Chapter Text
Today was the day!
Ralsei impatiently paces around the room, already fully dressed and cleaned up for the big day. His friends at college had a break week meaning he’d finally get to hang out with everyone at once again! More importantly, Vess would be awake for the entire duration of their stay, meaning everyone will be in one place! They try to find time and coordinate little get togethers, but they always feel rushed as everyone has classes to study for and strict schedules but there will be none of that all week!
The only thing he’s waiting on now is for Vess to wake up.
She knows that today is the big day and promised to try and wake up early, but even if there wasn’t some big event worth waking up for, Ralsei would still be antsy and linger around their bed to see when she’d wake. She’s been waking up consistently for months now, but… there was a part of him that was scared that she might not wake up. She spent so long lying completely motionless that it still registers as her default state in his mind. Every time she shifts around in her sleep, every time she curls up next to him in the middle of the night, it relieves a stressful tension within his body he didn’t know was there. He isn’t sure how long this feeling is going to last for. His Princess was here to stay. Even if the worst were to happen, it would only be a temporary setback.
He has already prepped himself up for the day and has everything ready for when she wakes up. Her dress was cleaned up and hanging in their wardrobe, he had a brush and hair ties to get her hair in order, he had a small platter with a light breakfast to give her the energy she needs. She just needed to hurry up and-
A groan escapes from his Princess as she starts to stir slightly beneath the sheets, stretching out slightly as she tries to work up the effort to actually wake up. Ralsei can barely contain his excitement, but he doesn’t rush her. He waits patiently beside the bed as she slowly works her way to consciousness. Resisting the urge to fall back to sleep and stretching her stiff muscles, her eyes eventually flutter open to a sight that will never get old.
“Good morning!” Ralsei greets her gently.
“Mmmm… Rassy…” She weakly reaches out to him, opening and closing her hands to make it clear what she wants. Ralsei leans himself forward until Vess is able to rest her hands on his cheeks. She pinches them slightly, running her fingers across his face. “Fluffy…”
Leaning forward a little bit more, Ralsei plants a small kiss on her forehead. “You can pinch as many cheeks as you want when you’re all dressed and ready. Let’s get you cleaned up.”
“Jus… five more-” Before Vess can finish, Ralsei scoops her up into his arms. She’s had more than enough rest. She needed a bath, some breakfast, and a lot of work to get her hair brushed neat. They had a big day ahead of them.
Rinsing off a week worth of bed stink and snacking on some sweet biscuits and tea, Vess is now a lot more coherent and awake. Sitting in bed and taking care not to leave crumbs in the sheets, she and Ralsei go through their usual routine as she finishes waking up.
“Any big events while I was gone?” She asks as Ralsei runs a brush through her red hair. “Any new changes around town? Special visitors?”
“There’s always something going on around town.” Ralsei tells her, taking care not to snag the brush in any knots. “Carol is trying to get a school rebuilt within the Barrier so kids don’t have to travel out of town for their education. It’s slow going as there are not many people willing to venture into the Barrier to help plan it, but progress is being made. I hope the plan goes through. I feel like I would make an excellent teacher if it gets built.”
“Just please don’t start lecturing me if you do.” Vess chuckles. “I’m still years away from a degree but I already never want to step foot in a school again. Learning’s hard.”
“Have your studies been going well?” Ralsei asks, eager to hear about her time on the other side.
“Mostly.” Vess nods slowly so as not to disrupt Ralsei’s brushing. “I’m keeping my grades up, I don’t have any big projects I have to work on right now, but all the extra dumb classes I had to take are dragging me down a bit. Also… my roommate’s getting a little suspicious.”
“Oh?” Ralsei tilts his head.
“Jessie asked why I never go out to any parties or talk to anyone and I told them I was already in a relationship.” Vess explains. “They wanted details and… I didn’t really know what to say or how much I should share. I told them your name was Ralph and they burst out laughing.”
“Why?” Ralsei asks, feeling a little miffed.
“They said that was an old dude’s name and refused to believe some guy named Ralph was my boyfriend so now they’re wondering why I’m being so secretive about my long distance relationship.” Vess grumbles. “I think they were trying to say it in a nice way, like how is a girl like you not with anyone yet, but they’re starting to get on my nerves.”
“Are you thinking about maybe bringing them along with you one of these days?” Ralsei asks. He’s sure Jessie means well, they’re just not working with all the context they need.
“I’m ninety percent sure they probably already know you and the rest of our friends through Deltarune. That’s why I had to come up with a fake name to not give myself away.” Vess explains. “It would make introductions clearer, but they’re usually not around anyways. The reason they asked why I wasn’t seeing anyone is because they’re almost always out in town doing something. They usually get back at one in the morning. I legitimately have no idea how they function with so little sleep. Their entire half of the dorm is just absolutely stacked with monster energy. I feel like dragging them here might actually give them a heart attack with how much strain they’re already putting on themself.”
“Sounds like you’re making some very interesting friends out there.” Ralsei chuckles, setting the brush aside so he can work on braiding Vess’ hair. “I’d love to meet them, but I suppose I’ll just have to hear about them second hand from you. Oh! Maybe we can do the messaging thing! It’s been a long time, but I think Queen still has the old terminal somewhere in her manor.”
“Maybe.” Vess shrugs. “It’s getting kind of crowded here though. Anyone from my side make it in yet? My parents should be visiting at some point over the week.”
“Really?!” That gets Ralsei excited. “Oh I can’t wait for them to wake up. They’re always so sweet.” They were more than sweet. They absolutely loved him. Honestly, it was kind of nerve wracking. He treats his Princess with all the love and care she deserves, but he always feels he has to go above and beyond whenever they are around. Especially with Samuel. Mr. Goodwin jokingly referred to him as his son in law one time and Ralsei’s heart nearly burst. That will be the case at some point, but he gets so many butterflies in his stomach when he thinks of his Princess becoming his wife that he genuinely feels a little ill.
He will find the courage to ask her soon though. They were made for each other. A beautiful princess like her deserves a ring just as pretty.
With a bit more work, Vess’ hair is finally done up nice. Getting her changed into her dress and helping her with her makeup, she’s ready to face the day and dazzle everyone along the way. They aren’t going to be heading downstairs to the rest of Castle Town though, they have a different destination in mind.
Taking Vess’ hands into his, Ralsei closes his eyes and lets his Princess whisk him away.
When he opens his eyes again, Ralsei finds himself at The Hangout; a small pocket of the endless Void carved out for him and his friends to gather up at. It is not uncommon for one of his friends to be hiding out here on the off chance that someone else visits around the same time. Kris and Dess are especially frequent visitors thanks to the gift Vess gave to them, allowing for easy travel to and from The Hangout.
Speaking of, looking across the dark field and towards the edge of the river, two familiar faces sit on a bench beside the singular tree in the center of the hangout and the river cutting through it. Kris was facing them, no doubt startled by the sudden appearance of company in the dark Void. Kris was still anxious about this place and Void travel as a whole, but it was a fear they were willing to face to see their friends again. Besides, they had someone to lean on for support.
Someone who appeared to be asleep?
Berdly was slumped on the bench beside them, his head hanging off the back of the bench as he snores lightly. Kris holds a finger up to their lips, signaling Ralsei and Vess to be quiet as they approach. It wasn’t that early, but they both just finished up a big test week. Berdly must be exhausted. Carefully shuffling their feet, Ralsei and Vess make their way over to their friends as quietly as they can to avoid waking Berdly.
“Hey.” Kris greets them in a whisper, flashing Ralsei and Vess a weak smile.
“Hi, Kris!” Ralsei gives them a wave, keeping his voice down.
“Is he ok?” Vess asks in a whisper, pointing at Berdly. “How long have you been waiting?”
“We just got here.” Kris whispers back with a widening grin. “He hasn’t woken up yet. I just packed him up and brought him here straight out of bed. He’s a heavy sleeper.”
Ralsei has to cover his mouth to avoid gasping aloud. Oh that’s mean! He’s going to wake up any second now and be completely lost. Kris’ evil grin only grows wider at his horrified reaction.
“YO!” The silence of the Void is disrupted as someone shouts from afar to be heard. “IS EVERYONE ELSE ALREADY HE-”
Everyone whips around and presses a finger against their lips. Off in the distance, Styx carries two passengers towards the stop; Susie and Noelle. Susie is of course extremely excited to see them, but at the sight of their silent pleas to be quiet, she stifles her excitement. Berdly grumbles behind them, but he does not wake. Ralsei probably should wake him up to spare him from Kris’ mean little prank, but a darker voice in his head is curious to see how he’ll react when he wakes up.
Styx drifts down the river quietly, giving them a nod in greeting but otherwise remaining silent as they bring the boat to a stop and let Noelle and Susie off before departing. Ralsei gives them a wave as they sail off, but now that the girls are here and they see why they need to be quiet, Susie greets everyone the way she knows best without saying a word.
Without warning, she rushes forward and wraps her arms around Vess, lifting her up into the air and squeezing her tight. Vess yelps as she’s lifted up, but she tries to keep herself quiet as she fruitlessly tries to escape Susie’s crushing embrace. Ralsei knows there’s no rescuing his Princess from this dragon and joining into a group hug would crush her between the two of them. As Vess gets the life crushed out of her, Ralsei takes the time to brace himself for his turn.
Susie drops Vess a couple seconds later, only being saved from collapsing into the dirt by Noelle who offers Vess a much gentler hug to keep her upright. Susie moves for Ralsei and he’s ready for her, already having his arms wide to embrace her. Her arms wrap around him, her hands just barely able to touch behind his back as she reaches around his large frame. She attempts to lift him up and while she could haul everyone else around effortlessly, she visibly struggles to get him off the ground. She manages though and Ralsei hugs her back as tightly as he can before she’s eventually forced to set him down.
As revenge for crushing his girlfriend, Ralsei scoops up Noelle into a crushing bearhug once she gets close. He doesn’t put as much pressure on her as Susie did though. Even if he did, he’s more fluff than muscle, no one could be crushed against someone so soft.
“Dude? What’s up with him?” After hugs are given out, Susie’s attention is drawn to Berdly who still remains sound asleep. “He alright?”
“Big project left him drained.” Kris replies in a whisper. “Didn’t get to sleep until one in the morning. I didn’t want to wake him up so I got him dressed up and brought him along like this.”
“Jeez, he’s been pushing himself, hasn’t he?” Noelle mumbles with some concern, quietly leaning in to further inspect the sleeping blue bird. Susie, however, breaks into the same maniacal grin Kris flashed earlier.
“How do you plan on waking him up?” She asks, glancing over at Berdly with malicious intent.
“Don’t know yet.” Kris shrugs. “Seeing you manhandle Vess gave me some ideas though. Wanna grab him and shake him around until he wakes up?”
“If that gets him up and makes it so we don’t have to whisper anymore, I’m down.” Susie nods and Kris nods back in response, silently giving permission to violently jostle their boyfriend awake. Positioning herself in front of him, Susie slowly reaches her hands out towards him. Once her hands are only inches away from his body, Susie quickly darts forward and wraps her arms around him, lifting him off the bench and shouting as he is forcefully ripped back into consciousness. “WAKE UP SLEEPYHEAD!”
“WAH! WAHGA! WHAT?!” Berdly spasms in her arms, arms and legs kicking out widely in a flurry of blue feathers as he tries to make sense of what’s going on. “WHERE AM I?! WHAT’S GOING ON?! WHA… Susie?!”
“Rise and shine, dumbass!” After violently waking him up, Susie gently sets Berdly back down onto the bench beside Kris who wears a mile wide grin. “How could you still be asleep when we got the whole week together?!”
“Because… We have a whole week, I can…” Berdly is still waking up and is clearly a little disjointed as he looks around at everyone. “When did you guys… no… when did I get here?!”
“I figured you’d want the extra few minutes.” Kris tells him, putting on an innocent expression. “I got you changed and brought you along without waking you up.”
“That’s…” Berdly rubs his eyes. “That’s kind of creepy… Thanks for putting pants on me at least before you dragged me through space and time.”
“You’re welcome.” Kris rests their head on his shoulders. “So, what are you guys up to-”
Kris is interrupted as Susie scoops them up into a hug too. No one is safe. Kris tries fruitlessly to struggle out of her grip, but they’re short enough for her to cradle them in her arms if she wanted to. They don’t have the strength to squirm out of her arms.
“Didn’t think I was actually gonna let you pass without a hug, did you?” Susie chuckles cruelly as Kris fights her embrace.
“I giftwrapped you a prime target for torment. I should be let off the hook!” Kris tries to reason.
“I didn’t sign any contract.” Susie shrugs, squeezing Kris harder in the process. “Next time put it in writing. Anyways, handing you off to Ralsei now.”
“I’m not a baby! You can’t just hand me off like-” Kris is unable to finish their protests before Susie marches over and deposits Kris into Ralsei’s waiting arms. Ralsei gives them a much gentler hug, but Kris still isn’t too pleased. “Hey Rals…”
“Hello Kris.” Ralsei gets his fill of hugs in before letting them go. “I missed you. It feels like forever since we last met like this.”
“I dropped in last week.” Kris reminds him. “Hell, the last time we all showed up here was a few months ago. It hasn’t been that long.”
“Really?” Ralsei pauses for a minute. “Gosh. I just miss you guys so much that the months feel like years sometimes.”
“I kind of feel the same.” Noelle admits. “I swear, there are some days that make me want to drop out and just hang out with you guys all day like we used to. I’m pretty sure Mom would kill me, but if she doesn’t find out about this place, I should be fine.”
“God, tell me about it.” Vess whines. “I’m half convinced my professors are trying to melt my brain. It’s so hard not to jump in here every single night.”
“Keep your chins up.” Berdly blearily boasts. “We can all rest easy when we’ve secured our futures with our degrees. We just…” His speech is interrupted as a yawn escapes from him. “We just gotta persevere.”
“Dude, you were out cold.” Susie points out. “Kris dragged your ass across dimensions and I was shouting and trying to wave you guys down on the ride here and you were still dead asleep. You ok, dude?”
“Jeez. It sounds like all of you have been having a tough time.” Ralsei pouts. “Well, I’m glad you could all make it here. Vess and I are going to fix you all right up! No studying, no homework, no deadlines. Just a whole week of relaxing and having fun.”
“There’s nothing weird going on in town that we’re gonna have to worry about, is there?” Kris asks, their eyes landing squarely on Vess as they ask.
“I just got here.” Vess says a little defensively. “Nothing happened during the whole time I was separated and nothing’s happened since I woke up. Mono’s keeping an eye out for that kind of stuff, remember?”
“Just making sure.” Kris backs off. “The last thing any of us need right now is for a new psycho to drop in and ruin our week.”
“Well don’t worry.” Ralsei assures them. “We don’t plan on getting into any trouble at all this we-”
“Are we waiting on anyone else?” Noelle suddenly interjects, halting the conversation. Ralsei is about to ask her why she brought that up when he finds she’s staring at a free standing door beside the tree they are all gathered up beside. Was someone else coming? At the sight of the door, Kris starts to step back and positions themself behind Ralsei, their eyes never leaving the door. They were just talking about how worried they were that something would ruin their week.
Everyone remains dead quiet and alert as the doorknob suddenly turns and the door is slowly pushed open.
“Hello?” Their voice causes Kris to jolt slightly, but looking back at them, Ralsei finds that a smile has suddenly formed on their face. They recognize that voice. “Mono? You there? What is…” Peeking his head through the door cautiously, Asriel’s eyes go wide when he finds his little sibling and all their friends waiting on the other side. “Hey guys!”
“Asriel!” Kris gasps, slipping past Ralsei and rushing forward to greet their brother. Something tells Ralsei that they wouldn’t mind a hug this time.
“Well don’t keep me in the dark, Azzy. Who is it?” Someone speaks up behind Asriel and pushes the door open from behind him. Kris skids to a stop as everyone comes face to face with another familiar, but not always friendly face.
With the door wide open now, Ralsei finds himself staring at Asriel and Chara Tor, their silhouettes blocking out the bright sunlight behind them. It has been a long time since Ralsei has seen Chara, but after everything that happened with Nihil and all the work they put in to keep him and Vess safe, he could not hold any ill will towards them. It was the little one that he was still anxious about but they weren’t here.
Everyone else, however, did still have negative feelings towards Chara Tor.
“Oh great…” Noelle holds the most hatred for Chara and makes it known with a displeased groan.
“Well I’ll be… Howdy fellas!” Chara either misses or ignores Noelle’s clear disdain for them and leans against the doorframe, propping up the ten gallon hat on their head to better see in the dark. “Been a while since I last saw y’all. What’re you up to?”
“Yeah, I thought all you guys were still in school.” Asriel adds on beside them. “Is there a break week?”
“Yeah…” Kris nods. “Any chance you want to hang with us instead of the crazies?”
“He’s all yours.” Chara says, giving no objections and giving Asriel a pat on the back to get him through the door. “He was actually on his way out and we were getting ready to move again. Pav wants to check up on everyone back in Stonehollow and I don’t think Azzy will have as good a time there.”
“Are you sure you don’t want any help packing things?” Asriel turns to ask them as he steps deeper into the hangout.
“We don’t have much to pack.” Chara shrugs. “And by that, I mean we don’t have much here that I want to drag to Stonehollow to stink up. We’ve really cleaned the place up, but it still reeks. I’d ask if I could stick around and see how Hometown’s doing these days, but…” Looking around, Ralsei finds that most of his friends are visibly uncomfortable with that idea. “I’ll leave you all to it. Nice seeing y’all, by the way.”
“It was nice to see you again too, Chara.” Ralsei replies. While everyone had a troubled history with Chara, it never hurts to be polite. Asriel seems to be in high spirits in their company and Chara brought him to them to spend the week with everyone.
“Thanks, Rals.” The show of kindness does not go unnoticed. “Guess I’ll be seeing you, Azzy. With us headed back to Stonehollow, you probably won’t want to come visit any time soon so make sure to write.”
“I will, don’t worry.” Asriel assures them. With a tip of their hat, Chara reaches for the door and steps backwards to close it on themself, separating the link between their worlds. The door vanishes shortly after. Turning to face everyone else, Asriel throws his arms wide. “So how have you guys been?”
With the agitators gone, Kris’ good mood quickly returns and they start running again to give their big brother a hug. Everyone else relaxes too with Noelle letting out a held in sigh of relief. They really should try and work out their differences. Chara really does seem nice and everyone would feel much better if they didn’t have such a negative reaction every time they met.
“So, not to ruin the happy reunion or anything, but why do you still hang out with those weirdos?” Susie asks as Asriel hugs his little sibling, stepping forward to join everyone else by the bench. “Sure, you were buddy buddy once, but the Lightbringer is still there, aren’t they?”
“Ehh…” Asriel grumbles. “Light usually avoids me for whatever reason. For the most part it’s just me and Chara and Pavel when he’s awake.”
“How’s Pav doing these days?” Vess asks. “I haven’t had the chance to check our group chat in a while and our timezones make it hard to talk to him anyways.”
“He’s doing great!” Asriel is happy to change the topic to something much lighter. “I think this vacation is doing wonders for him. Though, hanging out with the Charas changed how he speaks. He already had this russian sounding accent, but some of Chara’s southern drawl is starting to rub off on him and now he sounds like a weird… western-eastern european if you know what I mean.”
“Where even were you anyways?” Kris asks. “They’re on vacation? Is there a place in that world that isn’t the most depressing spot on the planet?”
“They’ve got a cozy looking cabin out in a field somewhere.” Vess says. She visited them when she first woke up from her deep slumber. “Honestly, it looked like a wonderful place to stay if literally anyone else lived there.”
“So uh…” Asriel clears his throat. “What are you guys all doing here? I didn’t really know what to expect when I saw that door pop up, but this is probably the nicest surprise it could have been.”
“We all got the week off!” Susie announces. “No more books or tests or other dumb shit. Just a whole week of goofing off and doing whatever the hell we want.”
“Perhaps Mono led you here so you could join us?” Berdly theorizes. “I wasn’t awake to see when everyone else showed up, but it feels like everyone dropped in at around the same time. It doesn’t really seem like a coinci-”
“HOLY!” Every single person in the Hangout flinches as someone blurts out in alarm right behind them. Everyone spins on their heels to see who just intruded on their secret hide out and are relieved to find it’s just Dess. She is half dressed in her pj’s and clutching her trademark guitar up over her head ready to swing. She quickly deflates once she sees who’s all here and lets the guitar fall to her side. “Shit, I’ve never seen this many people in here before. I thought it was gonna be empty.”
“Dess!” Whatever remaining frustration and anger Noelle might have had after Chara’s short visit vanishes immediately as she breaks away from the group towards her older sister. “What are you doing here?! Where’d you even come from?”
“I got magical teleportation powers.” Dess reminds her. “I’m abusing this shit every opportunity I get. As for the first question, I like to jam out here sometimes. It’s usually dead quiet and I can play as loud as I want without pissing someone off. You guys?”
“Gathering everyone up to take advantage of a week-long break.” Ralsei informs her. “Would you like to join us? Asriel just got here.”
“I mean… I got…” Dess tries to debate with herself for only a couple of seconds before she gives up. “Screw it. School’s dumb anyways. Just don’t tell Mom I’m here instead of at school.”
“Your secret’s safe with u-”
“What’s in it for us?” Kris blurts out, stepping forward with their arms crossed. “How are you gonna buy our silence?” Ralsei turns and pouts at Kris, but Dess is quick to respond.
“Shut up or I smash this over your head.” Dess threatens, holding out her guitar.
“You won’t. That’s too expensive and holds too much sentimental value for you to use it as a weapon.” Kris calls her bluff.
“I’ll just beat the shit out of you with my bare hands?” Dess tries next.
“I have magic teleportation powers too. You won’t catch me.” Kris counters.
Dess grumbles and pats down her thigh where her pockets would be if she wasn’t wearing pjs. “I’ll give you twenty bucks when I come back after getting changed.”
“Deal.” Kris nods with a smile, cutting through the crowd to shake on it. They learned their lesson about making sure their contracts are binding from Susie very quickly.
“Little shit.” Dess reluctantly shakes on the agreement, glaring down at the trouble maker. With that settled, Kris backs away to get out of smacking range as Dess tries to tidy up her hair. “So, what’s the plan then? What are we all up to?”
“We were about to figure that out before…” Noelle starts, but falls silent as she starts to look around. Everyone else starts to do the same, searching around the mostly empty Void. “I guess that’s everyone then. Are we missing anyone?”
“Toby and Temmie?” Berdly suggests.
“Both are pretty busy nowadays.” Vess says. “They also have their own spaces out here somewhere. We might see them, we might not.”
“What about your weirdo friends?” Susie asks her.
“They might show up eventually, but the only ones I know who are guaranteed to make it are my parents.” Vess ponders silently for a moment before someone comes to mind. “Oh! What about Catti?”
“Eh, I don’t know if she’d show up with everyone here.” Kris shrugs. “It depends on what we’re doing I guess. We just gotta do something to draw her attention. What are we doing, by the way? Has anyone figured that out yet?”
“Do we have to do anything?” Berdly asks. He became a lot more awake when Chara briefly visited, but he still looks a little drowsy. “We’re trying to relax and unwind, right? Maybe we can all just crash somewhere?”
“How about this…” Ralsei speaks up. “Before we make any big decisions, let’s get everyone back home to Castle Town and sat around the cauldron. We’ll see what comes up after that? Does that sound like a plan?”
“I’d love that, actually.” Asriel chuckles. “Chara can be a wonderful host, but they are terrible at cooking. I swear, half the stuff they make is not fit for human consumption.” Vess lets out a nervous, very strained sounding laugh.
“Sign us up for some magical caldron cake!” Susie cheers. “It’s been a while since I got to stir that thing around, maybe I’ll whip up something for seconds!”
“I’ll see you guys there.” Dess promises. “I gotta get changed and let everyone know I’m ditching them for the week. Brb.” Dess vanishes from everyone’s sight, leaving them to do the same and head back home. Gathering around, everyone takes each other’s hands and in a blink, Ralsei whisks everyone home.
Seeing everyone back in the main hall of the castle again fills his chest with an insurmountable sense of joy.
“Ah yes, clad in armor once more!” Berdly lets everyone go to knock his fist against his high tech chestplate. “Finally, I am dressed as all men should be once aga-”
“Oh good, we’re doing the knight thing again.” Kris groans. They wore a suit of armor of their own, but they had long since dropped their own Dark Knight act.
“As long as you don’t start, I think we’ll be fine.” Noelle chuckles lightly, though she stops and immediately realizes her mistake when Kris turns to face her and gives her an evil smirk.
“Darkness spreads over the kingdom once more.” Kris says in a low, showboaty tone. “My reign of terror has only just begun.”
“Yes…” Berdly cheers silently beside them as everyone else groans in dismay. Ralsei can’t help but smile though. Time and responsibilities have separated them, but right now it’s like nothing ever changed. He really was beyond lucky that he has the ability to stay this connected with everyone even as they all go their separate ways.
“Rals! Whip up some cakes! It’s party time!” Susie cheers, pointing towards the cauldron.
“It’s still morning.” Ralsei reasons.
“Pancakes!” Susie corrects herself. “Coffee cake, I don’t know. There are plenty of cakes we can have for breakfast if you’re a coward who doesn’t want to eat regular cake for whatever reason.”
“I’ll make a variety so we can make our own decision on what to have for breakfast.” Ralsei decides. He’s got all his friends in one place again, why not spoil them? Getting his stirring spoon and making sure the fire beneath the pot is nice and hot, Ralsei begins to stir up its contents, thinking about the sweet confectionaries he will soon pull from it.
As he stirs, everyone starts settling into conversation as they wait, talking about what they’ve been up to since their last meeting. Berdly was still getting straight A’s, but everyone saw just how much he was pushing himself to maintain that score. Noelle is in a similar boat, working hard to keep up her grades, though she’s quickly growing frustrated with the workload.
Asriel was wrapping up his last year after being absent for one year and having to repeat the one he dropped out of half way through thanks to being stuck in the Barrier, but he’s coasting by. Kris isn’t as worried about high grades as their boyfriend is and as a result is having a much better time of it, though Berdly insists they need to pick up the slack. The only one who wasn’t in college was Susie. While Noelle had the money to help pay her tuition, she had no idea what she wanted to do. She was smarter than she gave herself credit for, but if she was going to commit herself to something so expensive and time consuming, she wants to make sure she’s doing it for something she’s passionate about.
Ralsei never went to school, but he always wanted to. After years of living in the school supply closet and spending almost all of his free time reading old discarded textbooks, he always dreamt of venturing up into the Light World and spending days with his nose buried in books at the local library. He loved learning new things, basically everything he knew was self taught from building this castle to participating in local government. Just like a lot of things, the world outside of the Barrier is unfortunately a lot more complicated and difficult. Education is expensive and stressful, but while his friends are all frustrated and tired, he can also tell just how proud they are to be excelling in their classes. He trusts they will all do fine.
A sudden fanfare plays out as the front doors of the castle are pulled open. A flashily dressed bard marches into the castle, casually strumming the guitar slung around her shoulders.
“Sup, suckers!” Dess calls out, silencing the sudden music with one last strum of her guitar. “Damn, I forgot how fun this was. I also forgot how cool we all looked here. We even got hot warlock Asriel back! Why don’t you wear eyeliner like that in the Light World?”
“Huh?” Asriel brings his hands up to his face.
“Chara would probably get a kick out of the makeup.” Kris jeers. “Also, Dess, my payment?”
“Right, right.” Dess grumbles as she fishes through her pockets to pay for Kris’ silence. “Also, Chara? You still hang out with that weirdo?”
“Come on, you too?” Asriel whines. “They really aren’t that bad.”
“I saw the hell world they live in and what they deal with on a daily basis. The pussy isn’t worth it man.” Dess blurts out, causing Asriel to choke on his own breath in shock. “Anyways, how are you guys doing? College life treating you alright?”
“We’ve been doing fine.” Noelle chuckles, happily changing the subject. “How about you? It sounded like you didn’t get a break week like the rest of us. Are you going to be able to stick around?”
“Ehh…” Dess makes a noise that does not inspire much confidence. “Hey, I was never that good at school in the first place. Being erased from reality for almost a decade is a perfect excuse for why I’m not doing so hot right now.”
“I was erased too and I’m fine.” Kris tries to argue.
“For a year.” Dess spats back. “And you had me in there with you. I had no one but Gaster to keep me company for a decade. That’d mess anyone up.” The mere mention of Gaster makes everyone in the room grumble. “God, Azzy, don’t tell me you’re putting up with him just to hang out with Chara.”
“No no no no!” Asriel quickly shakes his head. Ralsei was not going to comment on his standards, but evidently there was a line he was not willing to cross. “No, even they got sick of him. Last I heard, Mono took him off everyone’s hands and he’s in some far off corner of the Void where we will never bump into him. It’s just Chara, Light, and Pavel in this little summer cabin.”
“I caught a glimpse of it when you came through the door.” Ralsei adds on. “Honestly, with you and Vess visiting, I’m a little curious to see it too. Chara did everything they could to keep me safe during the whole trouble with Nihil. I feel like we could work something out and make amends.”
“That’s not an invitation to take him away, by the way!” Kris blurts out, staring up at the ceiling. “None of us actually want to go see them! Don’t get any funny ideas!” Well, that wasn’t quite true. Ralsei wants to hang out with all of his friends first and no doubt they will go on some fun adventures with Mono’s help, but maybe he should pay those troublemakers a visit. His feelings towards Light are more than complicated, the same can be said for Vess. She said that it’s perfectly fine not to like them, but he really doesn’t like that angry feeling he gets whenever he thinks about them.
Mono can save that for later though. Today is a day to relax and have fun, two things he isn’t sure he’d be able to do in Light’s presence.
“Cake is ready, everyone!” Setting those thoughts aside for now, Ralsei reaches for the ladle hanging off the lip of the cauldron and dips it into the swirling liquid inside. Carefully pulling it up, a large platter is slowly brought up with a hefty looking birthday cake resting atop of it.
“Cake for breakfast?” Dess comments as she approaches the cauldron.
“Susie insisted on it.” Ralsei chuckles, realizing Dess wasn’t here for the debate.
“Got a problem with that?” Susie turns on Dess, scrutinizing her.
“No? That sounds awesome!” Dess breaks into a wide smile. “Your girlfriend’s got the right idea, Noelle. Hot, strong, and a genius. How’d you manage?”
“I genuinely have no clue.” Noelle hums happily. “I’m just glad I did.”
Birthday cake is passed around, followed shortly by pancakes for the people who are at least slightly health conscious. Ralsei should probably skip on cake with how much he let himself go during Vess’ coma, but… He’ll just wait till everyone else gets a slice first. If there’s leftovers, he can’t let them go to waste.
Cake is enjoyed, syrup is ladled onto stacks of pancakes, and sugar-rotted smiles are spread wide around the cauldron as Ralsei works to feed his friends. Sitting here surrounded by people he loved beyond what words could describe, he can hardly believe he spent his early years all alone. He can’t imagine living in isolation again after years of this. No one to cheer up or make smile, no one to hug or share a laugh with, no one to kiss him goodnight and make him feel loved.
Even on quiet days, he’s still surrounded on all sides by wonderful people. If his Princess is not awake, someone from her side usually is and is always happy to talk about her. If his friends aren’t here, their parents are all absolute joys to talk to as well. Even if all of them were busy, everyone in town looked up to him as the Prince, greeting him as they passed and wishing him a good morning, afternoon, and night.
Even so, he wants this to last forever. All of his loved ones all jam packed in one place, enjoying his and each other’s company. They all have places to go and responsibilities to attend to, he does too, but…
He guesses he’s just being overdramatic. He missed everyone so much. It hasn’t been that long, but after what happened to Vess, any time away from his friends feels like an eternity.
Everyone’s here together for the week. Who knows when everyone will be free like this again. He has to make his time with everyone here count. He already has a few ideas, but knowing his friends, things will derail very quickly and he’s going to find himself in some very wacky situations.
He just hopes whatever adventures they go on don’t get too wacky.
---
Despite doing this hundreds of times now, you will never get over how magical your whole situation is.
That’s the only word you can think of to describe the feeling. It doesn’t sound grand enough to you, it’s too simple. Wondrous? Enchanting? Mesmerizing?
Maybe there aren’t any words that can properly describe how you feel.
Twelve hours ago, you were working slavishly on three different assignments your professors put you up to in what you can only assume was a coordinated effort to cause as much stress as humanly possible. You were in the campus library, working in silence with a few other students all diligently studying and working on their own projects.
You were just some girl. One who admittedly caught a few looks here and there thanks to your more unique features. Jessie asked about your eyes and why you always wore colored contacts and they had a very tough time accepting that your eyes are naturally red now. Still, you were a normal girl, going to a normal school, struggling just like everyone else and surviving off of take out and ramen as your every waking moment is dedicated to your work.
And now, here you are, the Princess of Castle Town. This was the real you. The real you back in the real world was getting closer and closer to your ideal self and while you rarely ever feel uncomfortable in that body, this is the one that fits you perfectly. You still remember the goosebumps you felt when you first saw yourself in the mirror here. You’ve never been able to match that feeling, but the looks your Prince gives you feels really close.
That was another thing you couldn’t quite describe; how your wonderful Prince made you feel. Happy didn’t cut it, loved didn’t cut it. Ralsei made you feel like you were the greatest thing the world had ever made. To him, your beauty was transcendent, and you don’t think there’s anyone alive who could match how kind and gentle your Prince could be. You were made for each other, and thanks to a little bit of Determination, you made him your soulmate.
All you were doing was hanging out and eating cake with some friends, but you still feel blessed and incredibly lucky to even be here. You’ve had all of this taken away from you once, you’ll hang on every single moment.
Even moments like these…
“When was this made?!” Noelle boggles as she and the rest of your friends stand in the grand hall of Berdly’s castle. “How long has this thing been here?!”
“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Berdly boasts, standing in front of the giant golden statue he and Kris had commissioned of themselves. Beautiful was… not a word you would use to describe it. It was very well crafted and shiny, you’ll give it that, but…
“Why did we come here again?” Ralsei asks, keeping his eyes downturned.
“Because some of you have not seen this masterpiece of art.” Kris says. Noelle made it very apparent that she had completely missed this. “Shortcuts are nice and all, but with everyone skipping around, you’re all missing out beauty like this by not taking the scenic route.”
The ‘masterpiece of art’ was shown to you when you came back after your coma and out of all the changes that went by in the almost two years you were separated, this was still the most shocking thing. Kris had told you that it’s very revealing and over exaggerated design was supposed to represent how they and Berdly felt about each other and their true selves, but you’re convinced they made this to weird everyone out. Well, at least Kris did. Berdly might actually be egotistical enough to think this is legitimately awe inspiring.
“Dude… your thighs are bigger than your head.” Susie stares up at the statues in shock, her mouth held agape. That quickly changes into a cruel smirk as her head slowly pans over from Berdly to Kris. “Of course Kris made themself like two feet taller. You should have been in the same pose as Queen and hung off his arms like monkey bars like the little munchkin you are.”
“So is there a reason you two are basically naked?” Dess asks. “This is basically the living room. You’ve got your ass out for everyone to see when they walk through the front door.” After a few seconds of dumbfounded silence, she turns to Berdly. “Who did you commission for this? What are their rates?”
“I like my statue better.” You say. You didn’t want to sound like an egotistical ass, but your statue in the courtyard of Castle Town was considerably more modest and humble.
Kris of course calls you out anyways. “Whatever you say, narcissist.”
“You literally have a twenty foot tall statue of solid gold!” You argue.
“Oh no, this is plated.” Berdly corrects you. “Something this large made of solid gold would be ludicrous.”
“Using any amount of gold on something like this is ludicrous.” Noelle argues, still completely baffled at the sight.
“When are you and Susie gonna get a statue, Noelle?” Dess asks, causing Noelle to spin around and stare at her in surprise. “These two got a big freaky statue right in their living room, these two lovebirds over here have one at their castle, where’s yours?”
“We don’t need a sta-”
“I actually got one in my room at the castle.” Susie says. “I found it in Noelle’s room when I rescued her from Queen years back.
“Oh, so you already had a statue of your girlfriend to gawk at, huh?” Dess breaks into a cruel smile as she leans in close to her little sister. “You telling me you don’t want a statue of Susie that looks like that in your room?”
“Why are we here again?” Asriel has been pretty quiet since getting here, likely because he’s been trying to ignore the revealing statue. “I thought you guys said you wanted to play a game or something, not show us your weird art projects.”
“The game room is right upstairs!” Berdly announces. “We just wanted to make sure everyone got to behold this artistic beauty before we did virtual battle. Follow us!”
Berdly and Kris leave the golden eyesore behind to head up towards the gaming room. Everyone else moves to follow them, some unable to take their eyes off the statue as they walk. Honestly you’re just happy that Kris is back to being an eccentric weirdo. They’ve been through a lot, more than most people would be able to handle, but they’re handling it like a champ.
The gaming room is just how you remember it. RGB lighting out the ass, a massive couch surrounded by beanbags chairs, and of course the massive tv and console setup dominating the entire wall. It has accumulated a bit of dust as everyone has been away for a few months but Berdly takes care to clean off all of the controllers for today’s matchup. One of them does not require cleaning as it has been preserved and protected in a glass display case. It is of course the wireless wavebird gamecube controller, reserved only for true gamers.
“Ralsei, Prince of Gaming, please step forward and claim what is rightfully yours.” Kris turns and breaks out their Dark Knight voice and Ralsei immediately groans in dismay.
“You know I hate that title.” He pouts.
“You’re free to relinquish it whenever you want, my gamer prince.” You tease. “Of course, you’d have to give up the wavebird.”
“It is a burden I am willing to bear for such a luxury.” Ralsei sighs as Berdly opens up the display case so he can collect his prize. For as much as he makes a fuss about not liking being called a gamer, he’s fought hard to retain his title and the benefits that come with it. The only one who’s been able to reliably beat him is Miles, but he refuses to take the wavebird as wired was the only way to play without any latency.
You’re kind of glad Miles isn’t here right now. The rest of you will actually have a chance at having fun today. Even if you don’t settle on something competitive, he’d find a way to dominate everyone anyways. You’re pretty sure the last time you saw him here, he was trying to learn how to play two characters at once in Melee thanks to his extra sets of hands.
You shudder slightly at the mental image.
“What shall be our game of choice today?” Berdly asks. “We have a lot of people, so we shouldn’t get too invested into something, so Mario Party’s out of the question.” You watch as Ralsei sighs with relief. “Any suggestions? I’m sure you’re all aware of what I am going to suggest.”
“We gotta play Rampage! Or one of the Godzilla games you got or something!” Susie suggests.
“Mario Party is off the table, but what about Mario Kart?” Noelle asks. “Four of us run a race, then pass the controllers on.”
“An excellent suggestion!” Berdly beams. “Ralsei, as our resident Prince of Gaming, what say you?”
“Is there anything less competitive we could play?” Ralsei asks. “There are so many fun challenges in other games which would be fun to take on together. Why are all these multiplayer games pitting us against each other?”
“Too much commitment for a party game.” Kris informs him. “We can beat the shit out of each other in Smash in only a couple of minutes. Everything else takes time.”
“Perhaps some time later this week, we can get together and partake in a co-op game!” Berdly suggests. “You and Vess can join Kris and I as we try to beat Four Swords!”
“I’d love that!” Ralsei gasps, turning to look over at you to gauge your interest. You give him a smile and a nod. It’ll be fun to play something without everyone becoming hyper competitive. “If we have to pick something competitive now though, I will go for Smash like you two. I haven’t been practicing much, so I would like to warm up a little.”
Everyone throws out their votes on what to play with you settling on Susie’s idea to play something other than Smash, but with a majority voting on it, the Smash players are going to get the first round. While the Smash fans gather around and prepare themselves for battle, the rest of you line the couch to watch and wait your turn.
Unfortunately, Dess is left with nothing to do, which leaves her mind wandering.
“So Vess.” She turns to you and you begin mentally bracing yourself. “Are you like completely dead to the world when you’re asleep for a week, or can you still feel around? Ralsei says you talk in your sleep sometimes and roll around in bed.”
“Yeah…” You nod. You’re not quite sure where she’s going to go with this so you give her as much information as you can to hopefully answer whatever insane question she’s got in the barrel for you. “It’s usually whenever I’m in bed on my side. I only ever notice when Ralsei’s also in bed. I don’t really know how it works, maybe it’s just my link to this vessel getting a little stronger, but even out in my world I can feel Ralsei sleeping beside me and if I try really hard I can reach out to him and try talking to him. Not much gets through, but we say our goodnight’s to each other even when I’m gone for the week.”
“Aww…” Dess coos at your little story. You hope that means she got what she wanted, but you brace yourself as she follows up with a question. “So if you’re at least somewhat aware, have you two ever-”
“Oh, Dess!” Thankfully, Noelle comes to your rescue before Dess can finish whatever no doubt horribly intrusive question she had for you. You mouth out a silent thank you to her for her interruption. “I wanted to ask you about what’s going on with your classes. You said you weren’t doing too well?”
“Yeah, I’m actually interested in hearing what’s going on there.” Asriel joins into the conversation. “Sure, your grades weren’t the best back in the day, but you’ve got what it takes. What’s the issue?”
“Well, you’re right that the classes aren’t really the problem.” Dess groans, leaning her head against the backrest of the couch. “I could totally ace all this shit if I wanted to, it’s just… I don’t. Mom’s putting us through college because that’s what she did and ’oh, you need a good education to succeed’ but I already have my shit figured out. Vess, you saw my first show, right? I absolutely killed it and I had two more while you were gone. I already know exactly what I wanna do, but if I come home without a degree, Mom’s gonna be pissed. Also, how the hell am I supposed to stay at school when I can literally drop in here in the blink of an eye to fuck around in magic land?”
“God, I know that feeling.” You chuckle. “Do I stay up for an extra two hours working on my project, or throw myself into bed and make out with Ralsei?”
“Yeah, exactly!” Dess nods. “I can dip whenever the hell I want, why sit in class bored out of my mind? The only difference is I don’t have a big fluffy bastard to mack on wherever I go.” Dess rolls her head to look over at Asriel who jolts slightly when he realizes why.
“Well, you’re not just giving up, are you?” Noelle asks, drawing Dess’ attention back to her. “You’re talking about Mom getting mad, but you’d be able to skirt by if you pass. Purposely flunking out of college will make her really mad.”
“I don’t know, I feel like I could maybe talk her down.” Dess reasons. “She planned on putting me through college forever. Hell, my tuition savings got some serious interest while I was gone, but things are different now. A decade ago, yeah, saving up and going through college was probably my best bet, but now? With all this crazy shit going on in here and the Void and with alternate dimensions and shit, why would I go through things the normal way?”
Asriel opens his mouth to argue, but nothing escapes his lips. Noelle looks like she wants to argue too, but she takes a moment to really dig into her words. All three of them turn to look at you. You’re sort of in the same boat, though your circumstances are slightly different. Why are you still going through college and trying to set things up in the real world when you have the magic of the Void at your fingertips? Again, your circumstances are a little different since you have to take care of your physical body so you don’t die, but you try to give some insight regardless.
“Get what experience you can.” You tell Dess. “Maybe you’ll never find a use for your degree, but you’ll have one. It never hurts to have options and on the off chance you don’t want to go all in on the magic Void stuff, you have something reliable to fall back on.” Dess looks unconvinced, so you decide to throw in something extra that might change her mind. “Also there’s a bunch of freaks running around college that are fun to meet.”
Dess snorts. “Oh yeah, I’m aware. I’m rich, moody, and I play guitar. A bunch of dudes and a surprising amount of chicks have already tried to hit me up. I just hope I don’t run into any future time manipulating serial killers like Azzy did.”
“That only happened after we both got trapped in here.” Asriel says. “So really, your best bet at avoiding future crazy people is staying at school instead of getting stuck like we did.”
“Ugh, you’re all a bunch of nerds.” Dess groans. “Will at least one person support my decision to be a loser rockstar and drop out?”
“Being a loser rocks!” Susie cheers on from the other side of the couch.
“Hell yeah!” Dess cheers back. “Your girlfriend’s so cool, Noelle.”
“I can’t deny that, but come on, you’ve got this.” Noelle insists. “Hell, your ability to teleport should make this effortless for you. No running between classes, no freaking out because you left something at home. You’re lucky, you can drop in here instantly and do whatever until your next class. Susie and I have to catch a ride here.”
“So I should dip now and not miss my Literary Studies class?” Dess asks. Noelle falters slightly, not wanting to see her sister go so soon. “Look, I’ll keep going for you and to keep Mom off my back, but I’ve already got plans. Also, no one cares about Literary Studies. Half my classmates are asleep five minutes in and the professor barely cares. I’ll live if I miss it.”
“You’re lucky Ralsei’s occupied right now.” You hum. “He’d throw a fit if he heard about how dismissive you were about your own education.”
After a short pause, Dess sits up. “Does he even have an actual education?” She asks. “He grew up in a castle or something, right? Look at him! He’s basically the vice mayor or whatever and he didn’t even go to school!”
“He’s got a giant library and spent years reading and teaching himself.” Asriel points out to your Prince’s defense Ralsei loves to lend out books to his friends and evidently Asriel was an avid reader.
“Yeah, yeah, we’ve all heard about Ral’s romantasy smut books, that’s not the point.” You watch as Ralsei jolts with panic and whips his head around to face you. Ever since Kris snooped around in his books, the poor guy’s never been able to escape the embarrassment of his less than wholesome reading material. “What I’m trying to say is he isn’t traditionally educated and he’s doing amazing right now.”
The conversation has looped. Dess was now back into arguing she didn’t need to go through college again leaving Noelle and Asriel to try and convince her to stay in school again. You try to tune your focus to the game on the tv instead to see how your Prince is fairing, though as you try and settle into the couch, a thought occurs to you. There’s still one other person you haven’t checked in with yet.
It wasn’t necessary to say hi to Mono every time you showed up. They obviously knew you were coming and they led Asriel to your friends because they knew about your little group meeting. Still though, you don’t get that many opportunities to talk to them face to face. They have a good reason to keep their distance these days, but after seeing everyone else get back together, you wanna say hi to them.
“I gotta quick check on something.” You sit up off the couch and excuse yourself. “I’ll be right back.”
“Bring back snacks!” Kris calls out, not taking their eyes off the screen to ask. Quickly glancing at the game, it looks like Ralsei is forcing everyone to work for their victory again. Ralsei didn’t always win, but it was always fun to watch Kris’ ego take a bruising. Hopefully you’ll come back in time to watch them lose.
Closing your eyes, you take a deep breath and step forward. When you open them again, you find the person you’re looking for waiting exactly where you’re expecting them. You two are in the courtyard of Castle Town, more specifically the raised stone platform that now covers the hole that used to be the Grand Fountain. Resting on the bench facing the statue on the platform’s center is Mono, wreathed in blackness and watching you approach with two bright white eyes.
“Hello.” They greet, already knowing why you’re here. You return the greeting as you take a seat beside them and enjoy the quiet for a moment.
There’s no need to ask aloud and disrupt the quiet, you simply think what you want to know. With all your friends gathered up and a whole week of adventures planned, there’s really only one major thing you need Mono to confirm for you.
“You should have no distractions this week.” Mono assures you, answering before you can even ask. “Things have been calm for a very long time and I have worked hard to keep it that way. Should anything arise, there are contingencies in place and others who are more than willing to handle problems in your stead. Enjoy yourself without worry.”
It’s always a blessing to hear the Void itself assure you that you won’t have any problems. That could change at any minute, but after years of precautions after the last emergency, you’re sure that the next disaster will be dealt with quickly. Though, thinking about one of Mono’s contingencies and some of Dess and Asriel’s comments from earlier, you can’t help but ask.
“So what’s your deal with Chara and their posse?” You ask Mono. Their eyes rotate along their perfectly spherical head to face you inquisitively. “I know you keep tabs on them in case of emergencies, but with how many favors you do for them, I feel like you’ve got some favorites.”
“Are you not curious to understand how they work?” Mono asks you. “You and our friends are all wonderful people with rich and complex lives and thoughts, but Chara, Light, and Pavel, they are very different from you. They enjoy conflict and strife, their motives are far more complex and personal, I am fascinated by them.” While Mono does not have a face to express themself with, you watch as they seem to jolt slightly with alarm. “Do you feel I care for them more than you? I assure you that is not the case.”
“Oh no, that’s not a problem at all.” You chuckle. “I’m perfectly fine being comparatively boring over the weird little freaks you want to observe through a microscope. I don’t feel left out or anything, I just wanted to know why you’re so interested in them.”
“Ah, yes.” Mono visibly relaxes, slouching slightly in their seat. “You are a very interesting person, but I’ve been finding all sorts of strange characters I would like to know better. If I ever feel absent or that I do not visit you, please do not feel like I have grown disinterested in you.”
“I told you it’s fine.” You assure them again. One thing you’ve noticed about Mono since you’ve come back is how self conscious they’ve become. The more they hung around you and your friends, the more you rubbed off on them and you know for a fact that they feel a lot of guilt over what happened to you because you felt the same. No doubt there are other insecurities buried in there that you’ve accidentally brought up with your questioning and… They’re looking right at you. “Sorry.” You quickly say, realizing they heard all of that. “Didn’t mean to pry.”
“It is alright. You are simply making observations, just as I do.” Mono says. “As much as I enjoy observing other people, I feel that it’s been a long time since I’ve looked inward towards myself. I am a person now, after all. I’m due for some introspection.”
“Do you have any favorite vacation spots?” You ask them. “You’ve shown us quite a few quiet places. Are there any you like to hang out in?”
Mono is silent for a long while, something that’s somewhat unusual for them. While they are an omniscient and omnipresent being, they only have one physical body. They’re always doing something and jumping from one place to another, so sitting silently for an extended period of time makes you wish you could pry into their head to wonder what’s going on in there.
“I do not know…” They eventually answer you. “I like so many places, I do not know if I could pick just one. I’m not even sure if I would want it to be someplace quiet or…” There is another lapse of silence again as they think the question over. “Perhaps you could help me?”
“How can I help?” You ask. You’ve got your friends to get back to, but after everything Mono’s done for you, you can spare the time to do them a favor.
“It should take no time at all.” Mono assures you. “I want you to help me make a place for myself. Someplace I can retreat to and relax. Someplace I could call home maybe.”
“That’s…” You’re left speechless for a moment. “Jeez, that’s a lot to ask. You trust me with something as big as that?”
“You have given me everything else I hold dear.” Mono nods. “My body, my name. I can’t imagine anyone else helping me with this.”
Gosh, this was a lot, but Mono was trusting you with this. You’ve done this before, and why wouldn’t Mono come to you for help again. Sure, you were just a normal girl with nothing special going on, but that was out there in the real world. Here, you are the princess, you are an Angel. You had a statue erected in your honor for saving the multiverse sitting right in front of you. This was a very big ask, but you were more than capable of handling it.
“I imagine you’d like someplace dark.” You muse, closing your eyes so you can try to picture the place in your head. “There would be running water. The flowing rivers were how we found out about you, it makes sense that you’d have something like that nearby so you can listen to the song of the sea. Someplace on the beach? Maybe not, plenty of nice beaches to visit already, this needs to be something new.”
You stop talking and really hunker down. Most of the stuff you knew about the Void was thanks to Styx and their ferry. The flowing waters took you from place to place, their currents carried the voices of others lost in or traveling the Void. Something about the deep sea seemed intrinsically connected to the concept of the Void and, whether accidentally or not, Styx was perfectly made to explore it. Now the Void itself was looking for a home and while you were struggling to think of a specific place that would fit their needs and wants, a separate idea occurs to you.
“What if you got a boat?” You suggest. “Instead of settling into any one place, you could get a boat and drift around wherever the water takes you. You could sail around with Styx or drift around an ocean if you want your privacy. Eh, maybe that’s not it. Maybe you want a-”
“No no, go back to the boat idea!” Mono insists, urging you to return to your thoughts of a boat. It was certainly a more out there idea over a regular house or hangout, but that’s probably exactly why they liked it. Keeping your eyes closed, you start to go over various boat ideas. A full blown ship would certainly be cool and accommodating, but also a bit much. Mono’d probably want something smaller to navigate narrower bodies of water just like Styx can. Another ferry would work, but that feels like a cheap out. Styx’s boat again isn’t good enough, Mono needs something of their own.
What about… a raft? A nice flat surface for them to move around and furnish floating on the water. That’s basically a house on the water, it should be perfect! A little house on the water, drifting between worlds and giving Mono new things to look at and observe while also relaxing in their own space.
You open your eyes as you hear Mono hop off the bench. Between your bench and the statue in the center of the raised platform, a door has appeared which Mono slowly approaches. You quickly get up too. You almost forgot how effortless this was and you were eager to see your work in person.
Mono reaches out and opens the door and on the other side, you find a familiar scene. You’ve seen those sandy islands and that bright blue water countless times, but the door is not placed on one of those islands. Stepping through the door, Mono’s feet rest on a large wooden platform that goes out a few feet on either side. Stepping in after them, you feel the whole thing shift slightly under your weight. Turning around, the door you came through has vanished, giving you an unobstructed view of the craft you helped create.
A fifteen foot by fifteen foot floating square of wood planks. It is incredibly basic, you could easily spend some more time brainstorming up something nicer, but Mono sits themself down on the center of the raft.
“This is fine.” They tell you. “I appreciate you wanting to give me more, but this is all I need. It is a very thoughtful gift.” You watch as Mono leans back and lies flat on the raft, staring straight up at the clear blue skies. “Yeah… this is perfect.”
“Happy to help.” You tell them with a smile, carefully sitting down yourself. “Any other requests before I go? After everything you’ve done for me, this dinky little raft doesn’t feel like much.”
“You’ve already done far more for me than you realize.” Mono tells you. “This humble craft is just the cherry on top. Do not worry about paying me back. Instead, worry about your Prince who is currently looking for support after his loss.”
“Aw man, he lost?” You whine as you start to stand yourself back up.
“Do not forget to bring back snacks as Kris requested.” Mono reminds you, remaining flat on their back. “And while our meeting here was short, I am sure we will see each other again this week.”
“Thank you.” You say as you get to your feet and prepare yourself to make a shortcut to grab some goodies to feed everyone with. “If you want, you’re more than welcome to join us during our little party at Berdly’s place.”
“That is alright.” Mono says. “I would like some time to myself for now. Besides, there are some people I would like to meet very soon. I would not want to disappoint all of you by leaving early.”
“Alright then.” You say. “You enjoy the boat ride. With everything you do for us and with everything going on, you deserve some time to tune everything out. If you ever want an upgrade to this raft though, just ask.”
With Mono lazily drifting in the ocean on their new raft, you leave them be and blip yourself outside the town’s convenience store to gather the munchies your friends requested.
Once again, you’re struck by just how magical your life is now. What started as an excuse to say hi to an old friend you don’t get to see that often turned into a mini quest to give the god of this entire plane of existence someplace nice to relax. Every single day is an adventure here, though you know for a fact that you’re going to be in for some crazier adventures later in the week.
You just hope they don’t get too crazy.