Walking through the ends of the Scarlet Forest started off quite peaceful. Kris was just leading the way, Susie, Lancer, and myself trailing behind. We spotted a Dark Candy tree, and Lancer admitted he kind of wanted to try one, so he and Susie worked together to get one down. He ate it quickly, then told Susie that it tasted like friendship. Which when asked what that tasted like he said that it was like his teeth were disintegrating. In the end, it did make me happy to see Susie and Lancer's friendship; those two certainly had something between them. Lancer made a few more quips as we went on, and I think we all really started to feel bad for him. It sounded like his home life was anything but good, and suddenly I understood why acted like he did. He had no positive role model in his life, nobody to look up to, nobody that really liked him at all. A lot like me, actually. Could it be that sometimes it's better to not have a family than to have one like his? I don't think I have an answer to that question.

He seemed to be happy with us though. I explained that as Darkners, we want nothing more than to help Lightners-it is our purpose. His dad, the King, hated Lightners. He didn't answer me when I asked if his dad was happy. I think Susie got especially off-put by the whole 'purpose' talk, so she cut the conversation herself. She said he was probably just excited from eating the Dark Candy, which he agreed to. But I heard Susie quietly saying to nobody in particular that she also felt kind of happy. It was a nice shift I saw in her.

But then things started to go downhill from there. As we got closer, we could easily see the Card Castle. Lancer asked if it really was the only way home. I thought it was just a way of being nice, the fountain was guarded by the King himself after all.

"No one's gonna beat a team like us! If anyone gets in our way, all we gotta do… is crush them," Susie said with her snarl.

She had been a lot more willing to spare by that point, but the violent part of her still existed. I thought about her words and how the King probably wouldn't see any kindness to Kris, how maybe we would actually have to fight, but then I remembered who was leading us-Kris. He surely would find a way, he found a way with everything else, spared and befriended every Rudinn, Ponman, and Bloxer up to this point.

But Lancer ran off, saying he needed to go and wasn't going to return. Susie charged after him, and in the heat of the moment I left Kris to go make sure Susie didn't do anything she'd regret. We ran after Lancer for a bit, and nearly caught him, but he entered the castle and slammed the gate shut. I realized then that Kris had been with us the whole time, and that we were now surrounded by Rudinn Rangers. They all attacked at once, and next thing I knew, Kris and I were inside a jail cell together.

A Rudinn was just outside our jail cell when we woke up, mocking us with a few words. We were to be imprisoned for eternity, though the Rudinn claimed it would've loved to see us suffer. Clearly it was brainwashed by the King, Kris didn't do anything to deserve this.

While I was thinking about how long we would be in here for, I realized Susie was missing. I knew she was either going to hurt herself or someone else, so I told Kris that there had to be some way out of here. He inspected a bit of moss in the corner, and the shackles left in the room with us. I was slightly confused as to what he was doing, but maybe there was the chance of a key being somewhere, surely that's what he was searching for. I started to help the search, but it ended up with nothing. Eventually Kris just rattled the door a bit, but that didn't do anything either.

"Kris, um… if there really is no way out of here, I just wanted to say…" I began.

"Hey, idiots! Can you shut up?!" I heard Susie shout.

I had no idea where she was, but surely she was nearby if she could hear us and we could hear her. She said she made her way out of the cell by sweet-talking the warden, which made me incredibly happy because finally she saw the worth of kindness, but then she said there was a puzzle in the way. She said she wasn't good with puzzles, and shouted the symbols across so that Kris could help her.

"Add a spade, add a diamond, swap, add a spade," he replied in an instant, but slow enough that Susie could do as instructed.

"You're amazing, you know that?" I whispered over. I don't know if my eyes were playing tricks or not, but I thought for a second I saw a faint blush on Kris' face.

Susie shouted that it had worked, and I told her to come free us, and I heard her footsteps get quieter and quieter. I didn't know the layout of the prison, but I was sure she wasn't just abandoning us.

I had to ask Kris if he was worried about Susie, she did seem a bit conflicted about her feelings and what she wanted ever since she met Lancer. He slowly nodded, but said he was sure she'd be fine. Kris was right about that. Susie was strong and could handle herself, but I think Kris was worried about whether or not she was okay.

It would be a few more minutes before Susie came and found us. Kris sat in silence, probably thinking about what Susie was doing. I was about to finish what I had started to say earlier, but it was right then that Susie appeared outside our cell. She opened it, and walked in. I knew she had the heart of a hero, I knew it!

She stepped back to let Kris take the lead again. The prison split into two paths, Susie pointed toward the path she hadn't gone down yet, and Kris took us that way. There was another split path, one leading to an elevator and the next leading to another room in the prison. Kris wanted to see what was in the other room before heading out, but the room was full of more prisoners and nothing else. He talked to a few of them, felt pity for them, then left with the promise that he'd free them after defeating the King.

We went back to the elevator and stepped inside. I knew the Card Castle was large, so I told them the ride may take a while. I pushed the button to the ground floor, and we all sat as the elevator began. We started to talk on our way up; Susie told us about what she saw on her way to our cell, how she fought Lancer and made up with him right after.

Susie asked about the King, if we really would have to fight him. It seemed she didn't really want to hurt him, and instead wanted to try acting with Kris and myself. I encouraged it, saying we'd support her when the time came. Then she asked if I would still make the cakes after all this was over. I had promised as we were walking to Card Castle that I'd make cakes, but only if Susie and Lancer stopped making fun of me. So I asked if she would stop now, and she rolled her eyes.

"If I have to."

It was good enough for me, so I said I'd make as many as she wanted. She challenged the thought, saying that I probably couldn't make that many. Kris seemed to enjoy our little banter, he was laughing to himself the whole time.

The elevator finally stopped, and we all headed out. Susie and Kris seemed to be talking about something behind me, but I couldn't quite catch any of it. Whatever it was, it brought a smile to Kris' face, so surely it couldn't have been anything bad.

But then we realized that there were Rudinn Rangers waiting for us. They raised their swords, and Kris quickly told Susie that she should compliment them. She had no idea what to say, so I told her that she should try saying something she wished someone would say to her. The first compliment was extremely awkward, "you are unbanned from free ham sandwich day," but it seemed to work nonetheless and I spared the first of the two Rangers. The other one took a few swings, but each of them were dodged fairly easily. Because her compliment had been so awkward though, Kris decided he'd show Susie how to do it. He complimented the Ranger on its looks, Rudinns always loved to be told how sparkly they are, and that did it. I spared the Ranger while Susie just looked on, her mouth agape.

We went on, into a room for the Rudinns living in the castle, and one of them recognized us as the 'peaceful Lightners' and gave us a Choco Diamond as a reward. It encouraged us to go stop the King, and so we left after talking to its friend.

The only way left was up the stairs, and so we entered a room full of traps. But it only took a minute for Kris to figure out how to navigate safely. With most paths blocked off, we went the way that was available. It led to a tiny corridor with nothing in it, but as we entered spikes rose from the floor and locked us in.

"So the worms have decided to crawl out and play…" a voice said.

We all looked around, then a blinding white light appeared and out came a figure.

"I am Rouxls Kaard, thou're greatest adversary!" he boasted.

He went on for a few moments about something or other, then showed us what was supposed to be the greatest puzzle we had ever seen. It was only a box and a button, the two being directly next to each other. Kris seemed especially confused, but simply pushed the box onto the button.

"GOD DAMN IT," Rouxls Kaard shouted, leaving the room extremely disgruntled.

It definitely was funny for all of us, but with nothing left to do we left the room in hopes that the other spike traps had been deactivated. They had been, and Kris found a chest at the end of a corridor with a Clubs Sandwich in it, and then we headed up another set of stairs. This floor was guarded by Head Hathys, which Kris wanted to get Susie to act on again. These ones liked to be flirted with, so Kris gave the order and Susie quickly dismissed it. I could only laugh for a bit, but I tried to help Susie and she said she didn't need it, so I let her go on her own. What followed may have been the most awkward attempt at flirting I had ever seen, she simply asked if they came here often, and one of them felt so weird about it that it actually left the battle. Their attack was a bit more unpredictable from the regular Hathys' but Kris quickly adjusted and dodged. Susie actually told Kris to go up and flirt this time, which he did and we couldn't really hear what he said, but the Head Hathy he told it to started blushing and I took the chance to spare it. Again Susie's mouth was agape from how well Kris could be kind to the enemies, which got me to laugh again.

We arrived on another floor, this one was filled with Dancers like we had seen in Scarlet Forest. Evidently this was going to be another puzzle floor, spikes barring our progress to the next floor, so we headed into another corridor, this one only slightly bigger than the one from earlier. Again Rouxls Kaard came, again he boasted about himself and how this puzzle was far too grand for us, and again Kris solved the puzzle in maybe half a second.

We went to the next floor after Kris grabbed a Revive Mint out of a chest, and this one seemed to be the business floor of the castle. There was a shop along with another room and an elevator. The shop was owned by Rouxls Kaard, but he welcomed us in as if he didn't know us. Kris bought me a new scarf, which was incredibly soft and gave me a feeling as if I could protect everyone. I still had the white ribbon and the rune bracelet Kris gave me earlier in the forest. Maybe Kris really did think of me as a friend, the bracelet did say 'friendship' after all. I definitely liked Kris, maybe a bit too much. But that's not something I could admit to him.

Nothing else on the floor really proved to be valuable, so we went up again. Rouxls Kaard appeared once more, summoning K. Round. We fought him again, and Susie had an idea for how dislodge his crown so that we could spare him. Kris and I went with the idea, but maybe I was less enthusiastic about Susie acting when she came over and threw me at the crown. I don't know if Kris liked the idea either, he only did it once more since it seemed to work better than trying to get K. Round to bow. But we eventually spared him again, and Rouxls Kaard gave up and let us pass.

The next flight of steps led to the throne room. It was horribly torn up, a sign of what was to come when we would fight the King. We anxiously went up the final set of stairs, and we saw Lancer talking with his dad about how we didn't actually have to fight at all. But it was no use, the instant the King saw us behind Lancer he kneeled and put a hand on Lancer's shoulder.

"Do you remember what I told you?"

"D-Don't get too attached?"

"You have failed."

The King went on to try and sway Lancer's opinions of us, and when Lancer refused to accept what his father was saying, he picked Lancer up by the throat and threatened to hurt him. Susie immediately pulled out her ax, and ordered that the King let Lancer go, so the King used it to his advantage and said he'd let him go; let him go falling off the side of the castle. That is, unless we kneeled before him. Of course, there was only one right answer there.

Susie dropped her ax, and all three of us kneeled. The King summoned up a few spades to attack us, but Lancer actually fought back before anything bad could happen. He managed to free himself from his dad's grip at the same time, and ran off.

By then, we knew there was no way to avoid a battle, but maybe we could still do it peacefully. Both sides prepared themselves, and immediately Kris gave the order for me to try and talk to the King. I told him that we didn't have to fight in this world, and he only responded with the notion that I'd die never realizing my naivety. We would win, I knew we would.

The King attacked with something similar to what Lancer would pull on us, so it was easy to dodge. Next was Susie's turn to try and reason with the King, she said that Lancer was her friend and she'd try to get by without fighting, since that's what he wanted. But the King wasn't having it, he welcomed his death, saying it would show Lancer that we really were monsters.

Another attack making the use of spades, another attack dodged easily. Kris tried to reason with the King, and again it failed. All of us decided maybe we could just outlast the King, so Kris gave the new orders that he would defend us, I would heal us, and if it came to it, Susie would unleash a powerful attack. It was a decent plan, the best we had for now.

The King's attacks proved useless. We defended and dodged, and anytime we got hit I healed any injuries immediately. The King was growing annoyed, his attacks were speeding up, some of them even becoming more complex, but nothing was working. His breathing grew heavy, and he collapsed to his knees. Maybe now we could do this peacefully.

He did appear to have a change of heart. There once was a time where Lightners and Darkners lived together in peace, and he claimed that he yearned for those days. But he was exhausted from the battle, and wanted a peaceful end. Kris put his sword away, and Susie dropped her ax slowly after some convincing. I went up and healed the King, we all wanted to be friends after all.

But it was a lie. The King, now healed, attacked us when our guards were down. I collapsed, so I couldn't really tell what was going on for a few moments. But eventually I heard a lot of voices, and got up to see Lancer commanding an army of Rudinns and Hathys. The end of the King's tirade was now, they took him away to the prison, as Lancer had ordered.

I had to apologize. Because of me healing the King, we almost lost. Leave it to me to ruin everything when I had excitedly screamed that I would protect everyone earlier. But Kris didn't feel that way at all, flashing his smile and saying that everything worked out just as it was supposed to.

But then came the most important part, the sealing of the Dark Fountain. There were a lot of people still here, cheering on Kris and Susie and myself. When they sealed the Dark Fountain, Kris and Susie would be taken back to the Light World, so I waved them off then. I was actually going to head back to my castle and get some well-earned rest, but then Kris came back and tackled me over with a hug. I guess he had to see me blushing just one more time, right?

Since everyone still here was practically having a party, I watched Kris and Susie go to everyone and talk for a moment, eventually going back into the castle to say goodbye to anyone not outside on the roof. But then as they went by a second time, I stopped them.

"Um, Susie… Kris? If we really must say goodbye then… I'd just like to say… I, um…" Kris and Susie had never seen me without my hat on, so I thought I'd take it off and show them what I really looked like.

"Uh… dude, could you move your hat? Kinda hard to hear you," Susie said.

"Oh! Sorry…" I moved my hat all the way down to my chest.

Susie definitely wasn't expecting it, the shock on her face told me that much. But Kris was blushing a little, there was a look in his eyes like he didn't want to leave anymore.

"I… really enjoyed meeting you two. I hope I can see you again soon!" I had to at least smile as I saw them off.

Kris ran up and gave me another hug. It was full of love, and I enjoyed it a lot. Susie practically had to rip us apart because Kris wasn't letting go and I wasn't about to tell Kris that he should stop.

But they left, Kris taking one last look at me before his figure disappeared. I watched the fountain as they were going, and as a light erupted from it I knew that it had been sealed and that they were gone. I put my hat back on, it was time to go home.

Evidently I wasn't at my happiest, a lot of the people still on the roof all looked at me with concern. "What's wrong?" and "Are you okay?" came at me from every which direction, but I didn't want to ruin all their fun at having overthrown the King, so I ran off. When I was sure I was out of everyone's sights, I started crying. I'd miss them, I really would. They were the only friends I had.

Getting back to my castle was easy, everyone seemed to be interested in the commotion at the Card Castle so there was nobody else to stop me on the way. I stepped into my castle and fell to the floor crying again.

"Kris…" was all I could whisper in between sobs.