SWEETHEART

2,412 WORDS - WRITTEN JAN 7, 2019 - RATING: G (fluff)

For a place of such vibrant color and personality, the Dark World was a bit colder than expected. Cold like the start of winter. It hasn't started snowing yet, but god knows you don't want go out there without a jacket. Should've figured, anyway. What kind of sunlight would darkeners get under a school supply closet? Nada, zilch, and zero.

Nonetheless, it's still very difficult to fight at your best when your teammates are covered in fur, capes, and other sorts of fuzzy apparel, but you have no hair on your skin or covering to speak of. Covering that protects you from cold weather, of course.

Every time that she stowed away her axe after a battle Susie could feel her bare arms numbing from the cold. But, of course, she wasn't going to complain about it. Especially not to that freaky kid Kris, or god forbid, Ralsei , the smiling fuzzball.

Really, though... her? Let them think she can't handle a little bit of chilly weather? Get the hell out of town. Susie wasn't going to let it happen. At least not if her arms didn't start forming icicles on their undersides before they reached the castle.

...That's a bit of an exaggeration, but still. She had to wonder how the purple jacket she wore to school managed to completely disappear from existence in the fall down to this world.

Every now and then after a battle, Ralsei would notice the shiver in Susie's arms, and pipe up, "Susie? Are you feeling alright?"

The purple monster would shrug the cold off and reply, every time the same, "I'm fine, nerd."

Though...she wasn't, really. She was freezing up quite a bit.

However, though Susie didn't want to admit it, she was a tad touched by his concern. In her life, no new stranger had ever treated her with such kindness and importance. At least, no stranger that wasn't a mousey freshman lacking in backbone. It felt very nice to be appreciated, rather than feared for once.

Wait...ew! What was this sappy crap?! What was she thinking? Who cares?

Ralsei was just some weird furry dude she found in the world under her school's closet. A total square, too.

Really, why did she have to befriend the enemies that were trying to slash her face off? And by flirting , nonetheless? It's not a damn battle if it ends in a Rudinn making goo goo eyes at you. You're supposed to shred the opponent to pieces. God.

It could've been worse, though. Ralsei could've been making those cliche "Power of Friendship" speeches you always hear in some kiddie movie.

...Until the next battle, where Ralsei sent off the band of enemies proclaiming, "By the power of friendship, I elect to grant thee mercy!"

Ugh, he was just so sweet and corny, it was practically tooth-rotting. She could feel another cavity forming every time he opened his mouth to speak. Depending on who it is, though...there can be lots of charm to that kind of person. Some of the stuff Ralsei would say and do from time to time would be kind of endearing...

...Kind of.

...What? It wasn't like she was soft for the guy, or anything. He was just...entertaining to be around. Also fun to tease.

Walking around with the crew, she spotted one of the many big trees with blocky, magenta leaves, and saw an opportunity for a fun joke.

Ralsei loved to explain things, didn't he? Yes, he did. So much in fact, that sometimes Susie would think of jokingly calling him "Teacher". This was going to be a bit of a cheap joke, but still. Fun, nonetheless.

She nudged the dark prince.

"Hey. Hey, Ralsei. Hey."

The fluffy boy looked up at her and smiled. "Yes, Susie?"

Susie pointed towards the tree, snickering. "What's that thing?"

"Oh!" Ralsei wrung his paws. "That's a tree, Susie! I can't for the life of me though remember what kind it is. But, others like it are all over the field! Aren't they just the prettiest?"

"Yeah!" She snorted, before bursting into full-on laughter.

"O-oh, wait," Ralsei narrowed his eyes. "Are you making fun of me?"

Her laughter faded a little, hearing the mildly pitiful tone in his voice. Then, she lied, "No."

Ralsei turned to the Kris, the silent human that'd been leading him and Susie along the way. "Kris, do you think I uh, give too many explanations?"

Kris hesitated a response for a few seconds and then just gave a shrug.

"Oh..."

Ralsei adjusted his big, knitted scarf, and carried on walking after Kris led the team away.

While following them, Susie rested a hand on Ralsei's shoulder, and said, more quietly, "Don't worry about it, dude. You're cool."

Ralsei blushed, with no response, and lowered the brim of his big, green hat, hiding his face.

Seeing him do this, her face went red, and a new thought came about. 'Oh no. He's cute.'

Just a while ago she'd been going over in her head on how much of a loser the soft prince was, and now she was blushing like an idiot over him being embarrassed. What the hell was this?!

Oh, whatever. Finding one thing he did "cute" surely couldn't mean anything. And hopefully, it didn't.

Susie didn’t have time for crushes and love, and whatnot. She lacked a lot of the patience needed for it. She didn’t want to fall in love or slow down, and if happened with that little fuzzball, of all the people, she didn’t know WHAT she would do.

Enough of this gooey bull, though. Susie was ready for some action. Ready to fight someone again. And god damn it, if the thought of making Prince Toothpaste over there unhappy made her hesitate even the slightest , then there were going to be some issues.

They tread on with pocketed dark dollars from all the battles, Kris began to slow down somewhere in the forest.

The dirt trail was painted in scattered branches and blocky leaves. Though there was no sky upwards to see, it was still obscured greatly by the mass of tree leaves hovering up above. There was hardly much sound to fill the airs besides the oddball chirping and singing of underworld birds, as well as the rustle and snap that accompanies a walk through leaf and twig.

Aside from that...it was quiet. Too quiet.

Kris stopped in their tracks, silent, and Ralsei and Susie halted behind him.

"K-Kris?" Ralsei stuttered. "I-is everything-"

"Yo," Susie interrupted. "What's the hold up?"

Kris turned around to the two of them and put an index finger to their mouth, as a silent way of saying "Shut up, guys."

Ralsei and Susie fell silent.

Kris pulled back their hair and put up a hand behind their ear, listening closely.

Then came the sounds they they'd heard.

Crack. Crack. Snap.

Susie looked up at the trees, and squinted to get a clearer look at the branches. The tree above the three of them had one big branch that was slowly, slowly snapping at the base.

"Well, Kris?" Ralsei asked in a hushed whisper. "What do you hear?"

"...Branch," Susie said flatly.

"What?" The soft prince asked, slightly louder.

The base of the branch broke apart, and, following the visual trail with her eyes, Susie saw it was headed straight for his head.

"BRANCH!" She yelled, running towards him. Susie grabbed Ralsei and held him in a tight embrace and came to screeching halt a few feet in front of Kris. Behind them, the branch collided with the ground in a resounding thud, sending leaves flying. Upon collision it roughly snapped in half, only connected by stray splinters.

"Wow, Susie!" Ralsei exclaimed, his eyes wide. "That branch was twice my size! I-if you hadn't come in and saved me, I would've gotten crushed!" He looked up at her, blushing as he noticed her tight hold on him. "U-uh...wow...you're kind of a strong hugger, aren't you?"

Susie snapped into realization, and dropped the prince as her face went red. She covered her mouth with her fist. "UGH!"

The purple monster stormed off, flustered and embarrassed.

Ralsei got up on his feet and put on his hat again after the fall had caused it to slip off. He faced forward and called back to her. "SUSIE! I DIDN'T MEAN THAT IN A BAD WAY!"

He turned to Kris. "U-uh, come on Kris, let's go catch up with her."

As they walked on to catch up with her, Ralsei heard Kris speak.

"I think she likes you."

Ralsei turned around. "Huh?"

"Susie," Kris clarified. "I think she likes you."

Ralsei blushed. "O-oh! Well, of course. We are friends, aren't we?"

Kris nodded. "That's not exactly what I meant, but yeah. You're right."

Ralsei skipped along up to Susie and walked beside her. "Sorry if I made you upset back there."

Susie blew her fringe out of her face and snickered. "It's fine, Prince Toothpaste."

"Erm," He blushed and smoothed out his dress. "It's...Ralsei."

Susie laughed. "I'm making a joke, you dork."

Ralsei buried his face in his scarf.

She looked down at him, and there it was again. 'God...he's adorable .'

Ugh! No! This wasn't going to happen. She turned away and hugged her arms, shivering.

The forest was so much colder than the other parts of the Dark World, and she was the only one of the three of them that had no kind of covering to shield her from the freeze.

Suddenly, she felt a furry paw tap her arm in an attempt for grabbing attention. She stopped and looked down, a little startled, and saw Ralsei's concerned face looking back up at her.

Ugh , he was still following her?

Well...judging by that expression, he probably wasn't going to leave if she told him to. Ugh, might as well hear him out.

"Susie?" Ralsei asked. "Are you cold?"

Susie wanted to brush it off and say no, but...god dammit. She wouldn't be able to tolerate this for however more long they'd be out here.

"...Yeah, actually," She replied hesitantly. "I didn't tell you guys 'cuz I thought I could tough it out."

"Oh, Susie!" Ralsei held her hand in worry. "You should have! Hold on."

He tugged at his scarf, and pulled it off, untying the knot that'd helped keep it fastened around him. In it's full length, it was...very long and wide. No wonder he'd tied up so much when he weared it.

After the scarf was off, Ralsei stood on the tips of his toes and wrapped it around Susie's shoulders like a shawl.

Her face went red again at such a sudden, kind gesture.

Ralsei tied the ends of the scarf into a knot, ensuring it'd stay on Susie.

One hem of the scarf was a little worn down from the fluffy prince's habit of biting on it nervously, but other than that, it was very soft and clean...it almost seemed new. The scarf was fairly thick for the type of wear it was, too. Almost sweater-like.

"Is that good?" Ralsei asked, holding her hands. "Do you feel better?"

Susie couldn't hide how flustered she was at all. "Y-yeAh," She stuttered, her voice cracking embarrassingly. "ThAanks."

After such an awkward reply from Susie, Ralsei was concerned again but for another, different reason now.

"Err...Do you need a hat, too?" He grabbed the brims of his own in anticipation.

"NoO, it's fIne," Susie told him, her voice still cracking as if she hadn't reached puberty yet.

Ralsei blushed and lowered the brims, covering his face. "O-okay, just thought I'd ask."

After this, Susie wasn’t quite sure what happened. One moment she flustered nearly to tears, and then the next she’d planted a big smooch on a fluffy prince’s lips.

Ralsei, startled by the sudden act, gave a light yelp of surprise.

Kris had finally caught up with the two, and came to see Susie kissing Ralsei. Once they’d noticed, there were no comments, gestures, anything like that to deride them, but just a small, warm smile.

Susie finally noticed her random act of affection and pulled away from Ralsei, wide-eyed and red-faced.

Ralsei wore a similar look, and began to stutter nervously. “S-Susie?! Wh-what?!?!”

Susie snorted, still red with embarrassment. “I-I, uh, let’s go, dork. Just...just forget that that ever happened.”

Before she could start, felt something grab her hand.

She looked down, that “something” had been Ralsei’s paw. He held her hand very gently and gave her a sheepish smile before giving her a small kiss on her knuckles.

She covered her mouth in surprise, wide-eyed once again.

“I, um,” Ralsei said quietly. “I-I’m not quite tall enough to...to reach you properly, but I thought I’d return the gesture. I didn’t think that you l-liked me in that way, Susie.”

“Whuh...LIKE you?!” Susie replied defensively. “You--I--well--!!! You’re KIND of cute, but I don’t like you like--THAT way!!!”

A little bit behind them, Susie could hear Kris call, “JUST ADMIT ALREADY, YOU DORK!”

...Well. She didn’t want to be called that, now, did she? And plus, she’d just kissed Ralsei like 3 minutes ago. It’d be weird to hide her liking him after that happened. She didn’t want to, but might as well come clean.

Susie sighed. “A-alright you, uh,” She hung her head a little in defeat. “You caught me. I...really like you, Ralsei. But...don’t tell anyone else I said that. I don’t want anyone thinkin’ I’m soft or anything.

“Aww, Susie!” Ralsei blushed. “I really like you, too! You’re very pretty, and uh...don’t tell anyone I said this...but uh...when I watch you fight I get kind of sweaty.”

Susie laughed. “You dork, oh my god.”

A small, awkward silence came between the two of them before they, hesitantly, held hands, and walked forward, Kris tagging along in the back.

While behind them, Kris heard them muttering between each other.

“--do you think you’ll come back again to visit after you fulfill the legend?”

“Maybe. I can’t make any promises. If you’re still around, though...maybe.”

“I could make you the biggest cake in the world to celebrate!”

“...Chocolate?”

“Any flavor you’d like! It’d be for you, after all.”

Susie hesitated a response after that, and then when she spoke again, Kris could hear the smile in her voice.

“...I’d really like that.”