looked like electricity and turned in a clockwise manner, generating almost electrical sounding crackling noises as it turned, the trees visible through the ring itself. Susie observed as the trees faded into darkness and what looked like the town in the Dark World began to form.
She recognized a familiar figure as he appeared inside the ring, two fingers on his temple and one arm outstretched, his index, middle fingers and thumb curved to make an almost claw, while his pinkie and ring fingers were closed. His arm was moving in the same clockwise direction that the ring of power was. The figure opened his eyes and with a smile, walked through the ring, now revealing to Susie that it was some kind of portal. The white fur and golden eyes were now visible as Ralsei made his way forward, stepping onto the road.
Once he was entirely through, the portal shrank behind him, eventually fading into nothing. There he was. Ralsei, her boyfriend, standing in the road, wearing the same clothing that Kris gave to him only a few weeks back. He smiled as he waved at his girl. "Hey Susie." he said politely. Susie didn't answer. She was just... taken aback by everything that had just happened. Ralsei walked over to Susie and gently cupped her face in his hands, planting a small kiss onto her cheek. This seemed to snap Susie out of her shock.
"H-Hey Ralsei." She finally answered, still sounding uncertain about how to feel over what just happened. Possibly in an attempt to distract herself from the magic she just saw, she turned to face Ralsei, a smile on her face. She gently lifted Ralsei's face up with a thumb under his chin and leaned in, Ralsei doing the same until their lips made contact.
The kiss between Susie and Ralsei was slow and passionate, although Susie couldn't help but notice that Ralsei seemed more... confident in smooching her, compared to their first kiss back in the elevator. His arms were tightly clamped around her back as though he was trying to literally squeeze life out of her toughened body. When the duo broke their kiss, Susie was still taken aback as Ralsei shut his eyes and smiled, a small but evident piece of pride hidden within that smile.
"Dude, you've gotten confident in your kissing. You been practicing?" she asked. Ralsei opened his eyes, a blush now replacing his smile. "Kind of." He said before continuing. "I was nervous about being a boyfriend to a human and two monsters at once, so I spoke to Lancer about it and he gave me a few pointers. He also demonstrated how to do certain things, although it was a little awkward considering that he's only 13..." Ralsei paused, as though there was another detail he was trying to avoid. The blush on his cheeks burned brighter when he added the missing detail:
"Especially when he wanted me to practice kissing on him."
Susie cringed at the rather unbefitting info given to her. Even she didn't want to picture the 13 year old Lancer kissing her boyfriend (even if it was for practice in Ralsei's benefit), it still came to her mind and she didn't enjoy the thought one bit. She quickly shook her head and changed the subject. "Well, I'm happy you found the confidence. Let's get going to Noelle's place." she said before the two walked over to one of the pillars for the gate.
There was a small button, complete with a small screen above it. Further above the screen was a small black dome, a camera hidden inside of it. Susie pressed the button, a small buzzing being emitted from a speaker next to said button. She then stood back, placing her hands inside the pockets of her jacket. Ralsei then walked forward, his eyes focused on the dome in awe. He was startled out of it when a woman spoke through the speaker.
"Who is it?" the woman asked. Ralsei looked upon the screen, which now had the image of a older deer women, her blonde hair flowing freely behind her head, much like how Noelle's did. Susie stepped back, looking at the camera. "We're uhh... friends of Noelle? She invited us over earlier, Mrs. Holiday." she said. As much as she tried to hide the nervousness in her voice, it still managed to creep in. The woman looked puzzled for a second, before turning to face off screen. "Noelle? Your friends are here." she called out.
The woman walked away as Noelle's voice could be heard replying with "I'll be right there!". Ralsei and Susie stood there for a seconds, taking in the sights and sounds of the world around them both. Susie was at peace listening to the rustle of the leaves and the sights of the purple skies above them both. Ralsei was fascinated by the sights, although the feeling of the wind felt rather cold on him, despite the warm clothes he was wearing and his fur.
"Like how the world looks huh, Ralsei?" Susie asked with a smile. Ralsei was at a loss of words at first, before he came up with a simple "Y...yeah. It's... different to what I've seen back at home." It was true, he had never had night skies looking like this back in the Dark World, so it truly was a sight of pure beauty to behold. The duo's attention was brought back to the screen when they heard Noelle's voice say a cheerful "Hey you guys! I'll open the gate for you and you can come right on in.", the screen now having Noelle smiling at the two.
Ralsei stepped forward and held out his hand. "Oh, no need Noelle. We can get in easily without the gate." He said with a smile. Noelle, who was looking down at something off screen, presumably the button to the gate itself, looked up with surprise. "You... you can?" she asked, almost immediately followed by Susie asking "We can?" to him. Ralsei looked over at his girl before replying. "Of course we can. Just take my hand.", holding out his hand for Susie to take.
Susie glanced back at Noelle, who was watching the two intrigued, before taking the goat boy's hand. Ralsei then shut his eyes, his gaze shifting into one of intense focus, raising his hand. Suddenly, startling both Noelle and Susie, Ralsei shouted one simple phrase:
"Corpus Onerariam!"
Almost instantly, in the mansion, the security camera's feed was blinding by white light, causing Noelle to shield her eyes, such light being too bright for her even through a small screen. When she removed her hands from her eyes and focused back on the screen, all she saw was an empty security feed containing only the road outside the gate with a thick line of trees in the background. She leaned close in shock. Her partners were nowhere to be seen, as though they had vanished into thin air! Before she could ponder where they had vanished to, the door bell rang.
Noelle froze. Surely, that wasn't them at her front door already, right? There was no way they could've gotten past the front gate. The mansion was gated off from the rest of the neighbourhood and surrounded by trees, thick enough to darken the ground it shielded. Not even the sunniest of days could break through the canopy of leaves, branches and the like. Furthermore, if anyone wanted to break in (not that many did, although there were attempts in the past), they'd have to tread through said think forests and climb over high walls to get there.
And even if they had succeeded in ALL of that, there were so many security systems about the manor. There were security cameras all over the premises, burglar alarms with trip wires all over the greens and other measures that would even make a survivalist blush. Another ring of the door bell snapped her out of her thoughts. Quickly, she made her way to the front door and opened it.
Surely enough, both Ralsei and Susie were standing there, Ralsei with a full smile on his face as what looked like white streaks of light started vanishing from his body. Susie stood behind him, looking almost dazed and confused, as though she had been in a boxing match with a heavyweight champion... minus the blood and broken facial bones of course. "Good to see you again Noelle. I'm honoured that you've invited us all over for the evening." Ralsei said, his smile not once leaving his face.
Noelle was dumbfounded by this. How could the two have gotten to her doorstep so quickly? They were on the security camera about 10 seconds ago! "How... how did you both...?" Noelle stammered, trying to find the words to form a question for the goat. No matter how hard she tried, the words were evading her and she couldn't form a sentence. "Oh? How did we get here so quickly?" Ralsei asked. "Just a little teleportation spell I know." he answered, opening and closing his fingers, causing the same streaks of light to briefly emanate from his hand.
Noelle glanced over at Susie, who was still dazed looking. "Susie?" the doe asked. In her dazed state, Susie responded with "It... it was like we went FORWARD in time!" to the deer. Ralsei turned around to face his purple girlfriend. "I assure you Susie; we've only teleported to Noelle's front door. No time has passed during the duration of our journey." He said with a smirk. He then turned back to Noelle, who invited them both inside. Ralsei walked forward with no problem, him and Noelle sharing a peck on the lips as he walked passed her, but Susie stumbled a little, trying to get her bearings.
Noelle quickly came outside and gently grabbed Susie, lifting her up so she was standing. The doe was surprised, she never thought she'd be able to lift the bully girl by herself like she just did. She was snapped out of her wonder by the feeling of lips on her cheek. Noelle glanced over at Susie, a small smile on her face. "Thanks." the purple girl said, walking indoors. Noelle stood there for a few seconds, fireworks going off inside her head. She silently shook in delight as she walked back inside, closing the front door behind her.
Kris sat at the dining room table, a cup of hot chocolate in his hands. He wasn't taking any sips from it though, he was just... glancing into the liquid, deep in his own thoughts. About Noelle. Susie. Ralsei. His relationship with them. Of course, he knew that the three of them loved him, but he still couldn't shake that worry about the possibility of them leaving him for someone better.
Kris didn't want to think such sordid scenarios, so he quickly raised the mug and downed the hot chocolate in one go. The sweet substance trickled down his throat, slightly burning it on the way down. But Kris didn't really care. His drink was finished and that was all that mattered. He looked up at a nearby clock on the wall. 7:35 pm. Kris knew he had to get going, the others were more than likely expecting him to arrive at Noelle's mansion soon.
Kris sighed to himself as he got up from the chair. The sound of laughter brought his attention to the living room. He walked through and peaked in. Sitting in the arm chair was Toriel, giggling to herself at something the guests on the couch had said. The human's eyes darted over to said couch to see Asriel and Undyne sitting there, Undyne no longer in her police uniform. Instead, she was wearing a white turtleneck complete with a black leather jacket, blue jeans, red lipstick and some white sneakers.
Her hair, which was usually done in a ponytail, was now let down, flowing freely over her shoulders. One of her arms was wrapped around Asriel in a friendly manner. It made sense to Kris. When they were younger, Asriel and Undyne were very close to each other, despite Undyne being about 3 years older than Asriel. Some of the students that attended school with them even believed that the two were dating for a while. That all came to an end when, shortly before graduating, Undyne came out as a lesbian. According to her, her friends supported her wholeheartedly, but her family, being rather old fashioned to put it lightly, disowned her, insisting they wouldn't have 'an abomination' in their family.
"I still remember you used to do the little 'NGAHHH!' thing back in school whenever you'd run off somewhere, Undyne. You still do that in the squad?" Asriel said, smiling. Undyne turned her head to face her friend. "Nah, I grew out of that stuff. Although, now that you mentioned it, I might do that again as an intimidation tactic on the criminals I bust." she explained, placed a hand on her chin as she mentioned the possibility of using her war cry as intimidation. Toriel looked towards the doorway to the kitchen, meeting Kris' gaze.
"Oh, Kris! I didn't hear you come into the room. How nice of you to join us." Toriel said, Kris walking and sitting down next to Asriel. It was at that moment he noticed a figure on the television. This figure was almost humanoid, although something still looked off about him. Was it the white skin? The slick black hair? Or maybe it was because his smile was too wide for his face? Either way, Kris didn't like how he looked.
He was wearing what looked like a long sleeved V-neck shirt with a distinct black colour to it. He also wore white pants and black shoes, giving off a rather unorthodox look to him. But what stood out the most to Kris was the glasses he was wearing. One lens was yellow, while the other was pink, but every now and then, especially when the figure would laugh, the colour of the lenses would flip. The way this figure spoke was odd too.
His voice sounded like it was coming from an old radio, but every now and then, when certain things were said, it was though another voice was speaking through this mystery man. Sometimes, it would be a male voice, other times female. Sometimes, he'd even suddenly speak in different languages or make sound effects! Kris even noticed that he'd sometimes speak in audio samples, be it songs or from TV shows. All of these made Kris think that this 'person' wasn't even a person to begin with.
Perhaps some sort of android or malfunctioning animatronic?
"Hey every!" The figure spoke, seemingly being cut off before finishing its greeting. "It's me! Everybody's favorite [No. 1 rated salesman 1997]. Spamt- Spamton G. Spamton! And I am [back at it again] with yet another [incredible deal] that'll make you [$!$$] yourself with such [pleasure], especially if you're [just a sucker] for [big bargains] and [high quality goods] at low, low prices!" The figure, Spamton, spoke to the camera, his voice interrupted by various other voices. Kris looked to Undyne and Asriel, both of them showing some discomfort on their faces.
"I honestly don't get the appeal behind Spamton. He looks and sounds like he isn't worked properly half the time he's on TV." Undyne said. Asriel sighed. "I've heard he's popular in Russia, but I haven't seen anybody around here say much about Spamton. I think they only put his show on just to fill up time slots." he said, Undyne and Kris nodding in agreement. Surely, that had to be the only reason Spamton was even on TV in the first place. On the television screen, he continued.
"Maybe, JUST maybe, I could [interest you] in THIS beautiful [sofa bed combo], straight from the folks over at [*insert fancy furniture company name here*].", complete with durable stitching, comfortable-ble-ble-ble bedding AND a FULL [cash back guarantee]! If you [get no satisfaction] from this product after purchasing, return back to us within [3 months] of purchase and you'll be given [A GODDAMN VACATION STRAIGHT TO HE-] a full refund!" Spamton stated, making sure to draw attention to the sofa bed behind him. His body twitched and jerked with every interruption, getting uncomfortably close to the camera on his big rant, before backing off upon his voice returning back to normal.
Just then, Kris' phone rang. He took it out of his pocket and looked upon the screen. Along with a picture of her smiling and giving the finger to the viewer, there was the word 'Susie' with a few love hearts next to the name. He answered the phone and raised it to his ear, giving a simple "Hey Susie." down it. Her voice answered back, almost sounding annoyed. "Dude, where are you? Noelle, Ralsei and I are waiting for you at her place. C'mon dude, hurry up!" she said, causing Kris to sigh. "Alright, I'll be over in a few minutes." he replied, before hanging up.
Kris then got up from the sofa, walking over to Toriel, who took her attention away from the TV to look upon her adopted son. "Alright mom, I'm gonna get going." He said. All Toriel could say was a surprised sounding "Oh?" She then looked at a nearby clock. "At this hour? Where are you going?" she asked as she turned her attention back to the human.
Kris paused. How was he going to tell his mother that he had three romantic partners? And that ALL three of said partners were his friends that her and his family only met a few weeks back? He wasn't ready to do such a thing. Who knows how Toriel would react to the news! The human glanced back at Asriel and Undyne, whose gazes were locked onto him, eager to hear his response. He then turned back to Toriel, a blush growing on his face.
"I... I've recently started... dating someone. And I made plans to take them out somewhere." Kris uttered. He hated the idea of lying to his adopted mother, but for now, it was better than giving no answer at all. Toriel's eyes went wide at the answer. "Kris... you've actually found yourself a girlfriend?" Asriel asked, sounding almost shocked at his brother's answer. The human looked back at Asriel and Undyne. Surely enough, his eyes were wide with shock, almost as much as Toriel.
Undyne sat there with a smile on her face, nodding. It was obvious to Kris that she was proud of him. Kris, despite having some run-ins with the law during his mid teens, always thought highly of Undyne. She filled in the role of the cool lesbian aunt in his little family picture. Even if him and her were not blood related, Kris always considered Undyne part of the Dreemur family. Usually, it was her that would try and fight Kris' case whenever the cops busted him back in the day. They were small crimes like vandalism or shoplifting, things that Noelle eventually talked him out of doing, but thanks to Undyne, Kris had no criminal record due to said crimes.
"Y-yeah. I met her shortly after the party me, Susie, Noelle and Ralsei had. She moved out of town and... we just started talking. She was a little shy around me, but um... she opened up over time and we started hanging out. And you know what? I think... I think she might be the one for me, so we're gonna go on a date tonight and see how it turns out." Kris explained, his voice full of pride. He actually was surprised at how well he ad-libbed there. He did pause a couple of times, but he assumed the others would chalk it up to nerves.
Toriel smiled, wiping a tear away from her cheek. "My little boy's going on his first date. I'm so proud of you Kris." she said, an emotional sniff coming through every now and then. She then quickly stood up. "Oh! I just remembered, there's some things I got a while back that might be useful to you. I'll be right back!" she said before running off upstairs, Kris watching her go. Undyne then spoke up, making Kris turn around. "Way to go dude. I'm sure this girl is really lookin' forward to spending some time with you." She said with a smile.
Kris smiled back. "I hope so too." he responded. He paused, his smile fading into a frown, something Undyne noticed. "Hey, is something the matter?" she asked the human. He glanced at the anthropomorphic fish lady on the couch. "Well... I'm just worried that I might do something that screws everything up. She's a lovely girl, but I can't help but get that nagging feeling that if I don't play my cards correctly, I might end up losing her. I mean, what if I say something insensitive and not realize it?" Kris confessed. Undyne only gave a small chuckle in response. Kris looked confused at the response.
"Oh dude, I'm sure it'll be nothing serious. You're a good kid Kris, I know that from all my years being friends with Toriel and Asriel. If something fucks up on your date, I know it won't be your fault." She said. This piece of comfort gave some relief to the human, as a smile crept onto his face. He knew that he could always rely on Undyne to give him emotional support for anything. For a brief moment, he did wonder about... other things Undyne could support him with, but quickly pushed said thoughts to the back of his mind.
"And don't worry about what you talk about with your new girl." Undyne continued. "Honestly, you should hear about the stuff that goes on between me and my girlfriend. We met online a few months ago in some chat room. 'Smashingfightersdino324' her username was. I was worried about how good I'd be as a partner, but she always told me to keep my hopes up and do my best. After all, you might find that I'm a lot closer to you then you think, she'd always say."
Asriel nodded. "Mmm-hmm. I agree with her, dude. Don't worry yourself about it. Besides, I'm happy for you. You're actually taking the advice I gave you before I left for college and now look at you! You've managed to pull yourself a chick." He said happily. He then placed a friendly arm around Undyne as he continued. "Anything you're worried about with this relationship of yours, you come to me or Undyne, okay Kris? We can help you out with advice." Kris smiled in response. "Okay." the human said. Smiling, Asriel then continued.
"Besides, I like hanging out with you both. In fact, I wish we could hang out more. Me and Undyne used to hang out all the time when we were in school together. Always used to get in trouble she did. It's almost ironic how she works in the police force now, when she used to break into abandoned places and hang out around there. In fact, I remember one time after last year's school Halloween dance."
Undyne's expression turned to one of shock, as if she had forgotten about it herself. "Me and her broke away from the party, away from all our friends and she took me down to this abandoned subway station. It was pretty cool, looking at all the rundown stalls and the tracks that don't run anymore. Once we were settled down, the two of us-." Asriel continued, before Undyne stopped him by quickly shushing him and gently clapping her hands together.
"Asriel, dude. No. Kris... doesn't need to know what we did down there that night." Undyne said, a blush growing on her face. Asriel went wide eyed too, as he realized just WHAT memory he was about to share. Kris didn't know all the details, but he had a rough idea. He clearly remembered that night, mostly because of him tearing up the dance floor as the Phoenix. That was a memory he was always fond of, one he'd relive over and over again if he could, even if he couldn't do so with the neon bat he had with him. But then, there was another part of it he remembered.
You see, the school party itself didn't happen at the school. Instead, the school had booked a large hotel ballroom in the city for the event. A good number of students from various schools arrived there, including the school Kris and Noelle attended. Susie hadn't moved there yet, so she wasn't present. Asriel wasn't DJing that night, instead he was in his Dracula costume, dancing with Undyne, who was dressed up as a gender flipped form of Frankenstein's Monster, complete with a contact lens in her left eye to make it look completely white.
The two were very close, even before the party. Some members of the school even thought the two were boyfriend and girlfriend, that's how close they were. Even Kris thought so, even after Undyne came out as a lesbian. If she was straight, Kris felt like her and Asriel would make a beautiful couple together. But anyway, the two of them left after a while and rumour quickly spread among the dance floor that the two were gonna, as the other students put it, 'smash' that night.
Eventually, the party died down and Kris left, aiming to get the train back to his hometown. He was wondering through the city in his costume, his bat in hand, glancing around looking for the train station. He was making various spins and twirls with the item in his hand, occasionally stopping to finish his routine that he no doubt learned from the Phoenix movie. He'd walk forward, twirling the bat in his hand or around his body, before stopping and flinging his bat up in the air, catching it and posing to himself before continuing to walk onwards.
The city was eerie at night, most places being closed down for the night. It must've been about 1 o'clock in the morning or something. Quite late to say the least. After some walking, he ended up at the entrance to a closed subway station. He stopped there, looking around. Surely, this must've meant the train station was nearby! Preferably one that was open and still running. But wait, the last train running was at midnight. "Damn it." he thought to himself. "Now how am I gonna get home?" He was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard voices coming out of the subway station.
He turned around to catch sight of Asriel and Undyne walking back up to the surface. It was... awkward to say the least. Why? Because Asriel was in the middle of pulling his trousers up, while Undyne was putting her jacket back on, her bra exposed as she quickly straightened herself out. In Asriel's hand was what looked like a used condom too, giving Kris an idea of what the two were doing down there. When they noticed Kris, they froze in dead silence. After an awkward pause, Asriel agreed to take them back home, on the condition that Kris never told Toriel what he saw that night.
A few months later, Undyne came out as a lesbian, claiming that she had the suspicion for a good while, but was now comfortable coming out of the closet. This was fine by Kris, but he did wonder if that night she shared in the subway with Asriel had anything to do with Undyne's sexuality. Was she always like that like she claimed, or did something happen between her and Asriel to make her change her view about herself?
Kris was snapped out of the memory by Asriel saying "Hey Kris, hold still a second." before being sprayed on the neck with something. It startled him a little, until he realized Asriel was holding a bottle of cologne. Where he got it from Kris wasn't even going to ask. Maybe it was already downstairs and he didn't notice. "Usually, I wouldn't let anyone else use my cologne, but since it's a special occasion for you Kris, I figured you'd need this more than I would dude." Asriel explained, as he sprayed more cologne onto the human's neck before sitting back down on the couch.
Just then, Toriel came back down and handed Kris something. He looked down at what it was she gave to him. In his hand was a couple of packets, one packet was blue, the other was red. Kris was unsure what they were at first, but he quickly realized that they were holding condoms, both of them were unused. He glanced back at Toriel in shock. "Mom!" Kris said, his voice full of embarrassment as his cheeks flushed red in that moment. Behind him, he heard Asriel and Undyne snigger at his reaction. The goat mom shrugged. "Well, you never know. You both might end up spending the night together and I just want you to be prepared." she said.
"I... I'm..." Kris stammered. He was happy that Toriel was looking out for him, but condoms?! This is FAR too soon in the relationship to be thinking about stuff like that! And he really didn't need any more reminders of what happened that night with Noelle, Susie and Ralsei. "I'm gonna go. I'll be back tomorrow at some point." Kris finished, his face still red. He planted a kiss onto Toriel's cheek before turning around to face the other adults. Both of them stood up and gave Kris a hug. "Take care of yourself, kiddo." Undyne said, her voice filled with pride for the human.
The three broke their hug and Kris walked out the door, the condom wrappers still in his hand. Toriel smiled. "Oh! I just remembered I wanted to show you two something! I'll be right back." She said to Asriel and Undyne, before walking back upstairs. Once the two were alone, Undyne turned to Asriel, her smile now gone from her face and replaced with a look of concern.
"Dude, you can't keep hiding this forever. She's gonna find out some day!" she said to him. Asriel's face grew into a blush. "I know. I just... need a bit of time. I'll tell her the truth when I'm ready. I just don't want her to flip her shit when I let her know about it." he quickly explained. Undyne sighed, gently grabbing her friend's face in her hands. "Listen, it's better if you tell her soon rather than let her find out herself. It would break her heart if she found out you're not being honest with her!" she said.
Asriel broke away from Undyne's soft grasp and rested his face in his hands, giving a tired "Oh my god." to himself, before lifting his head back up. "Look, Undyne. It might've been easy for you... well, maybe it wasn't, considering your family disowned you when you came out, but you KNOW mom was a church goer. Have you heard the awful shit they preached in there? Who knows if mom still believes that crap!" Asriel explained.
Meanwhile, Kris was walking down the road, away from his house. Once he was close to the main road, he stopped and looked back. This was perfect. He was sure he was some distance away from the house that no one would see what he was about to do next. But even before then, Kris took a quick look down either side of the road, making sure he was completely alone, which he was. The condom packets still in hand, Kris turned to a heavily wooded area of the path and winded his arm back.
Using all of his power, he threw his arm forward. One condom packet left his hand and flew across the sky briefly before disappearing into the darkness of the miniature forest. He then took the other one and gave it a hard throw, with the same result as the first. Satisfied that the condoms were now out of his possession, Kris continued onwards to Noelle's house. The grass was still for a few more seconds, before there was a slight rustling sound. Berdly, one hand over his eye, emerged from the darkness of the wooded area, making sure Kris didn't see him.
Him and Noelle were supposed to be working on the school project. But ever since Noelle started hanging out with Susie and Kris (something Berdly noticed during the lunch periods), she stopped replying to his phone calls and would ghost him whenever he would text her regarding the project. He had a feeling something more was going on than Noelle was letting on. He was even starting to suspect that Noelle wasn't actually sick the day he called her about the project.
Matter of fact, he grew suspicious about Noelle hanging out with Kris and Susie more often too. Berdly wasn't open about it, but he felt a certain way regarding Noelle himself. So the idea that someone ELSE had her heart was enough to make the nerd burn with jealousy. Given that Noelle had known Kris since childhood, he felt he was the first person to look into. Thus, he hid out in the trees, him leaving was just pure coincidence.
That being said, it was poor luck that he just so happened to be standing in a spot where he was in the crossfire of something Kris had thrown. The first item hit him in the chest, he looked down at it, raising his glasses to make sure of what he was seeing. When he saw it was a condom, Berdly raised his head blushing, just in time for the second condom to whack him in his eye. If that condom was thrown any more harder, it probably would've blinded Berdly in that eye. It took a lot of nerve for him to not scream in pain in that moment.
He cursed himself for removing his glasses and not putting them on immediately. After rubbing his eye, he put his glasses back on and began to follow Kris, making sure he was in no position that he would be exposed to the human he was following.
A walk through the metal gate that Kris was oh so familiar with. He had his mind wondering about what could come up during his evening with his partners as he walked up the path to Noelle's mansion. He was so focused on that evening, that he didn't notice Berdly slipped through the gate as it closed, hiding in a nearby bush. After a few minutes, the human was at the front door.
He raised a fist to knock on the door, but stopped, as he thought he heard a twig snap behind him. He glanced back at the path leading to the mansion. The path itself was adorned on either side by various hedges, bushes and flowerbeds. A fountain could be seen on side, gently flowing water into a basin. It was beautiful to Kris, especially in the evening hours. But there was no else he could see. As far as Kris was concerned, he was the only one outside Noelle's home.
Unknown to Kris, Berdly lay in one of the bushes, his eyes focused on the human. Kris turned back and knocked on the door. After a few seconds, Holly-Ann opened the door, a smile on her face. "Ah, Kris. I'm happy that you could make it. Noelle was expecting you with her friends. They're in the basement, playing some pool." she said. Kris smiled back at the older deer. "Thank you Mrs. Holiday. Are you not going to join us?" he asked.
Holly-Ann just sighed. "I would love to, I really would, but I've got some business to attend to in Star City. I won't be back until tomorrow afternoon. You guys have fun now." she said as she quickly moved out the door and to the side, presumably to a garage. Kris watched her leave, before walking inside, shutting the door behind him.
Now in the clear, Berdly quickly darted out of the bush and made his way to the side of the house. He was aware of how secure the mansion was. It was a foolish move for anyone to try and break in. It didn't stop some monsters from trying though, and they did NOT get away with it. However, Berdly had been around before, so he knew exactly where every security camera was and where they were pointed, where every tripwire to the burglar alarm was and the like, so he made it to the house with ease.
He pressed himself against the wall in perfect timing, as Holly-Ann drove past in a flashy green car. Berdly wasn't sure of the make of the car itself, but if he had to guess, it looked like some sort of Rolls Royce, a rather expensive car that anyone else would have NO chance getting easily. Once the car left through the gate, Berdly went to a nearby window and watched as Kris opened up a door that lead down to the basement.
Kris walked down the flight of stairs into the basement. After a few seconds, his feet softly landed on some carpet. In front of him was a closed door. Kris walked up to it and turned the handle. He gave the door a push and it slowly opened. Beyond the open frame was a large room, lit up by some strips of LED lights going along the ceiling where it met the wall, which was painted a gorgeous sky blue. The floors were adorned with forest green carpets, almost making the whole room look like a field in a summer's day.
Mounted on the wall was a flat-screen television, a games console and DVD player wired up to it on a table beneath the device. Next to the appliances were a small stack of DVDs and video games, some of which Kris had fond memories of playing with his friend when the two were children. There was also a stereo present too, filling the room's air with melodies and lyrics from various artists. In front of the TV was a beige sofa, complete with a selection of multi-coloured pillows on top of it, a small mini-fridge beside it. In the centre of the room was a pool table, a few yellow and red balls, along with a single black ball, scattered around the green playing field.
Kris smiled as his eyes gazed upon his partners, who were too focused on their game of pool to notice him. Noelle was standing beside the table, a small can of fizzy pop in her hand, presumably from the mini-fridge mentioned a few paragraphs ago. Ralsei was watching Susie prepare her shot, a pool stick held firmly in his hand. Susie was leaning over the pool table, focusing her attention on a yellow ball beyond the white cue ball at the end of her pool stick. Kris raised a hand to his mouth and loudly cleared his throat, catching everyone's attention.
Ralsei and Noelle smiled upon seeing Kris, while Susie, distracted by the sound of Kris's throat clearing, made her stick veer slightly to the right. The cue went flying forward, missing the yellow ball and bouncing off the side of the table, before gently clipping a red ball. Ralsei's attention turned back to the game upon hearing the impact. "That's another turn to Noelle, Susie." he said. Susie stood back up, an annoyed glare on her face, which quickly faded upon seeing Kris in the doorway.
"Finally! I was getting worried that you weren't gonna show up." Susie said with a smile, putting the pool stick down. She then walked up to Kris and placed her arms around his back, Kris doing the same to her. "You know I couldn't skip out on spending some time with you guys." he said, a warm smile on his face. The human and the reptile both leaned in, sharing a tender kiss between them. Her nostrils caught the scent on Kris' neck as she reeled back in surprise, breaking the kiss. "Whoa dude, you wearing cologne? You smell fresh this evening!" Susie said, pleasantly surprised.
"It's nice to see you here, Kris." Ralsei said, walking up to Kris also. Ralsei's nose caught the smell instantly, but he chose to ignore it as the boys leaned forward and shared a quick peck on the lips. Kris was still getting used to the idea of kissing another boy and Ralsei knew this. As much as he enjoyed kissing the human and as much as the human enjoyed kissing him, the young sorcerer wanted to go at a slow pace so that they could easily kiss each other with no hassle.
Noelle walked over to Kris and they both shared a hug, the doe sneaking in a little kiss on her boyfriend's cheek. "We were getting so concerned when you didn't show up Kris." Noelle whispered into her boyfriend's ear. The two released their hug, but didn't let go of each other just yet. "Of course I'd show up, Noelle. I love you guys too much to be leaving you all by yourselves." Kris said in response, earning a little smile from Noelle. Of course, the smell of the cologne wasn't lost on Noelle, just like how it wasn't lost on Susie and Ralsei. "Asriel letting you wear his cologne tonight?" Noelle asked, giving a knowing smirk.
Kris blushed and nodded. "I told him and mom that I was going on a date tonight." he explained. Noelle chuckled a little. He WAS telling the truth, although it wasn't entirely what could be considered a 'date' in the traditional sense. Although, the four of them did have their fair share of dates the past few weeks. Over the course of the last three weeks or so, Kris had a few dates with his partners. He had a picnic by the lake with Ralsei, spent time and money in a local arcade with Susie and went to dinner and a movie with Noelle. What went on between the others he didn't know about, but he wasn't going to press them for it.
"Mom even gave me some condoms as well. She said she wanted me to be prepared in case I spent the night with 'her'." Kris then confessed, his cheeks glowing a florescent red. Noelle went wide-eyed at this. Sure, she was happy Toriel was looking out for him, but she felt like it was too soon to be thinking of stuff like that. "D... Do you still have them on you?" Noelle asked, some embarrassment leaking into her voice. Kris quickly shook his head. "N-No. I threw them into the woods before coming here. Why? Did you want to do something with them?" he asked.
Noelle could easily just say that she wanted to try out having sex with him that night, but there was something in the back of her mind that told her to keep her mouth shut regarding that topic. In fact, she thought about it a bit more than usual and it resulted in her becoming curious as to what having sex with Ralsei or Susie would feel like. With a blush growing on her face, all the doe could muster up was a "Well... if you DID had them with you... then I would've asked if you-." before Susie's voice interrupted her talk with the human.
"Hey Noelle, it's your go." Susie said to her as Ralsei handed back her pool stick. Noelle and Kris released their hug as she got back into her game. The human walked over to the nearby mini fridge and took out a can of fizzy pop. He then leaned against the wall, cracking the can open and taking a sip as he watched his partners continue with their game.
Time passed as the game drew to a close, Noelle winning the game by a long shot. Kris smiled as his girlfriend celebrated on the spot. When Noelle calmed down, she had the widest and cutest smile on her face. Seeing this smile made Kris think back to earlier that day, when Noelle visited Rudy in hospital with the news of her being with Susie, Kris AND Ralsei.
The hospital room was all clear and sterile with a slight shade of baby blue to it, the walls adorned with various shapes of stars and seahorses. A table with roses under a glass dome sat on a nearby table with a note attached. In the bed was a sickly looking Rudy Holiday, Noelle standing beside the bed itself, talking to him and sharing a few laughs. Every now and then, the hospital room would be broken of its silence by Rudy's laughter. This was usually a heartwarming sound for the doe girl, but sound was broken by the coughing fits that usually followed.
"And then, Kris looked over at me and said 'Noelle, I think your mom put something in the casserole' before this MASSIVE fart escaped him. His face went so red after it was over!" Noelle finished, holding back her laughter. The room once again filled with the deep laughter of Rudy, which then followed by a rough cough. Noelle, who was smiling at first, frowned upon hearing her father's cough. She was unsure, but she had a strong feeling that her father wasn't long for the world.
Every now and then she'd wonder, why did the world have to take someone like her father away? Couldn't the hands of fate let him go JUST this once and take someone else in his place?
There was a pause before Rudy broke the silence. "Hey Noelle, if you don't mind me asking, how's things doing with your little crush of yours? Last I heard, you and her got to talking and had grown into real close friends. I even heard about the little party you three had at the Dreemur residence." He said, his warm smile returning to his face. Noelle smiled back, happy that his father was intrigued enough to ask about her relationship. "Oh, it's doing wonderfully! In fact, I'll go and get her." Noelle said, as she quickly ran out of the room. Before Rudy could say anything, she was out the door.
He was alone for a few seconds before Noelle returned, bringing in Susie by the hand. "Me and her just recently got together." Noelle said happily. Despite being the tough girl of the school, Susie could only smile awkwardly as she raised a hand to the bed-ridden deer. "It's... n-n-nice to meet you, Mr... Holiday." Susie stammered, nervousness ever so present in her voice. Rudy's eyes raised in surprise. He knew that Noelle had a crush on Susie, but he NEVER thought he'd ACTUALLY see the day the two got together.
"Noelle, you finally took my advice and went for it! I'm so proud of you. This could be the start of something beautiful between you both." Rudy said, his voice filled with some newly found pride for his daughter. Noelle blushed and scratched at the back of her head. "Y-Yeah. Although, I'm actually trying something new with the whole relationship thing. Susie... isn't the only one I'm with." Noelle confessed. Rudy's smile dropped at this news. "What do you mean Susie isn't the only one?" he asked.
Almost as if to answer Rudy's question, Kris walked into the room, Ralsei following behind him. "Noelle sweetie? Ralsei's got his finger caught in the bead toy and we can't get it out." Kris said as he lifted Ralsei's arm to reveal that Ralsei's pinkie finger was indeed caught inside a hole that the toy was attached to, the proximal interphalangeal joint looking slightly swollen. This effectively made the whole toy hang off of his finger, a blue bead falling off the wooden toy and landing on the floor. "I thought I saw something inside the toy!" Ralsei protested, trying to shake the toy off of his finger to no avail.
Kris sighed in annoyance. "Well, I told you not to stick your finger inside that hole or it would get stuck! You'd be surprised at how often that happens to kids who visit here!" Kris said, earning a snigger from Noelle and Susie. Rudy was a little amused by this display going on before him, but his serious demeanour returned very quickly. "Noelle? Are these...?" he began before trailing off, unable to find the words. Noelle looked upon her father and nodded. "Yeah, the four of us are trying out a polyamorous relationship. We've all been together for about 2... 3 weeks now?" She asked, turning back to the others.
Susie glanced at her girlfriend. "Yeah, about three weeks." Susie answered. Noelle smiled, turning back to her father. "Yeah, three weeks we've been together." she finished, taking both Susie and Kris' hands. Rudy was happy for his daughter. He never thought that Noelle would be the kind of monster to try out some polyamory. But if they made her happy, then that was all that mattered to him. He was about to ask something when he heard Ralsei growl to himself in frustration. "Is... is your friend there okay?" He asked, pointing at the goat. Noelle, Susie and Kris all turned back to face Ralsei who, in an attempt to remove the toy, had placed it down on the floor and was gently standing on it.
He gave a few hard pulls, using his foot as a weight to keep the toy down, as his partners watched. There were a few quiet growls coming out of his gritted teeth as he strained and pulled against the wooden prison his finger was stuck in, even cursing to himself, his voice low enough so that nobody else could hear him. After a few pulls however, his finger was trapped inside the hole, the finger still swollen, giving him virtually no chance of pulling it out. With a defeated sigh, he lifted his finger (and in effect, the toy) as he set his foot down on the floor. Or should I say, he tried to.
Remember that blue bead I mentioned a few paragraphs ago? Well, when Ralsei put his foot down, instead of the floor, it landed on said blue bead. Under the weight of the goat boy's foot, the bead slipped and rolled off somewhere. This caused Ralsei to suddenly slip, complete with a surprised "Whoa!" from him. He fell for about a second before landing flat on his face, the impact on the floor briefly echoing around the room. As much as she shouldn't, Susie could only snigger at her boyfriend's misfortune. Even Kris has to turn his head away from his boyfriend to hide an amused smirk growing on his face.
The only one who didn't seem to find Ralsei's slip-up funny was Noelle. Upon seeing him fall to the floor, she ran up to him with a look of concern and helped him back to his feet. Once he was up, she turned to face her partners. Susie was still sniggering. "I'm sorry, it was just funny." she said upon noticing Noelle's face, which had turned slightly annoyed at how insensitive Susie was being. "Well, you wouldn't find it funny if it was YOU that slipped and fell like Ralsei did." Noelle said in an almost scolding manner, adding in a gentle backhanded slap to Susie's ribcage.
She then turned her attention back to her father. "So yeah. As you know, I've had a crush on Susie for a while. So me and her are girlfriends now. But... I also found out that me and Kris have had feelings for quite some time too, so we're together also. And then, you've got this other boy. Dad, meet Ralsei. Ralsei, my dad, Rudy." she said, gesturing to each of the boys as she introduced them. Rudy smiled at the boy, who blushed in reply. "Well, it's a pleasure to meet you Ralsei." he said with a smile, lifting his hand for the goat boy to shake.
Ralsei walked forward, a smile of his own on his face. "As is with-." Ralsei began, before realizing the hand he was going to use to shake Rudy's still had the toy attached. He shut his eyes in frustration, complete with an annoyed "Oh for crying out..." to himself, before making a finger gun with his free hand and pointing it at the toy itself. "Materia frange!" he suddenly shouted. Almost immediately afterward, the toy suddenly shattered into pieces, sending the beads and pieces of plastic falling to the floor. This brought about some startled reactions from his partners.
Noelle screamed and jumped back, Rudy shielded his face from any potential debris coming his way and Susie gasped and jumped back also. Kris on the other hand, was quick to jump in front of Noelle, ready to take any piece of shrapnel that the toy might've been reduced to, just so long as his beloved deer girl didn't get hurt. Thankfully, there wasn't anything around to hurt the others. Even Ralsei seemed surprised at how violent the spell he had just cast was as he stood there with eyes wide and his mouth agape.
He quickly glanced at everyone else, who were starting to calm down. "Dude! Don't do magic like that without warning us! You're gonna hurt someone one of these days!" Kris said, his voice still full of shock. Aside from the initial shock they received, the goat boy was relieved nobody got hurt due to his magic. "Guys, I'm so sorry. I didn't realize how explosive that spell was until the toy blew up." Ralsei apologized before quickly going to Rudy and shaking his hand, presumably in an attempt to rectify how things had turned out in that room. After that awkward little introduction, the group got comfortable, sharing stories with each other, Ralsei telling Rudy about himself.
Eventually, they left and headed their separate ways, but not before Ralsei used another spell 'Res reparatione' to repair the bead toy and put it back on the table where it originally was. He was curious about when he first entered the hospital and spent a few minutes playing with it before he noticed the hole and put his finger in, despite Kris' warnings. It was an action that he certainly wasn't going to repeat again.
"Kris!" Susie's voice called out, snapping Kris out of his memory. Just like that, he was back in the basement. Only this time, Ralsei and Noelle had left the basement, both pool sticks now laying neatly on the green pool table. "Huh? Where's Noelle and Ralsei?" Kris asked upon realizing they were gone. "They went upstairs a few minutes ago. Noelle said she was gonna make us dinner and Ralsei went up to help her." Susie explained. "All the while, you were just standing there gazing off into space. We tried talking to you, but you must've been so far gone you didn't hear us."
Kris was surprised at this as he suddenly said "Oh shit, I should probably go up and help them too!", before making his way to the door. However, Susie was too quick for him, managing to block the entrance and with a playful "Oh no you don't!", lifted him into the air by bear hugging him. She held him up for a seconds before dropping him back onto the pool table. The human gritted his teeth and slightly grunted in pain from the hard landing as the pool balls, originally neatly laid in a triangle, scattered around the board in the impact.
Kris could only squint his eyes, since he was directly underneath a light that shone onto the pool table he was lying on. Before he could get over the shock of hitting the pool table, the light was suddenly blocked by a large object and he felt something heavy on his waist. He took a few seconds to adjust his eyes until he noticed Susie's face looking down at him, her smile showing every row of sharp teeth inside her mouth. She then grabbed Kris' hands and pinned them to the green fabric. She now had him all to herself, her body holding his down, almost straddling the young man beneath her.
"You're not going anywhere, Kris. I want you all to myself." Susie said, a slow seductive growl in her voice. The human smirked in response. "Oh? Then don't hold back." He said, almost matching the flirty nature of Susie's voice. Satisfied that her boyfriend was going nowhere and now that he had given her the go ahead, she began her loving attack. Just like in the classroom with Noelle, she dive bombed her lips towards Kris', the two making full impact. Their eyes slammed shut like a pair of shutter blinds as they lost themselves in their kiss.
Being so close to Susie in this way made Kris' head run wild with thoughts. Susie smirked into the kiss. She seemed to know what was on his mind as she slipped in her tongue into the kiss, allowing it to dance around her boyfriend's. This was a level of intimacy that Susie enjoyed with Kris. He always allowed her to be rough with kissing him, compared to Noelle and Ralsei. Ralsei was still new to sharing kisses, so she'd rather not risk suffocating him and potentially turning her tongue into a murder weapon. And Noelle... she didn't seem like the kind of monster who'd be into tongue.
The two broke their kiss, a strand of saliva hanging off of Susie's tongue briefly. Her hands trailed from Kris', down his arms before gently resting on his chest. The reptile slowly ran her hands down Kris' chest, feeling every inch of his chest and stomach muscles underneath his shirt, stopping once she reached the buckle of his trousers. "I wanna get a good look at your body Kris. Please?" Susie asked. Kris blushed and went wide eyed. He never thought Susie, of all monsters, would be interested in seeing him shirtless. He didn't even need to give her permission to take a peak, just a simple glance was more than enough.
Susie grabbed the bottom of Kris' shirt and pulled it upwards, revealing his toned stomach to her. Upon getting a good look at it, her eyes went wide in shock. "Dude... how the fuck are you so ripped?" She asked, still in awe at how Kris' body looked. "Seriously, you always looked so... scrawny under this shirt." she added. Now it was Kris' turn to smirk. "You think my stomach is ripped? You should see Ralsei's." he said back to her. Almost immediately, thoughts of Ralsei shirtless invaded Susie's imagination, making her feel... rather hot under the collar.
Presumably in an attempt to distract herself, she focused her attention from Kris' lips to his ear, his left ear to be specific. New target sighted. With a smile, Susie went for the ear, kissing, licking and sucking on it. This caused Kris to inhale sharply, as this action brought a HUGE wave of pleasure coursing through his mind and body. The two weren't naked at all, but given how many thoughts were running through his mind (some of which being sexual in nature), they might as well have been.
"You guys?" Ralsei's voice could be heard from upstairs. The two lovebirds panicked, quickly getting off the pool table and straightening themselves out. They managed to tidy themselves up just in time too, as Ralsei suddenly appeared in the doorway. "Our dinner is ready." he said to them with a smile. The two blushed awkwardly as they followed Ralsei up to the kitchen. There at the table was Noelle, sitting in one of the chairs, a plate with a full roast dinner in front of her. The same meal was in front of three other places, all of which had chairs in front of them.
The two boys and Susie walked up to the table and sat down, unaware of Berdly watching them from the window, the darkness of the summer evening behind him. He had took note as he watched Noelle and this mysterious goat boy cook together. He was sure that he felt a bit of his heart break when this goat boy said something to Noelle (although exactly what, Berdly couldn't hear behind the glass) and after a soft giggle, the two shared a tender kiss. He was tempted to go in and confront Noelle once this goat boy left the kitchen, but fought the urge, despite how much his heart ached right then and there. In fact, it might've been good that he didn't go in then, since the goat returned a few seconds later with Kris and Susie.
Susie looked upon the delicacy in surprise. "Noelle? YOU cooked this?" she asked in surprise. Noelle nodded, a little smile growing upon her face. "Mmm-hmm. I learned how to cook this from my dad, before he went into hospital. I'll forever be thankful for him for teaching me all this before he left." Noelle added as she sat down herself. "Oh do go ahead, eat you guys." She then finished, picking up a knife and fork. Susie looked over at Kris, who smiled back. "Honestly, Noelle's a brilliant cook." he said. Susie picked up her own silverware and stabbed the fork into a piece of what looked like roast chicken. She then brought the knife up and cut into the meat until it separated.
She then lifted it up and looked at it. She observed the white skin with drips of gravy falling off of it. Not a single bit of pink present on there. Her eyes glanced over at the others. Kris had already placed a piece of broccoli into his mouth and was chewing on it, his lips sealed, but still making motions as his teeth got to work. Noelle had cut into some roast potatoes and was spreading some gravy onto the inside of the potato itself. Then her eyes locked onto Ralsei.
He was just sitting there, unsure of where to start. If Susie had to guess, Ralsei was overwhelmed by how everything looked. Susie looked back at the chicken on her fork, before placing it into her mouth and chewing. Sure enough, the chicken tasted just as good as it looked for the reptilian. Even Ralsei seemed to get lost into the food, as he was chewing away at a piece of chicken on his fork. She was overwhelmed herself by the amount of flavours and textures that she felt and tasted as her sharp teeth tore the chicken to shreds, but she enjoyed every last bite and every taste bud on her tongue screamed in euphoria when the chicken made contact.
Dare Susie even say it, it was the first time in a while she had REAL food. On top of that, she was actually eating with monsters (and a human) that actually cared about her. There were no empty pizza boxes, no empty beer bottles, no fried chicken buckets or anything of the sort. And she wasn't alone in her room like always. She was at a dinner table, eating off a plate, with those she loved. It was such a comforting feeling for her that it even brought a tear to her eye. She sniffed to herself as she wiped away a tear. She hoped that nobody else had heard her in that moment, because if they did, then-.
"Are you okay Susie? I thought I heard you crying just now." Noelle asked.
Well, so much for that. Susie glanced up, her eyes still gleaming in the light with tears. All her partners had stopped eating and were looking over at her, various looks of concern on their faces. She wiped away a runaway tear that was making its track down her cheek. "I'm sorry Noelle. It's just..." she began, before pausing. For a moment, she considered just saying it was nothing and that she was fine. But then, she thought back to what Toriel said to her during their little one to one together:
"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."
Sure, it applied to Toriel and her, but she felt like it could also apply to here too. Surely, they would understand if she told them! With a breathe, she spoke again. "It's just that ever since mom died and dad picked up his... bad habits let's say, it became rare that I would have a cooked meal like this. Most nights, I end up eating takeaways. I can't even tell you how many pizza boxes, fried chicken buckets, Chinese food parcels and other containers I throw away during the week while my dad's out getting drunk." Her words came out wobbling and uneasy. She was clearly fighting back tears, and everyone could see that.
"Well, are you capable of cooking by yourself?" Ralsei asked, his voice full of a blend of concern and curiosity. Susie could only look upon the goat boy, tears fully visible behind her cold gaze. She could only shake her head, which broke Ralsei's heart in return. "Nah, mom and dad never taught me how to cook anything. The most I could cook is a piece of cheese on toast, and even THEN, last time I tried that, I almost caused a fire. So I don't even bother any more. 'Cause what's the point? My dad's not gonna teach me, he'd rather go out and get drunk every night! My mom's gone and I'm an only child! And...! And...!" Susie said, her voice still shaky. She couldn't even finish the sentence, her words becoming blended into silent sobbing as she rested her face into her arms, shielding her face from the others.
Noelle got up from her chair and walked over to Susie. "Susie..." she said as she stood level with her crush. The reptile didn't move, only continuing to sob into her arms. "Susie." Noelle repeated. This time, Susie DID respond by lifting her head and looking at her girlfriend. Noelle gently cupped Susie's face in her hand and leaned in, planting a kiss onto Susie's lips. A kiss that Susie, despite her heart breaking in that one moment, returned with ease. Kris and Ralsei could only watch, their minds burning with sympathy, as the doe and the reptile shared a tender kiss between themselves.
In direct contrast, Berdly was shocked at the events going on in there. He couldn't hear a word that was going on, but that kiss told him everything he needed to know: Noelle was happy with someone else. Though, he was surprised at how well the goat was taking Noelle kissing Susie. Regardless, he couldn't watch any more of it. He took a step away from the window, a finger resting on his lips, as he tried to hold back the urge to scream, to cry, to do anything that would give away his location to those inside. After collecting his thoughts, he turned and walked away from the window, the kitchen light fading from his body as he made his way back down the path from which he came, occasionally glancing back at Noelle's mansion as he continued onwards.
Back inside, Susie and Noelle broke their kiss. The former was feeling a little better after sharing that with the sensitive doe. "Susie, it's okay. You don't have to be upset about stuff like that any more. I can teach you how to cook if you'd like me to. I'm sure Kris and Ralsei would be happy to as well." Noelle told Susie in the most comforting tone she could. Granted, she was still ever so nervous, but she was able to make herself seem more confident. Noelle then smirked. "I'm sure your dad would appreciate it when he's hungover and he tries some of the cooking that you learned from us." she added. Susie, who smiled in response, then stood up from her chair. "Thank you babe." she said as she wrapped her arms around the sensitive girl, giving her a warm hug.
This took Noelle by surprise. Never in a million years did she ever think that Susie would do something like give her a hug, let alone call her 'babe'. She dreamed of the latter ever since she first laid eyes on the bully girl, and now, it had finally come true. Well, along with her wish to be with Kris. Regardless, the hug was something that Noelle happily returned to Susie. After a few minutes of warm silence, only broken by the sound of the girls soft breathing as they held each other, Kris then spoke up. "You know all three of us will be there for Susie. Don't ever think we'll abandon you or anything like that." he said.
"Oh! If you don't mind, I can show you something to make you feel better Susie." Ralsei then spoke up. The girls broke their hug as Susie glanced over at Ralsei. "Huh?" was all Susie could say as Ralsei stood up and walked over to the girls. "I know this spell that can help you feel better. I know you're probably feeling better than you were now that you've spoken about your family issues, but this spell can make you feel utter euphoria once it's cast. In fact, Noelle, I can teach you." Ralsei explained with a smile. Noelle was taken aback by Ralsei's sudden suggestion.
"M-Me?! But I don't know any of the Dark World's magic!" She said flustered and in a slight panic. Ralsei gently took Noelle's hands and looked into her eyes. "Don't you worry your beautiful head one bit. I'll show you how to do it." he said, his smile not once leaving his face. Noelle only blushed, both at Ralsei taking her hands and him calling her beautiful. "Okay, what I'd like you to do is look Susie deep in her eyes." he began. Noelle looked back at Susie, who seemed just as confused as her girlfriend was. The two locked eyes with each other as Ralsei continued.
"Okay. Now while you keep your eyes locked onto hers, place your index and middle fingers onto her head, just next to where her eyes are." he said as he released Noelle's hands. Slowly, Noelle did exactly that, placing her fingers gently on either side of Susie's head. This already felt euphoric to the monster girl and the spell hadn't even been cast yet! "Okay. Is... is there any other steps, Ralsei?" Noelle asked, not once breaking eye contact with Susie. Kris rested his elbow on the table as he watched on. He knew it was bad table manners, but he felt like this was an exception to that rule.
"Oh, this'll be good." Kris said to himself as he watched on. Ralsei then stood next to Noelle, being visible to Kris between her and Susie. "Okay, the last step you need to do to cast this spell is to close your eyes, envision how Susie's eyes look and say the words 'Tristitia evanescere'. Then, the spell will cast." Ralsei said. Noelle briefly glanced over at Ralsei, who smiled and gave her a thumbs up. The doe then looked back at Susie, who hadn't broken eye contact with her during this whole time. The doe then shut her eyes, her fingers still pressed against her girlfriend's head. After envisioning Susie's eyes in her mind, she shouted that phrase.
"Tristitia evanescere!"
Almost immediately after those words were spoken, a pink shock-wave burst out of Noelle and Susie's bodies, traveling outward beyond the walls of the mansion. Thankfully, there was no wind that accompanied the shock-wave, so there was no mess or anything of the sorts following it. Noelle opened her eyes, expecting something to have changed. In a way, things had. Susie looked a little dishevelled compared to a few seconds ago, but there was a smile growing on her face. She then let out some laughter, starting out quiet, but gradually growing in volume, until she was in gleeful hysterics.
"Dude! It's gone! That sadness I felt earlier is gone!" Susie said with the utmost happiness possible. "I don't know what that spell did, but it worked! I haven't been this happy in such a long time!" she continued, almost getting out of breath with how worked up she was getting. Noelle looked over at Ralsei, concerned. But his warm smile brought back the joyous mood. "That spell you cast basically erases all negative thoughts inside whoever the spell is cast on. It'll last only for a few hours, but she'll feel happy for said few hours." Ralsei explained. Noelle smiled herself. "So, she feels a lot better now?" She asked. Ralsei opened his mouth to answer, but Susie was too quick as she gave a simple "Better?" in response.
What happened next, nobody could've seen it coming.
Susie quickly grabbed Noelle by the shoulders and planted a HUGE kiss onto her lips, holding her in place for a good 5 seconds before breaking, complete with that classic 'Mwah!' sound that usually accompanies kisses. Noelle could only stand there, wide eyed and starstruck, having being kissed by Susie after so many years. Sure, the girls shared their first kiss together in the elevator, but this was the first time that Susie actually kissed her, whereas usually, Noelle would be the one to initiate the kisses between her and Susie. Susie then glanced over at Ralsei. "Ralsei! C'mere babe!" She said, still in her gleeful state. Ralsei put up his hands, presumably in an attempt to say he was okay. But this action fell on deaf ears as Susie moved his arms out of the way and smooched Ralsei right there on the spot. His eyes went wide at the action and he was still in shock after Susie broke the kiss too.
Kris looked on in amusement before he noticed Susie glancing at him. "Kris! I know you want a kiss too, dude!" Susie said. Kris smirked to himself, and got up from his chair. Unlike Ralsei and Noelle, Kris was prepared as Susie approached. Reacting quickly, he wrapped his arms around Susie's waist and spun her around. In a classic kiss move, Kris was the one who initiated it, Susie being dipped underneath Kris and held by her back by the human, who smooched her as her arms went around the back of his neck, returning said kiss.
Upon being released of the kiss and returned to a standing position, Susie could only let out a exhilarated "Woo!" in response to how passionate Kris was in kissing her. Kris smiled at this reaction from her girlfriend. He then glanced over at Ralsei and Noelle, who were both still in the afterglow of their own kisses with Susie. "Heh, I've always wanted to do that with someone." Kris said, still holding his girl in his arms. It was then he noticed that the gems on each of their rings were glowing a bright pink.
"Uhh, guys? Why are your gems glowing?" he asked. This seemed to snap everyone out of their trances as they quickly noticed this course of events as well. "Oh! This is completely normal, Kris. If one member of the pact feels a strong emotion, then the ring will transfer said emotion into those whom that monster made a pact with. Any emotion can be passed on, including joy, sadness, anger, fear, disgust, but the most common emotion transferred? Love." Ralsei explained, feeling all warm inside at the mention of love.
Sure enough, that warm feeling passed onto the others as their rings continued to glow. Kris smiled as he continued to hold his beloved Susie. Even Ralsei and Noelle couldn't resist the urge to share a hug between them. Their hearts were aflutter with affection for one another. It might've been a moment, but it was a moment that felt like hours. But alas, all moments like this come to a natural end eventually. Once this was the case, the four of them returned to their chairs and continued with their dinners, before they turned cold.
10 minutes later, they had finished their food and their places were in Noelle's dishwasher. As for the four lovers themselves, they were standing in her room, taking a look at a few DVDs that Noelle had brought up. It seemed they were unsure about what movie to watch.
There was a DVD of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, one that Kris and Susie immediately objected to (although Kris did watch a couple of episodes one time, though he wouldn't admit it to his partners), there was a DVD of Mission: Impossible, which Noelle admitted to watching tons of times with Dess and Rudy. And there was also a DVD of Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within. Ralsei was unsure about that movie, although he didn't give a reason why.
Then there was an... interesting case when one of the DVDs brought up was for a little movie called Antichrist. The cover art showing a man lying on top of a women, both of them naked and engaging in sexual intercourse, although nothing explicit could be seen. Behind them were what looked like tree roots with multiple hands poking through it. The movie title in red with three names over it: Willem Defoe, Charlotte Gainsbourg and Lars Von Trier.
"Huh, this movies looks interesting." Kris said to the others. Unaware to all of them, Susie's eyes went wide upon seeing the cover, as if seeing it brought back some horrific memories. "I don't know you guys, Dess said that this movie was pretty extreme at points." Noelle said as she observed the cover. She was well aware of Lars Von Trier's previous works. A few years prior, she had sat down with Dess and Rudy and watched his movie Melancholia with them. A rather artsy and... well, melancholic movie in her eyes, but she enjoyed the visual aspects of the movie.
"Noelle, you and me have watched much more extreme videos online. I'm sure we can handle-." Kris began, before Susie cut him off with a stern "Guys, no!", taking everyone by surprise. Even a look at her surprised them. Susie had gone pale in the face and still remained wide eyed. "I've... I've watched that movie once. My dad never allowed me to watch that movie, and I never understood why. So one night, when dad went out drinking, I put the DVD player on and watched it. It was okay at first, but then... when it got to the more... notorious parts..." She explained, although it seemed she was struggling to explain the further she went, as if her mind was trying to suppress memories of Antichrist.
"I threw up." She finished, almost seeming relieved at having said that. "You? Throwing up at a horror movie? What could be so bad in Antichrist, that it makes YOU, Susie Accrue, throw up watching it?" Kris asked, almost sounding as though he didn't believe her. Susie didn't want to answer his question, but a simple glance at Noelle, who also looked sickened as well, confirmed it. Thus, Susie had no choice but to explain it.
For your sake dear reader, I, as the narrator, will not repeat what happens in THAT movie, but I will say that Susie had the displeasure of explaining, complete with hand gestures to better prove her point. To describe the first sequence, she pointed at Ralsei's groin, earning a blush from the goat, before picking up a nearby piece of wood and slamming it hard against her open palm. This got the message across as both boys winced in pain at this image. She then proceeded to hold up a nearby drink bottle filled with a strawberry juice of sorts and mimicked a hand job onto the container.
Finally, she removed the lid and shot the bottle upwards, allowing some liquid to escape its container. Ralsei quivered, his mouth hanging open in shock. Kris could only cover his mouth in shock, although just the description of the act made him sick to his stomach. "But that's just the first scene of why the movie's so infamous." Susie said. She then continued with the description, pointing to her own crotch. She then held up a fist, making sure her thumb was poking out before pretending to cut at it, using the index and middle fingers of her free hand as though they were scissors.
Right then and there, Kris lost it. He screamed in shock, turning away from Susie. He briefly walked away before turning back with a horrified "What the fuck?!" escaping his mouth. Ralsei just crumbled upon hearing this scene, falling to his knees and holding back the urge to vomit himself, palms desperately pressed against his mouth, eyes watering at the horrific imagery he was being subjected to just by Susie's description and vile charades.
"I know. I had that same reaction to the first scene. I've seen porn where guys are into being treated roughly by their partners, but I draw the line at making guys cum blo-!" Susie said, gagging as she tried to say the last word. Such a description seemed to make Susie sick to her stomach. It was only then that Kris noticed that Noelle hadn't moved or reacted to Susie's description, only sitting there, presumably mortified, with what looked like a thousand yard stare on her face.
"Noelle? Please tell me you didn't see this movie either!" Kris said, unable to hide his disgust. Noelle seemed to snap out of whatever trance she was in as she quickly responded with a "Huh? N-No! I'd never watch something as vile as this!" in a panic. Although Kris wasn't stupid, he knew that his girlfriend wasn't being honest with him. Thus, he stuck out an index finger towards Noelle and said a spell of his own.
"Veritas revelare!"
A blue mist shot out from his index finger and moved forward until it hit Noelle. "Now, would you like to proceed and tell me if you've seen it or not, Noelle?" Kris said slowly, making sure every word was clear. Noelle was confused. What on earth did this spell do? "I already told you Kris, I haven't seen it." was all she said before she suddenly stood up straight, her eyes going completely white.
"The Antichrist DVD belongs to Dess, but she lets me borrow her DVDs to watch in my room. She was watching it in the living room one night and I came down for a glass of water. I accidentally saw pieces of the movie, including one of the genital mutilation scenes. I went back to my room and cried myself to sleep that night." she rambled in an almost robotic manner. Once she was done, her eyes returned to normal as she quickly clamped a hand against her mouth in shock.
"Kris, wh-what was that?! What did you just do to me?!" Noelle said, afraid and shaken up by what just happened. Kris only gave a knowing smirk. "Just a little spell I learned from peering into Ralsei's head." he explained, his voice filled with a slight smugness. Susie was taken aback by this as he glanced over at Ralsei, who appeared to look ashamed. "Oh yeah, I should've told you guys that. Those who wear the rings are able to read the minds of their partners. It would be very hard for us to keep secrets from each other with this pact." he explained, blushing slightly.
"Can you look at me for a second please, Ralsei?" Noelle asked, walking up to him. The doe then proceeded to stare into Ralsei's eyes as Kris picked up the DVDs. Almost immediately, her head became overwhelmed with various thoughts that the goat boy had. After a few seconds, she broke eye contact. "Oh my..." she could only say. Ralsei looked to the ground as he gently swayed side to side. "I know. It's a little overwhelming to read minds like that. Hence why I don't do it often. I'd like to give you guys some privacy with your thoughts."
Unbeknownst to anyone else, Kris had picked up all the DVDs when he noticed one in particular, picking it up to look at the case. The two paused for a second, before Noelle spoke up again. "Hey Ralsei, while I was having a look inside your head, I found this spell in there that I'm a little curious about." Ralsei's interest perked up. "Oh? What spell was it?" he asked. "Well, it sounds a bit... odd, but it goes something like... 'Inexorabi-'." she began, before Ralsei suddenly put a finger onto her lips, shutting her up almost immediately. Noelle glanced at Ralsei, who looked shocked and slightly upset at the spell Noelle was about to speak.
"Noelle, please don't cast that spell. Remember the Snowgrave spell I told you and Kris about?" he said, his voice shaking in fear. Noelle nodded, allowing him to continue. "What you were about to cast WAS that very spell. It's a very dangerous spell and if you cast it in a closed space like this, none of us would be alive by the time it finishes running its course. Noelle, please promise me, no matter what happens, you'll never, and I mean NEVER, cast that spell. Under ANY circumstances."
Noelle paused. She normally would have so many questions about this spell, but judging how serious Ralsei looked in that one moment, she could only assume that this spell was a serious threat if cast. After a few seconds of silence, she nodded. "Okay Ralsei, I won't." she said, causing Ralsei to give a small smile, almost looking relieved. "Hey, you guys? I think I might've found what movie we could watch." Kris finally said, catching everyone's attention. In the human's hand was a DVD of The Phoenix, the horror movie he was a fan of. The only difference here was the neon blue text beneath the title that read one word:
'Uncut'
Susie looked surprised at this discovery. "Dude... is that the unrated version of The Phoenix? I've heard that version of the movie is really hard to find!" she said. Ralsei had a look at the DVD, taking it out of Kris' hands to have a good look at it. Aside from the new text on the front, there wasn't really much difference between the one he saw at Kris' and this one. "Noelle, didn't you say you couldn't finish this movie?" the goat boy asked. Noelle could only give a "Mmm hmm." in response. The human then glanced at the doe.
"Well, how come you have this DVD on you? I've been coming over for years and I've NEVER seen this DVD on display ANYWHERE in the house." Kris said, surprised at how he had never noticed it before. Noelle turned away from the others before responding. "Well, I um... tried to watch it myself. Dess got it for me as a birthday present and one night, I tried watching it on my laptop while my mom was asleep. I could only get up to the... rap duo murder scene before I tapped out. It's just... a sickening way to kill off a pair of characters." Noelle confessed.
Kris had to admit, the first time he saw the movie, the murder of the rap duo by the hands of the Phoenix was a rather disturbing scene. He was also unable to sleep for weeks after seeing that scene, only being able to overcome said scene by both watching it multiple times and looking at the behind the scenes of the movie itself. Kris was brought out of his thoughts when he felt Susie's hand on his shoulder. "Dude, is this like... the only movie you watch?" the reptile asked.
Kris looked at the DVD in Ralsei's hands, then back to Susie. "Honestly? If we're taking about recent movies, then... yeah." Kris said matter of factly. Susie raised an eyebrow and gave a simple "Huh." in response. Ralsei then spoke up. "Well, why don't we all watch it together? I'm curious as to what the film is like myself, since I only saw part of it at the Dreemur residence." Susie was about to speak up when Kris interrupted. "Yeah, and honestly? I've never actually seen the uncut version of The Phoenix."
"It'll also help Noelle get over her fear of the movie too!" Ralsei added joyfully. Noelle looked unsure about this, something the goat boy caught up on, taking Noelle's hand in his. "I'm sure you'll be fine Noelle. But if you can't handle it, we can just turn it off and watch another movie, okay?" he said softly to his girlfriend. Susie then spoke up with an "I don't know you guys..."
"What? Do you want me to hold your hand as we watch it, Susie?" Kris said in a teasing tone. Before the Dark World, such a comment like that would get Kris smacked in the face. Hard. But Susie wouldn't be able to bring herself to hurt her boyfriend, so all she could respond with was by blushing, folding her arms and giving an embarrassed "N..no. Shut up Kris!", awkwardly looking away from her boyfriend, presumably to hide her blushing. This response earned a giggle from both Noelle and Ralsei.
"Alright, I'll do it." Noelle said with a smile. She got up, taking the DVD out of its box and placing the disc into her television. Kris smiled. "Heh, I guess it's settled then." he added as he walked up to the light switch and turned it off. "Hey Susie, I'll show you some other spells of mine." Ralsei said. Susie took interest in this. "Uhh dude, the only magic I know is that crappy magician stuff that only little kids at birthday parties fall for." Susie said. Ralsei stood up. "Oh no, it's easy. Just focus on the curtains, and while moving your arms together, just say 'summa vento' at them." Ralsei explained.
Susie felt this was ridiculous, but hey, if the magic worked for Kris and Noelle, surely it must work for her too. She turned to the curtains as Kris and Noelle sat back down, finished with their tasks. Raising her arms, she shut her eyes and, as she quickly brought her arms together, shouted that phrase.
"Summa vento!"
Almost immediately, the curtains drew themselves closed, taking Susie by surprise. "Whoa! I didn't think that would actually work!" Susie said, pure surprise in her voice. Kris and Noelle smiled. Now she knew how it felt when THEY used Dark World magic for the first time. They were brought out of their wonder by Ralsei shouting another spell.
"Convivium de caelo!"
Everyone was startled by the sudden appearance of a small bowl in front of them. Inside was tons of various candies and chocolates. Kris took a small piece of chocolate inside a red wrapper and examined it. Well, as best as he could in the dark room. "It's the real deal, Kris. Just like how you love them." Ralsei said with a smile. Kris looked back at his goat boyfriend, who smiled. Kris opened the wrapper and removed it, revealing the dark chocolate piece to the world. He then popped into his mouth and chewed. Sure enough, it was just like how he tried it so many times before.
"Alright you guys, let's start the movie." Noelle said with a smile. She held up the remote for the TV and pressed play. The group got comfortable as the movie began, both Ralsei and Noelle sitting on the soft carpet, while Kris and Susie sat on Noelle's bed.
"Well, that movie was... something. For my first horror movie, I liked what it set out to do. It scared me a few times, so I guess it did its job... properly?" Ralsei said, standing back up as the credits rolled on the television screen. Noelle stood up too. "Yeah. I have to admit, I really enjoyed watching that. Sure, the violence was graphic at points, but I really enjoyed the movie." she added. "What did you guys think?" she then asked, turning to face Kris and Susie.
Kris shrugged. "Well, it's the Phoenix. I've seen it so many times, it doesn't disturb me that much. Although, I will admit, the baby scene was quite disturbing." he said. In the version Kris had at home, this scene wasn't present. Basically, Lucas had kidnapped a baby from one of his fans and recorded its crying into a microphone to use in one of his songs. While this was before he started murdering to gain screaming audio (and thus, he didn't harm the child he stole), it was unnerving to see how monstrous Lucas was in that one scene, even if he dropped the child off at a police station, pretending to have found it crying on the street.
In fact, the whole uncut movie was a lot more disturbing in Kris' eyes than his version of the film. There was a lot more violence, especially in Lucas' kills, some scenes were extended (including a softcore sex scene between Blair and Trent) and there was a lot more dialogue in place that must've been cut from the theatrical release. Kris even noticed certain behaviour out of his partners during the movie's run time.
For example, he expected Noelle to scream at the rap duo murder, but he didn't expect Susie to wince and shield her eyes from the scene. Some jump scares used in the movie, while seen a thousand times, still managed to make Kris jump when they came on. Ralsei just so happened to be holding the bowl when one jump scare involving a nightmare Blair was having that involved Trent's bloody face being smashed through a bathroom mirror caused him to throw the bowl up in the air in shock, showering the candies and chocolates down on everyone else.
Noelle and Ralsei were even rooting for Blair as the story progressed. They got so involved with the character, Noelle came close to bursting into tears upon Trent's death at the hands of Lucas who, at that point, was revealed to have started the fire that killed Purely Neon. So you could imagine how much relief and joy was experienced by Noelle and Ralsei when Lucas was finally killed when the stage he was set to perform on burned down and collapsed. Susie then sat up.
"After watching that movie Kris, I finally get why you love it so much. There's... an art to it. It's not mindless commentary about the music industry, it's not trying to be shocking for the sake of being shocking. It's just a horror movie depicting what if some mad man became a pop star and decided to murder. The score was impressive and I do think the lighting and filming added to the horror. Plus, the guys who played the leads did a phenomenal job as their respected characters. I'd need to watch your DVD at some point Kris, to get an idea of what was cut, but overall, I'm pretty impressed by what came out of it."
Everyone was surprised. Nobody ever thought Susie would go into details about what she liked about a movie like that. At the very least, they were expecting a "It's awesome." or a "It's an alright movie." from her, not a full on essay on why she liked it so much! Noelle walked up to Susie and looked her in the eyes. "Susie, you sound like you work for Metacritic. You should be a movie reviewer when you leave school." she said with a smirk and a chuckle. Susie also smirked at the idea. "You know, maybe I should." she said, resting a finger on her chin in thought.
Her train of thought was interrupted by a yawn escaping her mouth. "But for now, I think it's time for us to head to bed." she added. Kris got off the bed and, with a "Yeah, I need to get out of my clothes anyway.", immediately took off his shirt, revealing his stomach to the group. He then removed the belt from his waist and pulled down his jeans, revealing white boxers underneath. Once they were off his ankles, Kris smirked to himself. He could feel all eyes were on him, especially since he had the balls to remove his clothing right then and there.
He knew others were staring at him, wide eyed and shocked at how he looked. Despite seeing how toned Kris was back in the basement, Susie was still taken aback by the human's physique, Ralsei was embarrassed when he first saw Kris shirtless, but now found him... rather handsome. But best reaction came from Noelle. She stood there frozen, her eyes focused on Kris' chest. So many lewd thoughts ran through her mind, thoughts she believed she escaped back at the Dreemur residence. She wasn't sure, but there was the possibility that she started drooling over her boyfriend as he stood there, head down, hair covering his eyes.
"Did you guys have a good look or are you gonna ask me to strip for you?" Kris said in a flirty tone. Almost immediately, everyone regained their composure and turned away from the human, their cheeks burning red. "Please tell me we're not gonna sleep naked. I DON'T want to be reminded of that night." Noelle said as she stripped down to her underwear, a white bra and panties, just like she wore back from the Dark World.
Ralsei was kind enough to cover his eyes so that he didn't get a glimpse of Noelle's body in undress. "We won't. We're all gonna sleep in our underwear." Susie's voice said. When Noelle had finished undressing, she looked up to see Susie was already in her underwear, the same black bra and panties she slept in that fateful night. Ralsei still had his hand over his eyes, something Susie noticed.
"Ralsei dude, will you PLEASE remove your hand from your eyes? You don't need to shy away from us just 'cause we're close to bein' naked!" she said, sounding annoyed. Ralsei only grew defensive at this. "It's called having some dignity! I'm not gonna start leering at you, Noelle and Kris!" He snapped back. Noelle blushed. It was flattering to her that Ralsei was still trying his hardest to be a modest monster, but even she felt this was a bit much.
"You know... I don't mind, Ralsei. You can look if you want to." Noelle stammered nervously. She couldn't believe herself or what she was saying. She was willingly allowing Ralsei to look her naked! Well, not naked per say, but close to being there! "You see? And do you hear Kris complaining?" Susie added. Ralsei was about to open his mouth, when Kris spoke. "I'm not complaining. I'm not complaining at all." the human said, almost immediately getting a "K-Kris, th-th-that's not an invite for YOU to start staring at us!" from Noelle in response.
Ralsei sighed before removing his hand. Sure enough, the girls DID look sexy in their underwear. And sure, he'll admit Kris DOES look handsome with nothing but underwear on. "Well? You gonna sleep in your clothes and get all hot and sweaty?" Susie asked. Ralsei blushed, realizing what Susie was implying. He then sighed. "Alright, but PLEASE don't stare at me." Ralsei said before removing his shirt. Kris smirked upon seeing his ab ridden stomach. It felt good seeing it again after so many weeks. It was one of many reasons he liked having Ralsei as a boyfriend.
"Don't worry Ralsei, we wo...ly shit."
That was all Susie could say in that moment, for her and Noelle hadn't seen Ralsei shirtless prior to tonight, so they were in for a shock upon seeing it. Both girls went wide eyed and couldn't take their eyes off of the goat's stomach. Noelle was speechless. She must've hit the jackpot! Not only was Ralsei a really nice monster and beautiful personality wise, but he was physically sexy too! It was taking a lot of will power for both Susie and Noelle not to pounce on the prince and ravage in his body right then and there.
"There. I took them off. Are you happy now?" Ralsei's voice said, breaking the girls out of their stupor. The prince stood in the room, his clothes crumpled on the floor, leaving him standing there in his white boxers, his hands behind his back and a crimson colour on his cheeks as his eyes focused on the others. "Oh absolutely." Susie said, a slight hint of lust in her voice. Noelle could only give a "Mmm hmm." in response, her face unable to hide the blush growing on it.
Ralsei couldn't take the awkwardness brewing inside him. The girls and Kris might've been okay with it, but it still felt weird to the goat prince that he was standing there, almost naked in front of them. It was a wonder for him that his body didn't... 'react', let's say, to the scantily clad girls in front of him. "I... I... I'm gonna use the bathroom!" Ralsei quickly said before running out of the room, grabbing the mobile phone Asgore gave to him on the way out. A few seconds later, the bathroom door slammed shut. Kris paused for a minute as a yawn escaped his mouth.
"Yeah, I'm gonna grab a glass of water. You girls head off to bed, I'll be with you in a minute." Kris said as he walked out of the bedroom. Now, it was just Susie and Noelle on their own. Susie walked over to the window, parting the curtains to look outside. She didn't seem to mind that she was in her underwear, exposing herself to the outside world. Not that there was anybody out there to expose herself to. But her focus was on the mood high up above, the rock almost appearing to shine down upon the world below.
"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Noelle said, walking up to the window, her eyes looking upon the moon. A giant rock plastered against the black backdrop of the night skies, only accompanied by various stars, appearing as white dots of various sizes that seemed to stretch as far as the eye can see. It wasn't the same as the starry night skies of the Dark World. Those skies looked more alive and full of a lot more colour than the real world, but Noelle thought the night looked beautiful regardless. And judging by Susie taking an interest, it seemed that she thought so also.
"Y-yeah. Yeah it is." Susie stammered. This was a first time for her to be at a loss for words. The room was silent as the two girls drew their attention to the sky. "You know, back when mom was still alive..." Susie began, gaining Noelle's attention. "Me and her would always go on long walks out into the countryside at night. There was this... spot that we'd always lie down at. The same spot that the four of us... came back from the Dark World after our night together. Me and mom would just... lie there and watch the stars pass us by. It was... kind of relaxing."
Noelle could only lock her eyes on Susie as she continued to look out the window. "Sometimes, when my dad is asleep, I'd sneak out and go there by myself. Away from the drama. Away from the hurt. Away from... everything. I'd lie there and watch the night skies pass me by. I like to think that mom is up there with all those stars, looking down on me, giving me silent words of encouragement. To keep going through life, no matter how hard it is. But... even then, I do wonder... if it's worth going on sometimes." Susie admitted as she turned away from the window. It was only then Noelle noticed it.
Her crush's forearms had what looked like healed wounds on them, some of them even looked like they were recent.
Noelle gasped to herself, her eyes going wide at this revelation. Susie... self harms? How did she, and the others for that matter, not notice them earlier? "S... Susie...?" was all Noelle could say before Susie turned back to face her. "Yeah, they are. Do you remember when we went to the movies to see that vampire superhero film you always wanted to see? And despite how warm it was in there, I refused to take off my jacket?" Susie asked. Noelle could only nod as she thought back. The doe insisted Susie removed her jacket in that cinema, but she wouldn't listen, even backing away from her date when she tried to remove the jacket herself.
Susie lifted her forearm up, making sure the hesitation marks were visible to her girlfriend. "This was why." she said, tears brewing in her eyes. Noelle walked forward as Susie continued. "It's just... so difficult. I tried everything to make myself happy! The dates with you, Kris and Ralsei DO help, but then, I feel so miserable when they finish! So the night before our date to the movies, I took one of my dad's old razor blades, broke it into pieces and carved the blade into my arms! Do you have any idea... ANY idea, how much it fucking hurts, to have a BLUNT razor cut your skin open?! It's just... just-!"
Susie ranting was halted by Noelle suddenly wrapped her arms around Susie's waist. The bully girl went wide eyed as tears began to freely fall from her eyes, onto the carpet below like raindrops. A few seconds of silence passed before Susie could hear Noelle starting to cry herself. Such a sound broke Susie's heart even further, as she clamped her eyes shut and returned the hug Noelle was giving to her. Through her tears, Noelle spoke, her voice quivering and shaking as she held back the urge to burst into tears herself.
"Susie... please... PLEASE! Don't ever think you need to go that route again! Don't you EVER think that you're better off dead! Me and the boys would be mortified if you died at your own hands! And this isn't what your mother would want from you! What would your dad think if he came home one day and found out that his daughter took her own life?! Susie, if you succeeded in ending your own life... then I'd probably do the same! I'd be in the obituary column of the local papers a few weeks after you're buried!"
Susie was taken aback. She was shocked that, despite having her family, Noelle would take her own life if she died from one of her suicide attempts. Such a confession was more than enough for Susie to keep living. If not for her, then definitely for her girlfriend and boyfriend's sakes. The two broke their hug and looked each other in the eyes, tears flowing out of them. Noelle leaned forward and the girls once again shared a passionate kiss between them. It seemed to matter not to Noelle that they were both in their underwear. This moment was more important to her.
After a few seconds of locking lips, the two broke. "Listen. If you ever need to talk about this, then please. I beg you Susie. Talk to either me, Ralsei or Kris. Don't ever feel like you have to deal with any issues you have alone, okay?" Noelle said. Susie glanced down at Noelle and, upon seeing how serious she was, nodded. "Okay Noelle. I will." Susie said. A small smile crept onto the doe's face as she leaned forward and planted another kiss on her girlfriend's cheek. The two then shared another hug as Kris walked into the room, taken aback by what he was seeing.
"Uhh, did I miss something you guys?" was all the human could say in that moment.
The moon continued to hang above the skies, the various stars glimmering around it as the night continued onwards. The wind gently blew the trees, bushes and flowers as it passed by. Noelle's mansion stood proud against the darkness, all entrances locked up tight. Inside, the rooms were dark and empty. Silence filled the air as a perfect stillness lie dormant within the atmosphere. A clock on the wall read quarter past 2 as it quietly ticked the seconds, minutes and hours away.
Noelle's bedroom was just as dark and still as the rest of the house, although it wasn't AS silent. If one was to reside inside that room, they'd hear the soft sounds of peaceful breathing, coming from Noelle's bed. Four lots of clothes were abandoned on the carpet, all except underwear was on the floor. On the bed lay four bodies breathing softly, their skin underneath the covers. Noelle lay on her side, her back against the wall. Next to her was Kris, lying on his back, facing the ceiling. Then there was Susie, also lying on her back. And finally, there was Ralsei, lying on his side, facing the rest of the room.
All four of them asleep and at peace in Dreamland. It was peaceful inside that room. But even then, things weren't entirely perfect. For Kris stirred awake, lying upon that bed. He glanced around the room, his eyes focusing on one object, then another. He could get up and walk around, but he'd have to risk waking up his partners. One look over at Susie and Ralsei told him they didn't want to be disturbed. Same with Noelle as he gently sat up and looked down upon her.
The thoughts crept in again. Those damned thoughts. "They'll find someone better than you one day, Kris." they'd say. Hurtful things that the human would rather not think about. Kris rubbed his eyes as he tried to block out the thoughts. But no matter how much he tried, he just couldn't. Through the darkness of the room, shapes began to appear. The wardrobe, the television, the guitar, the fish tank. Everything present in Noelle's room.
Once his eyes had gotten used to the dark, he glanced over at his clothes, lying dormant on the floor. For a second, he was tempted to get out of bed, quietly get dressed and walk back home. Sure, it was late, but he had a house key. As long as he was quiet, he could sneak out and go back home. Just as long as he didn't set off any alarms on the way out. Nobody would notice until the morning. Well, until sunrise more like it. Kris had a feeling it was early in the morning, although he wasn't sure exactly what time it was.
But before he could act, he heard something. At first, he wasn't sure where it came from. He looked around, trying to find the source of the sound. The answer came to him from behind him. He turned back to face Noelle, who was kicking and fidgeting in her sleep. Every now and then, a little whimper would escape her lips. It seemed she was having a nightmare of her own. Just like when she was a little girl. "K-Kris?" Susie's voice gently whispered. Kris turned to face Susie, who was slowly waking up to. "What's that noise?" she asked.
"It's Noelle. I think she's having a nightmare." Kris explained. Susie rolled her eyes slightly. "Grab Ralsei and pull him closer. I'd like to comfort Noelle using all of us." Kris then said as he laid back down. Susie looked over at Ralsei and brought her arms up, gently laying them onto Ralsei's sleeping body and pulling him closer. Almost in response, Ralsei, in his sleep, rolled over to face her and wrapped his arms around his girlfriend.
Kris looked down at Noelle, still whimpering in her sleep and gently held her. He then pulled her close as her whimpers began to fall quiet, coming out less and less. A smile then slowly crept onto her face as she raised her arms to hug Kris. She seemed to be at ease. Noelle might've been stuck in a nightmare in that moment, but it seemed she recognized Kris' touch. Kris looked over at Susie, who had moved her arm so that the human could snuggle up with her. Gently holding onto Noelle, Kris moved himself up, placing himself under Susie's arm, which then closed around the top of his back.
The two smiled and shared a tender kiss before Susie rested her head against Kris' shoulder. Kris then turned to face Noelle, who was sleeping peacefully in his arms. The human smiled and planted a delicate kiss of his own onto her forehead. He then placed Noelle's arm over Susie's stomach to rest on Ralsei, further pulling her close to the others. With everything out of the way, things were silent once more aside from the soft breathing.
Kris looked back up at the ceiling and smiled. This was perfect. This was a precious moment for the human. He wished he could stay like this forever, in the arms of those who loved him. Noelle laying in his arms, Ralsei close by and Susie resting her head on his shoulder. It was peaceful for him. Kris exhaled before resting his head back on the pillow and closing his eyes. It didn't take long for the human to drift off back to sleep, returning the bedroom to the peace it once had.
Yes, this was perfect. Kris was with his loved ones, sleeping by their side in total harmony. And absolutely nothing was going to ruin it.