Author's note: Holy fucking shitballs, I was NOT expecting the next chapter of Four Souls to take THIS long to complete! To everyone who was eagerly awaiting the next chapter, I give my sinserist apologies to you all. I had ideas in mind for this chapter, but it took SO long to get them done. Not helping things was the fact that I had personal issues to deal with my life. I don't want to go into details, but I will say that since then, I've been focusing a lot more on myself and improving as a person.
Despite all this, I'm here with a new chapter. I'll see what I can do for writing the next chapter, since the next one has a lot more ideas I wish to incorporate, but like I said, we'll all see how it goes. In the meantime, I hope you all enjoy this new chapter of Four Souls. Let's begin.
One moment.
One moment of a huge loss of temper.
That was all it was at the festival. But such a moment was plastered all over the local news. The headlines claimed that Noelle Holiday, the daughter of Holly Anne Holiday, had assaulted two of her classmates during the summer festival, one Berdly Thenderson had been rather viciously beaten up by her and one Kris Dreemur had been slapped by her when he tried to intervene. A lot of folks within the town believed that Noelle was the aggressor, beating others up seemingly for the hell of it.
That was until Catti's video surfaced online, giving more context to the situation. Following the video going viral, the town became torn in two. There were those that believed Berdly was in the wrong, provoking and taunting a clearly upset Noelle until she snapped and that she lashed out due to being overwhelmed with emotions, while others held onto the belief that Noelle was in the wrong, that while she might've been deeply upset, hurt and possibly angry at the time, it doesn't excuse her actions or her behaviour, especially towards someone whose family provided research material for school projects to the local library.
Even with witness testimonies detailing the events leading up to Noelle's fight with Berdly (including the argument she had prior), it seemed like not everyone was willing to be merciful towards the 17 year old deer. However, it did seem that most people within the town sided with Noelle and believed that Berdly was the one to blame for it. Sure, legally speaking, Noelle was in the wrong, but the public didn't seem to care about that, holding Berdly as the one responsible for pushing what they felt was a broken girl into lashing out at him and her loved ones.
Back at the school, even work for the three directed involved was difficult. Kris found it harder than usual to focus on school work, his head was in ruins with various depressing thoughts, both recent and of past events. Noelle could only work in silence and in shame over what she did. She retreated even further into her own mental solitude, shutting down whenever she was in the public eye, not making any efforts to talk to anyone and keeping to herself. But the most affected was Berdly.
Since his school partner savagely attacked him at the festival, Alphys had split him and Noelle apart, having them work alone at the project. He still sat in front of the class, but now, he had an icepack over his swollen beak and an ugly ring around his right eye as a part of his appearance. The smugness was gone too, replaced with a strong cowardice, especially when he was near Noelle. Even sitting beside her gave him shivers. Sometimes, he'd glance over at the doe and when their eyes would meet, he'd panic and hide his gaze. He wouldn't even go near her during lunch or breaks, nor would he visit her for the project.
Noelle hated this. She knew that Berdly, as much as he sort of deserved it for all the shit he said, was deeply afraid of her, all because she lost her temper with him. Every attempt at an apology fell on deaf ears. And on top of that, she also hated the cold glares and the hateful stares that their fellow classmates gave to the blue bird. Since most of the students saw Catti's video, they almost immediately sided with Noelle, almost making Berdly a pariah within the school grounds. Even Noelle begging the others not to judge him so harshly and her objections to harsh comments about him were all overruled by the jury of her fellow students.
Kris and Susie also stayed out of Berdly's way. They always wanted to put Berdly in a weakened and broken state, but actually seeing him in the state he was now, they couldn't help but feel... sorry for him. In that moment, they didn't care that he was once a smug snake, that he had this grand sense of entitlement on him, that he had delusions of grandeur over other students. All they saw in him now was a bird who had been, quite literally, beaten to his lowest point. All by who they thought was an angel. Well, Noelle still was an angel in Kris and Susie's eyes, but they saw her as an angel with a demon inside her that came out at the wrong time.
They were pulled out of their thoughts when the bell suddenly rang. Berdly was the first to leave, although it seemed it wasn't to continue with the project, but more-so to get away from Noelle. The doe could only watch as the avian fled out the door, just like he did the last few days since the festival. He would get up, quickly pack his things and run out the door, out of the school and wouldn't stop until he got home. He would even hide his face whenever she came into the library.
Honestly, she was still angry over the nasty things Berdly had said to him, but even so, it hurt seeing him be so scared of her. Glumly, she stood up and walked out of the room, not even waiting for Kris or Susie. The rest of the class followed suite, but Alphys had asked Susie and Kris to stay behind so that she could talk to them privately. Once the room was empty, Alphys went up to the door and locked it, making sure that there was no interruptions for her private talk with the duo. She then walked up to the two, who were still seated at their desks.
"I've heard about what happened at the festival. My girlfriend mentioned it to me and showed the video that Catti took. And... I just want you both to know that... the school and the Holiday family are trying to figure things out. If it was any other student, they would've been suspended for such an attack like the one Noelle did." Alphys explained to the two. Susie then spoke up. "Does this mean Noelle's gonna get suspended? She's spoken to me during lunch and confessed that was what she's scared of the most."
Alphys paused, causing concern to rise within Kris and Susie, Kris even leaning forward towards the teacher. His eyes were visible to her, putting her on edge once again. "N-No! She won't be. Although, she'll need to speak to Toriel about her outburst for a few weeks." Susie sighed in relief. Thank God Noelle wasn't going to be punished for acting out of character. "Oh good. As long as it doesn't interfere with Mr. Holiday's funeral tomorrow. I've only met him once, but I think it would mean the world to Noelle if we went and paid our respects to him."
It took a few more minutes of private discussion, but eventually the two were out of the classroom, walking down the hallway. Susie had her hands dug into her pockets, while Kris' arms hung loosely by his sides. "So, Mr. Holiday's funeral is tomorrow. You have anything to wear? I'm sure mom will be happy to let you borrow one of her black dresses." Kris asked his girlfriend, presumably to break the silence between them. Susie stopped dead in her tracks and, after snapping around to face Kris, leaned in close to her boyfriend, causing him to lean back in surprise, not expecting her to get so close to him.
"Kris, I've had multiple charges under my belt, including but not limited to assault, shoplifting and vandalism, I've been expelled from 7 high schools during my teens and if it wasn't for you, Noelle and Ralsei, I'd probably drop out of this school and go work in some dead end job that I hate." Susie stated matter of factly. She then grabbed Kris' shirt and pulled him closer to her body. "Do I LOOK like the kind of girl that would wear a dress?" she then asked, her voice morphed into an accusing tone.
Kris quickly shook his head. Memories came flooding back of her slamming his body against the locker when they first paired off. Susie then released Kris' shirt, giving him some peace of mind. Thank god that moment of tension was over. Susie walked on ahead and stood by the front door. Both her and Kris had agreed to walk Noelle back home and give her comfort until the day of the funeral. And to protect her from prying eyes who might intrude on her privacy to ask her questions regarding the incident. Kris' mind thought back to what Noelle said during their argument a week earlier.
"Says the one who chooses to hide her self harming!"
Noelle was referring to Susie when she mentioned self harming. Does that mean...? Surely not! Susie was a tough girl! There's no way in hell that she'd think to do something like that. Kris couldn't imagine she'd do something like that. If anything, he would've thought if anybody were to self harm, it would be either Noelle or Ralsei, the latter if he was pushed far enough into despair. Just the thought made his skin crawl as he gently rubbed at his arm, right where his veins were starting to meet his skin.
The hallway was silent before Susie turned to Kris. "Uhh dude? You haven't seen where Noelle went, did you?" she asked, sounding concerned. Kris could only shrug at first, but then he heard it. It was quiet, but noticeable if you listened hard enough. Muffled behind a nearby door was the sound of... crying? Pained crying. The human signalled for the reptile to follow him as the two made their way down the corridor, past the entrance to the Dark World and over to the door to the unused classroom. Kris peeked in through the window to the classroom, with Susie right behind him. There she was.
With her back pressed against the far wall, her head buried in her hands and her mind still in mourning was Noelle. She sat among the discarded toys, her body facing the door. She would quiver a little as sobs escaped her lungs. The carpet where she sat was becoming stained with her tears, which fell from her eyes like rain drops before vanishing into the fabric floors upon impact. She must've been alone, crying to herself ever since she left the classroom, unable to hold back her emotions while waiting for Kris and Susie. And the two didn't blame her. She DID just lose her father after all. The sound of Noelle crying broke the duo's heart to listen to.
Susie fought back the urge to start crying herself, as Kris turned the door handle and opened the door. "Noelle?" Kris asked as he walked into the room. Upon hearing her boyfriend's voice, Noelle removed her hands from her face, revealing to him how distraught she was. Her eyes had red rings around them and her cheeks were soaked with tears. "Kris!" Noelle called out as she quickly stood up. She ran over to the human, tightly wrapping her arms around him as she began to cry into his shoulder. "Kris, I'm so sorry about the festival! I swear, I wasn't trying to slap you! Some of those people out there still I think I intentionally hurt you!" Noelle's broken voice cried, muffled by the fabric of Kris' sweater.
Kris' heart broke even further as he felt tears brewing in his own eyes upon registering what Noelle just did. Kris couldn't even bring himself to accept Noelle's apology, as much as he wanted to. He was just... too upset to respond. All he could do in that moment was raise his arms and return the hug her girlfriend was giving to him. Susie then walked into the classroom also, tears brewing in her eyes also. She circled around Noelle and hugged her from the back, encasing the doe in both her and the human's hug shell.
The two stood there, holding their weeping girlfriend, fighting back the urge to cry along with her. Alone inside that classroom. Nothing mattered to the two any more but being there for their doe girl. She had just lost a parent, something Susie could relate to strongly. "It's okay Noelle. We're both here for you." Susie softly said to the crying Noelle, planting a small kiss on the side of her head. Noelle raised her head to glance back at Susie. "We promise." Susie added with a small reassuring smile.
A stone room is our stage, lit up by some hanging torches on the wall. A few flashes of light would appear, then vanish a few seconds later. Ralsei stood in front of a dummy, that looked eerily akin to him, same colour clothing and everything. He shut his eyes and made slow movements with his arms, trying to focus his magic on the dummy in front of him. He focused his mind on the spell in question, which was nothing more than a simple telekinesis spell, just moving the dummy without so much as laying a finger on it. He hoped it was the least he was able to do, ever since Rouxls took away his magic.
Granted, there were some spells he was able to cast, but he wasn't sure which ones in particular. The dummy floated a few inches off the ground, much to Ralsei's delight, before dropping back down, a spark flaring up from Ralsei's hand. This spark gave a brief shock to the prince who jumped and swore to himself in annoyance. This spark would always rear its ugly light in whenever a spell Ralsei was casting failed him. Once he had calmed himself down, he tried to focus once again, but his mind ran back to Rouxls.
"I do not believe a word of this!" Rouxls' voice angrily stated as he paced around the throne room. Ralsei stood there, grasping at his wrist gently, trying to sooth it. Upon the portal closing and leaving him with the duke, he angrily grabbed Ralsei's hand and dragged him back to the castle. And now, he stood there being reprimanded by him like a child. All the while, Lancer was standing in the doorway, looking almost like he didn't want to get involved with this. Rouxls Kaard continued to rant as Ralsei could only watch on.
"I thought that I made it very, VERY clear, that you were NOT to use your powers outside of the Dark World! We do not know how the Lightners would react to seeing such feats of the like!" Lancer walked in as Ralsei began to defend himself. "Rouxls, the others seemed perfectly okay with it. If anything, they think it looks cool." he explained. Rouxls, who was originally looking out of the window with that last statement, turned around to face the prince. "That doesn't change a thing Ralsei! The last thing that I...!" he began to rant, before noticing Lancer standing behind the prince. He then straightened himself out before continuing.
"The last thing that Lancer would want is for you to go up into the Lightner's realm and be executed for using your magic up there."
Ralsei scowled at him. He knew that the duke didn't care for the child king. The duke was trying to save his own skin from being tarnished should something happen to him. The goat turned around to face Lancer, who gazed back at him. The child nodded. "I do get concerned about you sometimes, Ralsei." Lancer confessed. Ralsei smiled back. "That's really considerate of you Lancer, but I'll be fine.". However, this did little to calm Lancer's nerves, which were visible to the prince. Lancer then began to object. "You say that, but I really don't think you are. I remember what you told me in this throne room about a month or so ago. You said you felt so alone back then. And I know you've got-."
"I've got Kris, Susie AND Noelle and I KNOW that they'd have my back! Because they love me with all their heart! And I love them too!" Ralsei snapped back at the king. Lancer's mouth hung open in shock upon hearing this. Ralsei didn't realize why at first, but then it dawned on him. He just blurted out his deepest secret against the duke right in front of him! Ralsei's eyes widened in horror as he slowly turned back to face Rouxls Kaard. Sure enough, the duke's eyes were also wide, in shock. He stood frozen for a few seconds before speaking.
"A relationship...? With THREE Lightners?!" He said, not believing what he had just heard. Quickly, in an almost panic, he turned back to face out the window. muttering to himself. "Oh God, this is even worse than I thought." Ralsei then stepped forward, more annoyed than guilty. "Worse?! How is this worse than you thought?!" he demanded out of the duke. Upon hearing this, Rouxls turned back to face the prince. "If you REALLY must know, it becomes very easy for a Darkner to be manipulated through relationships. For all I know, they could've convinced you to share magic spells!" he angrily explained. Though this did nothing to quell Ralsei's growing anger.
"Well, fine! I'll admit it Rouxls! I DID share my magic with them AND taught them some minor spells!" the goat snapped, his eyes flaring with a burning desire to try and one up the duke. And for a second, he seemed like he succeeded, for Rouxls had nothing to say at first. His face then turned into one of brief anger, although he was trying his hardest to show some restraint. "You... you showed those three... how to do spells. One of the things... that I SPECIFICALLY... told you not to do... under ANY circumstances." Rouxls said, as though trying to piece everything together.
The two glared daggers at each other, Lancer slowly walking towards the confrontation, as though he was about to try and break them up. After a tense round of silence, Rouxls sighed. "If you are willingly going to break the rules that I've laid down... then you leave me no other choice." He finally said. The duke then reached into one of his coat pockets and pulled out an amulet. It was gold and had a red diamond in the middle. Ralsei backed away in what seemed to be fear as the duke brought the amulet close to the prince. "L-Lancer, wh... what is that thing Rouxls is holding?" he asked.
The king walked forward, taking a look upon the amulet. He was then shocked, as though he just realized what said amulet was. "Ralsei, that's the Gold Soul Stone amulet! That red diamond inside of it has the ability to strip sorcerers and kings of their magic, leaving only small spells being able to be cast!" he exclaimed. The diamond was only a few feet away from Ralsei before a glowing red streak fused between the diamond itself and Ralsei's chest, right where his heart was. "Do not squirm about, Ralsei. It'll only hurt you if you try and resist it." Rouxls said as he held out the amulet towards the prince, in the same manner that a priest would hold a crucifix out to a vampire.
Ralsei fell to his knees as he felt his magic being forcefully pulled from his body. His eyes glanced over at the young king, who was watching on in dread. "L... Lancer... YOU are the king! Say something to Rouxls!" Ralsei pleaded. Much to his dismay however, Lancer couldn't say anything, neither to him nor to the duke. Instead, he continued to back away, shaking his head. This one action made Ralsei's heart sink. Lancer, despite being the king of the Dark World, wasn't going to help his friend in this desperate time of need. This aching feeling in his chest continued for a good few minutes until...
It suddenly stopped.
Ralsei, now finding the strength to return to his feet, quickly stood up. He glanced upon the Gold Soul Stone amulet, the diamond glowing a steady, blinking red, a majority of his magic now inside of it. Rouxls glanced upon the diamond, almost as though he wasn't expecting it to work as well as it did, before he signaled for a Rudinn to approach. Once they did so, he placed the amulet into its hands. "Take this amulet and place it in the vault. And make sure Ralsei won't be able to get it back." Rouxls commanded to the Rudinn. It saluted at him and gave a quick "Yes sir!" before running out of the room with it.
Once the Rudinn was gone, Rouxls turned to face Lancer. "Young Sire, I'd like you to come along with me. There's some more things you need to learn before you take on the role of the king." he said walking over to a nearby doorway, this one having two Hathys standing either side of the entrance. Lancer walked past Ralsei, giving a quick and shameful "I'm sorry Ralsei." as he passed. Ralsei could only stand there. His magic... gone. Just like that. Now how was he going to be there for his partners at a time where they need him the most?
"As for you Ralsei, you are to return to your humble abode and think about everything that you've done up until this point." Rouxls added to the prince. Ralsei could only clench his fists in burning anger as the duke's words echoed around his head. The king and his aide were about to leave the room when Rouxls ears caught something coming from Ralsei. He wasn't sure exactly what it was, but judging from the tone, it sounded like he had just mumbled something horrid. He noticed a hard 'k' sound, followed by an 'ooo' sound. There wasn't many sentences that had both of those sounds that the duke could think of with the tone Ralsei was using.
He turned back to face Ralsei, who was standing there, glaring at him, pure anger on his face. "What did you just say to me?" Rouxls asked in an almost scolding tone. Ralsei slowly walked up, the fire in his eyes burning even brighter than before. It was at that moment, Rouxls Kaard got his answer to what Ralsei had just mumbled to him:
"You heard me! I said fuck you!"
Ralsei repeated, adding in a flash of his middle finger to accompany the profane remark. Rouxls' eyes went wide in shock. Ralsei... just SWORE at him. No doubt he learned it from Susie. The duke ALWAYS thought that despite his interactions with her, that she was a bit of a bad influence, especially on Lancer. But now, he heard it clear as day, Ralsei had just said 'fuck you' straight to Rouxls' face. And judging by the look on the goat's face, he wasn't going to stop there.
"You really think you have a right to take my magic away from me like that?!" Ralsei snapped at the taller man. Rouxls was afraid, but tried his hardest not to show it in front of Lancer, who was starting to stand behind him out of fear of his friend's sudden bad temper. "You will NOT talk to me in that tone, Ralsei!" Rouxls sternly said to the prince. But such words did nothing to deter Ralsei's wrath. "Just what the FUCK makes you think that a selfish and pretentious asshole like you has the right to just take and give powers away from folks like me?! You're just doing it because you never had the chance to be king yourself!" Ralsei ranted.
"There is no such motive behind what I do! I'm doing this on behalf of Lancer and the rest of the Dark World!" Rouxls argued angrily back in the goat's face. The goat just rudely scoffed at this statement. "On behalf?! You're not the king! HE IS! Why don't you let HIM call the shots for a change?! Or is it that you're too petty and full of BULLSHIT to swallow your pride for 10 fucking minutes and let the rightful king take control of this damn kingdom!" Ralsei fired back, nothing but venom in his words. Rouxls was fuming now.
All he could do in that moment was turn to the Hathys beside the door, who were both standing with weapons drawn, ready to attack Ralsei should he make a move to attack Rouxls or Lancer. "Hathys, show Ralsei the exit!" he demanded of the two. Both of them walked to either side of Ralsei and lifted him up by the armpits, dragging him out of the throne room. But even that didn't stop Ralsei from unloading streams and rivers of vile words as black as tar out of his mouth, his legs wildly kicking like a toddler throwing a tantrum as he was carried out. "Oh of course! Leave it to the Hathys to do your dirty work for you! That's what I'd expect from a yellow bellied BASTARD like you! I'd probably make a much better aide to Lancer than you ever could! Mark my fucking words, I'll be back with my magic and you're gonna be SO sorry that you crossed me, ASSHOLE!" Ralsei screamed as he was dragged away from the throne room.
After that last profane scream, the throne room fell into a tense silence as the duke and the king stood there, calming themselves down. Lancer clung to Rouxls' leg like a child would to their parent, his fear completely overshadowing how he originally felt about Ralsei. After a pause that felt like hours, Rouxls breathed deeply through his nose and glanced down at Lancer, who looked up at him. "Rouxls... what does 'asshole' mean?" the young king asked innocently.
Rouxls clamped his eyes shut. It disgusted him to hear Lancer use profanity, especially after hearing Ralsei unleash a whole ocean's worth of vile language at him. "It's something you shouldn't learn until you're much, MUCH older than you are now. Just... stay out of Ralsei's way." Rouxls said to the king once he calmed down. The two walked out of the throne room, presumably off to whatever it was that Rouxls had planned for the king.
Ralsei's mind suddenly came back to the dummy when he felt a gust of wind blow against his robe. Still, the dummy remained unaffected, although the gust of wind surely meant that he was getting close to completing the spell. Ralsei smiled to himself as he felt like he was making some progress after what felt like hours. He then shut his eyes and held out his hand.
"C'mon... focus, Ralsei. You can do this." he muttered to himself as he tried to focus on the dummy in front of him. After a brief struggle, the dummy flooded his mind as his focus shifted onto it. In his mind's eye, he envisioned the dummy floating only a few feet above the ground. That was all he wanted to do. He didn't want a spectacular display of some mystical feat of magic. Just something small. Something to work on what was left.
Just then, he felt it. The dummy was rising off the ground and hovering. Keeping his eyes closed, he smiled to himself. He knew that he could do it! If he kept it up, surely he'd be able to conjure his magic back all on his own! He smiled wider as he envisioned the look on Rouxls' face when he sees him with his magic back. But just then, the intrusive thoughts came in. Thoughts of his argument with his partners, Rouxls' words in the throne room, the memories of the Snowgrave spell he cast.
He tried his hardest to ignore them, but they bombarded his mind with unpleasant memories, hitting his fragile concentration like a battering ram against a wall of Styrofoam. The more he tried to ignore it, the more louder they became, until eventually, they were all he could hear echoing around his head. What snapped him out of it? The sound of the dummy landing hard against the stone floor. He opened his eyes to see the dummy's base landing, giving the illusion that it never moved one bit. After a pause to register everything, Ralsei's mind burned with anger.
Fury in his eyes, Ralsei walked up to the dummy and roughly grabbed it by the shoulder, slamming a fist into its 'stomach', complete with a loud grunt. He paused again, before quickly drawing his fist back and slamming into the stomach of the dummy again. A few more hits caused the fabric 'skin' to break, causing it to 'bleed' stuff onto the floor and onto Ralsei's hand. Each blow was accompanied by a furious grunt from Ralsei. Eventually, the dummy's guts were spilt onto the floor, giving it the impression it was slumping over, as though close to death.
This didn't stop Ralsei however, as he pushed the dummy back and sat on the stomach. Much like Noelle did to Berdly, Ralsei changed the aim of his fists from the stomach to the face, his hands stained with the stuffing of the dummy like blood. The gory sight would be horrifying to those unfortunate enough to witness the massacre as every fist brought on the dummy's head disfigured it in some manner. Ralsei's grunts of anger slowly grew louder and more drawn out until they shifted into furious screams as he unleashed total fury onto the dummy. If it were alive, the dummy would either be severely brain dead or close to death itself.
The boy in white and blue walked through the empty town, all by himself. After everything that occurred earlier, he just had to take a walk by himself, away from the Rudinns and the Hathys. And especially away from his lesser dad. There was so much he was putting into his head, there was hardly ANY space left for him to enjoy other things he could be spending his time on. Lancer thought to himself as he paced through the town. He just WISHED he could say 'no' to Rouxls and just have time for himself. He was only a kid after all...!
Okay, maybe 13 isn't exactly an age where he could call himself a 'kid', but he was still young! Way too young to be running a kingdom. His brow furrowed as he thought back to Rouxls Kaard confiscating his friend's magic. Despite Ralsei calling out to him to do something, Lancer made no effort to stop the duke. Why? Why didn't he? Was he too afraid of incurring his lesser dad's wrath? Was he afraid that he'd be killed if he intervened? No... no, Rouxls Kaard wouldn't kill Lancer... would he?
The young king never noticed that during his rambling, he had approached the castle in the middle of the town. He recalled what Rouxls said to him when the goat prince was kicked out of his home. "It's something you shouldn't learn until you're much, MUCH older than you are now. Just... stay out of Ralsei's way." He never did tell the him what it means to call someone an 'asshole', so he had to look it up behind Rouxls' back, and now that he knew the definition, he just had to walk away from the castle to clear his head.
Lancer opened the door and traversed down the corridors, seemingly having no direction in mind and letting his thoughts put his body into autopilot as he wandered around the castle. Eventually, his walking brought him to a closed door labelled 'basement'. The king walked up to the door and gave it a gentle push. The door slowly creaked as it opened, letting the light from some nearby torches through the doorway and lighting the stairs that began the dark descent.
Lancer's heart sank as he glanced down the darkened steps, the walls adorned with dark purple bricks. As he looked down the flight, he took note of how each step seemed to eventually vanish into blackness, to which he could see nothing beyond. Lancer used to always have nightmares when he was younger about things like this. He was half expecting something to roar at him as it ran up the stairs, ready to kill and devour him. Yet, something seemed to be calling him, beckoning him to make his way down. After regaining his breath, Lancer took a step onto the first step and slowly began to make his way down.
He was thankful that Rouxls Kaard made him learn a simple spell that allowed him to create a small orb of light in his palms. He turned his hands in a sphere motion and uttered the words "Orbe Lucis." to himself. Sure enough, a blue sphere appeared in his hands, a steady pulsing light emanating from the orb lit his way down, giving him some comfort as he continued his descent. The stairs went on for what felt like ages to the child king, but eventually the floor leveled out. Down a dark hallway, he saw a flickering orange light around a corner. Slowly, Lancer made his way down the hall and turned around said corner. He was shocked at what he had saw.
The room was adorned with fluff and small flames. Lancer could also see what looked like torn bits of fabric carelessly strewn about all over the floor. In the middle of the room, there was the remains of what looked like a sack dummy, its entrails mostly empty, but there were some small bits still leaking out of its stomach. The clothing on said dummy was torn and ruined, parts of it looking as though it was on fire or had been burned. Around the dummy was small smears of soot and scratch marks. Lancer wasn't entirely sure, but he could swear that he saw blotches of blood peppered around the floor, especially close to the dummy. He turned to face the corner and that was when he saw who caused it.
Sitting in the corner was Ralsei. His hands clasping roughly at his head as his heavy, strained breathing echoed around the room, broken occasionally by what sounded like a broken sob. Lancer noticed that there was a lot of red around Ralsei's knuckles. Was... was he punching the floor in anger over something, to the point he was making himself... bleed? Lancer slowly walked up to the prince, holding out an arm. "R... Ralsei?" Lancer asked concerned for his friend. The breathing stopped and after a pause, Ralsei removed his hands and looked up at the king. Lancer now had a good look at the prince's face.
There were red rings around his eyes, as though he had been crying long before Lancer got here and patches of fur under his eyes were wet, a few tears still streaming down his cheeks. But the worst part of all, was that among the white fur, there were patches of pink skin that were visible. Ralsei, in whatever fit of rage he was in, must've tore out parts of his fur, leaving only his skin visible to the king. "Lancer..." Ralsei uttered, his voice cracking and just as strained as his breathing. He then stood up, revealing that his robe had a few rips and tears in its fabric. Other parts of it looked singed, as though it was ablaze earlier, big black marks now in its place.
Lancer was horrified at what Ralsei had become as he gasped, placing his hands over his mouth in shock. Ralsei on the other hand smirked. "Yeah, I know. It's not a good look for a prince." he added, as he adjusted his glasses back to how they were. Lancer was speechless for a second. He couldn't say anything briefly. "Wh... wha...?" was all the king could utter. But it didn't seem to matter, since Ralsei seemed to know what Lancer was trying to ask. "Oh this? And the rest of the room? Don't worry. I just..." he began before pausing, thinking of how to sum all this up. His expression changed from a forced display of reassurance to a look of guilt and sorrow. "I just lost my temper." he finished.
Lancer could only shake his head, his lips quivering, before walking up to Ralsei and wrapping his arms around the goat prince's waist. Such an action took Ralsei by surprise, but once he got over the shock, he placed his own arms around Lancer's back, a few tears escaping his eyes. He couldn't see it, but he was aware that Lancer was starting to cry as well. Lancer HATED seeing his friends in such a bad state, and this was no exception for him. "Ralsei, I'm... I'm so sorry that I didn't help you back at the throne room." Lancer apologized, his voice shaky from his crying.
Ralsei released their hug, Lancer stepping back as the prince looked the king in the eyes, which were still hidden in the darkness of his hood. "Lancer..." he began, before pausing. He was unsure of what to say, but he knew that he had to speak his mind. "You need to stand up for yourself, okay? You shouldn't let him make decisions on your behalf." Ralsei finally said. Lancer awkwardly shuffled his foot against the marble floor. "I know, but I'm still a-." Lancer began, before Ralsei snapped an angry "And I've told you-!" at him, complete with an angry point of his finger.
As quickly as the snap came out, it was silenced as Ralsei managed to get his bearings. He also noticed how Lancer took a step back, readying a spade projectile to throw directly at him should he take another step. It almost hurt the goat, seeing as how his friend was ready to attack him, just like that. It must've REALLY done something to Lancer, the sight of his friend looking as broken as he does now. Ralsei shut his eyes and breathed deeply. After exhaling, he took a step forward. He knew that if Lancer attacked him at this close range, it would leave a massive bruise upon his face, maybe knock a few teeth out, but he had to get close to Lancer to get his point across. Ralsei reached forward and gently placed his hands onto Lancer's shoulders, easing the king's mind.
"I've told you so many times before Lancer. YOU are the king, not Rouxls. YOU should be the one calling the shots. He has NO power over the Dark World like you do." Ralsei explained, his voice more calmer than a few seconds ago. Lancer could only glance into the goat's eyes before he continued talking. "I just... I just wish you'd grow a backbone and stand up to him." Lancer raised a finger and opened his mouth, presumably to protest what Ralsei just said, when the prince quickly released his left hand from Lancer's shoulder and held it out in front of him.
"And I KNOW he's a father figure to you. And I KNOW you're a little inexperienced to be a king. But YOU were your father's heir to the throne, not Rouxls. I'm sure Rouxls wasn't even in your father's plans to be the king." Ralsei continued. Lancer only had to shake his head in order for Ralsei to get his point across. "Exactly. I'm convinced that Rouxls Kaard is only calling the shots because he envies you. He believes HE should be the king, but knows that he never will, since the King, before he..." Ralsei resumed, placing his hand back on Lancer's shoulder. He only paused upon looking at the young king. He was mentioning his father now, so he had to be careful with his next choice of words.
"Before he... well, you know... never put him in the plans for him to become the next heir to the throne of the Dark World. But my point still stands, Lancer. You, and you alone, should be running the kingdom, not him." Ralsei finished, removing his hands from Lancer's shoulders. The two stood there, Lancer taking in Ralsei's words. He was right though. Lancer was the king of the Dark World, not Rouxls Kaard. He knew he had to stand up against his 'lesser dad', who by this point, felt more like a LESSER 'lesser dad' to the young king. He couldn't deny it, but he couldn't speak up about it. He was only a... young teen. Admittedly, one that acted like a child.
After a few seconds of silence, it was Ralsei's turn to sigh, his eyes closing in what seemed to be defeat. "I wish I could help you Lancer. I really wish I could. But without my magic... I don't know how to." the goat said, opening his eyes with the last word of that sentence, revealing his internal sadness to the king before him. Lancer, after looking into his friend's eyes, just turned and walked away from him. He was about to turn the corner when he stopped suddenly. "Well, Ralsei. If there's anything that I can help you with, don't be afraid to let me know." Lancer said, putting extra emphasis on the letter 'I'.
Ralsei just sat back down on the floor, just like how he was when Lancer first came in. He sat there in silence as he watched Lancer disappear around the corner, the sound of his footsteps starting to fade away. Almost immediately, something came to Ralsei's mind. He quickly stood up and ran to the corner, looking down it at Lancer. "Hey Lancer?" he called out, the king stopping in his tracks before turning back to face him. "Yes?" Lancer called back. He couldn't see it, but Ralsei became to develop a blush on his cheeks as he parted with the wall and stood facing down the corridor. There was one question he had on his mind, and it was for something important.
"Do you have any clothing I could borrow? Preferably something... black?"
The skies were overcast during Rudy's funeral, rather fitting considering it was such a sombre event for all those who attended. Among the crowd was of course Holly-Ann and Noelle, both at the session to bid a tragic farewell to their husband and father, respectably. Both women were wearing short black dresses, complete with black hats with veils that hid their faces from the elements that threatened to rain on this unfortunate moment. Noelle, along with the dress, had her legs hidden from the world with some white leggings, while her mother chose to allow her legs to be exposed to nature.
Toriel, Asriel and Kris were also there too, bidding their respect to their friend. Toriel also wore a black dress, but she didn't have a black hat nor a veil, instead to choose to show her face in these trying times. Both Kris and Asriel wore black suits with white shirts underneath with black ties. Pinned to Kris' suit however was a small piece of holly. It was something that Rudy specifically requested the men do at his funeral, but Kris seemed to be the only one who followed through with this odd request.
Even Asgore, who never seemed to leave the flower shop he worked at, found this to be an occasion he couldn't ignore, especially given how far back him and Rudy's friendship was. Despite this, he still sat furthest from the rest of his family, choosing to hide himself in his suit from his children's sight and turning his face away from them whenever they turned to look at him. Susie was also present. Sure enough, she wasn't wearing a dress like she told Kris. Instead, she wore a black suit with a dark purple shirt underneath. Her excuse being it was the only suitable shirt she could find in her wardrobe.
Noelle was even surprised by someone else who had arrived back home for the funeral: Her own sister Dess, who had arrived from college (funny enough, the same college that Asriel was at before all this begun) upon hearing about the day of the funeral. In contrast to the rest of the women in the Holiday family, Dess had black hair. Originally, she was blonde like her mother and sister, but she dyed it black during an awkward emo phase. When she came out of it, she liked how her hair looked with this new colour and thus, kept it that way. She would usually wear bright clothing too, but for today, she came back wearing black leathers and boots, since she didn't have much time to find appropriate attire.
She had also come back with another girl, one she introduced as her girlfriend. This girlfriend of hers, who introduced herself as Fuku Fire, had a body made of green flames, that somehow didn't burn her clothing, usually an anime uniform, but for this occasion, she wore a black kimono. For Susie, seeing Fuku almost reminded her of how Grillby looked. Fuku said that she came back with Dess to support her emotionally, especially since, according to her, when Dess got the news of her father's death, she walked out of her dorm, fell to her knees right in front of other students and broke down crying.
Noelle, Dess, Kris and Susie were the pallbearers (Susie volunteering after the original pallbearer, another member of the Holiday family, couldn't make it in time) that carried Rudy's casket to the grave, outside of the church. Once the casket was set, everyone sat in their respected seats, Kris and Susie sitting beside Noelle to give her comfort when need be. Susie would try and avoid making eye contact with Holly-Ann, since she could feel the occasional glare from the older doe being cast upon her like a spell.
In a seat next to Kris however, was a small phone, the screen turned to face the casket. On the screen was Ralsei, sitting on a bed. He wore a black robe with a red colour inside the hood. He also wore black pants underneath said robe and his hands were locked together in respect. His face wore a mask of sadness as he watched the funeral session proceed. Sure, it was only once that Ralsei and Rudy met, but it still stung to know that he was gone. Throughout the whole session, it felt... cold.
The silence spoke deafening volumes as the funeral went ahead, ultimately ending with the casket, and Rudy, being lowered into the dirt and being buried by folks with shovels. Noelle tried her hardest to hold back her tears, but she broke down upon watching her father become one with the earth. Her wails and cries echoed around the trees as both Kris and Susie held onto her hands and held her in an attempt to comfort her. There wasn't much they could do, but at least this was something, even if Susie wished she could do more for her girlfriend.
Things were no better when the funeral was over. Everybody returned back to the Holiday mansion. Kris stood in the main lobby, members of the Holiday family that he didn't recognize all talking among themselves, some with glasses of wine in their hands. He never realized just how big his girlfriend's family was until today. Speaking of Noelle, he did try to comfort her on his own, but Noelle had insisted that she was fine, choosing to spend her time on her own. He was sure that he saw Dess follow her when she left to be alone, but she wasn't so sure of it.
Kris took a nearby glass of wine and walked over to a nearby back door. He looked down upon the red liquid before taking a sip. The bitterness was too much for the human, as his face scrunched into one of discomfort before swallowing the concoction. Kris never really liked the taste of wine, red or white, and this time was no different than before. He took a wet wipe from a nearby box and gave the glass a wipe where his lips were. He then placed the wine glass back on the side. Somebody else could have it for all he cared. He'll stick with the beers and drinks like that.
Kris was about to walk back into the main hall when he thought he heard Susie's voice coming from outside. He tuned his hearing to determine exactly where the sound was coming from. What he heard was Susie's voice speaking in an angry but hushed tone. "Dad, I'm not going to abandon Noelle! She's my friend! And she NEEDS me and Kris more than ever now that her dad died!" he heard Susie say. Kris opened the back door and stepped outside. The cool breeze hit his face as a pause followed Susie's defiant statement against her father. Kris turned the corner of the house when she heard her speak again, using the same hushed tone, her back to him as she focused on the phone call she was having.
"C'mon dad, I KNOW she's the mayor's daughter, but... don't be so ignorant, dad! I'm sure you never said anything like that when one of YOUR friends passed away suddenly!" Susie uttered down the phone, seeming to pause mid sentence as Kris could only assume her father was speaking during said pause, interrupting her daughter. The bully girl turned her head over her shoulder, briefly making eye contact with the human, before she quickly turned back and gave a quick "Dad, I'll call you back later." down the phone before hanging up. She then placed her phone in her pocket as she turned to face Kris fully.
"What's up with you, Kris? Can't I have a private conversation with my dad without you sticking your nose in? Or is it just gonna be more stuff for you to share with Noelle and Ralsei?" Susie asked, annoyed at Kris' presence in that moment. Kris glanced away. It was clear that his girlfriend was still upset about him listening in on her talk with Toriel. As much as he wanted to protest what Susie just said, he couldn't bring himself to do so. Thus, an awkward silence hung in the air between the duo. Susie then sighed after a while. "Can't say? Hmm, just like when we first met." she said glumly.
Kris walked over to a nearby box and opened the lid, revealing it to be full of beer bottles, each of them full and unopened. Susie's eyes went wide, shocked at just how many bottles there were. "Whoa, did... did Noelle drink those behind our backs?" Susie asked, stepping up to the box to have a closer. Kris shook his head. "Nah. All these belonged to Rudy, but since he isn't here anymore..." Kris explained as he picked up a bottle from the box, placing the lid back on. "It's okay, Rudy said that I could drink alcohol when I got older. Besides, you've seen me drink, back at the party we had." Kris explained as he then placed his hand on the cap and twisted it open.
The lid fell to the concrete path below and softly clinked against the hard surface. Kris lifted up the beer bottle and took a swig, letting the bitter drink flow down his throat, on its way to his stomach. Upon glancing over at Susie, Kris took out another bottle of beer. "Oh sorry babe, did you want one too?" Kris asked, holding it out towards her. Susie glanced down at the beer bottle, before looking back at Kris. She wanted to accept it, she had drunk that same beer before with her father, but... something didn't feel right about drinking a dead... deer's beer.
Susie just shook her head and held a hand out. "N-no thank you Kris. I'm not in a drinking mood." Susie muttered. All her boyfriend did in that moment to respond was shrug and give a simple "Your loss." to his girlfriend before taking another drink from the bottle he already opened. "You spoke to Ralsei before today?" Susie asked. Kris lowered his drink and nodded. "Yeah, he said he WOULD be here, but apparently, Rouxls Kaard took away his magic. He spent the last few... days or so trying to cast spells without it, but he's struggling, according to him." Kris explained, placing his bottle on a nearby dustbin.
Susie smirked as she pressed her back against the wall. Typical Ralsei. The human and the lizard girl both fell silent, the sounds of talking muffled back inside, various voices playing out but no words being intelligible beyond the brick walls. "But otherwise, he's been doing okay." Kris added. He picked up the beer bottle and chugged the whole bottle down, placing the empty bottle into a recycle bin, before picking up the bottle he offered Susie earlier. "You sure you don't want this?" Kris asked, holding the bottle out once again. Susie once again glanced at the bottle in the human's hand.
"I'm sure Rudy would've allowed it if he were still here." Kris said in the most reassuring voice he could, a soft smile creeping onto his face. Susie glanced back at Kris, before sighing and taking the bottle. "Fine. The wine they have in there tastes like shit anyway." Susie said as she unscrewed the beer bottle and drank from it. Kris grabbed another bottle and opened it, taking a swing himself as he leaned against the wall next to Susie. There was another silence that followed as the two took in their thoughts.
Susie's mind was flooded with thoughts, mostly negative. Noelle needed her and Kris more than ever now, even she was angry at them a few days ago. But if there was anything she hated more than that day, it was how helpless she felt now. She wanted so badly to help her doe girlfriend in any way she could, just like she would for Ralsei and Kris, but the inability to do so ate away at her conscious. She recalled nights of her lying in bed, crying herself to sleep because she felt so guilty over being unable to give some kind of assistance. Hell, it was taking a lot for Susie not to burst into tears right then and there.
Kris' mind was focused on other negative things. His thoughts about his partners, the argument, when Noelle slapped him, Asriel, his parents, etc. He was tempted to just go home, but like Susie, he believed that Noelle needed his comfort and help more than ever. He felt horrible that he allowed Noelle and himself to drift as much as they did. And now that she was starting to come back into his life, there was NO way he was going to allow her to drift away a second time, for he feared that he might lose her for good if he did.
"Dude?" Susie's voice broke Kris out of his thoughts. Kris recomposed himself and looked at his girlfriend. "Are you okay? You looked as though you were gonna start... crying there." Sure enough, when Kris rubbed his eye, he felt water inside them. He quickly wiped them away, shocked that he almost let himself go there. "Uh, y-yeah! I'm fine. Just... overwhelmed by Rudy's sudden passing, that's all." Kris lied. He then lifted up the beer bottle and took another drink, possibly to forget about his lingering intrusive thoughts and to distract himself from facing them.
Susie glanced at her boyfriend. She felt as though he was hiding something from her. She had noticed the last few days when they'd hang out, be it for the school project or otherwise, he would drink a lot more often. Not to the point he was drunk, but certainly to a noticeable extent. Ever since the festival, Kris seemed to be more... dispirited than usual, keeping to himself and hardly ever talking to others, even when they spoke to him. He also hardly ever wore anything long sleeved, even when the weather was boiling like it was at that moment. She had removed her suit jacket, but Kris hadn't all day.
And don't even get her started on Kris' changes in his eating habits! Toriel would always make a lunch for him, usually consisting of a sandwich, a chocolate bar of some sort and an apple. Sometimes, Toriel would leave a slice of butterscotch pie in his lunch as well. Normally, he'd eat the whole lot, leaving no food item untouched, but recently, he would eat only one or two pieces of his lunch and leave the rest, returning it to his lunchbox, which he would then put back into his backpack. And Susie couldn't tell, but it looked like there was something on his-.
"How long?"
Kris suddenly asked one simple question, but Susie seemed out of it and didn't reply right away. She stammered and asked "W-What?" to him. Kris was now off the wall, facing away from her, back towards the side door, as though he was embarrassed to look her in the eyes. "How long have you been on Peep Show?" Kris asked. Susie sighed again. This was a conversation she did NOT want to have with her boyfriend. "About... a year and a half. It earned me a few hundred dollars with every post I made, but... it doesn't feel like enough to pay the rent." Susie explained, her voice overflowing in what sounded like shame.
Kris gently exhaled out of his nose, audible enough for Susie to hear him. "You know... I don't agree with using that website..." Kris began before he took another drink. Susie opened her mouth, presumably to protest Kris' statement, when he suddenly raised a finger, telling her to wait a minute. When he removed the bottle from his lips, he continued. "But if you're doing it to help your dad with the rent money, then... I guess I shouldn't have been so harsh on you back at the festival. At least you're doing it for a good cause. Just... be careful okay?"
Kris then looked over at Susie, who was still pressing her back against the bricks. He then walked up to her, placing the beer bottle on the recycling bin's lid and gently cupping her cheek in his hand. "Me, Noelle and Ralsei would be devastated if something should happen to you because of some shit that went down on Peep Show." Kris finished. Susie's eyes averted from Kris' gaze at first, but then their eye contact locked as Susie put down her own beer and rested one of her own hands on her boyfriend's. "I will do Kris. You know I will." Susie reassured.
The two then leaned forward, their eyes closing as they shared a passionate kiss between them. Susie's hand went from holding Kris' on her cheek to wrapping itself around his waist, pulling his body closer to hers. Those inside were oblivious to the PDA going on between Kris and Susie outside as the two locked lips, a muffled moan occasionally slipping through their lips. The two broke after about a minute or so of heavy lip locking. They were both out of breath by the time they parted. Susie smiled to herself, something Kris noticed almost immediately.
"What?" Kris asked, a smile of his own creeping onto his face. Susie glanced at her boyfriend. "It's nothing, dude. It's just... I've been thinking about that night you, me, Noelle and Ralsei slept together. And I'm thinking you'd probably know how to pleasure us should we decide to have sex again." Susie confessed, not once losing her demeanour. Kris blushed as he averted his eyes from his monster girlfriend. He didn't like to think back to that night. It was awkward, it was a mistake. It might've brought the four closer together, but still.
He then felt something being placed into his hand by Susie. He looked at it and noticed it was a folded up piece of paper. Susie admired the boy's hair and how he looked in his suit as Kris opened up the piece of paper and looked upon it. Two phrases were written in black marker on the paper. The first being the words 'Username: Buff_Lizard_Girl_03', the other (beneath the previous words) being the words 'Password: BigBeefConsumer'. His eyes went wide and his cheeks shone a light pink once he realized exactly what those words were.
"S... Susie... is this...?" was all Kris could say. But that was all that was needed to get an answer. Susie just nodded. "Yeah. That's my username and my password to my Peep Show account. I... I trust you enough to pass this personal piece of info onto you. In hindsight, I guess I feel a little flattered that Ralsei chose to jerk off to one of my pictures, even if he went around the paywall to get to it. But I figured since he's seen it, you might as well have a look too. Maybe when Noelle is over her grief, I'll share that info with her too."
Kris was about to walk back inside when Susie suddenly stopped him. "There's four rules I want you to follow with this information." she said, rather sternly. She then held up one finger, making sure Kris' attention was on it. "Rule number one: don't let your parents catch on that site. You're only 17 after all." She raised another finger. "Rule number two: don't sign onto my account through the computer. Use your phone. It's more discreet and you'll have your privacy." she added, before raising a third finger. "And number three..." she began.
The demanding tone she had seemed to fade from her face as she then gave a dirty smile at him. "Don't be afraid to jack off to any of my pictures or videos. I'd actually feel flattered if you did. You know, if we give it another year or so, maybe I'll allow you to star in one of my 'movies'. I'm sure you'd make a brilliant co-star with a body like yours." she finished with a flirtatious little wink. Kris smirked back, his blush still ever so present. He liked the idea of having sex with Susie, just as much as he did with Noelle, but the idea of him doing so on camera for who knows how many people to watch made him... a little uncomfortable.
"Thanks babe." Kris muttered, before grabbing his beer and finishing it off. He was about to walk back into the house when he stopped. "Wait. You said there were four rules. And yet, you've only given me three." Kris asked. Susie leaned off the wall and gently caressed Kris' cheek. "As much as I think you're sexy in general, and that it would be sexy if you started, don't get any ideas of posting nudes of yourself onto my account. My followers paid money to see ME, and ME only." Susie explained, more playfully than the previous rules she gave.
Kris smiled and went around the corner. The side door was then heard opening and closing again. Susie stood there for a few more seconds, before remembering the beer she had. Looking down, she saw it was still right by her feet where she left it, waiting to be drunk again. She picked it up and quickly chugged the remaining beer, not letting the bottle go until it was completely empty. Once it was done, she threw the bottle into the recycle bin and followed after Kris, back inside.
Noelle sat on a sun lounger by the pool, still wearing the black dress she wore at the funeral. While the guests were outside the room, she needed some time to be by herself to get her mind right. There was just... so much that went on within the last week. The loss of her father was the biggest of course, but a close second was the argument she had with Kris, Susie and Ralsei at the festival, along with her beating up Berdly. As much as she was horrified at seeing what she was capable of, part of her felt like Berdly deserved it, after all these years of being so smug and arrogant.
Besides, she didn't care that he was the self proclaimed 'smartest kid in class', it gave him NO right to use such hurtful words towards her, especially regarding her father! I mean, surely HE wouldn't like it if she spoke ill of a member of HIS family after they just passed away suddenly! In frustration, Noelle picked up a nearby rubber ring pool toy and threw it into the pool. The toy broke through the surface like a stone through glass before sinking down to the bottom, as the droplets of water thrown upwards by the toy's intrusion came back down to rejoin the water surface.
It was difficult enough dealing with her loss, but on top of that, her mother was away on a business trip at the time, but she returned quickly upon hearing the news regarding her daughter's assault on a classmate. She had to make a big statement to the entire town regarding her daughter's actions that fateful day. She even had to step up to the podium to apologize for her actions, even though she felt like she wasn't at fault. Well, most of the fault anyway. In hindsight, perhaps she shouldn't have reacted the way she did. She was thankful she was the mayor's child, otherwise she'd be looking at least two to five years in jail or thereabouts.
It was quite surreal however: for a while, she was painted as the bad guy, a young woman who out of nowhere, beat up someone whose family contributed to the local library, Berdly being seen as nothing more than an innocent victim of her horrific attack. But then, once that video surfaced, it was as though the roles were reversed. Suddenly, SHE was seen as the victim and BERDLY was the one who was seen as the bad guy. Sure, in a legal sense, Noelle was the one in the wrong, but in the eyes and opinion of the public, it was Berdly that was the guilty one, laws be damned.
She was taken out of her train of thought by a soft hand resting on her shoulder. The younger doe glanced back to see her older sister looking down at her, Fuku Fire standing beside her. "Noelle? There's a friend who's here to see you." Dess said softly to her. Noelle looked behind Dess through the glass door into the rest of the house. Among the various shades of brown and black stood a blue avian, wearing black framed glasses over his eyes, adorned with a white button up shirt with a black shirt underneath, contrasting the rest of the attire of the guests.
Berdly was holding an ice pack to his beak and his right eye had a purple ring around it. His focus was on the rest of the house at first, but when he made eye contact with Noelle, he smiled and raised a hand, waving at her. He then winced in pain as he pressed the ice pack harder onto his beak. Noelle, upon seeing Berdly's face, had all sorts of negative thoughts fill her mind. She wanted to beat him even further, but held back as she looked back to Dess, her face warping into muted anger and muttered a single statement back to her, with an added shake of her head:
"He's not my friend."
Berdly seemed to catch onto what Noelle had said through her head shake as he frowned. He couldn't hear anything through the door, but just the look on Noelle's face said everything. Her and Dess both exchanged words for a little while longer, before Dess opened the door and walked over to him. "She's not in a good mood, but I've convinced her to at least listen to what you have to say." Dess explained to Berdly. "Got it." Berdly said as the two began to walk towards the pool. He couldn't see it, but Berdly felt daggers being stared at him by members of the Holiday family.
Dess opened the door and stepped through with Berdly. Noelle didn't make an effort to even acknowledge Berdly entering the room, instead choosing to keep her gaze focused on the swimming pool in front of her. Dess & Fuku stood over by the door, keeping an eye on the duo as Berdly sat down on the sun lounger next to Noelle, his gaze looking upon the pool also. There was a rather tense silence between the two, before Berdly became the first to break it. "It's a nice pool you've got here. I'm sure you and your family love spending time in it during the hot summers." he said.
Noelle shrugged, not once moving her eyes away from the waters. "Me and Dess used to swim in here all the time when we were kids. Sometimes, when Kris would have a sleepover, he'd wait until it was late and mom was asleep. Then he'd convince me to come down here and swim with him." she explained. The doe then smiled, as though a happy memory surfaced in the depths of her mind. "I remember that my dad even taught me how to swim when I was a little girl, using this exact pool. All those summers, me and him would splash about in these waters, especially during the heat waves." She added.
Berdly only gave a simple "Hmm." before the silence returned. After a pause, Noelle glanced over at Berdly. "How's the... how's the beak... and the eye?" Noelle asked. Berdly looked back at her, part of the sunlight shining on the water reflecting onto his face. "It's... still tender, but it's not as bad as it was a week ago." Berdly responded, complete with a wince as another nerve seemed to be touched under the swelling. Part of Noelle wanted to say how much he deserved it after all those nasty things he said, but she quelled those thoughts into her subconscious as she took in the silence.
Both of them had a lot of things on their mind in that moment. It was just a matter of who was going to speak their mind first. The sunlight made a mirror image on the still pool water as both Berdly and Noelle let their minds run. Not a word was needed between them, but the tension between them still hung in the air. Dess and Fuku Fire both glanced at each other, wondering if they should say something themselves in order to get them both speaking.
"I'm sorry."
Berdly spoke again, his voice aching with guilt as the words escaped his lips. Noelle didn't seem to catch it at first, as she quickly turned her head back to face Berdly and gave a "Hmm?" in response. Berdly looked over at her as he repeated himself. "I'm sorry. For everything." Noelle stood up, almost towering over Berdly, who flinched upon seeing the sudden movement. "Do you mean that? Or are you just saying that to me because that's what you think I want to hear from you?" she asked, an accusing tone ever so present in her voice. Berdly glanced over at the other girls before looking back at the doe, who glared down at him.
"I'm serious. I truly am sorry. I... I was a dick at the festival. I shouldn't have said all those horrid, HORRID things about you and your dad." Berdly stammered. He knew that Noelle deep inside was still angry at her. She seemed very reluctant to talk to him about... well, everything that had happened, so it was only fair he did. But even then, he couldn't shake that paranoia from his mind. He feared that one wrong choice of wording would result in Noelle unleashing more of her pent up rage upon him. After all, as the saying goes, Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.
"Berdly..." Noelle started, before he interrupted her. "For God's sake, I can't even walk from class to class without getting glared at by other classmates! It made me realize how... STUPID I was being at the time!" Berdly stood up and began to pace around as he rambled to Noelle, Fuku and Dess watching from beside the door. Noelle held onto that anger inside, ready to unleash it should Berdly say something that rubbed her wrong way, but part of it was starting to break as Berdly spoke his mind, letting his thoughts flow out of his head like a waterfall.
"My parents were enraged by what I said when that video came out and went viral. I remember my dad asked me what my excuse was for my behaviour, and with every excuse I gave him, he gave me the same answer: 'You and I both know that's complete bullshit Berdly! What made you think it was okay to say those things to Ms. Holiday?! In fact, what if SHE said those horrid things about your mother? How would you feel then?', and I felt awful afterward. And you know what? I deserve it! I really do deserve it!"
Noelle took every single word that he said. She knew that Berdly lost his mother to cancer many years ago and his father remarried a few months after, but even she wouldn't stoop as low as he did. Berdly's father was right about the point he was trying to get across to his son: Berdly would more than likely feel insulted and just as hurt if someone said the same things that he did to her about his deceased mother. Maybe he wouldn't beat the shit out of them like Noelle did to him, but he certainly would feel more miserable than he already did. Noelle was about to speak when Berdly continued with his stream of thoughts.
"I mean, just a few days ago, while I was at the grocery store in town, I came across this tall skeleton wearing a red scarf, a chest-plate, blue pants and a pair of boots. I think him and the owner are related, 'cause he called out to him after the taller one's rant. I think his name was something like... Papyrus or something? Well anyway, the first thing he said when he came up to me was 'I hope you're happy.' in the most... I don't know what word can describe it, but he wasn't happy himself. I looked over at him and said 'Excuse me?' and all he did was glare at me before speaking again."
Berdly paused, sitting back down on the lounger. Noelle glanced back at Dess and Fuku, who both shrugged, seemingly unsure of what to make of Berdly's ramblings, before turning back to face him. "Well... what did he say?" Noelle asked. Berdly could only look forwards, across the still surface of the pool and towards the weak sunlight trying its hardest to peak through the glass and trees outside. For a few seconds, Berdly was silent. The doe was unsure if it was because he was trying to push the memories back or if he didn't remember. Before she could inquire, he spoke.
"He... he said that he saw the video of me and you online, and that what I said to you was some of the most appalling and despicable things he had ever heard. He then asked how on earth could I expect to see myself as a good person if I behave the way I did. And that the problem wasn't you and your emotions, it was how I acted and provoked you into being violent." Berdly paused for a few more seconds, wiping a tear away that was starting to form in his good eye. Noelle then leaned forward as he finished with what sounded like the most damning thing this stranger said to him:
"He then said that while he doesn't agree with you being violent towards me, he DOES think that I got what I deserved for how I behaved."
Noelle leaned back upon hearing those words. She partially did believe that Berdly deserved her wrath for being such an asshole to her, but perhaps she could've been more merciful with him. Maybe she didn't HAVE to leave him looking so black and blue that evening. "So, I came by to apologize for how I was that day. I don't expect you to forgive me, heck if it was me, I wouldn't even forgive myself, but even then, I-."
"Dess, can you do me a favour and get the folder on my desk in my room please?" Noelle suddenly interrupted, talking to Dess. Dess was quickly taken by surprise at this before responding with a "Oh! S-Sure!" and running out of the pool area. Fuku stayed behind and watched over the duo. Noelle looked back at Berdly, who was now starting to feel uneasy about how she was looking at him, as though he was lying and she was starting to see right through them, despite Berdly telling the absolute truth to her. She continued to glare at the bird, which only broke his confidence further than it already was.
"Do you honestly believe, that you can come here, to me and my family's home, while I'm in a state of mourning, and think that I will be all accepting of your apology? Just because you shared some sob stories you've gotten yourself into since I beat the shit out of you at the festival? Is that you think it's going to go down Berdly?" Noelle asked, seemingly not believing ANYTHING that Berdly had just said to her. It was very clear she was trying to hold back some anger she had left over. Berdly knew he had to tread carefully with his response.
"Look, like I said, you don't HAVE to accept my apology. I just wanted you to hear it straight from me, not from some stupid rumour or anything like that." Berdly answered. There was another pause before Noelle slowly stood up from the lounger, almost towering over Berdly who was still sitting. A judgmental glare from the doe was beating down on the avian like heavy rain from a mighty goddess upon a poor unfortunate sinner. Noelle then spoke down on Berdly, not shouting but loud enough so that every word was clear to him.
"I don't think you understand how much what you said hurt me Berdly. You lost your mother many years ago due to cancer. And here I was, thinking that you'd have some compassion about me losing my father. And I'm aware, that both of our losses were out of our control. And I know you miss your mom even after all these years, and I know that you're still in pain over it, as well as the fact you lost your chance to have me as your girlfriend. But even without the festival incident, it wouldn't work between us! You're obsessed with getting good grades, I try and balance that with my social life! Do you understand?"
Noelle didn't even give Berdly a chance to reply before she continued. "To be honest Berdly, I wish... I WISH, that I could take that pain away from you. All that jealousy you felt at the festival towards Kris, Susie and Ralsei. All the sadness you feel about your dead mom. And I wish I could shield you from all the knowledge about those things. Because despite your arrogance, I know that you can be a nice monster. But all this..." she paused, seemingly becoming overwhelmed with emotion. "This feels like a waste!" she added. Berdly wasn't sure, but it sounded as though Noelle was about to start crying.
Berdly then stood up himself as Noelle continued to rant to him. "Something like this could've brought you and me closer together as friends, or something! If you could've just said 'I'm sorry for your loss' or had a LITTLE bit of tact when telling me that my dad had died. But the way I see it now, you won't take anything from others unless it directly involves you!" she said, a little bit of anger creeping into her soft voice as she made that last statement. She then placed a hand on her chest as she added in "So I'm sorry Berdly, but I can't accept your apology and I can't forgive you..."
Berdly interrupted with a statement of his own. "Look, I made a fucking mistake at the festival, okay?! And because of that, I want to improve myself as a monster!" Berdly snapped. For that moment, it seemed Noelle lost her composure as she glared daggers at her former friend. "Well, why don't YOU start by admitting that you're not always right?!" she snapped suddenly, complete with a poke of Berdly's chest with the word 'you', taking Fuku by surprise.
The pool, following Noelle's response, fell into a strained silence, only broken by both young monsters' breathing. There was an extended break before Noelle glanced over at the door to the pool area. Various members of her family were looking over concerned for her, no doubt having heard her rant to Berdly right then and there. Among the crowd was Dess, Kris and Susie, looking just as concerned at Noelle as the rest of her family. Noelle exhaled, regaining some of her composure. Berdly, in frustration, threw his arms up. "C'mon Noelle. Surely, there must be something I can do to make you forgive me." he said, just as Dess returned to the pool room, folder in hand.
Noelle could only glare at him before giving a response. "Actually, yes! Yes there is one thing you CAN do!" she said, raising an arm. The blue avian, upon seeing the arm rise, flinched. He expected Noelle to strike him again, but after a few seconds of bracing himself, nothing hit him, literally. Noelle just stood there, her arm extended towards the door. He followed the arm to her hand, all fingers pointing towards the door itself. "Wh... wha...?" was all Berdly could utter, confused.
"I'm showing you the door, Berdly. You want something you can do for me? Then take the folder of my half of the project and leave." Noelle said, trying her hardest not to spit any more venom at her classmate. Berdly raised a finger to reply, but felt like it wasn't worth arguing with her. She was still grieving the loss of Rudy and if he said anything else to provoke her, she'd probably beat him up again. He placed the finger back down and walked towards the door as Noelle sat back down on the lounger, the folder being passed to him by Dess. He then stopped after he opened the door.
Noelle heard him sigh before he spoke once again. "Noelle? I never told anyone this, but my grandpa died the same way your father did when I was 9, so I do understand how it feels. But even, it doesn't excuse what I said to you at the festival. I'm truly sorry, even if you don't forgive me." He said sadly before walking through the door, across the main hall and out the front door, folder in hand. Noelle stood there, silently fuming as she watched him leave. Once he was gone, she sat back down on the lounger, burying her face in her hands. After a pause, both Fuku and Dess walked up to her.
"Noelle?" Dess asked. The younger sister didn't raise her face from her hands, only giving a muffled "Hmm?" to her in response. Dess sat down next to her and gently removed her hands from the younger doe's face, almost forcing her to look at her. "Noelle sweetie, I understand if you're still angry at Berdly, but... you can't keep holding this grudge towards him." Dess said. Noelle stood up, her hands being released from her sister's grasp. "I'm not holding a grudge against Berdly." Noelle said defensively. Dess looked back at Fuku before the fire girl put in her own two cents.
"Noelle, I'm taking a class in psychology, so I can see that's not entirely true. Look, what he said was absolutely atrocious and if he said that stuff about my family, I would be angry too. But you know something?" she said, walking up and resting a hand on the doe's shoulder. Noelle looked at her before she continued. "If you keep any resentment, depression or negative feelings bottled up inside, then eventually those feelings get released via coping strategies that are... less than ideal for both the individual and those around them."
Fuku continued as Noelle could do nothing but stand and listen. "I remember after my parents died in an accident at the power plant they worked at, I hit a emotional slump. I stayed with my auntie and uncle, I didn't want to get out of bed in the morning, I turned to drug use, I was in a very, very bad place. But then, my uncle gave me an ultimatum: either get myself clean or him and my aunt would kick me out. Sounds harsh I know, but the point is, it gave me the kick up the ass I needed to get over my trauma and build myself up as a monster. Just imagine if I never did take that opportunity."
Noelle turned back to look at Dess, who nodded. "It's highly likely she would've never met me, took a class in psychology or anything. For all we know, she could've been dead. But the point is Noelle, that if you hold on to that anger you feel about Berdly, as justified as you may feel it is, it's only gonna get worse for you. If you beat him up again, I don't know if your family would be able to get you out of it. Besides, it takes more guts to forgive somebody than it does to hold anger for them, even if what they did was, at least in your eyes, unforgivable."
Noelle could only sigh. "I'll... I'll keep that mind. But right now, I need to clear my head." was all she could say as Dess walked up and the two sisters shared a hug. Fuku walked up and joined the two, forming almost a breathing cocoon around Noelle, warming her up with their bodies and in the process, warming up her heart a little. Once the hug was released, Noelle uttered "I will be in the shower. I'll be right back." before walking out of the pool room, the girlfriends watching her leave. Dess sighed as she sat down on the lounger where her sister was.
"Fuku... do you think that Noelle will take what we said and help herself get over this? I don't want her to be upset forever... I mean, dad's gone... and her fight at the festival..." Dess asked, tears brewing in her eyes. Fuku sat down beside her and held her in her arms. "I'm sure she will babe. Noelle's a smart girl, I know she understands our intentions. I believe she'd want to do what's right at the end of the day. We just need to have a little faith in her." Fuku said, ending the statement with a gentle kiss on her girlfriend's cheek.
A few hours had passed and most of the Holiday family was gone. Holly-Ann allowed Dess and Fuku to stay with Noelle to give her some more comfort until she got over her father's sudden passing, which may take a while given how close her and Rudy was while he was still alive. Kris and Susie stood in the kitchen, talking to the three, drinks in their hands. Susie smirked as Holly-Ann finished sharing a story about Noelle's childhood and some of the good times she had with Rudy.
"Kris dude, I know you're a little bit of a goofball sometimes, but I never knew that you were a little terror when you were younger!" Susie said to his boyfriend after hearing said. Kris smirked as Dess giggled at the reptile girl's comments. "I must say karma did come about to get him when he got tangled in the Christmas lights last year. I told Kris so many times not to climb on the roof when it had been snowing, but does he want to listen? Of course not. Then I slipped on some ice and fell off the roof." Holly Ann said, almost teasingly towards the human.
Kris turned away blushing as Fuku let out a little giggle. "Yeah, Dess told me about that." she added through her laughter. It was a funny memory to have, but Kris wasn't a fan of others bringing it up. Susie then spoke up, looking over at Holly Ann. "I must admit Ms. Holiday, I always thought you had a negative view of me because of my reputation, but I see now that you're more compassionate and understanding than I originally thought you were." The older doe's eyes went wide at such a compliment, but the shock quickly subsided to be replaced with a warm smile that she returned to Susie.
"Well, as much as I've heard about your reputation around town, I don't think of you as the brute everybody else does. To be honest Suzanne, I look at you and see a young woman that lashes out at the world because you feel like you've had nobody to talk to. And I must say, from what Noelle has told me, you being around her, Kris and Ralsei has helped you all out with your emotions... aside from maybe the festival incident but... we won't talk about that here." Holly Ann explained to the purple girl. "You know, before she got to know you, Noelle would always-."
She was about to begin speaking when the conversation was interrupted by a noise from Noelle's room, behind the closed door. Everybody looked up upon hearing it. There was a pause before another sound came through. Breaking the silence was Dess. "Oh wow. Is Noelle really playing that guitar dad got her?" she asked. Sure enough, behind the bedroom door was the sound of acoustic guitar chords being strummed. The five of them stood there in silence listening to the chords before Kris raised a finger, seeming to recognize something.
"D sharp major." He said. Fuku quickly gave a "Hmm?" in response, even Susie looked surprised at how Kris recognized the chords Noelle was playing. The human turned back to face the others. "Noelle's playing the D sharp major scale. D sharp, F, G, G sharp, A sharp, C and D. It's considered to be a scale of grief and depression. Rather fitting given the state of mind she's probably in right now." he explained, almost like a teacher to a room full of students. Susie could only glance at the human as she stammered out a "Dude... how did you...?"
Dess quickly answered the purple girl's question. "Kris used to play the piano whenever we had parties. He even plays down at the hospital sometimes, although last I recall, he stopped doing that to focus on school work." There was a pause before Susie gave a brief "Huh." in response. She then stood up. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm gonna go talk to Noelle." Susie announced before walking off, Kris following suite with a "Yeah, I'll go with you." to her. The other three just watched as the duo walked up the stairs.
The guitar strumming got louder as they approached the door, but when Kris knocked, the chords went silent. "Noelle? It's me and Susie. We just want to come in and see if you're okay before we go." Kris said through the door. There was a pause before Noelle opened up, revealing herself to be wearing her pyjamas. But what took them by surprise was the streaming tears on her cheeks. She was still in a bad state. It broke both their hearts to see her like this. Noelle smiled as she looked into their eyes.
"You guys... I do appreciate you both checking on me, but... I'm fine. I really am." Noelle said as both Kris and Susie walked into her room, the doe closing the door behind her. Kris sat on her bed, while Susie sat in the desk chair, looking back at her. "Noelle, we can tell you're not okay. Me and Susie know you too well to fall for that. We're both here for you." Kris explained to her girlfriend. Just then, Kris' phone rang. He looked at it and saw that it was a video call from Ralsei, to which he accepted. The fluffy prince's face appeared on the screen, with Kris' own appearing in the top left corner.
"Hey there Kris. Sorry that I hung up earlier, the battery on my phone was gonna die, so I had to charge it." Ralsei apologized. Kris smiled at his boyfriend before speaking. "Don't you worry Ralsei. Me and Susie are with Noelle right now." he explained. Susie leaned into the shot to wave at Ralsei, who gave a small wave back. Noelle smiled a little hearing Ralsei's voice again. "May I... May I see her?" Ralsei asked. The two glanced up at the doe, who nodded in response. With that, Kris turned the phone around so that Noelle and Ralsei could see each other face to face through the phone screen.
She smiled as her fluffy boyfriend looked back at her. "Hey there Ralsei." Noelle said, her voice shaky as though she was trying not to cry. She sniffed a little as Ralsei smiled back, resisting the urge to cry himself seeing Noelle in such a bad state. "Hey Noelle. I hope you're doing okay. Losing a loved one like you have can be... difficult to say the least to get over." Ralsei said to Noelle. Nobody seemed to notice, but Ralsei's eyes briefly darted away from Noelle on his phone screen to the lower right of his screen during his pause before returning back to the doe, as if trying to hide a painful memory of his.
However, his smile faltered and faded into a frown. "I wish I could be there and comfort you in person, Noelle." the goat sadly said to his girlfriend. Noelle's mind then became consumed with one question, one she let out almost instantly: "Why can't you?"
Ralsei glanced away from her and sighed, as though he didn't want to tell her the truth, but he did so anyway. "I would've came up for the funeral, but Rouxls took away a majority of my magic and put it into this thing called the Gold Soul Stone amulet. It's something passed down Dark World royalty for centuries. It's... rather complicated. If I can get my magic back, I'll explain it in more details when we see each other in person." Ralsei quickly explained. This reassurance got Noelle to smile warmly back at him.
Some time passed as the group spoke among themselves, mostly comforting Noelle and sharing things that have happened since the festival. Noelle mentioned how she went on public television and issued an apology for the actions she did at the festival, something she admitted she thought she'd never have to do in her lifetime. With a scratch of the back of her neck, she added that things like that make her hope that she "never gets into politics when she grows up, like her mother did.", earning some soft chuckles out of her partners. But eventually, Ralsei had to end the call and go back to his life in the Dark World.
This was especially the case since Ralsei said to the others that the battery on his phone was about to die. Susie and Kris could tell it hurt him to say goodbye to Noelle, just as much as it hurt Noelle to say goodbye to him. The two said their goodbyes to each other and shared a 'kiss' through the phone before Ralsei hung up. Such a thing dampened the doe's mood. Noelle sat down on her bed, placing her phone onto her desk, her eyes beginning to water. So much was going through her mind in that one moment.
"Noelle, babe. You know that me and Kris are here for you, right?" Susie asked, her hands in her jacket's pockets. Noelle didn't look back at her girlfriend, just gave a simple "Mmm-hmm." as confirmation that she understood. Kris walked over to Noelle and kneeled down in front of her, his eyes meeting hers. "Look, I know it feels to be going through such... things like this. I remember how crushed I was when my canary died." he explained, gently cupping the doe's cheeks in his hands. Noelle's eyes continued to water, as though another memory came to her mind.
"Percy." Noelle muttered. The human nodded in response to hearing the name. "You loved Percy so much when you were a kid. Whenever me and Asriel were busy, you'd sit in your room and talk to him about your day and all he would do was chirp back. Even then, it was like you understood each other more than anything. Hell, I remember the day that he died, Toriel called me over to comfort because you couldn't stop crying about it. You even refused to throw away his cage and kept it in your room to this day." Noelle explained, adding in a little smirk when bringing up the memory of when Percy died. She remembered Kris loudly sobbing into her shoulder as she held and comforted him that day.
Kris blushed at this memory being brought up, especially when he heard Susie behind him snort. "Hey! YOU grow a close bond to your pet and have it die suddenly, THEN laugh at that! A pet dying messes you up! Badly!" Kris sternly said back to Susie, turning to face her and pointing a finger at her. Susie tried her hardest not to burst out laughing, for she saw it was a sensitive point for Kris. "I'm sorry dude, I'm not laughing at you. It's just... the image of you crying for a lost pet is really... sweet." Susie explained. It seemed like she wanted to say something else to describe Kris crying, but changed it at the last second.
The reptile then quickly shook her head, as if to remove a thought. "But that's not important right now. We wanna make sure you're okay before we head off home, Noelle. Me and Kris are concerned that you might still be upset over... well, everything." Susie explained. Noelle quickly stood up, followed by Kris, who backed off to stand beside Susie. "Is... is that what you guys coming to see me was all about? Look Susie, I... I appreciate you BOTH coming in here before you go, I really do, but I-I-I'm fine! Honest!" Noelle stammered, trying her hardest to come off sounding genuine in her reply.
Kris glanced over at Susie, who wasn't buying Noelle's lies. The doe's eyes were beginning to release tears that had been building up inside her all day. Kris then took a step forward and hugged his friend, who returned the hug as the waterworks continued. "I know you more than anyone else Noelle. I can tell you're not fine. We're here for you, okay? Don't ever feel like you should have to go through all this alone." Kris said into her ear. Susie then walked up and joined the hug. "It's okay Noelle. Like Kris said, we're here for you. Me, him AND Ralsei, if he was physically here with us." Susie comforted the doe.
The three stood there for about a minute before they began to break the hug, their arms still settled around each other's waists. A smile was creeping onto Noelle's face as she looked into her partners' eyes. Kris then leaned forward and planted a kiss on Noelle's cheek, Susie doing the same a few seconds later. They both returned smiles of their own, before all three of their smiles faded, their eyes half closing as their love and passion for each other overtook their minds. Susie made the first move, locking her lips with the doe's, a kiss that Noelle happily returned, both of their eyes shutting. When the girls' kiss broke, Noelle turned to Kris and kissed him too.
Such passion was in full effect in their lip locking as Kris kissed Noelle back. Susie then began to kiss Noelle's ears, pulling her pleasure into overdrive. It wasn't long until their kisses stopped and the three were batting tongues with each other, sharing a three-way French kiss between them, sensual gasps and moans escaping their mouths in the process. When this ended, trails of saliva linked the three tongues together. Noelle backed off from the hug, lying down on her bed, her clothed body in full display for her partners. This felt so wrong in her mind, but at the same time, it felt like the right thing to do.
Both Kris and Susie climbed on, lying either side of Noelle. The doe placed her hands gently on their hands as he pulled them both in for more kisses. She heavily smooched Kris as Susie began planting kisses along her neck. Kris' free hand made its way up to one of Noelle's antlers and started to gently rub it, causing Noelle to moan, muffled by Kris' mouth over hers. Behind her eyelids, her eyes rolled back in pleasure. She let out an audible "Ahh!" as Kris broke the kiss, only for Susie to swoop in and fill the void. Now it was Kris' turn to leave kisses on her girlfriend's neck as her hands moved from her partners' heads to their backs.
She almost held them in place as pleasure overtook her mind, making her forget about the mourning she was dealing with. Her partners were here, on her bed, kissing her and making her feel good. And for that moment, that was all that mattered to her. And then, those lustful thoughts came back in full swing. She wanted to rip their clothes off of their bodies and let them have their way with her. In fact, Kris just rubbing her antler was driving her close to an orgasm. Under this lustful influence, Noelle's hand made it's way off of Kris' back and to his belt, where she began to unbuckle it.
"Hey guys, Asriel's at the front door to- WHAT THE HELL?!"
The sudden extra voice shocked the three out of their stupor. They all turned back to Noelle's bedroom door to find Dess standing there, shocked at what she had just witnessed, her hand on the bedroom door handle. Kris and Susie quickly got off of their girlfriend as they stammered to explain themselves. "N-No, wait! Dess, it's-it's-it's not what it looks like!" Kris stammered in a panic. Dess was horrified at what she had just seen. "Don't tell me! You and Susie both went into Noelle's room, not to comfort her, but to take advantage of her and ask her for sexual favours while she's grieving, is that right?!" Dess demanded.
The three lovers' eyes went at this accusation. Sure, Dess had every right to be protective of her little sister, but this? This was being OVER-protective, at least in their eyes! "What?! No! It's nothing like that!" Susie defended. Dess went wide eyed at this herself. "Oh really?! Then just WHY did I come in and find you both smooching Noelle?! And Kris, why is your belt unbuckled on top of all that?!" Dess asked. Kris looked down and noticed this, quickly buckling it back up as Noelle glanced away from her sister, guiltily. Before Kris could answer, Holly-Ann walked into the room.
"Dess, what's with all the shouting?" she asked the oldest child, sounding concerned. "It-it-it's nothing mom, Kris and Susie were just about to-." Noelle spoke up before her sister interrupted. "I came up to let them know Asriel was outside and I find Kris and Susie kissing Noelle! And Kris had his belt undone when he got up! Now, I'm not a detective, but if I had to put two and two together, I would say that the two were about to have sex with Noelle!" Dess ranted. Noelle could only cover her face with her hands, muttering a simple "Oh my god...", as Kris turned away from the adult, Susie scratching the back of her neck, expecting the worst.
A tense silence hung over the room as both Dess and Holly-Ann glared at the human and the reptile. "Is this true? Were you both about to have sex with Noelle when Dess came in?" Holly-Ann asked, clearly holding back some anger, or some other emotion within that field. They couldn't say anything. What COULD they say in that moment? It was true they were making out with Noelle, but they weren't going to go any further than that! At least, they don't think they were. If Noelle wanted to, THEN they would, but not after her father died. They'd give her some time to process her grief before going THAT far!
Holly-Ann frowned upon being answered with silence. In her mind, that was enough confirmation to prove they were. She looked at Susie, whose face was focused on a corner, but her eyes were glancing at her. "I thought I knew you Susie." Holly-Ann stated, sounding more disappointed than angry by this point. "I looked at you and saw a fractured soul that needed some help. Someone to talk to. But after hearing what you and Kris were planning to do with Noelle from Dess, I don't even know what to think of you anymore. If you're influencing Noelle to act out like she did at the festival, then I swear-!"
"You don't know the first thing about me, Ms. Holiday." Susie protested, her face now focused on the older doe. "Noelle has been so kind and loving to me and Kris. I never influenced her to be bad in the slightest at the festival. She beat up Berdly by her OWN accord! As much as I can be rough, I would NEVER encourage Noelle to beat someone up. I've encouraged her to stand up for herself, but that's it! I was just as horrified to witness Noelle's attack on Berdly as you were to hear about it!", she added, Kris nodding in agreement and folding his arms.
"Guys..." Noelle suddenly spoke, removing her hands from her face. "I think it's time we tell Mom and Dess the truth." Both Kris and Susie looked back their girlfriend. "What... now?" Kris asked. The younger doe only nodded, as Holly-Ann looked at them suspiciously. "What truth?" she asked. Noelle sighed and stood up. "Mom... Dess... Kris and Susie... and Ralsei... are my partners." she explained. There was another silence. "I thought... I thought that Berdly was your partner for the school project?" Dess asked, confused by her sister's statement. Noelle looked at her before revealing what she meant:
"No, Dess. I mean, ROMANTIC partners. Kris and Ralsei are my boyfriends and Susie is my girlfriend."
Both Dess and Holly-Ann went wide eyed at this revelation on their daughter and sister. "You four... are in a polyamorous relationship?" Holly-Ann asked, seeming not to believe what her daughter had just told them. She then glanced over at Kris, who nodded. "It's true. I love her, I love Susie and I love Ralsei... with all my heart. And they love me too. We've been together for almost a month now. If Ralsei was here, he'd vouch for the three of us as well." The female deers glanced over at Susie, who nodded back, confirming that what Kris and Noelle just said was 100% true.
Holly-Ann, upon hearing all this information, had to turn away from her daughter and her partners to process it all. Her daughter... was in a relationship... with TWO other monsters AND a human. This was more of a shock to her than when she first found out that Dess was a lesbian and found a girlfriend in college. Not that she had a problem with it, but it hurt her a little that despite her being so accepting, Dess never thought to tell her about it until a few weeks prior to Rudy's funeral. And now, after the funeral, she was learning that her own daughter had multiple romantic partners.
"N... Noelle... I..." was all Holly-Ann could stammer, her mind still trying to process everything she was just told. Finally, she sighed and said "I need a drink." before walking out of Noelle's room and back down the stairs. Dess watched her go before turning back to her sister. "Why didn't you tell mom sooner? Do you not know how much you've hurt her by keeping this relationship of yours secret?" Dess asked Noelle. Noelle sighed to herself, seeming fed up with having to explain herself. She then walked up to her sister, until she was almost toe-to-toe with her.
"Dess, mom is such a hard worker and is so job-oriented, that if I told her about my relationship, I highly doubt that she would care. If anything, I feel like hurting her like this is JUSTIFIED, given how much SHE hurts ME by focusing more on her work then she does her family." Noelle stated, a slight hint of anger becoming present in the last statement she made. Dess opened her mouth to speak, but Noelle was too quick to reply. "And I KNOW that she's doing it for our sake. And I know she's the mayor and that politics has a lot of sacrifices to be made, but she's putting her job before her family, at least to me. I'm sure even Kris and Susie would agree with me."
Dess looked up at the lovers, who both nodded. "Yeah, she kind of does." Kris said, Susie giving a simple "Mmm-hmm." as confirmation. Dess looked back at her sister, who seemed more eager to let out some more dirty laundry onto her. "And you want to know something else Dess? I know mom believes in waiting until the right partner came into my life..." she began. Both Kris and Susie went wide-eyed, as if they knew what Noelle was about to bring up. "She's not..." Susie uttered. Noelle continued, seeming to ignore her partner's shocked stares behind her.
"...but before we started our relationship..." Noelle continued. "She is." Kris said, dreading Dess reaction for what Noelle was about to tell her. All the two could do was brace themselves for any backlash they were going to be given. Noelle glanced away from her sister, seemingly unable to believe she was about to spill this secret. She took a breath, presumably to calm herself down, before looking back at her sister. "Me, Kris, Susie AND Ralsei... had sex. And you know something? I DON'T regret it at all." Noelle finally ended her statement. Kris and Susie turned away from the girls, blushing profusely.
Dess' mind went blank. She... she did NOT mishear her. Noelle just confessed that she had sex with Kris, Susie AND Ralsei, before they started their relationship. "And before you accuse me of anything, no. This is NOT a way to get back at you or mom. I love you Dess, I really do, but I feel like now you should know this." Noelle added. Dess shook her head slowly, seemingly unable to bear the shock of learning this about her sister. "Oh god..." she muttered to herself as she walked over to Noelle's desk chair and sat down in it, resting her cheek in her hand.
"I don't believe this. I wouldn't have a problem with this if you... I always thought Kris would be a perfect boyfriend for you Noelle. He always was protective of you, almost as much as I was." Dess began. She smirked a little as she continued. "I still remember when he found out about that kid who bullied you in 5th Grade and beat him up. Managed to knock a few teeth out of them, he did." Kris smirked also, as if a memory came back to him just then. "Yeah, I remember Jerry too." he said. As quickly as Dess' smirk appeared, it faded. "But you didn't have sex with him. You had sex with him and TWO other monsters... I just..."
It was clear that Dess couldn't finish her sentence. Susie and Kris glanced at Noelle, who seemed unsure of what to say next. Susie thought quickly and spoke up in an attempt to ease Dess' mind. "If it makes you feel any better Dess, the four of us DID use protection when we did it. Right guys?" she asked, glancing over at them. Noelle quickly caught on to what Susie was trying to do and gave an answer. "Oh yes! Yes we did. That's why neither me or Susie haven't shown any signs of pregnancy." she said. Kris just nodded with a "Yeah we did." to show he did use protection that night, even though they couldn't remember if they did or not.
Dess removed her cheek from her hand. "I... I just..." she stammered, as though trying to process this information, just like how her mother did. After a tense silence, she just gave a calm statement to both Kris and Susie. "I think it'll be best, if you two leave." Kris then stood up and walked towards Dess. "Dess, look, I know this must be difficult for you to-." he began, before Dess interrupted by holding her palm up to him. "I don't want to hear any more. You and Susie, just... go. Please." she said. Kris, upon realizing that Dess didn't want any more of this, just backed off and looked over at Susie.
"C'mon Susie. Asriel's waiting downstairs anyway." Kris said, before walking up to Noelle. The two shared a tender kiss between them, before the human left the bedroom, followed swiftly by Susie. Dess buried her face into her hands, much like how Noelle did only a few minutes ago, as Noelle watched her partners leave. Downstairs, Holly-Ann stood by the open front door with a glass of wine in her hand, Asriel standing outside, looking concerned. Kris walked past giving a simple goodbye to Holly-Ann, but Susie, looking guilty, stopping in front of the older doe.
"Mrs. Holiday... I'm sorry that you had to find out about all this, in such a shocking manner." was all Susie said, before turning and walking out the front door. Once they were out of the house, Holly-Ann closed the front door and leaned against it. Unknown to Noelle, she heard everything her daughter said, including that how she felt about her working. Normally, she'd be angry that Noelle said she felt as though hurting her was deserved, but with the fact she felt that way BECAUSE of her workaholic nature, she just couldn't be angry with Noelle. Instead, she felt... guilty.
Holly-Ann took a sip of her wine as she watched Dess walk out of Noelle's room, the bedroom door closing behind her, before she walked off into the spare room, closing that bedroom's door behind her. After a few seconds, Holly-Ann walked back to Noelle's room. She was about to knock, but decided against it. Instead, she chose to just talk. "Noelle? Sweetie?" she asked. No response. She knew Noelle was still in there, she could see her shadow pressed against the bottom of the bedroom door. The guilt becoming too much for her to bare, Holly-Ann sighed to herself and wiped away a brewing tear from her eye before continuing.
"Look, you don't have to talk to me if you don't want to. I overheard what you said about me working. It made me think about... well... everything, the last few minutes. And I just want to say that... I'm sorry if I've upset you by being so distant. You know how demanding my job can be, but even then, I never realized how much it upsets you that I became so focused on my work. It was never my intention to hurt you. I just wanted to provide for you and Dess. Give you everything... that would help you both have a good life. And..." she said before pausing, as if thinking of what to say next.
Tears began to flow out of her eyes, but regardless, she still pressed on. "And as long as Kris, Susie and Ralsei make you happy, then... I'm okay with that. I just... I just wish you told me sooner about it. I would've been more than accepting of it. It's been years since a member of the Holiday family had multiple partners in polyamory. Your great, great uncle tried it out once, but none of them have tried it out since then. But even then, you know I'd support you four. I supported you so much, when you came out to me and Rudy as a pansexual. I still love you regardless of that. And I know your dad still did."
Still silence on the other side. Not even a sound signifying movement came beyond Noelle's bedroom door. "And umm... to be honest Noelle? I'm not fussed about you having sex with your partners. As long as you all used protection, I wouldn't have minded either way. They seem to love you dearly with all their hearts. Honestly, if I could, I'd make polygamy legal in this state, just so you, Kris, Ralsei and Susie could be happy together. From what I've seen, you all seem to make each other happy... even if you had your fallout at the festival. If they truely didn't care about you, they wouldn't have come to Rudy's funeral."
Silence. But by this point, Holly-Ann expected it. The older doe just sighed. "Okay Noelle, if you don't want to speak to me, then... I'm going to head off to bed, okay? Goodnight Noelle." she finished her statement before going off to the master bedroom. Behind the door to Noelle's room, she sat with her back against the door, covering her mouth as tears freely flowed down her cheeks. There she sat, heartbroken. She never would've guessed that her mother would be so... supportive of her. It made her regret her choices of not being open to her about her relationships. She wished she could take everything she said back now.
Kris walked into his bedroom, removing his suit jacket. He walked over to the closet and took out a hanger, placing the jacket onto it and buttoning it up so it wouldn't fall off. Once he was done, he walked over to his bed and sat down. His head was filled with all sorts of intrusive thoughts, especially about what just happened at Noelle's. Just... how far would the three of them went if Dess hadn't walked into the bedroom at that moment? Would the three of them been lying in bed together naked? Would Dess, or god forbid, Holly-Ann walked in on them doing it? How would she react then?
He just shook his head, as if the thoughts themselves were head lice crawling around in his hair and he was trying to get them out. Once the thoughts were gone, he reached under his bed and took out a small can. This was a can of beer that he took from the local grocery store. He knew too well that he would not have been allowed by buy alcohol due to his age, so as much as he hated doing so, he resorted to shoplifting boxes of the stuff to drink later on and calm his nerves. He was worried that somebody would report him to the police, especially to Undyne, given how close the human and her were, but Kris was lucky about the grocery store itself.
You see, the only employee that worked there was a skeleton in a blue hoodie and black shorts. Whenever he was in there with Toriel, the two would often speak to each other and share jokes. It was through these talks that Kris would learn said skeleton's name; Sans. The day he got his beer box, Sans was asleep behind the counter. No other customers were in the building, so the human assumed that Sans thought he'd have a quick nap before a customer came in. He was thankful that Sans' store didn't have a security system in place.
Sans was so lazy, that he didn't have a scanner by the front entrance that would go off whenever someone walked past it with an item they didn't buy. The store had security cameras, but they went out of action a long time ago and Sans didn't seem to bother with getting them fixed. Because of these factors, it was so easy for someone, like Kris, to walk in, grab what they wanted, and walk back out with their unpaid goods without Sans noticing, especially if they were the only customer inside at the time. Undyne would constantly reprimand Sans for not getting his security systems in check, but it didn't seem like Sans would take in what she'd say.
Kris opened up the can of beer and took a slow swig of it. He had a few cans already before the funeral, making extra sure to hide them from both Toriel and Asriel whenever they were in the room, but he felt like one more can wouldn't hurt. Just as long as he didn't drink so much that he couldn't stand up straight, he should be okay with his drinking. He removed the can from his lips as the depressive thoughts came back in full swing. Thoughts like "You're not good enough for Noelle, Susie and Ralsei." and "Everybody hates you behind your back." and "Nobody would care if you died tonight.", horrible things.
Kris' lip quivered as those damning thoughts continued to swirl around his head. It was taking a lot of nerve for Kris not to break down crying right then and there. Instead, he bit his lower lip and once they passed, took another swig of beer. Asriel was already downstairs, watching TV with Toriel. He sat back down once both him and the human got inside, Toriel watching a movie. Asriel sat back down while Kris went straight to their room, saying he was going to take his suit off before coming down and watching the movie with them. He was so in his thoughts, that he didn't even notice he'd drunk the whole can until he stopped feeling the liquid pass his lips.
Kris put the can back under his bed, among a small pile of other beer cans, before removing his shirt and trousers and hanging them up in his waldrobe. He grabbed his dressing gown off the hook attached to the bedroom door and put it on, ignoring the sense of discomfort from his forearms as he slid his arms into the sleeves. He gripped the door handle and inhaled deeply through his nose, before exhaling out of his mouth, presumably in an attempt to calm himself down, before turning the handle and walking out of his bedroom, into the corridor and down the stairs to the living room.
Some time passed and Kris was now lying in bed. Unlike Asriel, who was asleep in the bed across from him, he was wide awake. Despite all his attempts at trying to fall asleep, nothing seemed to work. Those thoughts were constantly plaguing his mind like a voodoo hex, not seeming to go away even when he tried to take deep breathes like all those videos online told him to do. Kris took a look at the clock on the bedside cabinet on Asriel's side of the room. 2:45 AM. The movie they were watching (which was some stupid romantic comedy that Kris didn't really enjoy) finished quite late in the evening.
Kris sighed to himself, making sure he didn't wake up his brother on the other side of the room. Then, he thought about what Susie gave to him earlier at the Holiday's household. The little piece of paper with her Peep Show details on it. It might've been late in the night, but Kris was curious. Quietly, Kris got out of his bed and tip toed over to the closet. The door creaked as it opened, making the human tense up, fearing it would wake the goat up. After it stopped, he rummaged through his suit jacket's pockets until he found the piece of paper. Content with his finding, he closed the door and tip toed back to bed.
Kris' phone was on the bedside cabinet where he left it. Once he got back into bed, Kris grabbed his phone with a pair of earphones next to them and turned on the screen, quickly making sure to dim the screen before opening up the phone's internet browser. This was it. He was going to see what all the fuss Susie had was about. Plugging in the earphones, he typed in the URL for Peep Show and was greeted by a sign in page. The human took a look at the piece of paper and used those details to sign in. It was accepted, he was in his girlfriend's account.
And right away, he was taken aback by what he saw.
The first image shown on her profile was a selfie of Susie, sitting on what looked like the bathroom floor, the camera (or her mobile phone) being held above her, held up by her right hand. Her left hand was holding up her shirt, exposing her breasts to the viewer of the image. Completing this lewd self portrait was a dirty little smile that she gave to the camera. "Oh wow. No wonder Ralsei chose to jerk off to this." Kris thought to himself as he began to scroll through her girlfriend's page. He was thankful that he plugged in his earphones since, among the lewd photos of herself, he also found a few videos of Susie on there too.
Most of the photos were selfies of her. Some of them being in her room or other parts of the house wearing skimpy clothing, others were her flashing the camera, looking like a lewd supermodel in some pictures, while others had her with no clothing on whatsoever. One particular image that Kris was fond of was of Susie giving a smile to the camera as she straddled a pillow, her arms behind her head, giving the camera a nice view of her naked body in what seemed to be a mimicked POV shot, her phone (Kris assumed) being propped up by being placed against a wall. And then there was the videos. Oooh boy, the videos...
To Kris' surprise, there was a wide variety of content in the videos compared to the images. More freedom for Susie to express herself, the human guessed. The videos, no matter the context, always had a sexual vibe to it. One video involved Susie in her bedroom putting on a Bryson Tiller song and then giving a strip tease to the viewer, removing clothing until she was nude, all the while, doing slow, sexy dancing between removal of clothing items, much like a performer would do during a private showing at a strip club. Kris was amazed at how well she was doing with this. It was though she had been doing it for- oh wait, she HAD been doing it for months.
The strip tease videos were one thing, but Kris also found videos of her sitting nude and masturbating on camera, sometimes with her fingers, other times using 'toys' for self pleasure. But his favourites that he found were videos involving Susie stimulating sexual activities on her pillow. For these videos, Susie would already be nude. She would straddle her pillow, which had its casing removed (presumably as to not make a mess) and hump it, grinding her... nether regions against the soft fabric. Kris assumed her father would be out during the filming of these videos, since Susie would loudly moan as she 'rode' her pillow.
She'd mimic other sex acts and sex positions with her pillow in these videos, but for the most part, she'd just ride her pillow in the cowgirl position. Kris wondered if she ever thought of any one in particular when she made these videos, but all of that was put aside when he felt a new feeling emerge from watching these videos and hearing her girlfriend moan: lust. Looking over at Asriel to make sure he was still asleep, Kris made himself comfortable as his hand took a little trip down his body, and past the band of his underwear.