"Fine, I'll do it myself!" Susie growled as she whipped open the door and slammed it between them.
With a huff, she glared behind her before taking a deep breath to center herself.
'Keep your cool. They can pay later, for whatever the hell their problem is.'
She glanced to her hand as a familiar sensation began to flood past her anger, "Fuck." she muttered under her breath.
That door had been locked.
'It'd hurt less to kick it to scrap.' she grinned as she clenched her fist, looking up to the darkness around her. 'But then I couldn't slam it in their stupid faces, heh. Good riddance. Now if they don't mind, I've got to be the hero this time around.' she thought smugly.
The room lay dim; Most things blur into their surroundings unless you squint through the shade. While trying to discern if any of the shapes were Noelle, Susie felt another familiar sensation.
It was cold.
She exhaled and watched her breath disappear into the darkness before her.
Freezing.
Susie furrowed her brow, this didn't make sense.
There was no one here. She expected to find the Queen's minions surrounding Noelle or perhaps an elaborate cage trapping her, instead it was just another simple room.
As the thought left her she spotted exactly what she was looking for shifting just across the room.
In the center of the back wall sat a bed under a windowsill. Curtains drawn allowing the night sky to pour in and providing a means to see part of the room.
Sitting on the bed was a shivering pile of blankets, was it Noelle? Whoever it was sat bundled up, staring out the window.
Susie couldn't help but smile as she took a step closer only to be interrupted by a quiet demand.
"Leave." came a cold voice. It seemed to quake in their throat as it came, but it was more than enough to freeze Susie in her boots. It made her feel strange.
Her smile left, replaced with uncertainty and concern.
"I said LEAVE." The voice shouted, straining itself as a piercing wind carried hail from the voice's perch towards Susie.
Holding her arms up to shield herself from the sudden cold, Susie played off instinct.
"Hey! What the hell!?" she shouted, pulling her axe out of the darkness and striking a menacing stance, "You cold bastard, where's Noelle? Hand her over!" she snarled, showing her teeth at the opportunity to fight.
The wind billowed frantically before suddenly stopping in its tracks, hail falling to the ground with a shatter.
The figure didn't move.
Susie stomped her foot as she took a step closer, "Do you HEAR me, asshole? Where is she?!", her voice carried a threatening hiss.
Silence. A momentary stalemate.
The figure shifted.
Susie could just barely make out that they were tightening the blankets around themselves.
It was ignoring her.
This pissed her off.
Her lips curled back to bare her full toothy maw once more as her patience ran thin.
Her eyes hinged on going fully rabid as she stared through the figure, "What's wrong? Freeze your mouth shut with that attack?" She slammed the head of her axe into the ground before her and with a sinister snicker she continued, "You know what? I'm actually glad one of you assholes showed up to ambush me. I'll show you what a real monster looks like in the dark!" she growled as the sound of snapping wood accompanied her axe being pulled out of the flooring.
She took another weighted step closer as she readied her axe for whatever their next attack would be, only to be frozen solid not by the figure's magic but by the noise they began to hear.
She blunk, dumbfounded, before realization set in.
They were crying. They had always been crying.
Susie dropped her axe which quickly disappeared into the darkness below as she took another step forward, "Noelle?" she called to the figure, scratching the back of her head in embarrassment.
"I, uh, that wasn't me yelling at you, I uh… So... ice magic, huh?" Susie tried to calm things down after her blunder.
'Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck, idiot, of course she knows magic here, we didn't exactly knock now did we, of course this happens.' Her mind raced.
"Susie?" Noelle asked, voice threatening to crack. She fumbled with the blankets and pulled her head out. Her face was drained of color, and her eyes looked tired, even still they widened in surprise when she managed to see her guest.
"You… You shouldn't see me like this, after all that's happened… Why are you here?" She was shaking. Something about the question and seeing her like this hurt Susie, it didn't feel right.
"I'm here for you?" Susie spoke, unable to think as she walked closer and placed a hand on the bedpost. "Why wouldn't I be? You need help, so uh, here I am. Right?"
'Is that weird, I made it weird.'
"I mean, unless you don't… I don't really see anyone trying to come after you now that I mention it..." Susie was beginning to reconsider barging in.
Noelle furrowed her brow and stared harshly into the pillow beside Susie, deep in thought.
"I think I see..." she said as she rubbed the tenderness of her eyes one by one.
The cold seemed to ease as Noelle relaxed ever so slightly out of her stressed headspace; As the room warmed, so did her complexion.
Susie fidgeted with the bedpost waiting on the pondering deer. "And? So are you coming along or?" she couldn't help but sound concerned at Noelle's tone.
Noelle didn't seem to hear her question, instead closing her eyes and nodding hard as if to convince herself of the validity of her own thoughts. Susie raised an eyebrow in confusion as the silence pushed on a moment more.
Noelle opened her eyes with a new look of self-assurance as she confidently locked eyes with Susie.
She smiled, blushing with all the red her body could manage. Susie was mildly taken aback by this change.
"Uh… is something on my face?" Susie asked, a touch embarrassed all of a sudden.
And then, all at once, Noelle grabbed Susie's hand off the bedpost, pursed her lips, and pulled her as hard as she could towards her.
Noelle clenched her eyes shut in excitement while Susie's own went hide as she toppled over the side of the bed...
And directly into a painful headbutt as Susie flailed at the surprise attack.
Susie yelped in surprise, frantically rubbing at her nose and blinking away the sting.
"What the hell was that!" Susie yelled, baring her claws as she shouted all while kicking herself back up and out of the bed. Her eyes were watering from the impact which prompted her returning to rubbing her snout.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I just, I thought it wouldn't, I thought I would-" Noelle was flustered beyond reason and struggling to collect herself, all while a red mark began to become clear on her forehead.
Susie noticed and quickly pulled her hands from her still sore nose and into her pockets to hide how much that hurt, "It's fine… just what were you trying to do." She couldn't help but stare, "That's gonna leave a mark you know?"
Noelle stiffened up when she realized she was being stared at and slowly reached a hand up to her forehead before reeling back at the immediate soreness of it, "Ow." she winced.
"That's not supposed to hurt…"
"How would headbutting someone not hurt?" Susie asked, squinting at her.
"I mean, this is all a dream, it's not supposed to hurt!" Noelle explained like it was the most obvious thing to her.
"I mean it's the only way you'd come to rescue me, it's the only thing that explains this whole weird world… it's the only thing that explains away…" Noelle frantically explained before cutting herself off, she turned towards the window as she struggled to finish what she sought to say.
Susie looked out the window alongside her. Something seemed wrong. Really wrong. And the fear in her eyes before she turned away stuck in Susie's mind.
'I… what do I say?... Maybe.' Susie begged to understand.
"So… you realized it was a dream and thought you would attack me?" Susie interrupted the newfound silence, still struggling to grasp the fear she'd just caught a glimpse of.
Noelle blushed, "Well, no, I mean, usually when I dream of you it'd go… differently." her voice became barely a whisper towards the end.
'She liked that distraction, maybe it's best she thinks it's a dre- WAIT WHAT' Susie blunk again and again as the cogs turned through every doubt she had built up inside. She nervously cleared her throat.
"You… tried to KISS me?!" she shouted in exasperation as she replayed the attempt over and over in her head.
Noelle tossed the blanket back over her head, "SHUT UP. THIS DREAM JUST ISN'T GOING RIGHT IS ALL."
"You have to tell me, do you usually kiss me? Do you dream of me often? What's it like?" Susie excitedly asked for details and quickly felt embarrassed as she heard what she was saying.
"No I don't usually kiss you, are you kidding! But I thought, maybe, I'd try something special this time, to make up for all of this." Noelle managed from under the blanket.
'What the hell happened here...' Susie worried with a sigh.
Grabbing the edge of the blanket and softly pulling it off of her, she asked, "So, do you really think the real Susie wouldn't come for you?"
Noelle gave a pitiful laugh, "You know as well as I do that she wouldn't. I'm invisible to her. And how do I change that? I'm too scared to try."
Susie gave a knowing look, "Ah. I see. She, I mean, I scare you."
Noelle jolted up, "No! I mean, yes, but you're a good kind of scary. I... like that about you."
Susie rubbed the back of her head with a mix of disappointment and relief, "I... think I'm flattered?"
"Heh! If only the real Susie felt that way…" Noelle sadly chimed in.
She let out a sigh, and climbed out of bed.
"This isn't what I had in mind."
Susie cocked her head to the side, "What do you mean?"
"I mean, this is all a dream." She took a deep breath, "That means none of this happened, that's good. That's good." Everything felt a little colder all of a sudden.
"But I wanted to make it better. To make something special happen. Something I'd like to remember when I wake up, something to help forget the rest and…" Noelle rubbed her forehead, "That didn't work."
She idly kicked her legs off the side of the bed, swaying them forward and back as she stared into the seemingly endless darkness of the floor below, "I think I just tried to push things too fast, even if just in my head... it wasn't going to work out."
Susie looked away, "I mean, it's still your dream. Why not try again?"
Noelle let out a soft giggle before admitting, "Honestly? I'm petrified!" she said rather happily, "I couldn't possibly!"
"Strange thing to be happy about." Susie muttered, her disappointment peeking through.
"I mean I want to, but it's just… it feels nice to be scared of something good for a change." She more quietly explained.
Susie scratched at her cheek in thought.
"I just… wish this wasn't so much of a nightmare. That I didn't leave with so much regret and…so hurt." Another cold breeze. Susie eyed the window as the pane frosted over.
"I wish more of this dream was like this… good. And with you." She admitted, a warmth to her sincerity.
Susie closed her eyes in thought.
"Noelle?" she offered, causing Noelle to perk up out of curiosity.
"Would you tell me what happened tonight if I asked?"
Noelle immediately turned away, Susie following suit, sighing as she idly paced along with her thoughts.
"I see." Susie said, an understanding behind her words as she thought to herself for a moment.
"You're just a dream." Noelle said quietly.
"That doesn't mean I want you to hurt. It doesn't mean I couldn't care." Susie said just as quietly, a bit hurt.
Quiet.
Tense, stiff, quiet.
"Maybe." Noelle whispered. "But…"
"But not now." Susie finished, prompting Noelle to nod in agreement.
"Maybe.. Maybe I'll show up in another dream. If that would be better." Susie continued.
Again, she nodded.
It fell quiet again, but it felt less tense now, if only just.
Susie took a breath.
"I'll make sure you wake up soon." she said as confidently as she could manage. "I'll take down the Queen and get you out of this dream. You just stay here and rest, okay?" Susie placed her hand on the door and awaited a response.
Noelle locked eyes with her and tried to offer a sincere smile, but the both of them could see straight through it.
Susie took a step closer, and unable to break eye contact, so did Noelle.
Once more, and again, until there were no steps to be taken.
Susie silently embraced the smaller deer, and held her as tightly as she could manage. She tried to think of something to say, but all that came was the need to show she cared.
That it would be okay.
Noelle stiffened at her touch at first, momentarily unsure if this was real or not.
After a moment of accepting Susie's warmth, she decided that she didn't care if this was real at the moment.
She murmured quietly into Susie's arm, "Thank you." before burying her face into Susie's chest and squeezing her back as tightly as her shaken body could.
Susie began to idly stroke Noelle's hair as question after question bombarded her mind. All of them left unanswered as she couldn't focus on any of them with someone this important in her grasp.
'Can't this be real?'
'Will she even remember this?'
'She likes me?'
'Me…?'
'She seems so hurt.'
'What hurt her?'
'I will hurt them.'
'It's going to be okay.'
'I'll make it okay.'
'I want to… if there's anything I can do.'
Before the moment could allow her a moment to think on any of these, she had just one concern playing loudly in her mind.
Noelle began to cry.
Buried into her, with shaky breaths, she was crying. Just like when Susie first arrived.
Susie opened her mouth but no words came, again and again, nothing escaped.
Uncertain of what to do and glaring into the dark, she did all that was left. She hugged with all her might and let her own tears fall where they may.
They stood like that, as two tearful, caring souls allowing themselves to feel.
Until the tears simply ran out.
Noelle hiccuped into her, causing Susie to give her a light squeeze, and things fell much more quiet.
As the moment hung on its edge Susie took to softly tracing lines along Noelle's back. Jagged rows, small circles, occasionally a heart which she hoped Noelle didn't mention.
Her friends were waiting. So was the Queen, the fountain, and a whole world, all waiting on this moment to draw to an end.
And Susie decided they could all wait as long as it took.
"Noelle?" Susie whispered as she pushed through her now cracked voice.
She ran her hand softly down her back and listened as intently as she could but there was no response beyond her quiet breathing.
She let out a hum as she traced her back once more and got her response as the smaller girl's arm slowly slid off and to the side.
She had fallen asleep; The day had worn her down and letting it all out had drained the last of her strength.
She was out of it, no longer standing at all as she was being held aloft by Susie alone.
Something inside Susie felt at peace knowing this, as she picked the sleeping deer up in her arms and began carrying her to the bed.
Gently, she laid her down and carefully laid the crumpled blanket from the floor over top of her.
Susie looked at her face and saw Noelle the tiredest she'd ever seen her. But she also saw a small, unmistakable smile that told her she'd done well.
"It was just a dream." she whispered, half hurt that it had to be.
"But it mattered to me." she said with a nod before turning to the door.
She placed a hand on the door, took one last look at the sleeping figure behind her, then took a deep breath to confront her friends.
Remembering herself, she quickly reached up and rubbed her face frantically to hide any sign of what happened, and with all the false vigor she could manage she swung open the door.
"Alright let's go!"