When they stepped out the front door, Kris quickly realized it was a colder day than they'd assumed from a glance out their bedroom window. The bright, chipper sun and golden glow that bathed their bedroom this morning was a lie.

They turned on their heel to retrieve their coat from inside, but true to form, Toriel came bursting out with the article of clothing in hand. She almost bumped Kris by accident, but stopped herself in the doorframe. "Kris, take your jacket! It's cold outside."

Kris gave an embarrassed, but thoughtful smile. "Thanks, mom," they said as they accepted; they proceeded to slip the jacket on and fully zipped. "I'll be back later this afternoon, okay?"

"Of course, Kris. I'm glad you want to spend more time with your new friend, it'll do you good. Do you have your cell phone?"

Kris nodded. Toriel gave her child a warm smile, and collected him in a tight hug. They returned wholeheartedly, and when the embrace ended at last they ran off with a wave.

Toriel let her hand linger in the air for a moment. She watched them disappear into a thick row of houses, trees and foliage, then quietly shuffled into her home and closed the door.

It was only when they arrived at their destination, the exterior of a mid-size apartment building, that Kris bothered to check their surroundings.

The town was largely empty this Saturday. Cars were already a rarity, but today there were none at all; the sidewalks didn't fare much better. The houses and shops they'd passed were quiet. Another sleepy day in a small village.

Kris savored the feeling for a moment. They knew they were about to wake the sleeping giant.

A glass door and a few flights of stairs later, and Kris gazed upon the apartment before them. The door was within arm's reach, painted bright red. The doorbell beckoned.

After a moment's pause, Kris rang, and knocked for good measure.

Seconds passed. Kris strained themself to hear for sounds within the home, but couldn't pick up anything above the hum of fluorescent lights above their head. But then, without warning, the door swung open rather violently, and Kris took a startled step back.

A monster around their own age was standing in the doorframe. Her face was obscured by clumps of brown hair, but she wore an open purple jacket, a t-shirt beneath, and jeans torn at the knees and ankles. They both stared at each other for a moment.

"... What are you doing here?"

Kris blinked. Their bottom lip suddenly took a dry and crackly texture.

"I-uh... hi?"

Susie knit her brows. Before she could speak, however, Kris blurted "I was going to text you before coming, but you never gave me your number! Sorry, I looked in the school directory for your address but there wasn't a phone listed so I-"

"Dude, it's fine. Relax."

To Kris' deep relief, they discovered a subtle smirk adorn what they could see of her expression. She leaned against the doorframe arms crossed, and foot pressed flat to the wall. "You still haven't told me why you're standing here, though."

"Do you want to go visit?"

One of her eyes became visible behind her curtain of hair. She was staring right at Kris.

"Now? I was only half-serious, man. It's Saturday."

Kris nodded. "I really want to see them again... I had a hard time sleeping last night thinking about it."

Susie's lips curled into a grin. Kris had a feeling there was nothing false about it.

"Let's go, loser."

In a manner similar to their trek through the school hallways yesterday, it was Susie that led the way to the school. She wasn't the fastest walker, but Kris slouched behind with feet of cement; she made a mental note to address it by the time they reached the hospital. When the white brick building came in sight, it was time.

"You know, you still walk really slow."

"Huh?" Kris' attention snapped from their feet to the person several steps ahead. "Oh, sorry..." they mumbled as they took longer strides to catch up. But when they were close enough, Susie let loose a friendly slap upon Kris' back, and they responded with a short lunge forward. She seemed genuinely surprised.

"I didn't hit you that hard. That was child's play."

"I know," Kris said between small grunts. "I just wasn't expecting it, is all."

"Sorry, I guess."

She expected some sort of reprimand, but again Kris proved unexpected with a smile. "It's okay. Better than eating my face off, right?"

This earned a snicker from her. "Yeah, better for you anyway. But watch your back. I'll still do it if I get in trouble for eating the chalk."

Her voice was thinly veiled with sarcasm, but the smile on Kris' face faded regardless. Susie's followed suit, and they continued down the road in silence. When the librarby's enormous sign was within view, however, she finally broke the quiet spell: "Why'd you come get me?"

"Huh?"

Susie refocused her attention to her companion. "I mean, why'd you go to all that trouble to find out where I live? You could've just gone by yourself."

"Oh... maybe? I don't know, it wasn't that much work. I think I just, well..."

Kris' voice tapered off, and their footsteps ceased. She stopped as well, attention now firmly fixated on her companion; Kris' eyes were suddenly intent on their shoes.

"... It's something I really wanted to do, I guess," Kris finally mumbled. "Since my brother went to university, it's been kinda lonely. And I know she means well, but the coddling from my mom can get pretty suffocating. You're not the first one to make fun of me for it."

"And I probably won't be the last."

Her voice dripped with sarcasm. Kris gave a half-hearted groan. "Thanks."

They both wore mild smirks from this exchange, but when the moment passed, their expressions became pointed once more. Kris spoke first:

"... I know I can visit the Dark World by myself. But it wouldn't feel right to go without you. It really wouldn't."

Susie found herself at a loss for words. She swallowed a lump in her throat.

"Kris."

They affirmed their attention.

"I... I wasn't exactly nice to you and Ralsei. I still have a lot I need to learn about ACTing, but I know that much, at least."

"You weren't-"

"Why did you even bother, after how I treated you? Why are you bothering?"

Her countenance was largely blank, but Kris could clearly sense a sort of anticipation from her, waiting for what they had to say. Kris took several long moments to collect their thoughts, and when they did, they let loose a long sigh.

"Look. I know I only met you yesterday. We've been in the same school, sure, but all I knew you as was a big bully, and if our first conversation was any indication, you thought I was a quiet little freak. We didn't have a good first impression.

"But that was only part of it, right? The journey we went on, everything we did together, everything we learned... I don't know. It's all different now. I'm still trying to wrap my head around it."

Now it was Susie's turn to look at her shoes.

"I've really missed my brother, Susie. We don't have many chances to talk anymore. But when I was with our team, with you and Ralsei and Lancer-I started to feel like how I did with him. Friends like you guys don't come around often. It made me happy. It'll make me happy go see them again."

Kris gave Susie a hesitant smile, lips pursed and all. A pang of fear welled in their gut for a brief flicker, but when they mustered the words to speak, their voice was clear and concise:

"And it'll make me happy for you to be there, too. The team isn't complete without all of us, right?"

At last, Kris ceased their long, improvised speech. They waited quietly for a response from Susie, but she stayed silent, expression and body language stoic. Time seemed to stop around them.

Kris didn't know what to think. But just as they opened their mouth and prepared to speak again to break the mood, Susie stretched her hand to their shoulder. Just like yesterday.

"Remember what I said about quiet people pissing me off?"

Kris dutifully nodded.

"You'd better remember it, because the more you talk, the more I like you. You say some good shit."

All Kris could do was smile, and smile they did. To the best of her ability, the expression was mirrored by Susie.

Susie pressed her face to the glass window adorning the school's exterior. The lights were on in the hallway, but as far as she could see, the place was entirely empty; no cars were parked nearby either. "Hey Kris, are there cameras nearby?"

"Cameras?" Kris said, after yanking at the locked door handle for the hundredth time. A quick panorama around the school's exterior didn't tell them much. "I'm not sure. Why?"

"Everything's locked and no one's in there. I'm breaking the window."

Susie took her jacket and wrapped it around her first. But just as she cocked her arm back and prepared to release the wrath of a thousand suns, the tight grasp of her arm by a rather nervous human stopped her dead to rights.

"Yeah, I... I don't think that's a good idea, Susie. ACT, don't fight."

Susie released a groan, but let her arm fall nevertheless. "Yeah yeah, I get it. But how are we gonna get in?"

Kris took Susie's place at the window. They cupped their hands around their eyes and focused their attention, but they realized soon she was quite right: no one looked to be around. They stepped away to look at her, slumped in a rather dejected posture. "I'm not sure... there has to be something, maybe around the-"

Before Kris could finish, a distinctive crunch of tire on nearby pebble and gravel caught the attention of both. Coming down the road and approaching the school was a vehicle.

The car parked in the nearest open spot, and the driver stepped out and revealed their identity. It was Ms. Alphys.

Susie swiped a panicked glance around her. She reached for Kris' shoulder to beckon to a hiding place, but a pit exploded in her stomach when she heard Kris shout their teacher's name instead. "THAT IDIOT!" was all she could think as she watched them run to the car; she found herself frozen in place.

"K-Kris?!" Ms. Alphys stammered as they came near. "W-what are you doing here? It's a weekend!"

"I know, but we need to get into the school."

"W-we?" Ms. Alphys leaned to gaze past Kris; standing there, head angled as low as possible and hands deep in her pockets, was Susie. "Oh... why?"

Kris' heart skipped a beat. Their mind raced a mile a minute to find a good excuse: taking a portal to a mythical land wasn't gonna cut it.

"Uh... I forgot my books. Susie too, we need them for our project."

Ms. Alphys pondered this story for a moment. Kris couldn't tell whether she was convinced based on her (nervous) facial expression, but regardless, she eventually nodded and reached into her coat pocket for a key ring. "I-I'll let you two in. I'm here to do some paperwork, but if you need any help I'll be in the classroom."

Kris gave a firm nod. Quickly making their way in stride to Susie, they gave her a nudge. "See? Piece of cake."

"If it were anyone besides Ms. Alphys, we'd probably be kicked out," Susie replied, monotone. "You're lucky, punk."

"No, we're lucky."

The loud clatter of a lock brought halt to the conversation; Ms. Alphys signaled to both for their attention. "W-were you planning on staying long?"

"Probably not," Kris said. "We'll be out of here in a flash."

Ms. Alphys turned and entered the building. Kris and Susie followed, but at quite a slower pace; a frustrated expression adorned the face of Kris' companion. "Well, we're pretty screwed now, aren't we?"

"Huh? I got us into the school without breaking anything. What more could you want?"

"Yeah, but how do we get out of the school now?" Susie grunted. "Ms. Alphys could be here for hours. If she, or anyone else, sees us leaving later, we're pretty done."

Kris said nothing.

"... Eh. Come on, we're almost there."

The two were in sight of their target now. Those enormous, pitch-black metal doors housing the largest closet they'd ever seen, and one they'd visited only yesterday. They looked at each other with blank expressions.

It didn't take long for their faces to morph into grins.

Synchronized, they each grasped a doorknob. With a nod and silent count to three, they turned and pushed the doors wide open.