Chapter Text
After school, Kris and Susie intended on meeting at the forest since the latter wanted to show them something she found, which she described as "gnarly and epic." They'd been waiting for a bit and out of curiosity just text Susie asking, "you coming?" and a bit later she responds, "ya I might be late a little bitf you can prolly go a little further in just wait for me at that spot where there's that fallen tree thing" ...and so they wander further into the forest. Though, it starts to get darker and, oddly enough, colder? At some point they realize... they've got their armor on, and there's thick snow surrounding them. Why would there be a dark world here?
They try to take a few steps forward into the darkness as cold and bitter air snaps at them through their obnoxiously thin clothes. Fuck, why is their armor so bad.
As their bones start to feel a bit heavier and their skin feels numb and their eyes get a little more unfocused... Kris remembers something their soul can do. It takes a bit of energy but they manage to get the little heart-shapes thing out, glowing finally in their hands. They try a little harder, and it glows a little more. There's the slightest bit of warmth radiating from it.
...So they keep walking. They plan on walking until they either find something or actually die from the cold.
Although, there's a faint growl in the distance.
they hesitantly mumble, "...Susie?-" but as soon as a sound comes out of their mouth something violently pins them down. The snow stings against their back, and they can feel this thing's claws dig into their skin a bit- fuck, that hurts.
Okay, not Susie.
...
Susie eventually arrives at the forest, and starts to walk through it, although she comes to the realization that it's a damn dark world the same way Kris did. She mumbles to herself, "...shit."
Susie begins walking with a sigh. There's lots of trees but there's lots of snowy clearings in large patches all over the place, and... she feels a slight flutter of panic in her chest seeing something in the distance.
Bloodstained snow, Kris collapsed on the ground, and a huge silhouette of a cat with too many legs and neon pink and yellow eyes. It has a long tail with a spear-like thing on the end, and on its face is a huge, uncanny cartoon-like grin. It's pinning down the bloodied and battered human against the snow. Looks like they'd been tossed around enough, because they have a certain oddly peaceful look on their face like they're just... giving up, like they know they'll be killed. That is, if Susie doesn't intervene.
She snarls and runs forward, jumping to reach a little closer to the bastard's face as she slashes her axe across it. It lets out an ugly, piercing screech, running away with a deep and gruesome cut on its face.
Left alone with Kris now, she immediately rushes over to them.
"Kris! Shit, are you alright!?"
They manage a small whine. As they shakily attempt to sit up, she notices their leg in particular is... well, definitely well beyond "just bloody." She scoops Kris into her arms. They're alarmingly cold.
"Okay, my healing is really shitty without Ralsei, so, um, this might not fully work but I'll at least try..." a moment later, and... the difference is noticeable. "Did that work?" Another nod. She sighs with the faintest bit of relief. "Now we gotta warm you up somehow..."
Thinking for a moment, still holding them against her chest, she zips up the jacket so they're basically stuck between her and said jacket; thankfully, humans are oddly small so they actually fit. Maybe it'll be enough like a blanket or something.
She starts walking again. It's a bit cold to her, but her thick scales can handle it.
"So, uh... why didn't you, like, fight back, dummy?"
They sigh and choke out a few words, "it was too fast, n... too dark to see..."
Oh. Right. She forgot humans have really shitty night vision. And they also have nothing to protect them from the cold. So this place is... probably comparable to hell for them.
Susie begins again, "Alright, there's... visibly no, like, civilization and shit so... uhh... fuck, what do I do...."
There's a holler coming from behind her, far in the distance.
"Susie!"
Sounds like Ralsei... great timing. Actually, though.