The April blues

Ralsei was sure they wouldn't take long to return. They had had a lot of fun in the Dark World, after all. So the very next day, around the time they had arrived before, while he was going about his business, he listened extra attentively. He expected to hear the sound of footsteps that weren't his. Any moment now.

The moment passed, and he guessed that they were delayed. No matter, he wasn't in a hurry.

By the end of the day they still hadn't shown up. He wondered why.

The Dark World was inside a school. Maybe they couldn't come to school for some reason? That would explain it.

There was no school on weekends, right? He was sure he had read that somewhere. He didn't know the date, but if it was a weekend, they would show up two days from now. He could wait for that.

They didn't show up two days later.

Ralsei was starting to get worried. Was there something else going on? Some reason that the school had closed? Was there an emergency situation?

His hypotheses grew more convoluted and grotesque over the following weeks. Something truly terrible must have happened for them to take this long. Though he would not approve, he would have expected them to try to break into the school at this point. Maybe the entire building had collapsed, save for the rooms where the Dark World was. Maybe a plague had swept the town. Maybe—

He heard footsteps in the hallways. Not quite the way he had imagined. There was only one pair.

His throat tightened as they grew ever louder and closer, until they were right up to his door, and stopped. For a few seconds, it was silent.

With a loud crash, Undyne broke through the door shouting "Where's Frisk, Sans!?" and then Ralsei said "Who?" and Undyne said "Oh sorry, wrong lair" and helped Ralsei repair his door and then they went to rescue Frisk from Sans together