There was nothing. No feeling on his skin, no sound in his ears, no sight for his eyes; those things didn't belong to him anymore. He was floating in inky blackness, left with only his thoughts and shreds of emotion. Trapped in stasis, but still keenly aware of what was going on. He wouldn't remember his imprisonment this time, however. As his will began to grow more and more outmatched, he felt more and more of himself become conquered. He had nothing to fight for, after all. Maybe it's for the better, he thought, remembering that it had all been done without him. Even if Ralsei knew, he doubted if he would even bother trying anymore, and Susie had grown more as a person in a day than her whole life because of them. The real Kris had been fighting to get loose all along, and he had won. Now he was a nobody, but that wasn't anything he wasn't used to before. Hazy images began to flash in his mind, almost like he was dreaming. His mother was smiling, looking down at him almost proudly. Was this a taunt? Showing him how much happier everyone was with them at the wheel? He felt himself take form ever so slightly. Spite, anger, all strong motivators, but their flame only burns out into despair and surrender. He then saw Ralsei, but he looked to be upset by something. Following suit was Susie, getting the same treatment outside school. He couldn't quite understand the context, or why exactly he was being shown this. Or if he was even being shown on purpose, as opposed to stealing glances. How long had he been in here, anyway?

Susie felt a knot in her stomach, one that only the biggest nerd in all of the boy scouts could have tied. She stood in the middle of the path like a statue, as if she was put there by a lazy game developer who wanted to halt the protagonist's progress. It was so quiet she worried the pounding of her heart would alert him to her presence. She took tiny steps, inching closer and closer to the edge of the town until she got into view of the castle.

"Come on, quit being a wuss. It's not like I could mess it up even more." Susie sighed, gritting her teeth nervously. She bit down and clenched her fists, walking faster towards the town center. She could feel the power of her emotional muse giving her courage, albeit through anger at herself. "Alright, chill, chill. This crazy shit is probably what made him say all that stuff to begin with." It had almost been a week since he even talked to him, and before that it was mostly just insults. She figured she would try anyway, as she had literally nothing better to do. She took a deep huff out of her nose, and pounded on the drawbridge before she had time to think things through. It was usually her weakness, and always made her get cold feet when doing something.

The door cut-out cracked open and a green hat slowly poked out, followed by a pair of beady white eyes staring at her.

"Uh...hey." She may as well have been staring into a gorgon's eyes with how stiff she felt.

"Susie…? Can I help you with something?" He didn't seem to be doing much better.

"Not really at the moment. I just wanted to, y'know…" She rubbed her knuckles, prying her eyes away from the door.

"I don't really. Oh, is this about the cakes? I can bring you out some in a minute if you'd like." Ralsei kept one eye hidden behind the door. His voice sounded raspy.

"Man, I'm not here about the cakes. I don't have a lot of time, I just wanted to talk." The words felt like razors coming out of her mouth.

"Talk? Um...okay. What did you want to talk about?" He stepped out from behind the door, slouching over a little.

The sight rubbed Susie the wrong way, always having seen Ralsei be nothing but optimistic and all smiles even in the most dire of situations. It made her feel even more like a jerk. "Ah, jeez. Look, I understand if-"

"Wait, before you say anything." Ralsei cut her off. "I just want to say I'm sorry. I'm really, really sorry."

"Uh, why? You didn't really do anything that wasn't really justified." It only seemed to upset him more.

"No, please don't try to cover for me. I-I was so harsh, and cruel, I didn't make you feel like part of the team. Everything you said about me is true!" He hid his face into his scarf.

"Woah, slow down, dude. What do you mean everything I said? You mean like me calling you a weirdo and stuff? I was just being grouchy, I didn't really know what was going on."

Ralsei shook his head vigorously. "It doesn't matter. I'm sorry, what were you going to say? I just felt so guilty, I couldn't keep it in anymore." He lowered his scarf, but pulled his hat down more with it. His horns looked just about ready to tear through from the force of him tugging.

"Don't worry about it, I'm kinda glad. Makes this a lot easier." She shrugged her shoulder and rubbed her head. "I'm sorry for being such a jerk to you, but uh...I'm also kind of proud of you."

Ralsei lifted his hat enough to be able to look up at her. "Huh? Why on earth would you ever be proud of…"

"Nuh uh."

"W...What?" His eyes went wide.

"Uh, sorry. I just don't want to hear you feel all sorry for yourself, man. I'm proud of you for standing up for yourself a little. Hearing that you said all that nasty shit about me was honestly a little refreshing. So, I guess if you're worried about that, there's no need." She gave a nervous grin.

Ralsei's brow furrowed, lifting his hat and revealing his true self, catching Susie off guard. "Nasty things? What do you mean?"

"Uh, like, you know," She cleared her throat. "I don't remember it exactly, but about me being dumb, and obnoxious, and a bitch. It's really not much of a stretch, dude." She tried to look away without seeming like she was trying to avoid him.

"You don't have to keep going, I can tell you are getting upset." He looked at her face, the color changing noticeably under her scales. "Also, um...I am not really sure where you got all that from. I never said that."

Susie was snapped from her cliche flustered appearance and looked back at him, frowning half her mouth to the side. "You don't gotta lie to me, man. Believe me, I know."

Ralsei dusted off his hat and put it back on. "No, seriously, I don't believe any of that!" He was making it difficult to apologize, Susie thought to herself.

"You have to at least a little, come on." She smirked. "Give me a little credit."

Ralsei sighed and rubbed his arm. "Susie, did Kris make you do this? I understand if you don't want me at Kris's sleepover, so if you want to go I can just stay home." His ears dropped down over his shoulders.

"Ehh, hold on. I came here cus I wanted to, Rals. In fact, Kris told me I shouldn't do this. Proved his ass wrong." She crossed her arms with a grin. "Also, what sleepover?"

"Um, I'm getting confused. Kris told me that you didn't want to go because you didn't like me." Ralsei rubbed his chin. "He told me I shouldn't try talking to you because you hated me."

"Hate you? Come on, man, you know I don't hate you, right?" Her cool-guy exterior was quickly cracking under pressure. "The worst thing you did to me was tell me to stop beating up strangers. You don't hate me, right?" She made it sound rhetorical, but she really didn't know at this point.

"Of course not, Susie. I'm just a little confused as to what's going on, now. I don't mean to make excuses, but I'm just inexperienced with the whole people thing." He bowed his head with his shoulders tensed.

"Relax, man. We got the basic rundown. We don't hate each other, and that's pretty cool. Maybe Kris was just trying to play peacekeeper or something, and doing a pretty crappy job." She eased up, brushing her arm. "So, you're saying there's a sleepover happening?"

Ralsei smiled like he always did. "Yes, I have been looking forward to it all week. It's tomorrow, but I am still working on my itinerary."

"Cool. Can I come? Also, how do I leave?" Susie looked around.

Ralsei opened his door. "You can use my fountain. Just step into it and it should take you wherever you ended up last time."

The door creaked as Susie pushed it open, seeming to disappear into the wooden wall when she closed it behind her. Inside was a courtyard that seemed rather empty, lacking any sort of vegetation besides dead grass and moss on the walls.

"It's around here." Ralsei led her to the side, going all the way around the castle to the back side of it.

"So, what should I bring to the sleepover?" Susie asked, trying to tame the silence between them.

"Um, you'd have to ask Kris, he said that you wouldn't want to come."

"Great, then I'll be there." Her eyes sensed movement from below and chased it down, seeing the back of his robe bouncing ever so slightly from his tail moving. "Hey, kind of an odd question." She spoke up after staring at it for what felt like forever. "Are you wearing anything under that robe...dress looking thing?" They stood before the fountain.

Ralsei blushed, but making him do that was no difficult feat. "Um, why do you ask that?"

Susie shrugged, looking over at the fountain. They were only standing a few feet from it, and it gave Susie an idea. It was time for guerilla warfare. "Was just wondering." Her lips crept out into a toothy grin.

Ralsei didn't answer, but the way he seemed to shift his feet at the ground answered for him. It also called to attention that he wasn't actually wearing any shoes.

"I'm just pulling your leg, guy. Don't worry about it, damn." She looked at him in the light of the fountain, making his disguise useless underneath his hat. "You know, Ralsei, you may be a little bit of a weirdo, but…" She realized she could have softened that a little. But it was time for the kill. "You're a cute weirdo." Without missing a beat, she leapt backwards into the fountain, catching his mouth start to open in surprise before she was enveloped by the blue, and spat out into the darkness of the unused classroom.

She got to her feet and panted, feeling her heart race. She ran her hands through her hair, confirming that she was back by the light underneath the door crack. She grinned wide and laughed to herself, coming out with snorts and gasps from excitement. "Little dork never saw it coming." She muttered to herself as the lunch bell rang through the school. She walked out into the hall to join the rest of her classmates, and for once she wasn't upset about missing out on lunch.