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“Would you like me to drive you home?”
Susie looked up from where she was picking at the peeling skin on her snout and eating it. “Nah, m--uh, Toriel. I can walk, I… I don’t live too far away.”
“Where do you live, by the way?”
“At Ralsei’s place, he has a sweet pad.”
“Ah.” Toriel nodded, looking down at her book. “... Are you sure you don’t need a ride? That sounds a bit far, especially late at night.”
Susie shrugged. “I’ve walked further.” She stood up, slinging her battered jacket on. “I gotta go. See you around, Toriel, Kris.”
Kris gave Susie a look. They had been quiet ever since the Soul had left them, as if they weren’t sure how to speak. “... Stay over,” Kris whispered. “Take our couch.”
“Nah, I couldn’t. I’ve already overstayed my welcome. See ya.” Susie speedwalked out of the Dreemur residence, shutting the door hard behind her.
Susie took a deep breath. The air smelled nice, floral and clean. I can watch the stars. They’re nice over Hometown, I guess because it’s so small.
She walked towards the school. It was a warm night, mid spring, and the air felt nice. The town was silent in the middle of the night, lights were still on in a few houses, but not many. It was eerily quiet.
Susie hated silence. Chaos was her comfort. Chaos was fun. Chaos was her element, where she belonged. She had made her home in fighting and intimidation, and gentleness was something inherently strange and foreign and uncomfortable for her.
She growled and slipped into the empty school. The roof access was in a back hallway on the second floor, where the little kids were taught. It was normally locked, but Susie had secretly broken the lock mechanism with a screwdriver her second day in town.
She reached the roof, walked to the edge and sat down. The stars were beautiful and bright. When she was little, one of her birthday presents had been a book on constellations, and ever since, stars had been a guilty pleasure. Hey, what’s not to like about a big, burning ball of gas that incinerates everything it touches?
Why couldn’t I have dragon wings?
I could get up and fly away from all of this. I could live in a mountain cave somewhere with a trove of weapons and treasure and a harem of hot monster-girls. I guess Kris could hang out there too. Kris is cool.
“Ah… Susie? Are you… ah…”
Susie flinched, slipped and slid right off the roof.
Pain.
Pain. Panic. Hurt. Alphys screaming. Fuck, her shoulder hurt so bad. She couldn’t breathe. Lights. Flashing lights. Officer Undyne shouting something. God, that bitch was always shouting. A grunting groan that she didn’t know came from her until it was already out. Crushing pain all through her shoulder, her ribs, her head. The smell of earth in her nostrils. Her snout was wet. Why was it wet?
“Shh, shh, just rest. You just had a little accident, that’s all.”
That voice was familiar. Why was it familiar? Who the fuck was that? Who the fuck thought they could talk to Susie, the Terrifying Dino-Monster of Hometown, like they were a weepy and pained child? If Susie could have moved, she would have punched whoever it was.
Someone picked her up. Okay, who the fuck? Now they had earned their heads slammed in a toilet. Susie tried to yell in anger, but it died somewhere between her brain and her mouth. Laying on something soft. Someone manipulating her mangled arm. Lights, bright lights. Motor sounds. Speed. Too many hands. Writhing, screaming, moaning. Too much pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. No magical healing.
Someone stuck a needle in her good arm, and she drifted into unconsciousness.
When she came, she was lying on something vaguely plush, with a sheet over her, and someone was petting her hair.
“... Fuggoff,” she managed, gritting her pointed teeth.
“Shh, shh, you’re okay.” Was that Toriel? But why would she be here? “You’re in the hospital. You’re hurt but you’re okay. They had to tranquilize you because you were screaming.”
Susie forced her eyes open, which hurt like a sledgehammer to the skull. Toriel was hanging over her, concern writ across her face. “... Toriel?”
“Alphys told me you were hurt.” Toriel gently patted Susie’s snout. “I came running, of course.”
“... ‘M fine.” That was a lie. Everything hurt. “Why d’ya care?”
“Because I care about you, Susie. You’re Kris’s friend, and my friend too.”
Susie thought about that. She couldn’t remember the last time someone had told her they cared about her. “... Why?”
Toriel looked somewhat taken aback. “... Because deep down, you’re not a bad person?”
“Bullshit,” Susie grumbled. “I ain’t no goody-two-shoes.”
Toriel laughed. “No one ever said that about you, Susie. I just meant… you aren’t a bad person, deep down. You care for Kris, and Noelle, and your Dark World friends, too. You can be nice when you want to be.”
“No.” Susie couldn’t help but flat-out reject that assumption. Susie wasn’t nice, she was an awful person, and intractably cruel. Everyone had always told her so. She was Susie, who needed no one. Susie, who stood on her own two feet, without anyone to hold her up. She solved her own problems, fuck everybody else.
“... Uh, yes? Nothing I said was untrue, Susie. Allow yourself to be complimented. You’re not a bad person.” Toriel gave a small chuckle. “I’d say you’re even a pretty good one.”
Susie’s chest tightened, which sent shooting pains through her ribs. Her eyes burned. Oh, hell nah. I don’t cry. Susie don’t cry.
Toriel stroked her hair, her snout, without saying anything.
“... No.” Susie scowled. “No. No, you don’t think that. You don’t really think that. You… you’ll change your mind eventually. They all do. I’ll do something, and then ‘poor, sweet Susie’ will become ‘awful, psychopathic Susie’. That’s what always happens.”
“Well, then, the world has let you down.”
Susie was silent. Toriel was right, of course. But that didn’t mean the world wasn’t right. After all, the world let people down all the time. Some people were just… bad. Susie had always considered herself to be one of them. Hearing otherwise was… jarring.
Susie gulped. “... I… I…”
Toriel wiped the forming tears from Susie’s eyes. “Hey, it’s okay, now. Don’t cry. You’re all right.”
“... I don’t cry!” said Susie, while crying.
Toriel suppressed a smile. “Of course you don’t.”
Susie took a breath, quickly wiping her eyes and composing herself. “... So… how long until I can get out of here?”
“Well, you broke some ribs, so a few weeks of bed rest are in order.”
Susie growled. “I’m going to the Dark World. Ralsei can heal me with magic.”
“You aren’t going anywhere,” Toriel said firmly. “You’re staying here, where we can medicate you.”
Susie wanted to get mad, but she couldn’t bring herself to get mad at Toriel. “... Man, fuck this.”
Toriel laughed. “It does suck, doesn’t it? I’ll see if I can get you discharged to our place for bed rest--or couch rest, anyway. It’ll be more pleasant than a hospital.”
“... You would do that for me?”
“Yes. Again, Susie, I care about you.”
Something warm and sticky welled itself in Susie’s chest. “... Thanks, Toriel. Thank you so much, really.”
Toriel gave her an awkward side-hug. “It’s not a problem, Susie.”
Susie put her one good arm around Toriel and snuggled in, melting into Toriel’s warm, furry, slightly goat-smelling shoulder.