Chapter 4: Are we fine?
Author's note: What else but life makes it hard for me to finish these chapters in a timely matter, but I am glad I was able to get this out at least. I bet all of you were wondering what that glitch path was all about. You won't get answers here, but lets say its my way of spicing up the story from being a simple retread. Granted it still retreads, however I am doing my best to mesh events that happened with some changes here and there. It's not exactly easy but I do what I can. This is TheFoolOfTheNoon signing off.
/
"So…any idea what was all of that about?" Susie finally broke the silence. After a good ten minutes of processing, she brought everyone to their senses.
"I…don't know, nothing like that has ever happened before. Was this because of the Titans? Or was it another effect of the Dark world trying to mesh with the light?" Ralsei was still attempting to rationalize the event.
"Well I for one hope that was an isolated incident because no way in hell I want to go through that again. Also, what was up with SOUL? Hey Kris, can you ask?"
Kris looked up at the two and turn his attention to his chest. Focusing hard he reached hard into his thoughts and felt a cowering presence inside.
"Hey SOUL are you there? It's over the…whatever it is."
"R-Really? Wait…I see it, whew…I wasn't sure how much more I could take that."
"What happened? You completely froze up back there. You even let us take a few hits from the glitched monster we had to fight."
"Sorry…I just…its hard to explain. That place…I felt like something was…eye balling me. Threatening me…its unlike what those darkners that attacked us before. It feels…like…ah I don't know anymore…"
"Look we need you, we were in some serious trouble while you were frozen in fear."
"I know…but…ugh nevermind. Let's just try avoiding getting into this situation again. I'll make an effort to not freeze up…I'm sorry…"
Kris sighed, "Take your time…hopefully we don't run into that situation again."
The young felt himself grabbing his temple as this wasn't reassuring. Not knowing what they went through wasn't any form of reassurance either. Looking at his companions who were waiting for an answer he relayed how the conversation went down. Both wore worried expressions even if Susie tried to hide it away with faux anger. So much for the simple save the light world by closing the fountain. The glitched path was too big to ignore, however there was no sign that it was ever there. No leads, no evidence, and no way to investigate it. They had to continue with their original quest for the time being. To which both companions agreed to as the sooner they leave this place the better.
Moving onto the next area, another save point and a mysterious door was in sight. However, there was an unexpected visitor waiting for them. The familiar grin of Lancer met the three of them. Kris sighed mentally as he wondered what the kid was going to say this time. He really didn't like annoying chatty people. However, he must practice patience or else he won't hear the end of it.
"Hey guys!" he ran up to them bucket in hand, "Uh…you alright?"
Susie made a face, "What do you think kid?"
"That you three saw something really really spooky."
"Um Lancer…did you happen to see anything odd?" Ralsei asked curiously.
"Odd? Huh…oh now that you mention it… I was supposed to meet you back in that hallway overthere. Though…"
"Though…what?"
"The passage was missing! It was pretty weird…like…poof there was nothing here earlier. So, I was standing here seeing if it came back. Turns out it did! Though C. Round looked spooked. Uh what happened in there?"
"Uh…we wouldn't know how to explain it even if we tried…"
"Bummer, well that ruined my whole bit. Still, I think we can still do something here," Lancer pondered for a moment before one of his lacky's showed up and whispered in his ear, "What?! Aw dang it…"
"What's wrong Lancer?"
"Something came up, I need to check it out. Dad's orders…ugh…don't worry I'll see you three later to do the bit."
"Well we look forward to it then, stay safe out there!"
"Uh…sure thing! See yah losers!"
Lancer walked off with his minions in leading him. Leaving the three to themselves. The moment of levity eased their minds a bit. Still, they had to head onwards as there was no reason to go back. Silence befell them all again as they moved together and ran into a new enemy type called a Rabbick. Any battle with them was quick as a simple cleaning of the dust from their bodies reduced them to a smaller size. Making them able to be spared and sent on their way. Susie didn't even try to attack them despite the opportunity. SOUL and Kris noticed some shakiness in her movement but did not mention it yet. They ignored the suspicious looking stump as they moved on.
The next area had a new obstacle that Kris felt SOUL shudder at. Noticing these poles with white whips that followed a clockwise and counterclockwise. Carefully he maneuvered around the soul damaging obstacles. The boy was mentally thinking to himself the entire time as he was still thinking about the earlier incident and wondered how the others were handling it. Keeping a strong face is all he can do physically, since they are still stuck here until they close the well. It wasn't ideal and if they had to run into that…glitch area again it would be too soon.
They continued to follow the route and found themselves in another puzzle room. Something Susie pointed out, "Hey it's one of those puzzles. It has those card…symbol things."
"It's card suites, about on brand considering what we been up against. Club heart and club…huh let's see what this sign says," Kris read the sign carefully but quickly let out an annoyed sigh, "Are all these playing card darkners really that dimwitted? The answer to the puzzle is literally written right above the empty spaces!"
"Well it makes it easier for us to progress that's for sure," Asriel chimed in as Kris quickly solved the puzzle to allow them to pass through.
"Something tells me this may not be the first time we have to deal with these things."
"Well Kris as long as you keep solving it, we got nothing to worry about," Susie said with confidence as they marched on. Quickly running into the same puzzle again, but the previous combination from before didn't work. With no clear hint around it was decided to leave it alone for the time being. A new enemy called a Bloxer also made its first appearance here and was promptly peacefully sent on its merry way. After Ralsei pointed out that their body looked out of order. They managed to find the answer to the puzzle by looking around and seeing the answers in the environment. Though the group was surprised by a random Rudinn that was talking to himself. When asked, he was talking about his friend Clover and what to get for her birthday. He also drops she only likes boys, trees, and sports.
"Something tells me that we need to keep this in mind Kris."
"Maybe or it could be nothing at all."
Moving from that minor diversion the next area that came after left things a bit trickier. The answer board was vandalized so the only thing that was identifiable was the color of the pattern the symbols should be.
"That complicates things…"
"Vandalism…very sloppy vandalism, if you're gonna do it at least do it right!"
"I mean yeah, but this one is going to need some more effort."
"Well…there must be some hints lying around here. It's not a big space so we should split up and look around Kris."
"I got it, try not to get too far though. We don't want to be caught off guard by whatever could try to jump us."
Susie just smiled as she raised her ax before turning away to look around. Ralsei gave him the thumbs up before going on his own as well. Kris and SOUL are left by themselves as they looked around.
"How do you think they're holding up?"
"My best guess…they are probably hiding away their trauma. I mean…I'm kinda trying to ignore it myself."
"Susie is trying to keep a strong front, but clearly it shook her. I saw her shaking in previous battles. It's the reason why she didn't immediately attack the darkners we faced."
"What about Ralsei? How is he holding up?"
"It's hard to tell…maybe he's trying to push it out of his mind by focusing on our missions. Something like that though can't be ignored for too long."
"We gotta keep an eye on them….and ourselves."
"Don't need to tell me twice…" Kris muttered before being surprised by an odd spherical head popping out of the ground.
"Whoops! Sorry there! Didn't mean to surprise you hehehe," Kris gave an annoyed grunt as he composed himself in front of the strange darkner.
"Um…hi?"
"Oh you are one of those cool types aren't you? Hehe, but where are my manners? My name is Clover! Thank you for visiting!" Kris made a mental note that this was the same name a Rudinn mentioned before.
"I guess? Kris, that's my name."
"Ooo…you are some cool cats for sure. You look fierce like a blade," Kris mentally sighed as he was already hating this conversation. Clearly, she is harmless, but he couldn't handle her speaking for much longer.
"Yeah thanks, look I am in kinda of a bind here."
"Oh? What's wrong? Ooooh I know that puzzle right?"
"That would be the one. You know how to solve it?"
"No sorry but I do remember a bit of the answer. The first symbol is a heart! Just like love! Hehe, hopefully it helps you out!"
"It's enough, I'll see what I can do from here thanks."
"Tata for now!"
The head disappeared back down the hole as Kris took his time to process what had just happened. He walked back up to the wall where he was supposed to put in an answer in. Not too long Susie and Ralsei joined him with news of their own. Ralsei mentioned that he got an obvious hint from a meek head named Clover. It was the same name that was mentioned before which had Kris pondering if they were related to the other head. Regardless, the hint Ralsei got is that the order of colors is still the same as the vandalized answer. Susie also said that she got a hint for the answer from another head as well. It didn't give a name to her, but it angrily told her that the answer had no clubs.
"Well my hint was it started with a heart, so lets put what we got together," Kris began to mess with the mechanism to create an answer that fitted the hints they were given. It took several tries because of the tricky mechanism, but eventually Kris was able to solve the puzzle and unblock the path, "Nice, we can move forward now."
"About time, that one angry head was getting on my nerves."
"Right…Susie that head wouldn't happen to be spherical with three eyes, right?"
"Uh…actually yeah! I am pretty sure it had that."
Ralsei had a pondering look, "Yeah same thing with the head I talked to."
"You said her name was Clover as well…one problem. The head I talked to was also called Clover," Kris mentioned as they were about to leave.
"How can two different heads be called Clover? Unless…"
Just as the three was about to leave a loud voice boomed from behind them, "Hey! Where do you think you're going!?"
Rushing from behind them a large quadraped, three headed creatures appeared before them. All sporting the same heads they all encountered in the area, "You're just gonna say hi and leave? What ingrates! They probably got…something to do…"
"Um…Clover I presume?" Ralsei responded carefully as he could, "I'm sorry we have to leave, but it's important we get a move on. We have a quest to do, and we can't stick around for long."
"But it's my birthday! No my birthday! It's our…birthday…"
"Uh oh…um…Kris what do we do now?"
Kris just shrugged as he knew the importance of birthdays, but they really needed to get a move on. It was a pickle for sure until Susie spoke up, "Look I know it's an important day for all three of you, so what do you want for your birthday? You want cake?"
"Do you got cake? Obviously not where would they keep it? I mean they can go fetch one…"
"I mean we don't have one now…but if you don't cause a ruckus…then we can go and get one for you. How that sounds?"
Clover paused for a moment to discuss it among herself to which Kris decided to take this time to whisper to Susie, "Um…Susie, since when did you become diplomatic?"
"Shut up loser, it honestly sucks to get your butt handed to you on your birthday."
Clover overheard this comment, "Yeah that would be uncool. But you think you'll kick our butt?! I rather not get into a fight please…"
"I mean…have you seen us up to this point? We are a pretty strong team ourselves."
Kris and Ralsei looked at each other in realization how bad the situation was going to turn from Susie's bragging. To stop her from escalating the situation the duo tried to muffle her but were unsuccessful as her strength and sharp mouth easily prevented their feeble attempts.
"Welp…better prepare for the worst…" Kris muttered.
"Already am…" Ralsei said plainly.
"What the heck was that for guys? I was simply stating facts!" Susie yelled; Kris merely pointed to Clover who looked ready for a battle.
"You know what? Let's have a birthday bash! This is not gonna end well…"
Quickly the area around them turned into a familiar arena as all three of them readied to face down Clover. Susie finally realized what just happened and slapped herself, "Now I see what happened now…"
"Susie you never fail to surprise me," Kris said with an exasperated sigh.
"Whatever…still I won't feel great beating down somebody on their birthday…so um…does SOUL have a way out of this?"
Kris steadied himself as he waited to hear SOUL's voice, "Well…do you got anything to end this peacefully?"
"Well just one…conversation. Maybe if we chat it up with her favorite topics maybe she'll calm down."
"Okay, so what topics should we talk about with her?"
"Well our options are…boys, trees, sports, maybe ask what she wants for her birthday?"
"Huh…sounds reasonable. Okay let's try that."
Ralsei looked at Kris, "So what did SOUL say?"
"Well, just talk to her. Hey! Clover what would you like for your birthday?"
The heads paused for a moment before responding, "I would like to have a nice chat~ No you IDIOT! Ask for a GIFT! Just discuss our likes…."
It was Ralsei's turn and he heard SOUL tell him to ask about boys. Something he wasn't sure how to ask, "Ummm…so what kind of 'boys' do you like?"
"Cute ones! Hmm hmm~ NICE ONES, like I AM! None…um, I mean, all. Glasses are cute, I think…Fluffy! Glasses! That's it! HIM? …er, sure."
Kris could swear he saw Ralsei's eye shrink as he started shaking in place with some sweat forming. He couldn't help but chuckle a bit at the thought of Clover trying to make the moves on the innocent Ralsei. The poor guy was at a loss for words and Susie was barely concealing her own chuckles. It was working though as Clover looked less angry and was enjoying herself. It was Susie's turn, and she was looking a bit lost.
"Um…I forgot, what does she like?"
"Boys, trees and sports, well we used one of those. Try the tree subject!"
"Okay um…so uh how do you feel about trees? Personally, to me they're…woody."
"I love the smell of trees. Oh! Me too! Pollen makes me… Uh, sure!"
"Is it just me, or is one of the heads doesn't fully agree with the others?" Susie questioned as their turn ended.
"I noticed that too. Three heads aren't better in one body," Kris braced himself as the box showed up and it was SOUL's turn to move. Club projectiles launched towards the box and upon impact they exploded into three ball projectiles. For few rounds the shots came and SOUL dodged the attacks while sticking close to gain TP.
When it was their turn again Soul told Ralsei to defend and Kris to ask how Clover feel about sports. To everyone's surprise it was the one subject all three heads agreed on and they looked much happier for it. Susie took a defensive position and the trio's turn ended as Clover attacked again. However, the attack was less intense and when it was over the Darkner was wide open and ready to be spared. Looking beyond elated that she was able to talk about her favorite subjects. Kris smiled as SOUL told him to use spare and with a snap of his finger and striking a pose the battle ended.
The world came back to view as an overjoy Clover was bouncing up and down, "Hehe that was fun! That wasn't too bad, I guess. It was nice…"
Clover then walked off from view and the trio breathed a sigh of relief that they managed to resolve the situation peacefully. Moving onto the next zone and was greeted with a bake sale going on. Taking this chance to take a small break the trio decided to see what was for sale. A Rudinn, a Hathy, and Lancer stood behind stalls with smiles on their faces. From the first two stalls a choco diamond and heart donut were obtained to share among themselves. It wasn't bad tasting and a nice pick me up from previous events. When they got to Lancer's stall things got interesting.
"Lancer? What are you doing here?" Ralsei questioned with curiosity.
"What up gentledorks! Just here selling a Lancer Cookie. Mainly for money and well…I am still having trouble what to do right now. I been…feeling off so to speak."
"Oh…are you okay?"
"I don't know, you ever feel like something is missing in your life but can't describe what? I have been feeling that lately and I don't like it one bit."
Susie's face seems to soften, "Hey, uh Lancer…"
"Yeah?"
"Be real with me here. Do you really want to destroy us?"
"I…uh…can you keep a secret?" He gestured for Susie to come closer so he could whisper to her ear.
"Sure, what's up?"
"I think you guys are neat…you got…good friends behind you…I wish I had something like that. Somebody who can be my friend…"
"Oh man…uh…that sucks dude…what about the minions you got with you?"
"Oh them? Well not really…they serve me out of fear of my dad. Me I just order them around and they do what I say. It's not the same…"
"Geeze…" Susie found herself at a loss as she felt empathic towards the darkner. Technically before she never had any friends up until now. Heck, she didn't consider Kris and Ralsei friends until the whole glitch situation. She mentally shuddered thinking about it. The existential dread creeped up on her as she tried to shake the mental image of the glitched away, "Umm…this may seem unorthodox…but I can be your friend. I'm sure those losers can also be your friend if you asked."
"R-Really? I mean that would be nice…but uh you're the good guys I'm the bad guy…how does that work?"
"That is a good point…hmm I got an idea, but I need to talk to the others."
"Oh, okay then, well I'll be right here…with a cookie."
Susie turned around and gathered the others into a huddle, "What's wrong Susie?" Ralsei asked in surprise.
"This is new…especially since how long I knew you," Kris added.
"I know, so shut up and listen. Lancer is not a bad kid, he's lonely and…well I think it be best we just go our separate ways for now."
"Wh-What? Susie what do you mean?!" Ralsei jumped in shock.
"Relax four eyes you still have your hero team like in your story book legends or something. What I'm saying is that I think I should hang out with Lancer for the time being. He…needs a friend and I want to help him."
Kris just stared at her before closing his eyes and nodding wordlessly. SOUL understood the silence and didn't say anything either. Ralsei had a small smile on his face, "I see…well if its for a good cause I see no reason why not. You really do have a kind heart in you Susie."
"Yeah yeah…you losers are rubbing off on me. Whatever…anyways I am not sure what will happen, but just know if you run into me and Lancer we may end fighting you guys."
"It's okay Susie, we can watch out for ourselves. Besides…just be careful. If anything happens, try and find us. Also here is some food for the road," Kris reached into his pockets and gave Susie some of the healing items they had.
"Alright then, hehe. Let's get this show on the road then," Susie broke the huddle with a smile on her face as she turned to face Lancer, "Good news kid, I'm switching sides."
"Really!? That's great! There is so much we can do together! Play games, do pranks, mess with the heroes!" Lancer said ecstatically as he jumped up and down.
"Alright alright, settle down. First, we need to think of a plan if we are gonna be villians. Got that?"
"Oh I know. I know a place we can go to brainstorm. But…" His stomach gurgled, "I'm hungry for a snack. Um…heroes…would you like to buy my cookie?"
Ralsei smiled, "Well…its not my decision…um Kris? Would you like to buy the cookie?"
Kris sighed mentally, they really put him on the spot. He really doesn't want to buy a pointless cookie from Lancer, but at the same time refusing would be a real dick move right now. Not helped by SOUL encouraging him to pay for the cookie. Looking back at his wallet he can afford it but may be left with lowish cash for a while. Still the situation is forcing his hand and he didn't like it. With a nod he stepped forward and paid Lancer the cash which in turn gave him the cookie. The odd shaped cookie is in the shape of Lancer's face.
"Yeah! Thank you for the money losers! Now we can get started on our evil plan!" Lancer said with trumph.
"Buying snacks?" Ralsei asked curiously.
"Hey, can't think of something evil on an empty stomach," he said flatly as he got Susie in tow and both bought a Heart Donut to share with each other.
"Aw…I can see this going well Kris and SOUL. Well since its just going to be us for the time being I see no harm in making progression on our own. Though we have to be extra careful now."
"Just us two means we might have a bit more trouble against more enemies. Still nothing we can't handle. Bring it on I say!" Kris smiled as he made a small pose, but grew quickly embarrassed after seeing there were people watching, "That was SOUL…not me…"
"That's…not technically a lie…"
Ralsei giggled to himself as the duo took the downtime to explore a bit around the area before progressing forward. Heading north first and meeting a strange hammer headed man. Kris thought to himself it looked quite like a toy hammer. Curious they walked up to him and quickly the mallet man greeted them.
"Well well, visitors. Greetings, I am the smith Malius. I can fix anything," Kris raised a brow upon hearing this.
"Anything? Like anything anything?"
"Yes young man. Weapons, trinkets, armor, clothing and even cake."
"Cake? How?"
"I'm just that good."
Kris mentally rolled his eyes as he chalked up the list of meeting another werido. Though Ralsei tapped his shoulder and whispered into his ear, "Hey Kris, wasn't there a cake Susie destroyed earlier? Maybe we should back track and go fix it."
"Really? I mean do we have to…?"
"Come on Kris it's just a bit of back tracking…"
Kris sighed, "Fine I don't feel like arguing. Let's make this quick and get a move on."
Back tracking back to the teleporting door Kris was surprised to feel a furry hand grab his. Looking to his right he saw a slightly blushing Ralsei holding his hand tightly, "Um…you don't mind I hold your hand right? I-I just need some security…since we are about to use a teleporting door. I guess I'm just a teensey bit…scared."
Kris felt his face soften seeing the worried look on Ralsei's face. It reminded him of Noelle when she got scared (Well when it wasn't because of him). SOUL encouraged him to say some comforting words, but he couldn't. Instead resorting to just a small smile, give him a small nod before griping his hand firmly. Together they walked through the door and stepped into an odd colored void before the door slammed behind them. For a moment everything went dark and Ralsei squeezed Kris's hand for reassurance. The human squeezed back as suddenly the flaming outline of the door appeared in front of them. Carefully they walked forward, and Kris opened it, revealing the familiar purple landscape of the field.
Stepping out together the door slammed behind them again and they found themselves near Seam's shop again, "Whoa…okay, that was…weird. You alright Ralsei?"
"Y-Yeah…um…if we ever find ourselves doing that again. Can you hold my hand again?"
"Sure thing, you can count on…us Ralsei."
"I didn't think I could die from cuteness overload."
Kris mentally told SOUL to shut up as the duo returned to the baker and explained the situation to him. In quick order he was elated to know his beloved cake could be repaired. They take the broken cake, which looked as fresh as the time they first passed it. Making the trek back and through the magic door together. They would finish this side quest and return the fixed cake to the baker. Their reward being slices of the cake for them to take which Ralsei was more than happy to have.
Shortly thereafter the duo went back to the main path of their journey. Running into two bloxers which the fight took longer with just the two of them. Still, they managed to pacify them and greet a strange worm that is completely unbothered by anything going on. It's a worm and it will do what a worm does. From there the duo discovered a hidden road unseen from the red path they are used to. They did find 40 dark bucks that would be useful in the future though, so an explorer's reward. The next area after forced more of a threat on SOUL as they had to avoid these strange darkners called a Scissor Dancer. Multiple of them are dancing along the paths and Kris and SOUL carefully decide how to proceed. Taking a few nicks from the obstacles as they tried to find any secrets in the area. However, the risk outweighs the benefit so for now they just continued into the next area. Finding a rather familiar shape waiting for them.
"Oh, woe! Woe is me…! Rows and rows of woes and woes! If only a hero would help…"
"That's…Lancer isn't it? He's acting very poorly…"
"Definitely…" Kris whispered under his breath as Ralsei took a step forward.
"Lancer…? Is everything alright…?"
The shape turned around to reveal Lancer now sporting an out of place mustache on his face, "Oh, I'm not lancer! I'm just a sweet little boy!"
"Why does a sweet little boy have a mustache?"
"As a disguise," He then began laughing as if he just told a hilarious joke only, he found funny.
"…so what kind of help do you need?" Ralsei puzzled face did not change as the bizarre situation continues to become more bizarre.
"See, I have this EVIL PLAN that I need to make…"
"…and why does a 'sweet boy' need an evil plan?"
"To impress his cool new friend Susie!"
"…" Ralsei turn back to Kris and whispered closely, "Kris, I know this sounds crazy but I think we should help, for friendship."
"Ralsei…" Kris swallowed his pride as SOUL also nagged him on it. Pragmatically speaking it would be unwise to help the enemy. However, he can feel Susie watching from somewhere and this is something the two new friends came with together, "Alright alright, let's see what's up."
The duo stepped forward as Ralsei smiled brightly, "Well then, we'll gladly help. What shall we do?"
"It's all on the paper, you delicious apple!"
Suddenly a blueprint with a standee fell from the sky above and landed between them and the disguised Lancer. The two stepped up to the empty blueprint and looking at the seemingly empty-ish layout as Lancer explains to them to just fill it with the evilest thing they can think of.
"Create a machine to thrash your own ass…presented by Lancer industries…" Kris quietly mumbled.
"Which was just made up right now…I am…not sure how to feel about this."
"Well then let's get this over with let's see…"
Kris and Ralsei went through various options available to them with some prodding from SOUL on the silly Duck options. However, Kris was mentally thinking there aren't good enough options for the most evil thing he can think of. Though there is an amusing thought on a flame headed tank with tiny wheels for feet. At least that's what he tried to draw…with him and SOUL in control of the same hand they fought a bit on the drawing. As a result, it only vaguely looks like what he imagined…at the right angle. Ralsei just tried his best with the details of what he thought Kris wanted to draw.
"Well we're done!" Ralsei cheerfully said as Kris just shrugged.
Lancer walked over and smiled, "Wow! Looks nasty! Are you sure aren't evil!?"
"Err, no, I suppose we just have a knack for it."
Suddenly Susie burst out of a nearby bush and ran up next to them, "Haha, tricked you, idiots! NEVER do something somebody else can do for you!" she pushed them to the side to get a better look at it, "This thing is like…Ugh, hey, why did you draw something, like," she paused for a moment shooting a look at her friends, "…it looks like you guys wanna kiss?"
Kris snickered, "Is that what you see? Hehe that's way off from what I intended. It was supposed to be a tank with a flamethrower head and small wheels. What were you looking for?"
Susie flushed red, "H-hey! Don't make me bite your face off!" Kris had a snide smile as the monster girl grabbed the plans, "A-Anyways! Great Job, Lancer! They were sitting ducks!"
"Hahaha, yes! And it's all thanks to our enemies! Thank you very much! Thrash-you-later!"
The opposing duo laughed like children as they ran off with the plans. Ralsei just stared blankly, "Okay…? Well it's nice to see they're getting along though! They have become quite fast friends haven't they?"
"That's for sure, it's like they were meant to become friends or something," Kris felt a little strange saying that. It almost echoed in his head…a hollow echo that sent a shiver down his spine.
"Are you alright Kris?"
"I…think so, not sure what came over me."
"Well if it happens again know that I'm here Kris."
"I know…I'm…kinda counting on it."
