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"I'm back!" Susie called, balancing three ice creams precariously in her hands. Her eyes swept the clearing, but to her confusion, it was entirely empty. The picnic table was vacant, and Kris and Noelle were nowhere to be found. Where could they be?
She walked closer to the lake as her head swiveled to look at the trees. Suddenly, something moving in the lake caught her eye.
She squinted at it. Is that.. "An antler," she gasped. The bubbles forming at the surface of the lake as the antler disappeared only confirmed her fears.
She dropped the ice cream she was holding, shed her jacket, and dove for the lake. She opened her eyes in the water and frantically searched for them, despite her limited vision.
She surfaced for air, gasping for breath but not taking her eyes off of the water for a second. She kicked towards where she had seen Noelle's antler disappear.
Finally, as if by some blessing of the Deltarune, the bright green of Kris's shirt shined through the water.
She snagged it with her claw immediately and grasped around for Noelle, who wasn't far away.
Her breathing came in quick, sharp pants as she hauled the two to the surface. "Shit, shit, shit," she muttered, clutching them both to her chest.
She pulled them out of the lake as quickly as she could, laying them gently on the ground. Noelle's breathing was shallow and labored, and Kris just… wasn't breathing. At all.
"FUCK!" she cursed, tears pricking the corner of her eyes. I should've fucking paid attention when they taught us first aid.
She scooped them up again, each in one arm, cold and wet against her already freezing body, and sprinted. She didn't know quite where to run— the hospital? But she didn't have to think about it too long, as she was stopped in her tracks by a scream.
Toriel was standing just down the street, face twisted in the most horrified expression Susie had ever seen on a person.
"They aren't breathing!" Someone screamed. Maybe it was Susie. She couldn't even tell anymore.
The rest was a blur. Bright hospital lights, the labored heaving of Noelle's chest, Kris shaking violently each time the doctors tried to restart their heart. The relief when the monitor started to beep. The refusal to let the doctors touch her. The heavy sobs that racked her body as everything finally caught up to her.
"Fuck," was all she could seem to say as she bawled in the chair by Kris's bed. "You ASSHOLE," she choked out at them, their stupid fucking peaceful looking face as if they didn't just try to fucking drown themself.
Her face dropped as she tore her gaze away. "Was this because of me?" she asked, quieter.
Toriel stepped in the room, looking extremely melancholy. The fur under her eyes was heavily tearstained, and she was holding a tissue to her nose. "How are they?" she asked shakily, so quiet, as if she was afraid to wake them.
Susie wiped her eyes on her shirt. "No changes," she responded equally softly. Toriel had just been in the room less than two minutes ago— had just gone to call Asgore, who wasn't picking up his phone— but Susie didn't mind her asking.
Toriel took her seat next to Susie, and wordlessly put an arm around her. She felt tears well up in her eyes again and she turned to embrace Kris's mom fully. She could feel her petting her hair as she sobbed, and her claws gripped the purple cardigan Toriel was wearing.
Toriel was crying too. Susie could tell by her erratic breathing, and she hugged her tighter. She knew Toriel was probably blaming herself as much as Susie was.
They cried together for a while before Susie gently pulled herself away from Toriel and faced Kris again.
She stared at their face, the image of them dead eyed and unbreathing still clear in her mind.
"I should've noticed. Hell, I shouldn't have even left them alone with Noelle. I knew something was off. I should've—"
"Susie…" Toriel interrupted her gently. "You're the only reason they're both still alive right now."
Susie fell quiet.
"If anything, I should have noticed something. I did notice something, and I still made them leave their room. I still let them go out and.." she trailed off. "I owe you everything, Susie. Thank you."
Just then, the door opened again. Susie looked up, and the doctor was standing there.
"Ms. Dreemurr, I would like to speak with you alone, if that's alright."
"Yes, of course," she said, and she went to stand up, but Susie stopped her.
"Stay. I need to go see Noelle anyways," she said shakily. Toriel nodded, and Susie walked out of the room, shutting the door beind her.
She headed for where she knew Noelle was staying, the door she had been eyeing but afraid to open. She stared at the doorknob. What if Carol's in there?
Just as she was about to just turn around and walk away, a familiar voice stopped her in her tracks. "Susie," he said, sounding a bit surprised. She turned around to see Noelle's dad.
"Hello," she said awkwardly, suddenly aware of how disheveled she probably looked. This was probably the second or third time they'd ever talked, and she probably already was making an ass out of herself in front of him.
"Would you like to go in?" he asked her. "It's alright. She's stable."
Susie nodded, and Rudy opened the door for her, letting her walk in.
She approached Noelle's bedside and stared down at her face. She gently took Noelle's hand and rubbed the soft fur with the pad of her thumb. "Was our date that bad?" she laughed weakly, but she didn't really find anything very funny.
After a moment's silence, she sighed, "I'm sorry, Rudy."
"Don't be sorry," he responded as he adjusted Noelle's blanket, "It's not anyone's fault."
Susie nodded; not that she really believed that.
"What are you doing here?" said a voice dripping with malice— a voice that could only belong to Carol.
Susie whipped around and stared at the deer. "I…"
"Get. Out." her voice was dangerously quiet, practically a whisper.
"But—" Susie started to say.
"Carol, let her stay," Rudy protested, "She saved Noelle's life."
"I thought I told her to stay away from my daughter."
"Noelle likes this girl, Carol—"
"I don't care. I will call the doctor if she doesn't get out."
"Call her." Susie growled, baring her teeth.
Carol looked appalled. "Fine. I will." she stormed out of the room.
Rudy looked to Susie sympathetically. "I'm sorry, but I think you'd better go."
She cast one last glance at Noelle and sighed defeatedly, losing all ferocity immediately. "Yeah, probably. Call me if there's any updates."
Rudy nodded and Susie left the room. She looked over to Kris's room, but the lights were off, meaning it was probably time for her to just go home.
Toriel was stood outside the door, glaring at her phone— probably still unable to get Asgore on the line. "Susie, are you leaving?"
She glanced over, suddenly really not wanting to face Toriel anymore. "Yeah."
Toriel looked like she wanted to say something, but changed her mind, instead just nodding. "Goodnight, honey. Please come visit."
Susie nodded back at her and walked very quickly out of the hospital. This fucking sucks.
She made her way to the school, praying it was still open this late. At this point, she'd break a fucking window if it meant she didn't have to sleep at her place.
"Susie! Hi!" Ralsei's face lit up as he ran up to her, "What are you doing here?"
"Just wanted to spend the night again," Susie shrugged. "That a problem?"
"No, happy to have you. Come whenever you want," Ralsei smiled up at her.
She put a hand on his head and ruffled his fur aggressively. "Thanks."
He laughed and pulled away, fixing his fur and glasses. "So, how was the festival? Did it go well with Noelle?" he put emphasis on her name, winking at her.
Susie's stomach felt like it dropped to her feet. She drew a shaky breath. "Yeah. It was fine. I'm gonna go to bed." Her voice was weaker than she cared to admit, and she could only pray that Ralsei wouldn't pry. It's not that I don't want him to know, just… how do you explain something like that?
Ralsei frowned. "Are you okay, Susie?"
Susie had already begun to make her way to the castle, and she didn't look back. "Yeah."
"Did something happen?" he asked, following her, "You can talk to me, you know."
Susie picked up her pace. "I said it was fine."
He reached out a paw to grab her arm. "Okay, but you just seem really upset—"
"Just.. drop it, Ralsei," she shouted, stopping in her tracks, "Don't you already know everything anyways? I'm sure that fucking prophecy already told you all about today!"
She spun around to glare at him, and he just… shrank away. The seeds of guilt began to plant themselves inside her gut. He's scared of me.
"The prophecy… it doesn't work like that. It's ambiguous. And a lot of things have been coming true a lot differently than I thought…" Ralsei's eyes were filling with tears, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to pry!"
"No, it's…" Susie's gaze dropped to her feet as she deflated, "Sorry, Ralsei. I didn't mean to be an ass. It's been a hard day."
Ralsei tentatively reached out a hand to her again, placing it on her arm. "I can put on some tea. If—" he broke off for a moment, "Just if you want to talk."
Susie considered this for a moment, her throat going dry at the thought of reliving today's events. But still, she forced herself to nod. Ralsei needs to know this too.
Ralsei smiled at her and continued to walk towards the castle, splitting off with her to go to the kitchen as she went up to her room.
A few minutes later, he came upstairs with two cups of tea on a tray and some cookies. Susie knew the food wasn't real, nor was it in any way actually substantial… but damn if it didn't taste good.
Ralsei placed the tray on her nightstand and sat next to her on her bed. "…So."
Susie sighed and began to recount the days events.
"—so, I grabbed them both and pulled them to shore as fast as I could, but by the time I got there, Kris wasn't… breathing."
Ralsei's eyes were wide, and he put a hand to his mouth. "Are they—"
"No, no, they're alive," she said hastily, "I got them and Noelle to the hospital as fast as I could. They're both stable now, at least since I last checked. But I'm pretty sure… they did that on purpose. Together."
Ralsei's eyes were filled with tears again. "Oh, Susie. That must have been awful."
Susie shrugged and averted his gaze. "Whatever."
Without warning, he set down his cup and wrapped his arms around her middle. She sat there stiffly, no longer the sobbing, damp mess she had been in the hospital with Toriel. After a moment, she tentatively hugged her friend back.
"It'll be okay. It has to be okay," Ralsei whispered, and Susie was convinced that was more to himself than her.
She pulled back from the hug and put her head in her hands. "What I want to know, more than anything, is just… why?"
"I wish I could tell you that." Ralsei sighed.
Susie just stared at her feet, pondering whether that meant he knew something or not.
Ralsei stood up, causing Susie to look up at him. "You should get some sleep," he said, quieter. "It's been a bad day for you."
Susie nodded. Sleep sounded good right now. "Thanks, Ralsei. 'Night."
Ralsei smiled at her and left the room, shutting off the light and closing the door as he left.
Susie flopped down on her bed, staring at the dark ceiling. She attempted to get comfortable, and closed her eyes.
Water. Water everywhere. Nothing but lake. Kris, unbreathing. Noelle, choking on water. Susie was drowning with them. Something gripped her leg—
Nope. Susie hauled herself out of bed, dragging her blanket with her, and made her way to Kris's room next door. The door was already wide open, and the bed made, despite it not having been earlier. Ralsei, you little sneak, she thought to herself, smiling a little.
She closed the door behind her and crawled into Kris's bed instead, wrapping the blankets around her. Fuck you, Kris. I can't wait for you to wake up so I can beat you up, she thought sleepily, drifting off.
The image of the sunset over the lake was the last thing she could remember before being dead asleep.