Chapter 13

Before the Fire

"There's real power within this book," Jolly said, smelting it to completion.

"That's not the first time we've heard something like that," Susie remarked, taking the completed manuscript off the anvil. "Kris, if I ever start writing a book, please put me out of misery. I will die before I ever write this much!"

Kris promised Susie that they would.

Jolly shook his head, causing his eyes to roll in a comical way. "You heroes are strange… Just please make sure to be careful with that."

"Hopefully when we give it back to Gerson, everything will be all right," Ralsei said.

Susie and Kris bid the blacksmith goodbye, but before they left Gift Town, Susie insisted that they go back to the snow globe shop.

"You know… We could use more of them if we need to fight the Krankpus. It helped a lot to deal with your Darkner dad and the Keeper," she pointed out. However, Kris did not miss the light blush coloring her cheeks and neck.

Keeping their observation and thoughts to themselves, Kris led the way back to the shop. They bought a throwaway snow globe to use in a future battle, but they made sure to get a colorful one just for Susie. In light of their recent heroic events, the people of Gift Town had already begun memorializing Kris, Ralsei, and Susie. The snow globe in question depicted an excellent miniature of the teenage dragon leaning on her axe and standing underneath a tree ringed with gold and silver garlands and candles twinkling within the glass dome.

"You know, I'd be even more impressed if you had stolen this," Susie said with a smirk. However, that did not stop her from buying a snow globe of Kris. They were depicted as a knight pulling a sword from a stocking by a cheery fire, also twinkling within the snow globe. The artistic rendering was wonderfully accurate.

"Wow! They even have one of me!" Ralsei said happily.

It was an extremely cute miniature of Ralsei kneeling before a fully decorated Christmas tree and placing presents underneath it. He had even tidied the bright tree skirt. Clumps of snow clung to Ralsei's coat and the tree. Kris made sure to get it for him.

With their wallet suddenly much lighter after all the expensive shopping, they continued their trek back up the Angel's Tree. Susie grumbled that there should have been some portals for them to use like there were in all the other Dark Worlds. Kris did wonder why they hadn't found anything like that, but despite their sore feet, it was amazing to once again observe the colorful, sparkling landscape. This Christmassy Dark World was so beautiful. It made them wish that they could have it be a part of Ralsei's kingdom. Only, they doubted that their mother would allow them to haul all the home décor into the school's storage room.

The snow and wind continued to pick up, transforming the night's snowfall into a real storm. Kris began worrying that it could be a sign that the end of their story, their quest, was speedily approaching. Were they ready for it? Krankpus was going to be a difficult boss to beat. They had each other and plenty of items to work with, as well as all their upgrades. Still, the memory of getting thrown so easily from the Angel's Tree did send an unpleasant tingle down Kris' spine.

Eventually, the trio returned to Gerson's ornament. The cheery door opened for them once again and let the heroes back into the cozy study. The ancient turtle monster got up wobbly and shuffled to greet them.

"Impressive! You managed to get the whole book back together! I just hope that it will be alright…"

"Well, this is your contingency plan," Susie reminded him. "You can have your book back and figure out what to do with it."

Gerson beamed back at her and replied, "My dear Susie, you three passed my real test. Given the opportunity to access incredible power, you're just handing the book back!"

"Yeah, but… But what if we already and memorized everything we needed to?" Susie countered.

Kris and Ralsei both gaped at her. Why decide to play the hypothetical bad guy now?

"Testing me, huh?" Gerson chuckled.

"I'm testing your dumb plan," she snorted back. "Look, if you were so scared of exposing all this dangerous information, you should have just destroyed the book and not scattered its pages."

"Ah, but that's the problem," the old author countered, wagging a claw. "I already put too many truths and hints to the Dark World in my books and even far beyond! So, in theory, anyone could use what they've already read to potentially endanger both our worlds and pierce the veil to even more timelines and universes. However, my final book was promised to be the key to learning everything. If someone wants all that knowledge, they would come looking for the final book rather than give themselves over to dangerous experiments."

"It sounds like you didn't understand your own students," Susie said with a savage grin. "Teens are stupid and will do all kinds of things they aren't supposed to do!"

"Which is where the heroes of the prophecy would come in," Gerson answered with a smug grin. Susie crossed her arms, looking upset and perplexed. "What my final book reveals is everything necessary to empower any reader to have the powers and understanding necessary to even subvert the heroes of legend. You didn't abuse this manuscript once you got it; despite how you look and act, Susie, you are a good girl."

His claim caused her to blush. Kris gave her a trepidatious thumbs up in response. It was a good thing after all, but it all depended on how she took it. Susie had spent so long believing herself to be the bad girl and acting that way. She had only reformed herself relatively recently.

Gerson patted the manuscript and continued saying, "Those who took my fantasies seriously will not just be goofs and experiment but come for this book and its secrets. Anyone who aims for less, you three can deal with. And you will pave the way for so many other heroes in the future! But I needed a way to deal with these precious truths.

"The fact that this Dark World is open, but you three are here without being the ones to open the way, that all means someone has finally come for the book. And despite being a boss monster myself, do you really see me taking out young whippersnappers like you three?"

Susie shook her head and mumbled "No" softly.

"So, I am altering my plans a little and making sure that young Kris here has the key to accessing and protecting my book." Gerson tapped the book with one claw and transformed it into a key. He handed it over to Kris and said, "Put this in your Inventory. When you go back to the Light World, this key will be with the jumble of odds and ends that have served as your bag of resources. This will allow you to open the locked box that I gifted to your parents."

Kris began thinking quickly. There was a box that their mother and father had stashed away under the stairs a long time ago. They had tried to break it open and see what was inside. However, the lock remained resolutely sealed shut. They had never discovered the box's secrets, even when they shook it vigorously.

If this key was their ticket inside, that would solve an old mystery. But it also saddled Kris and their friends with an even greater responsibility. The answers to exploring the Dark Worlds and far beyond, and possibly hunted by psychos who took fantasy a little too real. That was a description that struck much closer to home than they wanted to admit.

"You can give me the key or the book," Ralsei suggested. "Whichever works best! If we hide it in another Dark World, and one that is protected by a Prince of the Dark, there's a better chance that we can keep all these dangerous secrets safe."

"That's a good idea, Ralsei," Susie said, her airy, faltering tone bespeaking that the enormity of Gerson's charge was settling on her.

Kris nodded in agreement and tucked the key away in their inventory.

"Before you go, please allow me to grab you all an extra cup of cider," Gerson invited. "You'll love it! And if you want to stick around and talk, that would be nice. Otherwise, I understand that you have a world to save."

The three friends accepted full mugs of steaming cider from old Mr. Boom. They did stick around for a while and talked with him. Kris felt bad abandoning Gerson, even if he was just a dusty imprint of a long-dead author. It must have been dreadfully lonely all these years waiting for someone to arrive. And who knew if Gerson would continue on after this conversation. His purpose was served; there was no more reason to hang around this Dark World after the sealed up the Fountain. Or if he did persist, they might as well give him some good memories.

Gerson told them a bunch of funny stories. Some of them were about Christmases past, others were about his adventures across the Dark World which were not turned into books. And then he dropped a bunch of embarrassing tales about the adults in Hometown. He was so happy to have an audience, but he eventually bade them farewell.

"That's a real storm brewing. If you can't get to the fifth level quickly, you should seek out some shelter," he cautioned. "Once you get up to the fifth level, your quest will pretty much done. It's just a few branches and a little way up the Lantern Road before you reach the Angel."

"And we still have Krankpus to deal with," Susie said, cracking her knuckles.

Kris waved goodbye to Gerson as Ralsei sang "Auld Lang Syne." The storm rose to greet the heroes, almost immediately blowing and raging harder than before. They began wondering if they shouldn't just return to Gerson's study before everything turned white and impossible to traverse. But then they stumbled across something that made both Kris and Susie blush.

Their shared ornament peered out of the snow. A bird house that grew as they approached and opened a new set of doors to let them in. The heroes hurried forward, wondering if they would meet variations of Kris and Susie inside.

"Hello me! Hello other Kris!" Susie hollered, stomping the snow off her boots. There was no reply.

A warm, crackling fire sat in the hearth at the far side of the little cottage. Stairs decorated with low, colored lights lead to a second landing. Plush couches and high-backed chairs surrounded the hearth and a coffee table ladened with cookies. A small Christmas tree sat in the corner with a small box next to it. Everything stood ready to be decorated.

"Well, while we wait, let's make ourselves comfortable," Ralsei suggested.

The friends helped themselves to some cookies. They munched on some of the cookies and put up their feet, resting after all that hiking and fighting. Ralsei eventually wandered over to the tree and began decorating.

"Ha! Something new! I've never done this before."

"Hell, really? It's fun," Susie said, getting up heavily to join Ralsei. Kris followed her. "Here, let me show you how to not tangle up the garlands and beads!"

She still succeeded in making a disastrous knot as they spun them around the tree. Working together, the three friends got it all undone and began again. They laughed, remembering the big fight against the eldritch, octopus knot attacking everyone up and down the tree. At least this one was benign! They hung up the bulbs and toy ornaments, figuring out together how to not make a mess of the tree. Toriel had guided everything before, but now they were the masters.

At the end, Susie lifted Ralsei to put the angel on top of the tree and Kris plugged everything in. A warm glow came from the lights strung through the wiry branches. The heroes stepped back and admired their work. It was sloppy and not as brilliant as Toriel's tree, but it was theirs. It was the product of their combined effort and that alone made it cool.

Ralsei yawned. "If the storm isn't letting up, I'll take a nap. Let's check out the bedrooms."

Turns out there was only one with just one large bed. Kris and Susie began sharing nervous glances.

"Here, you can have it! I'm not tired at all," Susie lied, hurling Ralsei onto the covers. "Have a nice nap!"

Kris closed the door and they both hurried downstairs. Susie began laughing once they were on the first floor. She opened the doors and checked outside where the storm was still raging.

"A bird house for two love birds. But three's a crowd," she snickered. "The Dark World has been direct with its messaging before, but this is kind of ridiculous, don't you think?"

Kris agreed. This was a less than ideal romantic situation. They wandered back over to the fire and picked at the last few cookies remaining. Susie grumbled about needing to use the bathroom. Thankfully, there was one. Inside, she quickly did her business, but she also thought furiously.

It had been a silly day with a date to the Angel's Market, a little flirting and couple's gift buying, and then they had spent time together at Kris' place. A perfectly nice day with her significant other that had taken a wondrous turn to only become a weightier adventure than expected. This was serious stuff she and Kris were dealing with, and now they were in a Christmas love nest.

Ultimately, it wasn't fair, but the setting was right, even with Ralsei upstairs. In their bed. Susie rolled her eyes in frustration. Was this really where she and Kris were going to take the next step in their relationship? It was far too forced and cliché!

Kris was thinking the exact same thing. They tagged each other, swapping places in the bathroom.

"Sorry man, because it reeks in there!"

Pinching their nose, Kris braved it.

Feeling suddenly hot, Susie shed her suit and armor. She slipped off her boots and slumped onto the couch. Perhaps Ralsei had the right idea to take a nap. But now that she was left alone to her own thoughts, she was growing too nervous.

Kris stumbled out of the bathroom and also took off their scarf, cape, and boots. They laughed weakly, "I might die the next time you do something like that."

"Then light a match next time!"

"Should have checked the kitchen."

"Maybe we can find something better to eat than just cookies and sweets in the kitchen," Susie mumbled. "Dammit, what am I saying? I don't eat healthy!"

"Christmas is getting to you," Kris teased.

"Shut up Dreemurr," she fired back.

Kris sat on the couch with her. Susie curled up to make some room. They gazed into the fire together and grew concerned with their own thoughts. Seeing her in less clothing and a little ragged was way too hot, and the fire wasn't helping. Kris found themselves inching closer to her.

She noticed and smirked, "This place getting to you, too?"

"Perhaps," Kris said with a numb shrug.

Susie scooped them up and hugged Kris close to her chest. Breath caught in Kris' throat. They were so close to the valley of heavenly pillows. Susie heaved a sigh and rested her head on top of theirs. Nerves made both of them shake as they held onto each other.

Kris tilted their head up, fidgeting with anticipation, unsure of what would happen right as Susie muttered, "To hell with it!"

Their faces collided for the second time that day. Only this time, it was far more intentional. Their lips hurriedly found each other and locked. It was an awkward affair, rearranging themselves to get comfortable while trying to not break their kiss.

The storm picked up outside, howling and beating against the doors and walls. Some of that cold air snaked its way down the flume and even made the flames shudder. Kris and Susie got even closer. The logs crackled and snapped, covering the sounds of leather hitting the floor. The wind's screams helped drown out the sounds that came afterwards.

Kris and Susie were novices, anxious and embarrassed. But even after they were done, they still hugged each other close and gazed at the low fire and warmly lit Christmas tree.

Lying on top of Kris, Susie broke and was the first to whisper, "I love you."

Kris smiled. She had taken the words right out of their mouth.