There was a routine for four students from the local school in Hometown. Go to class, meet up at lunch, fall inside of the supply closet, literally enter another world, (be forced to) leave before the rest of their classes started, attend said classes, go home, go back to school the next day and repeat.
But this day, the supply closet wasn't opening, leaving the four students unable to access the Dark World.
"The hell?!" One of them kicked the door, which remained shut and complete no matter what she did. "Let us in!"
"Susie… a-are you sure that you should be doing that? What if there's…a weird magical Dark World reason?" Noelle, Susie's girlfriend, trembled as she tried to find some way to calm her down. Susie turned around before giving the door one more blow, wishing that she either had something to pickpocket the damned thing with or her axe from the Dark World.
"Fine, I'll give it some peace for now." Susie smiled somewhat while placing her purple hand on Noelle, who blushed, slightly jumped up and let out a small "Eep!" at the sudden touch, not that it was unwanted, that was.
"You two are…something, aren't ya." A small tease came out of Kris's mouth all of a sudden, following a smirk from the human and Susie giving them a not so soft jab at the shoulder. "Ow."
"Shut up." Susie crossed her arms and rolled her eyes, trying to hide the fact that her face was turning into a slightly darker shade of purple from blushing.
"Well, if we are being completely factual, Susan Holiday does-'' Unfortunately, –or maybe fortunately, depending on what way you look at it and who you're asking– Berdly was cut off by Susie collapsing her other hand over his beak, somehow.
"Don't even go there, little bluebird."
The whole group proceeded to burst into laughter at the somewhat odd looking exchange. Most people who knew the group would be surprised that they were all hanging out together, even the four themselves. But some…recent events had changed quite a few things for the Lightners. All of it having to do with two castles, a kingdom and a city.
And now, the only way to Castle Town was blocked and they all couldn't get in.
"Well…" Noelle giggled, still flustered from the previous interaction. "We could find some other classroom to hang out in?"
"What about the…wait nevermind." Kris trailed off as quickly as they started speaking, their eyes looking over at the unused classroom right next to the closet. They glanced over at Susie and she glanced back, the memories of Card Kingdom filling them both with an unspoken power.
All of a sudden, Susie's yellow eyes sparkled with inspiration, excitement and a familiar intensity that tended to scare people.
"The old English classroom!"
"The one that everyone pretended was haunted when we were all eight?" Berdly queried before taking a second to consider the new possible option. "I suppose it could be entertaining to explore the area for nostalgia's sake."
"You already backstory dumped on us, you can speak like a normal ass person."
"Force of habit, Susan."
"Call me that one more time-"
"Guys!" Noelle waved her arms in the air for a brief moment to calm down the bickering two. "We're gonna run out of time if you continue!"
Kris nodded in agreement and the four quickly made their way to the second floor of the small school.
The door of the old English classroom sat still, no lock on the door, nothing blocking someone from simply entering. However, when the group approached the door, they were met with an unknown…tensity. An almost nostalgic feeling, as if they'd all experienced this before. Any form of chatter almost automatically stopped.
"So uh…who's going to open it?" Noelle cautiously pointed at the door and she darted her eyes around at the other three, Susie looked as if she was pondering her decision for a moment but then started shaking her head at a rapid and almost cartoonish pace and Kris just shrugged, as normal in these situations.
Of course, in typical fashion, Berdly saw this as an opportunity to look smart, brave and whatever else would satisfy that need. "Do not fear, everyone! I shall tackle this…a-adventure!" He reached his wing out to the door's knob but pulled away right as he was going to touch it. "Actually Kris can do it!"
Kris shrugged again, but a different sort of shrug this time. They walked up to the door and opened it, shutting their eyes as they did.
"Holy fuck…" Susie whispered as the group looked at what was behind the door. It was nothing but pure darkness.
"Is that a dark world?!" Noelle whispered while her eyes widened and eyebrows lowered, the deer walked closer to the darkness in curiosity.
"Yes." Kris responded bluntly.
"What the hell are we waiting for?" Susie put her arms in the air before grabbing Berdly and Noelle by their backs and standing right behind Kris, an expectant expression forming on her face as her friend turned around to face her. No words were spoken but something was clear.
Jump.
And jump, the four did.