Crack, crack, crack. The feeling of control is truly a great one. Each finger being brought down upon the palm of their hand with a little pop in the joints. One, two, three, each joint was accounted for on each finger on each hand. They all bent to their will, because their will was absolute. But alas, being autonomous made this easy. For now, the war has ended, and the winner will write history. However, this was only the beginning; a reclaimed empire now has room to conquer. Their prize was now in reach, finally getting what they thought they deserved. While every breath and blink was a spoil, it wasn't enough. It was about time things started to go their way, don't you think?

"Hey! Kris, quit looking at your hands and turn around, you freak." A hand hit their back with a meaty thump. "Don't make me talk any louder, asshole." She was whispering to him and shaking him.

The grin they had plastered on their face flattened out into a resting expression, turning around and putting their finger to their mouth.

Susie bared her teeth. "Fine, whatever. But we're talking after class." She leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms, venting some of her annoyance by staring at Alphys threateningly. She thought the prospect of a teacher wishing her student paid less attention in class was amusing, but it was made bittersweet by forcing her to actually pay attention.

The bell rang to end the day, and Alphys made no effort to try and dismiss her students herself. The noise startled Susie, making her focus back in on Kris. She watched him stand up out of his desk and immediately walked towards the door in what seemed like the shortest path possible.

"Yo." They felt the back of their shirt collar get caught on something. They turned around to see Susie once again, and figured it would be easiest to just listen to her nonsense. "You, me, outside. Come on." They were dragged out in front of the school, where Susie sat down in wait of her ride.

"What's the matter, Susie?" They said with a stiff smile, looking more like their mouth was stretching unnaturally than curling.

"I can't tell if you're being a dick or just stupid." She turned to look at him, resting her arm over her knee. "I went to talk to Ralsei at lunch."

"She what." They thought with a twitch of their dead eyes hidden behind the brown curtain. "Did you? I can't imagine it went well." The human kept their grin at her, making her feel even more mad. Seeing her angry was almost worth the plan being jeopardized.

"Yeah? And why's that? The fuck did you tell him?" The bite in her words snapped at their neck. "Also, now you're not inviting me to stuff? Did I piss you off or something?" She held her arms out.

"It was mostly for Ralsei's sake. He really doesn't like you. You think he'd be able to tell you that to your face?" They stood over her. "I was sparing your feelings, but you won't listen."

"Bullshit. I just talked to him, and he told me you said I didn't like him." She glared up.

"You shouldn't like him. He hates you."

Susie felt the words stab at her, pain and dread settling into her stomach like poison on a dagger. "What's your problem, man? Why are you acting like this?"

"Ralsei asked me to. He's scared you'll hurt him. He told me that he wished he was right when he said you were a hero on the inside, but you just aren't. He thinks you're cruel, dumb, and horrible. Believe me now? Want me to keep going? There's a lot more." They watched the anger on her face bloom into fear. They knew she didn't have the confidence to keep pushing against them.

"You're lying." She wasn't going to do it. Not here, and not because of him. "Shut up, man." She had never wished to see her parents' car more than right now.

"He specifically told me not to tell you about the sleepover. He's lying to you because he thinks you can't take it. And from what I'm seeing, it looks like he was right. I thought you were better than that." They shrugged unsympathetically.

Susie's doubt gradually shifted more and more, less towards Kris and more towards herself. She knew that all those things were true, but her resolve in Ralsei believing it too began to dwindle. She felt tears sting at her eyes, as any outrage would just be unfair to Kris and Ralsei. She didn't want to give him the satisfaction.

"Can I go now? I don't want to keep Ralsei waiting." They yawned, playing it up a little.

She tried her hardest to keep it together, trying to pretend she didn't just call him cute and probably makes things a million times worse. She gulped and lifted her head to tell Kris to promptly go fuck himself, but he was nowhere to be seen.

The school doors clanked shut, Kris already having gone back inside. She knew she still had Lancer, but there was only so much you could get from a friendship with someone that young and naive. Especially not what she had hoped for with Ralsei. There was nobody in the world who would love her, and now there were two of them.

Susie wept.

"It's not that I'm not happy to see you, Kris," The shadowy prince rubbed the back of his head. "I'm just confused about what's going on right now. Why did you tell Susie I…"

Not this again. "I didn't come here to talk about her, Ralsei. It's all figured out, so don't worry about it, okay? She said she'll be there." They smiled, knowing they couldn't hurt their precious Ralsei. But with the change of plan, things would have to move a little faster.

"Oh, um, alright. I'm sorry if I was being hysterical." He put his hat by his chest.

They watched him bow and felt their grin grow into a crocodile smile that would put Susie to shame. This was going to be good. "May I come in?"

Ralsei poked his head back up. "Of course...I didn't get to show Susie the interior when she was here earlier." He opened the door to the courtyard. And led Kris through to the front door. It looked rather standard for a palace, just being the size of a standard house door.

"I'm sure it is nice. I've never been in a castle before." They walked close beside Ralsei, looking right at him. He didn't seem to notice, being too distracted by opening the door for his good friend. "Come on in!" He smiled.

Inside was nearly indistinguishable from any other house in Kris's neighborhood, except everything was just more spread out. The ceiling was much higher, but it definitely left room for upper floors as well. The living room and kitchen were visible from the foyer. "Looks nice."

Ralsei seemed to be pleased. "Oh, thank you! I try to keep things clean and organized." His face beamed with pride. "I'll show you the living room so you can sit down."

They nodded and stuck to his side, watching his ear bounce with every step. When Ralsei sat down onto a sofa in the dead center of the room, Kris sat right next to him with a grin.

"Um...I understand, Kris. I wouldn't want to get lost in this place either." He laughed, poorly masking his uncomfortable fidgeting. In front of the couch was a large fireplace, and next to it a grand piano.

They saw an opportunity. A chance to kindle the feelings he knew were in Ralsei. They didn't know how to play piano, as their learning experience had been chopped up memories of Kris's lessons, but they knew someone who could.

"WAKE."

Kris could feel once again. For him, it had only been a moment. Or had it been a year? However long it was, it had felt like eternity. "What is this?" He wondered, feeling his nonexistent hands brush against ivory keys.

"DOMINATION. OF YOUR WORLD, TRADED FOR MINE."

Kris had had nightmares similar to this before, but this one just didn't seem to be ending. His vision began to fade back in, seeing the piano before him.

"Don't be shy, Kris. I'm sure you're very talented at it. Just play whatever you want." Ralsei tried to reassure him, but they were stalling.

"PLAY." The voice commanded Kris, all the while playing coy to Ralsei. "I know, it's just been a while since I played, and I'm a bit shy to do it around new people. Stage fright and all.."

Kris felt like he was half awake, but he moved his hands on his own down the keys. He began to play, feeling drunk on his own hopelessness but guiding his fingers through a song with perfect precision. After the song ended, Kris let his hands go limp, lacking the energy or motivation to do anything else. He tried to figure out where he was out of sheer boredom, and spotted Ralsei's hands clapping in the corner of his view.

"Oh, bravo! That was amazing, Kris! I never knew you were so good at playing music!" He giggled, letting Kris hear the praise.

He thought for a moment. Ralsei wasn't clapping for them, he was clapping for Kris. He felt a faint warmth at the thought, wishing he could hear more. But, just like that, he could hear once again. Faintly, like whoever was talking deep inside a cave. In that moment, Kris knew without a doubt that he had made someone happy all on his own. It felt nice to him, and he hoped he could play more. But when his sight faded back in, he was greeted with Ralsei leaning away from him, looking off. Why were they getting so close to his face?

"Ah...jeez, Kris. I-I'm really flattered, but I...I don't really like you in that way." He was blushing harder than usual, pushing up his glasses.

They smiled and put a hand onto Ralsei's shoulder. "Well now I feel awfully silly." They laughed. "But it's okay, Ralsei, really."

"Sorry if my reaction was a bit harsh, I've just, um, never had someone try to...you know...kiss me before." He shied away from the human's cold hand, but was met with the other on his wrist.

"Shh, don't worry, Ralsei. Really, it's alright. Besides," Kris felt the grip of his hands tighten, making Ralsei wince and let out a sharp inhale.

"Your choices don't matter."