Chapter Text
Noelle was being crushed. Her dress was trapped underneath the rubble, and she was starting to lose oxygen.
“Someone! Please! Help!” Noelle cried out.
She had several cuts on her body, dripping blood and dust on the floor, and she was slowly losing consciousness.
Suddenly, the boulders that were surrounding her were smashed into gravel, and Noelle looked up. Susie had come to save her! She used her ax to free Noelle, and held her hand out.
“Are you okay?” She asked, her long purple hair flowing in the wind.
“Yes! Thank you! You saved my life!” Noelle cried, she was so happy to see Susie.
“I know. I think I’m in love with you.” She told Noelle, who gasped, replying “I love you too!”
Noelle closed her eyes and leaned in for a kiss. As her lips were about to touch Susie’s, she opened her eyes, and it was Kris she was about to kiss instead of Susie!
“I, too, am in this fantasy now.” They said.
“AAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!” Noelle thrashed around in her bed, a cold sweat covering her body as her alarm clock went off. She was breathing fast, trying to calm herself, reminding herself that it was just a dream.
After calming herself, she grabbed four pills from her nightstand, swallowed them, and got up out of her bed. She was getting ready with purpose. After falling into the Dark World yesterday with Kris and Susie, she had extra motivation to get herself out of bed and to school.
She hadn’t dreamed all of that, right? It didn’t feel like any other dream she’s ever had.
As she moved through the house, she hummed to herself and skipped around, almost dancing. She took a shower, did her makeup, and got dressed again. Today for her outfit, she decided to wear a white shirt underneath a green christmas sweater, a red flowing skirt, and green leg warmers. She also put a white ribbon in her hair and a golden ring around her finger. Both items had appeared on her person when she had exited the unused classroom. After looking at herself in her full body mirror and doing a little spin, she was ready for school today.
She skipped happily down the stairs, and to the living room. Her mom was at work, so she had the entire house to herself. She sang to herself as she packed her backpack. She made sure to pack her books, papers, and pencils.
She had gotten ready so quickly, that she still had 45 minutes left before school started. She remembered her promise to bake cookies for Susie that she had offered yesterday. She knew that the best way to a girl’s heart is cookies, or at least the best way to her heart.
She took the dough she had made yesterday in the middle of the night, unable to sleep, from the fridge, and unwrapped it onto the counter, which she had covered in flour. She rolled the dough out flat onto the counter, and grabbed a few cookie cutters for gingerbread monsters and gingerbread humans. A reindeer monster, a lizard monster, and a human. She put a baking tray full of cookies into the preheated oven, and set a timer for 12 minutes.
…
She put on oven mitts and took the cookies out of the oven, placing them on the stove. She grabbed a tube of icing and decorated cookies, making them look like herself, Susie, and Kris. Once they had cooled off, she put them in a sandwich bag and stuffed it into her backpack, making sure they wouldn't get crushed under her books. She looked at the clock. The entire baking process had taken almost exactly 45 minutes, and she left for school.
❆❆❆
She arrived at the school, early as per usual. She entered the classroom, and was greeted by her teacher.
“Noelle! A-are you alright? I was so worried when you guys didn’t come back yesterday! I thought Susie had…” She worriedly explained.
Noelle responded with a smile. “Oh, yeah, sorry! I’m fine! We just got sidetracked trying to find the chalk, and when we had finally remembered school was already out.”
“Oh, thank goodness! After you guys left, I found a box of extra chalk on my desk. I’m not going to punish you three, because I told you guys to get the chalk… B-but try not to sneak off next time, okay?”
“Yes ma’am, I understand.”
Noelle’s classmates came into class one by one, including Berdly. He sat down in his usual seat next to Noelle.
“Noelle! I was concerned that after you ran off with those two simpletons yesterday their IQ debuffing aura would have inflicted you. I’m glad to see your brain is still intact!” He lamented.
“Um, yeah! They were actually fine!”
“Don’t worry, my dearest Noelle! I made sure to start work on our group project after you had left. I’m making a video essay on the history of the Dragon Blazers III any% speedrun world record! It really is fascinating stuff.”
“Oh, yeah, that sounds great!” She lied.
Kris and Susie came into the classroom last, together. They were talking and laughing about something Noelle couldn’t quite make out, and they sat down in their seats.
Susie sat down in the back of the class, and kicked her desk. “God damn. School project. Gonna pay attention and learn some stuff.” She was clearly uninterested, but Kris was staring at her.
“S-Susie! Please treat school property how you would treat other people.” Ms. Alphys scolded.
“Alright. Next time I’ll aim for the vitals.” She laughed a hoarse, barking laugh.
“That’s not what I… Anyways! Before we start class, would anyone like to do the reading for today?”
Berdly stood up from his chair and climbed onto his desk, holding a book in his wing. “Fear not, fellow classmates! I shall valiantly take this devastating blow of humiliation!” He cleared his throat and began to read. “AHEM! Page 142! ‘It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Times a-pretty good, times a-pretty bad. Iffy times, so-so times, mediocre times…”
…
Class proceeded as normal. Today’s lesson was on how to use Powerpoint and create a slideshow. Noelle listened intently, while Susie tried to keep herself awake. Kris didn’t even try, and was face down on their desk, snoring loudly.
After class ended, Noelle went over to Kris’s desk to wake them up. She nudged their shoulder gently. “Kris? School’s out.” No response. “Uhh, Kris?”
They suddenly snapped their head around, and yelled. Noelle screamed and jumped backwards, while Kris giggled to themself. “Kris!!! You scared me!!! Whatever, let’s go!!!” She grabbed them by the arm and yanked them out of class.
Outside of the classroom, Susie was leaning against the lockers. waiting for Kris and Noelle. Once they emerged, she laughed to herself. “Had trouble going beddy-bye last night Kris? Well…” Her dark smile turned into a manic expression as her hair revealed her eyes. “ME TOO! HOW COULD I POSSIBLY SLEEP AFTER THAT?!”
She shook Kris’s shoulders. “That was all real, right?! We didn't just imagine that, right?! Come on, what are we waiting for!! Let’s go see Ralsei and Lancer!!”
“Wait! Um… Susie?” Noelle dug through her bag, and took out the cookies she had baked earlier.
“Cookies?”
“Yeah! You said you wanted me to bake you cookies, remember?”
“Oh sweet! Thanks!” Susie took the bag and put it in her pocket. “ALRIGHT NOW LET’S GO!!” She grabbed Kris and Noelle and pulled them to the entrance of the closet. She let go and slowly walked to the doors.
“...If we open these doors, and there’s nothing inside… can we all still be friends…?” Susie said sincerely.
“Of course, Susie!” Noelle reassured her. “No matter what!”
Susie was about to open the doors, but was interrupted by the sound of a familiar annoying voice.
“My dear Noelle! Susan. Kristopher.” He addressed them.
“Oh, hi Berdly! …What are you doing here?” Noelle asked.
“I’m glad you asked! I am inviting you (and you alone) to meet me at the library, and we may discuss our plans for the group project!”
“Sure! Me, Susie, and Kris were just about to… um… (Kris! Help me out here!)” Kris whispered in her ear. “Hang out alone in the closet together! And, um, touch broomsticks??? Like friends do????”
“Oh, um… Well I shall leave you alone to do… that. But! Make sure to come to the library. ALONE!” And he walked away.
“Bye Berdly! Ugh, sorry guys. I probably have to go meet with him.” She began to walk away, but was stopped by Susie’s hand on her shoulder. Her heart started to beat faster.
“You’re not getting away from me THAT easily. Come on, Birdbrain can wait!”
Noelle was unsure, but she calmed herself. “...You know what? You’re right. Let’s do this.”
“That’s more like it!” Susie opened the doors to the closet. It was completely dark inside. “Cannonball!!!” She yelled as she jumped into the void, Kris following right behind her. Noelle took a deep breath, and hurled herself into the abyss.
❆❆❆
In the air, her clothes began to transform. Her sweater and skirt turned into a flowing white dress, patterned with snowflakes, and her accessories changed too. Her ring gained a cross-shaped ruby on it, and the ribbon in her hair grew bigger. As she fell through the darkness, it felt like she was flying.
She landed on the ground in a crouch, one hand on the ground bracing herself. She stood up and patted her dress off. Kris and Susie stood next to her, and another figure walked over to greet them.
“Kris! Susie! Noelle!” Ralsei greeted them. “It’s so wonderful that you’ve returned!” His now visible face was smiling. Noelle still wasn’t used to seeing him without his hat on.
“We couldn’t stay away for too long…” Susie went over and tapped Ralsei on the shoulder with her fist. “So what have you nerds been up to while we were in school?”
“Oh, um. Let me show you!” He led them into the center of the Castle Town. It looked the same it always had. Abandoned buildings scattered about. “You two stay here.” He motioned to Susie and Noelle, before walking over to talk to Kris. “Kris. Could you please go to the unused classroom, gather up all the objects, and bring them back here? Thanks.”
Kris walked into a patch of light where the Lightners had entered the Dark World. and they floated back up into the sky. Ralsei turned around to address the two girls. “It’ll just be a moment.”
On cue, sparkling objects rained from the sky, and Kris landed back down on the ground. As the sparkles hit the ground, the entire town was transformed. Once abandoned buildings had been repurposed into shops, cafés, and even a “Party Dojo.” All throughout the town, several Darkners the Heroes had encountered yesterday were walking around, talking to each other.
Noelle was dazzled by all of the shiny objects. It reminded her of snow. “Wow! This is amazing!” She said in awe.
“It’s not much yet, but as you continue to explore Dark Worlds and SPARE more Darkners, you can RECRUIT them to our town. The more Darkners we RECRUIT, the larger and more vibrant our town will be.”
“Susie!!” A small voice called out.
“Lancer!! Buddy!!” Susie replied, and they jumped and high-fived each other, falling to the ground laughing.
“Welcome to my new Kingdom, clowns!”
“This is your kingdom?!”
“um… actually this is my kingdom…” Ralsei tried to correct him.
“What’s it like being the king?” Susie asked Lancer, completely ignoring Ralsei.
“It’s great! I don’t even have to do anything! My butler just does everything for me!” He gestured to Ralsei.
“Sweet.”
“Would you like to give us a tour, Lancer?” Noelle asked.
“Certainly, Kindgir! Let me show you!” He ran off through the town, with the Lightners trying their best to follow him. He led them into a café shaped like the Top Chef, but he wasn’t anywhere inside. It was just Malius and a sweet, innocent boy with a mustache.
“Welcome, strangers!” Not Lancer greeted them. “May I interest you in a Lancer Cookie?” Ralsei wanted to throw up at the idea.
“Hell yeah!” Susie opened her mouth and pointed inside, as Not Lancer frisbee’d a dozen cookies into her mouth. She swallowed them all. “Wow, these are great!”
“Great! I have to go now!” Not Lancer walked into the kitchen, and Lancer came out. “I’m back! What did I miss?”
“You should have seen it! There was this sweet little boy with a mustache and he tossed a bunch of cookies into my mouth!”
“Wow!” He smiled. “I wish I was there to witness that!”
Noelle turned to Ralsei and quietly asked “(I’m not going crazy, right? Isn’t that the same person?)”, and Ralsei nodded his head.
After showing off the rest of the buildings, Lancer brought the Lightners to the castle. Outside the entrance was a hat rack with eyes and Ralsei’s hat on one of the hooks. “This is my Castle!!” Lancer announced. Ralsei had stopped trying to correct him. In the main room there was a cauldron in the center, and three doors on the far wall. The leftmost door led upstairs, the rightmost door led downstairs, and the middle door was locked.
“Oh, that reminds me!” Ralsei remembered. “Everyone, come upstairs!” And he walked through the door on the left up the stairs. The stairs led up to a long hallway with four doors on the wall, and then another set of stairs that were blocked off with wooden boards. The first room had a rounded blue door, the second had a spiky purple door, the third had a yellow Christmas tree-shaped door, and the final door was the same spade door that Lancer had for his old room back at the Card Castle.
He turned to the Lightners. “I decided to make rooms for each of you, in case any of you came back and needed a place to stay for a night. I want this to be a place where you can come and forget about your worries, no matter what’s happening in the Light World. Okay?”
“Yeah, yeah, enough of the sappy emotional crap! Let’s check these out!” And Susie ran into Kris’s room.
Inside was an almost identical room to their own bedroom, except now with a blue and pink color scheme. Above their bed were a few shelves covered in trophies and awards, and on their nightstand was a large green book labeled MANUAL. There were stars painted all over the ceiling, and on the floor was a carpet with the symbol of the DELTA RUNE. The three triangles were blue, purple, and green, while the circle in the center was yellow. Asriel’s side of the room was suspiciously missing.
“Oh, right! I wrote a Manual for you, Kris! Any time you need to remember how to do something here, just check your Manual!”
“Haha! Your room gets books in it, nerd!” Susie teased Kris. “Let’s see my room now!”
Susie's room was bright purple and covered in spikes. Above her spiky bedframe were two axes crossed over each other. She had a fridge next to her bed with horns on it, and a carpet with an artistic representation of her Rude Buster attack.
“Woah…” Susie was awestruck. “...My own room, huh.”
“Do you like it?” Ralsei asked.
“Are you kidding man?! This is the coolest room ever!” Susie plopped down on her bed.
“I’m so very glad you like it!” Ralsei smiled. “Shall we visit Noelle’s room too?”
“Yeah, alright.” Susie got off of her bed, and they walked into Noelle’s room. It was almost an identical copy of her actual room, except bright yellow and white instead of the usual pink and blue, spare for a long pink and blue flag and a flag with an orange gradient on the wall above her bed. Inside of her wardrobe were several pretty dresses and skirts, and next to the wardrobe was a mannequin that had a similar dress to the one Noelle was currently wearing, but it had angel wings protruding out of the back, similar to the wings that she had in her wardrobe back home. Behind it on the wall was a giant painted DELTA RUNE.
With happy tears in her eyes, Noelle turned around and squeezed Ralsei as tight as she could. “Thank you so much, Ralsei. This is wonderful.” He returned the hug. “I’m glad you like it, Noelle!”
“Ooh, my turn my turn!!” Lancer ran back to the hallway, and into his room. The Heroes followed him, and it was an exact one-to-one recreation of his room in the castle. “Wow!! It’s everything I could ever want!!”
Noelle realized something, and turned to the rest of the Lightners. “Wait, I’m supposed to meet up with Berdly for the group project! Sorry guys, I gotta go…”
“Wait, you have school work to do?” Ralsei asked. “Then in that case, you are hereby banished from Castle Town until you finish your work!!!” He tried to be assertive, but his smile betrayed his words.
“Ugh, fine! See ya later Ralsei!” Susie called out as the Lightners walked down the stairs and left the castle. They walked through the bustling streets of Castle Town, and to the patch of light at the entrance.
They were stopped by Lancer. “Wait! I’ll come with you!” And he squished himself into Kris’s skirt pocket.
“Ah hah!” Rouxls Kaard also stopped them. “I shall also Joine!”
“Dude. Go away. We don’t need you to come with us.” Susie shut him down.
“Okaye, whatevere. I don’te really care.” And he also entered Kris’s pocket.
“I will also join.” The Original Starwalker said, as he slowly and glamorously strutted into Kris’s pocket.
“ALRIGHT WE DON’T NEED ANY MORE PARTY MEMBERS!!” Susie yelled.
They walked into the light and were swept off their feet into the sky, landing back in the school.
“Alright, let’s go see Birdbrain.” Susie said. “Lead the way Kris!”
“Wait, he said he only wanted me to come…”
“He can freaking suck it!!!” Susie asserted. “If you’re doing something, we’re gonna be right there with you. Right Kris?” She grabbed their head and forced them to nod, which made Noelle giggle.
“Alright, you guys can come too!!”
❆❆❆
They entered the library, but didn’t see Berdly anywhere. Susie walked around looking at random books. “Freaking love reading, and stuff… …OKAY THIS IS BORING LET’S JUST PLAY GAMES IN THE COMPUTER LAB!”
Susie opened the doors to the computer lab, but it was completely dark inside, and the darkness spread to the rest of the library. She slowly turned around, a slightly bewildered smile on her face. She spoke slowly. “...Guys…? …I don’t think he’s studying in there…” A look of realization washed over Noelle’s face, and she responded. “It… it can’t be…”
Another Dark Fountain had been opened in the computer lab, and Berdly was trapped in the Dark World.
“We… we have to save him!” Noelle took initiative.
“We could just… uh… use the computer at my house…?” Kris suggested.
The two girls turned around to stare at them in disapproval, and when they turned around Susie took a deep breath. She held out her hand to Noelle. “...Together…?”
Noelle calmed herself, and grabbed Susie’s hand. “Together.”
With Kris following close behind, Noelle and Susie jumped together, and the doors closed behind them as the Lightners were consumed by the darkness.