Susie kicked the closet door again as Kris stood back. Initially it was just as moral support but as soon as it became apparent that Susie had had quite enough of the dark doors denying their access to their friends, it quickly escalated. He gave it a minute or so before he stopped scouting for approaching teachers and turned his attention back to his distraught friend.
"Fuck this noise!"
Kris grabbed her sleeve and gently pulled her back. Despite being a head smaller than her and having maybe half her muscle mass, she fell back like his touch had drained her.
"I'm so sick of this…"
They had tried the closet, then the door from the spare classroom before Susie angrily declared it had to be the closet door in the main hallway. It just HAD to be. It was how they got in the first time, so why wasn't it letting them in again? He gripped her wrist through the thin jacket.
"Try again later?"
She was silent for an uncomfortably long time. The school bell sounded in the distance and still her head hung low enough that her hair covered her luminous yellow eyes.
"Yeah. The closet isn't going anywhere...and neither am I, damnit!" she shouted, giving the door a final kick for good measure before she turned on her heel and stalked back to class with Kris in hot pursuit.
There was always later.
o - o - o - o - o
The doors did not open after school either. He had guessed as much but didn't want to assume. Expecting the worst but hoping for the best had been a good mantra to start with but it had steadily become an effort in futility. Susie no longer ran to the double doors with hope in her eyes but a desperation that genuinely pained him to see. They hardly spoke on the way home that day.
It wasn't that he didn't miss Ralsei and Lancer either, or any of the Darkners along the way really. What he wouldn't give to hear the amused nihilism of Seam or even Rouxl Kaard's absurd speech patterns. Kris had long ago accepted that he had to make do with what he had. He didn't like it, but he recognised it as a part of life.
"Oh! Welcome home, Kris!"
The sting of the now cold autumn wind disappeared as he crossed the threshold into the Dreemurr house. With the chill beginning to leave his bones, he began to realise how tired he was. Kris lazily dropped his bag by the door, just about ready to collapse from the weight of the days events.
"How was your day?"
"Tiring"
"Oh! I'm sorry to hear that. Are you having problems in class?"
"No"
Say what you want about Toriel but her attention to her children was forefront on her mind. She knew Kris better than most with few possible exceptions. She knew when he felt guilty about something, if he just needed a pick me up and would always make time in her day if he needed anything.
He could list the number of people he felt comfortable properly talking to on one hand, Toriel being one of the chiefest among them. During her divorce from Asgore however, he clung to his brother like a rock and relegated his conversations with them back to one word answers at best if a shrug or a nod wasn't enough. She had been deeply upset by that at the time, but surely enough, the sting eventually lessened and he eventually fell back into speaking terms with both of them.
She knew he was upset and Kris was astute enough to know that she knew. What he did not understand was why she wasn't coddling him. She ambled over to pick up his schoolbag, taking it over to the sink before emptying its contents on the countertop.
The scent of a new pie permeated the house which was odd because he knew for a fact there were still slices of the last one in the fridge. The microwave was on with something he couldn't quite make out spinning inside. He had just finished removing his shoes as Toriel coughed lightly.
"I was just talking to your father before you got back"
He froze. Something was wrong.
"Something has come up and I wanted to check if he would be able to see you if you wanted in the coming days"
Kris's eyes, which had been levelled at just above her waist shot up to meet her concerned gaze, granting her a rare glimpse of the ruby red irises he hid so well.
"Asriel...will not be coming home as soon as we had expected"
o - o - o - o - o
They barely spoke on the way into school the next day. Susie's mood hadn't improved either it seemed and neither had it within them to try to uplift the other. They walked into class and sunk wordlessly into their seats.
The day passed like he was in a dream. Time moved slowly around him as he replayed the memories of last night in his head. Nothing had been enough to quell the ache in his chest. None of her assurances that it wouldn't be much longer at all and that there would be plenty of time to see him made a difference. The coca in the microwave had tasted bitter somehow.
It was not for a serious reason of course. Asriel was not bedridden in some hospital somewhere or in a cell for some ridiculous end of term celebration. There had been an issue with the coursework he had handed in and since it was critical to him getting back in the next year, he preferred to handle it straight away.
"A few extra days, that is all" Toriel had said.
Kris made do with what he had. It didn't hurt any less for something he thought he had to be yanked away though.
The final bell rang. Science had been particularly monotonous despite Alphys being quite a competent teacher in her field and he was glad it was all over. Thankfully it was being held in his homeroom as well so all he had to do was slide to his usual seat and wait until it rang again. There wasn't much in the way of things to look forward to though. This was meant to be the day his brother would be waiting for him at home. He sighed as students started to trickle in.
'Perhaps it's for the best' he thought sadly to himself. 'Susie seemed just as miserable as me today. I feel like being happy around her would just be rubbing her face in it'
She had managed to get detention at lunch for doing something in one of her early classes so he had barely seen her all day. The extra weight in his backpack reminded him that she wouldn't have eaten as well. He could only imagine the mood she would be in now. If Berdly made another one of his snide comments he would probably be put through a wall.
"Berdly?"
"Here"
Kris chuckled to himself.
"Catti?"
"*Click click* Yeah"
He really deserved it.
"Jockington?"
"Yes!"
He remembered the day after his adventure, they had all bombarded him with question after question about whether or not Susie had killed him. MK had started it.
"But seriously dude! Did Susie kill you?! Well, I mean, obviously she didn't but you don't even look roughed up! Even Alphys heard someone hitting the lockers from in here. We had like a moment of silence and everything!"
To which Berdly felt he just had to comment.
"Here lies Kris. Nobody could hear him from inside the locker. But then again, nobody could hear him anyway!"
"Kris?" Alphys called, somewhat impatiently.
"Yeah, he's here, he's just daydreaming as usual," said Berdly, the smug smirk in his voice as clear in reality as it was in his memory. Kris scowled and flipped him the bird as Alphys ducked her head back down to her laptop.
"MK?"
"Yup!"
Scratch that, if Susie didn't put him through several layers of drywall, he'd do it himself.
"Noelle?"
"Present"
'Could the day just be over already, please?'
"Snowy?"
"Howdy!"
Oh god, he was still doing that.
"Susie?"
"..."
"S-susie?"
He blinked a few times before turning around. Sure enough, the scaly monstrosity that usually loomed behind him was absent. Even if she had gotten after-school detention, they shouldn't have held her up for homeroom. Maybe they weren't convinced she would come back and just kept her after the last lesson? Kris sighed. This day really could not get worse. He had planned to make up for her lack of lunch by eating somewhere outside with her.
"W-well let's hope she's in tomorrow then. I'll have to ask her where she was today" Alphys said, ducking her head down and mumbling the last part. She shuddered quite visibly before coughing and straightening up.
"Temmie?"
"Hoi!"
As if on cue, the bell rang for the final time and everyone took that as their cue to ignore anything Alphys had left to say to them and rush the door. Kris, meanwhile, took so long that even Alphys was ready to go before him and by the time he was out the door, she was already turning the corner to head to the teachers' lounge.
As he reached the main hall's intersection of corridors, he spared a glance to the closet at the back of the school.
It was fair to say he now had pretty mixed feelings about those doors. On the one hand, they had taken him and Susie on a truly wonderful adventure, and forged friendships that he was sure would span the test of time. But on the other, it now teased them with a repeat of that journey every time they walked past it, like the promise of a brief escape from their mundane lives was being snatched away.
Rather like the promise of his brother's return.
His fists clenched in his pockets before he angrily made his way to the back of the school. The sounds of the other kids were distant now, and his shoes clicked loudly against the tiles. If Susie was indeed in detention, they wouldn't let her linger around afterwards and if by a miracle the closet was open, he could always text her to come back if she had left early or something. Kris finally stopped as he reached the double doors and taking a steadying breath before turning the handle.
It opened.
That is to say, he pulled very gently after turning and he did not feel the resistance of the lock. His mouth gaped slightly as he dared not open it any further. His grip slackened, causing the latch to gently slide back into position. His other hand went for his phone but stopped as he touched it in his pocket.
The last time the entire hallway had gone ominously dark before they had seemingly fallen through the floor and the afternoon sun was just as bright now as it had been when he walked over. He frowned as he considered his options. He could text Susie that it was open and hope that the portal or whatever it was still worked, or he could test it himself and risk being stuck in there without her. His hand hovered over the knob for a while before his grip on it tightened again.
'No'
He would not give her any false hope of seeing their friends if he wasn't absolutely certain. He would not experience that only to palm it off onto someone else. Least of all Susie.
'She doesn't deserve that'
Besides, if he did indeed get transported back, with the kingdom at peace now, it would be much easier for him to make his way back to the fountain to inform her. Mind made up, he pulled the double doors open. He slowly let out a breath he didn't realise he had been holding.
There were locked cabinets of cleaning products lining the walls, a mop and bucket leaning against one of them. He could see right to the back to where the plastic containers of textiles and materials were kept. He could even see packets of chalk on one of the lower shelves.
But most importantly...he saw a familiar pair of torn jeans peeking out from between two cabinets near the back.
He swallowed something heavy in his throat before making his way over, allowing the doors to fall shut behind him. The floor was carpeted in the supply closet and muffled his steps quite significantly, such that when he finally stood between the long legs of his new friend, she didn't even notice straight away. He would have assumed the noise of the swinging doors helped as well if he wasn't so distracted.
Her head was down and between her hands, tremors gently wracking her frame every few seconds. Her hair, which wasn't great on the best of days, was a mess. Even in the dark, Kris could see the knots in it. She hiccuped lightly before realising someone was standing in front of her.
She didn't even put up her usual angry defensive reaction. There was no insult. There was no baring of teeth. Whoever it was had just caught her in the biggest moment of weakness she had ever experienced and she felt pretty screwed no matter what. Her head just fell back down again, defeated.
Kris knelt down and gently pushed his arms underneath hers and around her back.
"I'm so sorry" he murmured.
He wasn't sure if she realised it was even him before she had enveloped him completely in arms and knees and hair and just….her, but the second he said that…
She bawled.
Silently, he pieced it all together in his head. She had tried the door on the way back to their homeroom and upon discovering it's newest betrayal, couldn't bear facing their classmates in the state she was in. Her loud cries were frequently interrupted by gasping coughs and when she wasn't she muffled whatever else came out into his jumper. For his part, all Kris could do was rub her back in circles like Toriel did for him the night before and repeat "I'm so sorry" over and over and over again. He was sure he was going to get questioned by his mother about the tear stains later on but he really couldn't find it in him to care.
Eventually, she simmered down again.
"G-god damnit…"
She pulled back from him slightly, granting him a view of her bloodshot eyes.
"You okay?"
"Yeah, I just...Fuck!" She punched one of the containers. There was a moment he thought they were about to be buried in art supplies. "Kris?"
"Yeah?"
"Was it…" she started before looking to him, doubt written into her eyes. "Was it all made up?"
He was going to answer before she immediately followed up, the hand that had punched a container now wrapped around one of the wire shelves so hard her knuckles were shifting colour.
"I miss it so fucking much! It can't be! The one time in my life I make friends and people don't hate me on sight and I can't fucking go back! Someone even looked up to me! ME! Hell, even the enemies I screwed over didn't hate me by the end!"
She heaved in a few deep breaths. For a moment or two, he was concerned her tears would begin again. She looked back down at her hands.
"Kris?...Lancer and Ralsei...The king, that puzzle asshole, Seam, the castles, the fountains...What if it really wasn't real?"
"...It was"
He said it with such confidence that she felt compelled to meet his gaze. For a moment or two, she remembered their stoic leader that she thought was so weird back then, giving orders like some kind of war general.
"It was real because you were there with me. If I was alone, I probably would've called it a weird, vivid hallucination but it happened to both of us...And even if it wasn't and there was just a gas leak or something...It was real because I'm still here, Susie...I'm not going anywhere"
They stared at each other for who knows how long before Susie laughed. It echoed around the tiny room and her teeth practically shone in the dark.
"Damn. I hate it when you're right...Can't make fun of you as easily"
He chuckled with a smile.
"I'm sure you will somehow. C'mon" he whispered, "I'm sure my mom can make us some cocoa". Grabbing her hand, he pulled her out of her hiding place and just like yesterday, despite their physical differences, it really felt like she had no weight to her at all with how pliable she was being.
"Heh...Sure thing, you dork"
She didn't let go of his hand as they left the school. She didn't even shoot him a funny look when their fingers interlaced. But he wasn't entirely sure whose fault that was either.
It wasn't that he didn't want to see Lancer and Ralsei. It wasn't that he didn't miss Asriel.
He had Susie.
And that was enough.