Chapter Text
Susie wanted to scream.
She knew something would happen the moment Lancer's dad mentioned ‘the Knight,’ but she didn't know just how terrible it would be until she saw how that damn prophecy ended. Susie swore she wouldn't let that happen
But now, as Susie stared down the end of the world, separated from everyone she cared about, she wondered if it was even fucking worth it.
After all, what was a few more hours with her friends if none of them got to see another day.
The Girl shook her head, trying to shove those thoughts away as she picked up her weapon. Even if the worlds were crumbling around her, Susie would not go quietly into the dark. If she had to die today, she would go down fighting.
With that thought pushing her to get up, Susie raised her axe, summoned all the power she had left, and fired off one last Rude buster as Darkness overtook her, or maybe it was Light.
It didn't matter either way. As the world vanished around her, the Girl, so desperate to avert fate, faded away.
⋮°˖✧ 𓆩✧𓆪 ✧˖°⋮
Susie was startled awake by the shift in gravity. She groaned and held a claw to her head as she got up from the floor. She probably rolled off the bed again, it wouldn't be the first time Susie woke up by falling onto the floor.
She had one of those dreams again, the same kind of dream that has haunted her since she was found in New Home six months ago.
It was one of the nicer ones, of a goat-like monster teaching her healing magic at a festival.
Susie yawned and stretched as she went through the motions to get ready for the day. She put on her signature outfit, a dark jacket over a white shirt and baggy jeans. As Susie changed, she was careful to keep her tail hidden. She didn't know why, but it felt wrong to have her tail out in the open, vulnerable.
After checking no part of her tail was visible, Susie moved to the mirror to carefully brush her hair in front of her eyes. The other kids tended to find her less intimidating that way.
Plus, it reminded her of a friend.
Once Susie was satisfied with her appearance, she turned back to her bed and bit her lip as she looked at what was left of it. For some reason Susie always tore apart her bedding whenever she had one of those strangely vivid dreams, no matter how nice it seemed. Her teeth and claws tearing through pillows, startling awake, her heart racing and the vague feeling that she'd been battling, all of it was expected after dreaming of that other world.
Susie did her best to clean up her mess, and hid the parts she couldn't. Once she was satisfied with her work, she headed for the orphanage's dining room. As usual, she was the last to arrive. There were four other kids in the dining room, all of them between the ages of five and eight. There were six when she arrived, and three more kids had arrived after her, yet throughout her stay here, she'd been the oldest.
Well, everyone assumes so at least. When Susie arrived at the orphanage they'd assumed her to be ten, but without a way to know for sure, who knows how old she actually is.
Susie turned her attention to her breakfast, trying to ignore her musings before she started sounding even more like a math problem.
She quickly scarfed down her food before grabbing her bag and rushing out the door. Behind her, Susie heard one of the caregivers shout for her to be safe as the young monster made her way to school.
Moments before the bell rang, Susie dropped into her usual seat at the back of the class. She got her books out of her bag as the teacher started the lesson.
The school day seemed to pass in a haze as usual, but Susie did her best to pay attention anyways. She was never any good at school in her dreams, but that was just another thing that she disliked about her dream self. She was determined to at least get a passing grade in all of her actual classes.
She liked to think the reindeer girl from her dreams would be proud of that, if she was real.
After school, Susie headed for a nearby park which was usually relatively empty. She reached a secluded spot she'd almost dare to call her own, and sat down in the grass. She thought back to her dream from this morning. Like most dreams, the details faded quickly after waking up, but Susie always tried to hold on to whatever scrap of memory she could.
She used to write her dreams down the moment she woke up, but she stopped when one of the caretakers found it and tried to send her to a shrink because of it. It didn't really matter, reading back her dreams just left Susie more confused anyways.
Susie was actually pretty excited about this morning's dream. Usually her dreams felt more like one big ‘what if’ situation, but sometimes she'd remember something from her dreams that could actually be useful! Last time she remembered a human teaching her how to read sheet music, and this time she might learn a bit of actual healing magic!
Susie took a deep breath and tried to remember what the monster in her dream had told her about healing magic. There was something about kindness and hope and intent. Susie closed her eyes and tried to focus on the way she felt when healing magic was used on her in those dreams, and tried to tug on those same emotions.
Green magic started gathering in Susie's palms as she focussed on following the dream's instructions. The young monster felt a pulsing warmth in her hands, and couldn't help but gasp when she opened her eyes to see.
A tiny orb of healing magic was gently hovering in the palm of her hand.
Susie jumped up in excitement at her success, which accidentally caused her to fire off her healing bullet. Luckily no one seemed to be anywhere near the direction she'd fired in.
Emboldened by her success, Susie spent the rest of the day practicing her healing magic. She even managed to heal a papercut she'd gotten at school by the time the city lights started to dim.
Suddenly realizing how late it already was, Susie gathered up her jacket and bag and quickly made her way back to the orphanage.
It was dark by the time Susie reached her so-called ‘home’ so she did her best to stay quiet when she entered the building, the youngest kids would already be in bed at this hour and Susie didn't want to wake them (again).
Susie didn't bother dropping her stuff off in her room before sneaking to the kitchen to warm up some leftovers, chicken and mashed potatoes from yesterday.
After having dinner Susie cleaned up her plate and headed for her room. She was about to enter it when she heard voices from the other side of the door. She listened closely and was easily able to recognize the voices of the two caretakers. Susie thought about just going in and asking what was going on, when she heard what the caretakers were talking about.
They were talking about her, and they were planning to send her away.
Susie froze at the realization. Her hands started trembling and the straps of her backpack slipped out of her claws, landing on the ground with a heavy thump.
The voices on the other side of the door quieted and Susie saw the door handle turning down, but she didn't see the door open. By the time the Orphanages caretakers left Susie's room, the girl had already left the building. The only indication she'd even come home being her bag in the hall and the slam of the front door.
Susie didn't look back as she ran through the streets of New Home. Her heartbeat pounded in her ears as she turned the corner into a dead-end. Her breath was coming out in bursts, a keen threatening to escape her throat as tears burned in her eyes.
There were so many different emotions swirling around in Susie's head, none of them she could really hold on to, so, as seemed to be the norm in her dream, anger won out. Susie formed her trembling hands into fists and with a roar slammed it into the side of the dumpster, creating a sizable dent in it as the knuckles on her hand split open and started to bleed.
Damn it, what had gone wrong?! She'd seen all of the mistakes that would get her sent away in her dreams, and she'd tried so hard not to let that happen. But despite her best efforts they still found her too ‘unstable and destructive.’ Why?! Because of some fucking torn pillows?? Susie couldn't help that! She can't control what she's doing during one of those damn dreams!
Susie collapsed to her knees, tears finally starting to fall as she curled in on herself and sobbed.
The girl was so wrapped up in her despair that she didn't notice anyone approach her until a gruff, slightly scratchy voice sounded from the entrance to the alley.
“Now I can't say it ain't deserved, but what did that dumpster do to ya to deserve such a dent, little missy?” the voice asked kindly.
Susie startled at the question. Her head snapped up. As she tried to wipe away her tears, her eyes met those of an old turtle monster.
“That's none of your business.” Susie snarled at the old man, trying to mask the hoarseness of her voice.
The old turtle let out a bark of laughter at the girl's response. “Gweh heh heh! Yer right, it ain't any of my business. I just wanted to make sure ye were alright. Punching something as tough as a dumpster can do a mighty lotta damage to your hand yannow?”
The old man shuffled further into the alley and kneeled down next to the quietly sniffling monster. “Do ye mind if I take a look at those claws of yours? With a touch of healing magic I can fix those right up for ya.”
Susie leaned away from the kind monster and shook her head. “No thanks, Old man. I can fix this myself.” She glared at the turtle as she spoke, and focussed most of her attention on gathering up her healing magic. A soft green glow enveloped Susie’s hands, and the split knuckles on her hand sealed up within moments. She shot a sharp grin at the old man as she showed off her handywork. “See? Like it never happened.”
The old turtle let out a low whistle at the feat. “That’s some quite impressive healing for a lady your age. It seems you've got quite the talent for it.”
Susie couldn't help but blush at the praise. She tried to hide it, but judging by the old man's chuckles she wasn't doing a very good job of it.
The turtle monster got up from the ground, groaning dramatically as he did so. He dusted himself off, picked up his cane and held his hand out to the young girl as he spoke. “The Name's Gerson Boom. What's yours, miss?”
Susie stared at Gerson's hand for a moment as memories of a different old man in a different world flooded her mind. She smiled softly as she took the offered hand and Gerson helped her to her feet. “it’s Susie. My name, I mean.”
Gerson smiled at the response. He gently held Susie's hand as he guided her out of the alley. “Well then, Susie. How do you feel about getting a nice warm cup of Sea tea?”