U-uhm... Okay, so I am not Susie. It's still Noelle. But she'll be telling me what to say. She said that she's pretty bad at this sort of thing... So. Uhm. This will be a part told in third person. Sorry about that, if it bugs you...

... So. It all started before anything happened in the Dark World. Susie was checking out the Library that was mistakenly dubbed the "Librarby" because... ... ... Oh. My bad. That's not important. Sorry.

Anyways, she says this part is kind of weird, so I'm putting it in.

... So. When she was checking around for weird shadows, weird walls, holes in the floor or even small cracks between books that kinda looked darker than usual, she was coming up empty handed, much to her annoyance.

She moved to the back of the library toward a door in back next to the stairway. She didn't want to deal with the... weird guy blocking them just yet.

So, she walked up to the windowed door and raised a hand, before banging on the door more than necessary.

(It was totally necessary.)

Uhuh. Sure, Susie.

(Hmph.)

Anyways, the response she got was the-... Wait, there was a little white dog in there, on a chair, all alone, smiling at you?

(Yep.)

... You-you're serious.

(Yyyep.)

... Why am I even surprised at this point? We've seen weirder and worse. What's a little dog smiling compared to that...?

... Anyways, yeah. That. And he was apparently using the computer room to do something... ... ... Uuuh. And apparently, he waved a paw and shouted through the door in a small voice, "I'm making a game in here, so sorry about the next year or so~! But don't worry. Nothing weird in here besides me~!"

... So, it talked, too... You know what? I'm not going to ask anymore~. I feel like I'm just gonna end up growing white hairs at this rate if I do.

... So. Susie just stared in there for a long moment in disbelief, eyes wide and mouth puckered. She turned away and blinked, before telling herself. "I'm going bat-sh*t insane... Yup. Never looking in there again."

Shrugging her shoulders, she turned and sighed, looking at the weird bird person. He had a drooped head, a long neck and a body striped with yellow and blue... and he was naked... She says there wasn't anything to see, so don't get any ideas... He had a lazy look in his darkly circled eyes, yet he continued to smile.

She cocked a brow at him and shook her head. "Great. Time to talk to the weird-o with no clothes." Shoving her hands into her unbuttoned shirt's pocket, she tilted her head down and made her approach.

The man almost immediately took notice of her... but he just stared with that smile on his face. ... Okay, yeah. That's weird.

When she was right in front of him, she looked around... No one seemed to be looking their way. She returned her attention back to him and cleared her throat. "So. You gonna move out the way? I'm kind of in a hurry and you're in mine."

His smile widened and his eyes livened. "Well, everyone's in a hurry these days. But you know what you need to read back there? It's c-"

"Don't care," she cut in and tried her best to nudge passed him, much to his apparent distress. He forced his way back in front of her and even nudged her back from against his body- something she found both gross AND irritating. She glared at him, her eyes lighting up to outline her anger. "Hey! The hell is your problem?!"

Everyone in the library turned to look at the scene in confusion and alert. The green monster librarian with the glasses shot her a glare, but Susie claims she didn't really care.

(I didn't. Because the guy in front of me was just that weird.)

The large bird-like monster only grinned down at her with a desperate look in his eye. "I-I just need to tell you what to LOOK for! It's just going to take a second~!"

She was about ready to punch the guy's lights out, but as soon as she raised her fist, her ring tone went off from her phone... She looked down at her pocket and lowered her hand back into it, pulling the phone out with an exasperated sigh as it's screen lit up. Displayed was Kris's number.

Immediately, her irritation faded in light of a possible hope. She flicked "call" and held the phone up to her ear as she turned her back to the weird guy. She was about to say something, but Kris cut in faster than she could talk and said, "Oh, thank god it works. Susie, I found the en-"

Before she could hear the rest, the phone was snagged away from her by a blue hand, much to her gasping shock. She glared back over her shoulder as she turned to the bird man, who was speaking into the mic portion of the phone. "She can't talk right now, you rude person! She's talking to me, you see!"

She growled and pushed in on the man's chest, trying to take her phone back as his smile visibly cracked, eyes wide with some sort of craze. She shouted, "Give that back now, freak!"

His smile grew as he thumbed the "End" button, disconnecting the call. The screen was full of glitches, though, which was just as weird as the man himself. "They're not important~." And then, he tossed her back her phone, which almost sailed passed her over her head.

She swiped it from the air in a rush, having pushed the man away. "Damn it!"

Susie tried to call up the log for calls by thumbing around... but she couldn't get the screen to do anything. In fact, pretty much the only thing it would do was make a very messed up unknown tone.

She growled at the man. "Idiot! You broke the damn thing!"

... ... ... But he was no where to be seen, much to her shock. She did a turn around, searching the immediate vicinity and the equally as perturbed faces staring her way for him... Shaking her head, she couldn't believe how he'd just seemed to vanish into the wood works.

... Susie stared at the librarian, who was rubbing her eyes in disbelief. "H-hey. Th-there was a bird guy a second ago, right?! Where did he go?!"

The librarian squeaked at her a little, before placing her glasses back on and nodding. "Y-yes, he was indeed there.. but... I-it's strange. I blinked for one second and he was gone..."

After hearing that, Susie groaned. She looked around at the staring face and asked them all, "Does anyone know that weird-o?! Anyone at all!"

... One by one, they all stared shaking their heads, before mumbling to themselves...

She squint at the scene, shaking her own head. "Great. Now how am I supposed to know whe-"

"I have to go now, sorry~!" She nearly jumped out of her scales looking around for the familiar voice of the bird monster.

... Susie shook her head as his voice concluded with, "Only good little monsters can find my favorite book~."

... She'd had enough, so she quickly walked out of the library while fooling with her phone. After she had opened the door, the screen suddenly cleared up and seemed just fine. The call log was up and Kris's was on top.

Groaning as she closed the door and began to walk toward the school, Susie redialed Kris's number and tried to get back in touch with them, putting the ear piece to her "ear"... But she got a strange and loud dial-up noise instead of the normal one, making her jerk the phone from herself with a disarmed grunt as she stared at the machine. ... And then it ended it's own call.

With a scrunched expression, she shook her head. "What the hell..."

Susie groaned shortly after and saved her phone back into her pocket. "Whatever. I'll just go back to the school..." And so, she started jogging back, grunting in complaint as her feet kept smacking her tail. "Ugh! Screw this stupid tail!"

...

... She arrived quickly back to the school, someone waiting in front of the entrance for her with a nervous expression and fidgety disposition about him.

It was Berdly, who hadn't seen her yet as he was staring at the ground and everywhere else before her.

She stopped in front of him and said, "Hey!"

And the bird monster nearly jumped a foot into the air, eyes wide and a yelp escaping his beak. "S-Susie!" He clenched his teeth and hissed his words through them. "W-what are y-you-"

"Save it, bird boy," she interrupted. Rude by the way.

(Ehh.)

The next thing she did was look around... before sighing and staring down at Berdly. "Look. I gotta talk to Kris. Where the frick are they?"

He started to sweat and back himself into the door, afraid of Susie like he thought she might do something else to him. "N-not... here..."

And the monster girl cocked her brow to that. She turned to stare at him for a second... Then squinted. "The hell does that mean? Where are they, then?"

He shuddered and looked away from her, whining a little. "I-I..."

Giving him a bored stare, she tilted her head and walked closer. Her expression shifted to a glare. "Listen. Could you not be a pissant for me for like, a SECOND and just spit it out?"

He bowed his head, sweat dripping off of his beak as his face contorted through a mixture of emotions. It eventually settled on a scared glare before he looked up at her and asked, "... Y-you gonna break my other wing if I don't...?"

"Wha-..." She gave him a nasty glare and leaned in on his face. "Are you KIDDING me? Right now?!"

He glared more sternly, even though he was shaking. "It wouldn't be the f-first time you put me in a cast." His glare turned darker. "You should have gotten expelled that day and you know it!"

"Oh my g-" Susie hissed through her teeth as she turned away, her fists balled... Then, she shrugged her arms and slapped them to her sides, before she turned back on him, eyes glaring bright in the back of her hair. It was enough to make him shudder and press further into the door.

... She didn't do anything. Instead, her eyes faded from view back behind her hair and she growled. "... I'm sorry. Okay? It was ****ed up. I shoulda gotten expelled. You're right."

"Don't try and de-e-..." His eyes went wide as he blinked... He cocked a brow and let out a, "Huh?"

She took a breath and huffed it back out through her nose holes. "I said sorry. I know. It's a new one for me, but I'm trying. And I get it. Sorry don't cut it for an injury that won't totally heal. But that's all I got for you. Literally."

... Berdly just stared at her for a minute, before staring hard into the ground. Then, he narrowed his eyes up at her... She says that he looked like he wanted to say something else, but he said this instead. "Yeah. You're right. Sorry doesn't make up for anything this injury put me through. I had to quit a lot of my clubs because of you. And I can't fly right."

Susie shrugged and kicked the pavement below, keeping pinned any impatience and bile trying to rise in her throat. "Well, I'm sorry for that, too. That must..." She sighed and turned her head away. "That must really suck..."

"..." He grunt out a sigh and looked away. "Whatever. Look. I don't think you'd believe me if I told you where Kris is, so I'll just show you... if you back off."

"Huh...?" Susie looked down between them and realized that there was maybe a foot of space between the two of them. "Oh..." She backed up and pocketed her hands as she stared at him. He walked out of the door and looked at her one more time... Then he shrugged and sighed, pocketing his own "hands" and leading the way through to the forest as Susie followed...

(... Lemme tell this part.)

What?

(I wanna say it my way without you amending crap.)

Uh... O-oh. But... I wouldn't have amended it. I've been saying everything you told me to say, right?

(Yeah, but just ... humor me.)

Er... Okay. Go ahead.

...

Okay. So, I'm gonna just say it. I don't really care for this sorta thing much. I'm only doing it this one time and then Noelle can handle the rest. I ain't a narrator.

So. He took me to the dark zone out in the woods. At first, I was pretty freaked by how different it looked. All wide eyed and everything. I don't know.

Then, bird boy- (Berdly~) ... BERDLY... walked up on side of me and said, "I-It looks... bigger than before..."

I just looked at him like, "really?" and pointed at the whole black hole thing that was literally yards from reaching us. "This is where Kris went?! Why didn't you say what it was?! That's a one way ticket to the friggin' Dark World!"

He kinda pulled away and put his hands in front his face like this. ... ... ...

(... Uh... Susie, they can't see you.)

Wha...?! You aren't using a ****ing camera?! C'mon! I feel like a moron, now!

(I told you, though...)

W-whatever! Forget it. Just picture it, I don't know. He put his hands up in front of his face and said, "Hey, I-I thought you wouldn't believe me! I thought it was another prank from Kris! You know how good they are at making it look freakishly real!" ... Then he cocked a brow and itched his face. "Also, Dark World...?"

He had a point to a certain extent and all, but what moron thinks someone can make a black void? And no. You can't do that with magic. So, of course I looked at him like he was stupid. "... And you are only the second dumbest bird person I've dealt with today."

The bird made an amazing glare and said, "Hey!"

But I cut him off with a ... ... ... Hey. Noelle.

(E-eh?)

What do you call it when you do this? ...

(... A... waving gesture?)

Yeah! That. I cut him off with that and a scoff. "Anyways..." I looked at him with a stern face. "Why did the idiot go in there?" (Susie~.) [Sue me. They were an idiot.]

The bird got all clammy when I asked and started messing with his hands and avoiding eye contact. Right then, I knew. This was gonna be GREAT...

So, he turned his head away and looked at me with just his eyes and a sorry look on his frowning mug. "... N-Noelle might have end up in there. We don't know for sure."

I cocked my brow and tilted my head. "Yeah. And why did they think that was a strong possibility? Princess doesn't exactly strike me as a camper." (Hey! I was in cross country!) [Does that make you a camper?] (... Nnnno, but-) [Ahp! No buts, you said it yourself.] (*sigh* Fine...)

"..." Berd pulled his head low, looking pretty dang miserable. "Me and her had a big argument... And it got a little physical..."

Call me a skeptic, but I was skeptical about how he worded that, so I put the squint on him. "How physical is a little physical?"

And his expression only got even more miserable, like he was disgusted with himself. "... I slapped her... pretty hard..."

... I shot him one mean glare and folded my arms up. "... And she ran into the woods, 'cause she was UNDERSTANDABLY very upset..."

The guy took a bit, but he ended up nodding silently. He didn't make eye contact and he sure didn't look like he was enjoying himself.

... The guy was already beating himself up, so I didn't feel like busting his beak. That wouldn't change crap and it would prove him right about me... But I didn't let him off scot-free. I crouched where he could see me, even though he kept trying to look away. All I did was grab his beak and point it back toward me. He looked pretty on edge about having my hand on his mouth.

But... I had a feeling. So, I took a wild guess. "The argument was about her joining our group..."

He took a jerk movement-(Wince.) ... Yeah. He winced the second I said something about it. So, I let his beak go and stood back up.

I stuck my hands in my pockets and took a moment... Then, I looked at him and asked, "Are you sorry about it?"

He took a moment to himself to just stare at the ground. Then, he looked up and me and said, "Y-yes... I hate that I hurt her. But I hate myself more..."

... I turned away from him and sighed. "Yeah...? Well... Why aren't you in there trying to save her?" (...)

... He frowned and shook his head. "... I... I-I was told by Kris... to tell everyone where you guys are if... y-you don't get o-out..."

... Sounded like an excuse to me. I shrugged and started walking toward the dark zone. "Yeah, whatever. Do what Kris told you to. I ain't about to throw you in."

He looked up in a hurry and held out a hand, saying, "Wait!"

I stopped... Then, I looked at him. He had a frown on his face when he dropped his hand. "... Take care of Noelle..."

... I shrugged and turned away. "I planned to do that and more." Then I walked away and left him behind... I know what he did after and I know what he decided to do even after that... But this really shoulda been his job.

After all, I don't have the same definition of "taking care" of people. Noelle had enough of those kinds of people...

(...)

... Hey. Can we stop here for now? Ralsei ain't here yet and he'll be better at telling you what all went on than me or Noelle when I first got to the Dark World. You'll find out why in a little bit.

As for me? I need a Pézza break.

(Oh! Uhm...) W-we'll be back in a bit with Ralsei~.

I experimented a little bit with this chapter! I wanted to see what would happen if two people took turns narrating... and while it was humorous... it really showed me that Susie's not the best fit for the job. ouo; It is a mistake that I will try not to make again! But no promises...

Originally, this chapter would have been much longer, but I realized that it would have been a drag-on... (:3)

Silliness aside, it probably IS better the next part be told in Ralsei's POV to make things easier. After that next chapter, I'm going to take a few days to just read back and make sure everything flows well, makes sense and that there are no further grammatical errors.

There will continue to be multiple POV's. After all, as you've all found out, one person doesn't know all the details.

... I had more to say, but the thought slipped my mind. I blame it on my last minute dental visit.

... Oh well! I hope you are are still enjoying the story, even though Susie is not a good teller. ouo;

++UPDATE: i have been spending way too much time playing Super Smash Bros. Ultimate! ouo;' I profusely apologize for this. I'll try to have the next chapter done in a few more days, but it's gonna be a bit longer than the usual. So... yeee? .u.; Please be patient. Even my brain sizzles after so much writing in one sitting...