Chapter Text
The doe set down the cold-season themed pencil she was fiddling with, because she knew a chance when she saw one.
"Hey, there might be a box in the supply closet... Miss Alphys, why don't Susie and I go fetch it for you...?"
Alphys beamed, RELIEVED someone decided to speak up...
"G-Good idea, Noelle! That way someone will keep watch o-...... I MEAN, go with her. You d-don't mind, right, Susie? since you came in last..."
"...Okay." And the classroom door slammed shut, same way it was kicked open prior..
But a voice objected to this, of course. Obnoxiously high pitched and potent, filling the room and everybody's heads with its, again, OBNOXIOUS reverb. "WHAT?! Miss Alphys, I believe Noelle misspoke. Surely she meant she'd STAY to cover the assignment with US, while Susie finds th--" Thankfully interrupted by a stray paper ball hitting the back of his head, the bluebird turned around to see Monster Kid and Snowdrake holding their laughter... along the bonafide menace behind him, hiding their face. And a massive shit eating grin. "What's with you, Kris?! Ugh- Shouldn't you, as her project partner..!" And as soon as he turned around AGAIN, he saw himself interrupted by his OWN project partner fleeing the scene, rather sprinting behind the, by proccess of elimination, scariest person in this classroom. "Huh!? I-- Noelle?!?" he asked out loud, with the dramatic overloaded tone of someone who had been stabbed with a million daggers. If only.
"(Thanks, Kris..)" A sigh of relief followed her mumbling, and gathering all the courage one anxious deer girl could muster, she closed the door to step out into the hallway. Maybe just out of habit, Noelle gave the blurry glass a quick glance. A yellow mess, either reprimanding or dismissing the annoying blue mess. "(Alright, that was rude. Berdly's not THAT bad.)" With a smile plastered all over her face, gently swaying her freckled cheeks upward, she shifted her direction towards the hallway.
Only to find Susie was just about done chomping an entire piece of chalk.
Uh oh.
"...Noelle." She looked down at the reindeer girl, gaze completely shrouded by pitch black, messy untrimmed bangs. It always made Noelle wonder... did Susie aknowledge all the times her eyes darted on and off her? Did Susie ever so much as return a single stare or glare, atleast once..? It always made her feel embarassed, or straight up bad about herself. In the best case scenario, she saw herself as a coward- in the worst case scenario, she saw herself as a gross, obsessed creep. She wasn't good at holding back any punches when it came down to herself, was she? But for other people's wrongdoings, like asking for "wood temple tips" at 2 in the morning, or being ignored by her own m- "Didn't see you there." Susie turned around, a metaphorical SMACK to Noelle in the back of the head, snapping her out of what could very well be the beginning of her average Susie-induced daydream, as her father called them once. She held back a smile just from the thought.. but quickly regained focus.
"Uhm, yes, Susie..?" Light, gentle, and sweet. The tone she uses to talk to everyone most of the time. Easy to approach, not too interested (she had 2 dreams about susie this week) and not distant either, enough to be heard. Practicing to a mirror HAD to help at some point, right?
"You didn't see anything just now, did you?"
UH OH.
Noelle wasn't good with pressure. Not with the weight presently pushing down onto her from her shoulders now that she connected the dots: Alphys missing chalk 3 days straight, and Susie eating the same exact chalk her teacher used prior?
"I, I... Well, yeah, I guess I did? B-but.."
Susie turned her head around.
"I don't think.. it's, I mean, this isn't the first time I see you...--"
And she began walking towards Noelle.
"...Haha no!, Not what I meant. What I'm trying to say, is.. is..."
One step at a time. She had to figure something out, quick... And desperate times call for desperate measures. Her dad jokingly suggested THIS once.. but maybe she can break the ice with it? Better than not trying at ALL and seeing where that takes her. Fantasy is one thing, but Noelle knows Susie can be actual trouble. Even if she'd rather not admit it, and even if she herself WISHED she was at the receiving end of whatever trouble was stirred up, preferably one where she herself is getting stirred up--
... great, now she was blushing.
"...I.. al-also wanted some chalk! And, and.. and that's why I wanted to go t-to the supply closet with y-yyy-you?? To grab chalk. Yeah."
Susie stopped right in her tracks. Her expression remained hidden, but Noelle could tell she was getting a weird look. Inquisitive instead of weird, with a generous stroke of luck.
"..Don't you have anything better to eat??" Baffled as she was, and without wanting to show too much interest of her own, she still felt like prying. For some reason. Hell, she doesn't even WANT to talk to Noelle. What compelled her to ask? It was probably typical miss perfect behavior, thinking she can get out of the trouble she walked into by lying to her face. Like everyone else.
"Haha, I, I don't, actually. My mom forgot to leave me some food.. for lunch." The chalk thing was a white lie, but this was actually true. No matter how many times Rudy told her to complain about it, the doe couldn't bring herself to do that. How would she dare? Not her poor mother.
She was a busy woman. It's understandable that she'd forget sometimes.
That she'd forget her own child spends 7 hours away from home running exclusively a half-assed breakfast, made by and for herself five days of the week. That Noelle has no memories of her mother ever packing her a single meal.
Yeah.
Susie stared directly at her, and..
"Huh." Radio silence. She screwed up, didn't she?! Susie doesn't care about that, why on Angel's name would she care about her stupid sob story?? She couldn't even stop her tone and voice from dropping as the words escaped her mouth, she should've kept it in...she felt a headache coming up, unable to even look up anymore. If Susie was gonna threaten her or scare her, then maybe it'd be best if she just let it happen at this point.
"..Is that so." The words hit her like a SPEEDING TRUCK. Noelle shifted her nervous, shaky gaze away from the hallway's tiles back to Susie. "You could get in trouble for that. Stealing school property, and all."
Before Noelle's wits came back to her, Susie resumed her approach first. Nearly cornering the doe against the lockers. Heartbeat spiking like her chest would burst open from 6 different angles, cheeks flushing a deeper red than ever before, she looked up and only gave a weak nod as a reply. The air was heavy, like each time Susie closed the distance between the two of them, the hallway was smaller. Harder to breathe, focus, think. Or do anything other than find her line of vision glued to the looming, walking threat closing in. Her eyes didn't dare to avert themselves from Susie, who took her time slowly moving her larger, taller and wider frame closer and closer to the blonde.
'Just to not aggravate her any further' she told herself- in reality, she wasn't taking her dire situation seriously at all. She felt LIGHTHEADED now, completely and utterly dazed, warm and on the verge of melting on the spot, sweating bullets like the sun had been beaming down on her fur for hours without relenting it's assault.
"Not a single word to Alphys. Or ANYONE, about this. If you like your face the way it is right now." Susie grinned, flashing her teeth at the doe.
(she'd like it more with THOSE TEETH BURIED INTO HER NE-)
"I'm willing to share. Think of it as a deal. One where you do me a solid and I don't do you in. Uh-huh?"
Noelle gulped, doing her BEST not to grin. To keep herself grounded and avoid sweating like she had been launched into an actual sauna. All the doe could possibly reply with were multiple nods, up and down. Good enough.
Already feeling like she had ceded far too much ground out of momentary pity, Susie retracted her sharp rows of teeth back to her mouth and pulled away, turning around to rub at her nose a couple times. Noelle was distracted enough catching her bearings once more, getting her breathing under control and hoping she didn't sweat TOO much or too visibly, to notice.
Susie had not expected her at all to smell like gingerbread.
"...Anyway. Get moving, goldilocks. Aren't you supposed to keep watch over me?"
"R-Right, sorry... we can g-get going." Smile back on her face, hands not trembling as if they were rafts struck directly by waves of freezing salt water, Noelle straightened out her skirt, coped with the fact that a 5 minute conversation felt like a romantic novel's introduction inside her head, and was now following close behind, her hoofs clicking and tapping down the tiles in a more repeated pattern than her crush's old boots stomping down onto the floor in big steps..
..noelle stop trying to see if she has a tail noelle stop trying to see if she has a tail noelle stop trying to see if she has a tail--
"..." She wasn't supposed to actually answer to that, dammit. Susie decided to keep quiet now that she couldn't figure out a comeback. Maybe something about her face, her hair?
...it'd be too dishonest. She genuinely digged the whiff of gingerbread aroma she caught. Gotta figure something out...
"We're here already. Damn shame you're only a bit more talkative than that freak." Good enough to feign a chuckle and fumble her hands against the large, worn down purple doors of the supply closet.
This time, Noelle wasn't tone deaf enough to talk back. She instantly knew the 'freak' was Kris, of course she knew. Susie had singled out her childhood friend in particular for a while now, and had only stopped a couple weeks back.. she couldn't even get Kris to explain what they said, what they did to either scare.. or anger Susie that much.
They didn't tell her much of anything lately. A nod of aknowledgement at morning was all they shared other than pleasantries over a favor like lending them apencil or an eraser. Kris used to be.. so much brighter when they were both younger.
Like usual, her thoughts began trailing off.
..to a fond memory, near the forest past the graveyard. Kris chased her around with rocks on their hands and weeds over their head, claiming to be a "reborn bloodsucking deer devouring monster from the evil afterlife", with such specific wording because they didn't feel like explaining how humans thought of Hell, and she was none the wiser with the monsters' religion lacking such concept entirely. Asriel laughed it off, and before long, Kris was, as karmic retribution, chased around by Dddddontthinkaboutherdontthinkaboutherdontthinkabouther
"..HEY!"
Her eyes opened wide. Hometown to Holiday!
"D-Did you hear ANYTHING I just said..? A-Anyway, go get the chalk already. No way I'm goin' there." Susie looked a bit frantic. It took Noelle a few seconds to process the growing, all devouring darkness and cold air emanating from the supply closet.
The cold wind blew against her face and the hues around them darkened, as if the sunlight knew better than both girls and had decided to flee the scene.
She began walking without a word, to Susie's surprise. Maybe it isn't ALL that scary?
Haha, no, it was downright horrifying. Noelle was THIS close to freezing up again now that her senses returned. The room was pitch black, darker than anything she had ever seen in her time, even the floor. The only thing guiding her were a couple of documents and papers scattered about in a straight line, but even those ended aswell. She gently stepped forward into the darkness with one hoof, as if testing if she'd fall down into the looming void. Nope, solid floor. Almost as relieving, Susie stomped inside the room behind her all the way.
"...C'mon, the light switch ought to be here, right?"
Nope.
"...I-I don't think this is, uhm.. normal? It wasn't like this... last time." Noelle looked at Susie, and Susie in turn looked away in thought, then back around towards her companion.
"I think this closet doesn't... uh, work. Alphys will have to find her chalk somewhere else. Off we go."
Susie began leading the way towards the exit. Noelle followed close, resisting the urge to grab onto her for dear life. Upon closer inspection, this was indeed all that scary!
...SLAM.
The double doors were closed shut infront of them. Noelle jumped back, and Susie reacted quickly to press both palms against it.
"HEY! WHO'S THERE!? Let us OUT, DAMMIT! OR I'LL-"
Before finishing the threat, the floor under them began to shuffle and shake violently, crumbling one piece at a time. Noelle, being behind, was the first to notice.
"SUSIE!" Another jump, this time she listened to her urges and clung tightly to the dinosaur girl's right arm, whose only reaction was a gasp and a scream as the both of them fell down, and down, and down...
...
...
Susie was first to open her eyes. First, the darkness, again. Tilting her head let her spot some.. cliffs? Mountains?
An overpowering sweet scent, nearly making her drool, like someone had shoved an entire platter of freshly baked cookies up her face. Not like she could ever recall something similar in her life, but Noelle's hair was the closest thing. Speaking of Noelle, she just woke up, nearly tangled against Susie for dear life.
For the third time, the blonde (not so blonde now, more like a faded yellow if anything) girl JUMPED away and smacked her head against the solid ground beneath them, yelling out harder than when they fell down into the complete unknown. Susie stared at her before coughing loudly, to distract herself from how CLOSE she was to giving Noelle's hair a mean hungry bite, and she finally spoke up first to break this awkward silence..
"...Where the HELL are we??"