Queen's Gambit Chapter 28

Draconic Fortune (Noelle)
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https://pastebin.com/Z1HejS29
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https://pastebin.com/nc3Jpna3
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https://pastebin.com/ZUzduK8f
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https://pastebin.com/A3JdE5Fu
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https://pastebin.com/d6SzZFE9

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Draconic Fortune

Chapter 16

Immoralist
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He didn't say a word throughout the ride. Not that he could have. The cold wind was pressing against his face more than enough. He kept his eyes shut half the time. On a sharp turn to the left, the pressure was wearing on the side of his face too much and he turned his head aside, brushing with his hair against the underside of Axe's head that loomed over him. "This too much for you? Geez, you're quite the wimp aren't you?"

She was half-hunched over him and her arms holding the reins of the lizard carrying them, reached past him to both sides. He couldn't do anything without her noticing. In her arms like this, he was at her mercy, and from the sounds of laughter, she was reveling in it.

The surge was made worse by that curve not only taking them sideways, but downwards, too. They had reached the mainland and were no longer flying inland, but along the coast and down, closer to the water level. One more thing he could tell, was that Axe was making slight changes to the direction they were headed. Correcting their course. She wasn't just headed away from the plane, she had a specific location in mind.

Somewhere right along the shoreline, seeing as she was trailing it southward. Taking him to some place where they could keep him more easily. Likely a prison or a dungeon, something with chains and solid walls. He wouldn't be able to escape once there, not without help. Axe had wisened up to his shackle-breaking trick.

And he couldn't do much to escape now either. His hands were tied. Literally, because she had tied his arms together with a rope. She even paid attention to wrapping it around his arms but not his hands or wrists, so summoning his sword or shield to break free wouldn't work.

"Almost there...here it is." She announced their arrival when they sped past a wound staircase trailing back and forth along a rock wall, up from the beach. The crude steps were carved into the rocky ascent and overgrown with moss and vines in many places. And circling around the water to regain some altitude while accounting for the speed of the dragon carrying them, revealed to Kris their destination.

"I hope it's comfy enough for you. 'cause we're gonna spend a long time shacking up here."

The house Axe's dragon circled on its way, was a wooden house built from crude, slightly mossy planks. It was three storages high, with outside staircases leading to the upper floors, several porches to the sides of it on the ground level, and one balcony on the second and third floor each. It was 'The Fisher's House'. One of the few pieces where every step, lineart, colouring, shading, everything was done by Asriel. The raw, untamed look of nature was what he liked more than Kris did.

She lifted him up with one arm, got off the serpent, patted its back and sent it flying off into the distance. So even if he escaped from the Fisher's House, he wasn't going to be able to use the serpent to fly away. In spite of the open windows with no glass in the frames, it was very dark inside. She had to light several torches and candles on the table.

She first tied him to one of the chairs, then put her scythe down and closed all the windows and doors. "There we go. Nice and comfy I hope. Can't see the lights from outside so even if there was anyone out there, it'll look to them like no-one's in here."

He followed her movements as she pulled back a chair and leaned on the table. "So. Out with them." He looked around in confusion. "The girls told me you make some really good sandwiches. Now hand them over before I come get them." He raised his hands to point out how they were bound together. "All right, but only for as long as I'm sitting here watching you. Can't have you untying yourself, can I?"

He pulled out the whole sandwich bag and placed it on the table. "That's it?" She was a little skeptical when she took one and found it to be nothing more than a bread roll with some meat and a slice of cabbage in-between. Kris wasn't sure what she was expecting. Her doubts vanished when she gave it a try though. She didn't even bother to finish what she bit off and gave her estimate with her mouth still full. "That stuff's really good. What is it again?"

Kris didn't know for sure, but he heavily suspected that 'Butcher' used the processed meat of a murdered lookalike of Berdly when making them. So he stuttered a bit in spite of already having go-to answer. "Uh - poultry. And maybe some duck."

She nodded to highlight her content with what she was trying. "Nice. So." She leaned back and put her boots on the table, but angled them so they didn't get in the way of having Kris in her sights.

"Story time. You're the prisoner here so this is the part where I interrogate you. Tell me the whole story. I wanna know everything about the light world, how you got here, what the last time you got to the dark world was like, and the one before that, Card Kingdom, Canyon City, all the details, just in case the Knight left out anything.

Seeing as this Knight seemed to have a really good idea of what Kris and the others did in their previous visits to the dark world, he didn't see that much harm in re-telling a version of his own of what happened. "...but somehow we made it through. We got to this metal island where we met an old man and Susie, and then Susie helped us get to the main land, but it turned out Susie was actually..."

"Yeah, yeah you can stop right there. You're already past the point where I come in. I know the rest." Axe, leaning on the table by one elbow, was nibbling the crust off of one of the last remaining sandwiches from Kris' bag. For the third time by now.

"So let me get this straight. We're all just inanimate objects in the light world. All those human-looking guys and the smaller folks that came along are tarot cards drawn by deer girl and me and the other succubi are just drawings of Susie. We all just came about because of the hours and hours and hours you spent drooling over some girl from high school."

"I wasn't drooling, I like drawing dragons and she just makes for a good model."

She looked up from her sandwich with dismissively narrowed eyes. "Yeah, sure. A good model. I'll bite. What makes her a good model."

"Well, for one, she's real. Unlike most reference material."

"WHY don't you just use photos of other real dragons?"

"It's not just that, it's - look, when you're in class, and you're bored you can't just get up and walk away. And Susie - I sit right behind her, so when I'm looking forward, to where the black board is, guess who's right there in front of me?"

"Susie."

"And what reference material - that I can look at from different angles - would you say is the most convenient then?"

She didn't look convinced. Or sound the part. But she followed along regardless. "Susie."

"Exactly. And what makes it even better - how round and evened out her face is shaped makes her perfect for doodles and sketches, because she's much easier to draw than most other dragon faces. If I were someone designing characters for something, and I wanted to design a dragon character specifically to make her easy to draw - Susie's round face - and her not having horns or wings, she'd be exactly how I'd make her. She's perfect."

She banged on the table again. "A-ha! See? You think she's perfect!"

"...yes, for doodles when you're in school."

"Suuure." She put the sandwich away and shuffled around on her seat to then lean further forward and pay more attention to him. "Then riddle me this. Some of us sure look like you couldn't get your mind out of the gutter. Take 'zerks. Berserkers. They got big - everything. And they're dressed - well they aren't. How do you explain those?"

"They're based on one of Asriel's favourite characters. Which most of the time I drew for him. Berserkers are really just that character - but as Susie. Or it's Susie - as that character."

That only saw to her roll her eyes. "Okay. What about the Missies? You know, the skin-tight black leather, the whips...Why'd you make those unless you want big girls with lots to grab to dominate you?"

He hesitated for a moment. "I - well you see Asriel alwa-"

"NO!" Her scream shook him straight to his spine. Stopping him at once. "You think you're a sneaky little bastard, but you're not gonna just shift the blame for everything onto your brother! For crying out loud, own something you do for once! There's hundreds of us! I didn't count, maybe it's a thousand. Asriel did NOT force you to draw those. That was all you. I'm not buying that you spend all this time staring at this one girl just because of some stupid 'good model' shit. If it were that - where are the Berdlies? The Noelles?"

"Well there is one 'Berdly' -"

"THAT'S BESIDE THE POINT. No, I'm not buying this bullshit. You - my friend - have a crush. And nothing you say is gonna convince me otherwise. I could ruffle that little head of yours and you'd just tremble like a helpless child."

Kris froze. Staring at her as slowly, a silence settled between the two of them. What was he even supposed to say? She had made up her mind already. He sighed. At this point, shifting the focus to her was the best thing to do. "Why is that so important to you anyway?"

Finally, she started to relax again. He could have sworn he had seen her sweat for a moment there. "So 'effigy' and 'succubus', those are what the Knight kept calling us by. At this point, it's obvious to me why 'effigy'. We're all effigies to Susie. You can play all calm and quiet and pretend like nothing gets to you all you want, but we're living proof of how much she's on your mind. 'Succubus' is what he wanted us to do - if you show up that is. Guess you know by now most of us don't really live up to it. 'xcept maybe the Missies and Beauty. It's the reason I brought you here."

All of a sudden, she got up, pulled back the chair between the two of them and sat closer to him. Turning the chair to face his. And once comfortably seated, she looked a lot more serious than he had ever seen her before. "Kris, be real with me here. You're not making friends with anyone at school, you're not doing so well at school either. And your brother - you kept bringing him up before. His influence is all over the place. You can't go talking about anything we see here for two minutes without mentioning him somewhere. But he's not coming back, is he? Not for long. He's moved on in his life. So even with you get through high school, what then?"

He was staring down at her put-together hands and twiddling thumbs. Looking closely at the alignment of her scales and how it was interrupted between the joints of her fingers. If anything, it was her that was only playing calm. And how her scales grew smaller and more condensed around the claws at the ends of her fingers. "Hey! I'm talking to you!"

She grabbed him by the cheek and pulled his face up, practically forcing him to look her in the eyes. "What then, Kris? Life with Asriel's over. And even with Susie and Berdly now - the dark world's novelty is gonna wear off sooner or later. Even if you didn't like Susie, even if it's just as friends - you're gonna drift apart again. So tell me, honestly. What do you have going for you in the light world. What does the light world have to offer for you? 'far as I can see, nothing."

He didn't answer. In the literal sense, he was already in her grip, so he stared back at her. Slowly pulling up the eyebrow least covered by his hair. "Oh come on." She let go of him, but he knew if he started drifting off looking anywhere but her face, she'd just get upset again. "You spent all this time trying so badly to get to the fountain so you can go back to the light world. But for what? What's the point in going back?"

"What else is there to do? I can't just stay in the dark world, right?"

Axe paused for a few moments before she answered. "Why not? Not like there's anything keeping you there."

"I can't just stay here for the rest of my life."

"It doesn't have to be forever. Just long enough for the Knight and this 'Queen' to get done with whatever - and then she's in charge and we can all live together in the light world."

That sounded way too good to be true. "I'm pretty sure there's a catch here." Like the 'balance' between light and dark being broken having consequences like Ralsei said. "Besides, what about my Mom? I can't just leave her."

"I'm pretty sure your mom will be okay."

"I don't think she will. She's having trouble enough getting over Asriel being at university. She doesn't strike me as the kind of person that just 'gets over' losing her son."

"You're not really her son anyway." Kris stared back at her. Silently. Disapprovingly. At least half a minute passed between them like this. "Hello? Anyone there?"

When she 'knocked' on his head with a painful strength in her hand, he was practically forced to answer. "How much about me did the Knight tell you anyway?"

"Lots. Everything he thought I needed to know to play Susie and convince you I'm her. He somehow just - okay no, here's the deal. If you're a lightner, he's gonna know everything about you. He never really explained how he knows, he just does."

"What does he look like anyway?"

"He's got like - horns, but the horns are on his hel - hey!" She gave him another bang on the head. "You're trying to get intel from me! You're the prisoner here, I'm asking the questions. But while we're at the Knight, you can't keep secrets from him. And he's told me plenty." Ever so slightly, Kris shuffled away within his seat, as far as squashing against the lean allowed him to.

"Yep. I know. You can play-pretend all you want. You can distract yourself all you want, thinking about other things like who's doing what, what does this look like, how to get through that, I know she's on your mind. I know you have dreams where you're watching the sunset holding her hand. I know you're doodling and sketching whenever you think no-one's looking, and lately, most of the time you're only doodling her. I know you sit in your room wondering what it'd be like if she talked to you - you know without punching or biting you."

"Let's be real here. You're a punching bag for her. And sooner or later, she's gonna treat you as one again. But you don't have to put up with that. Just stay here with me. We can go fishing, hang out in the fields, we could do anything you want." She noticed his attention drifting off again and grabbed his hands firmly with her own.

More than firmly, she was hurting him. "I could be the the 'Susie' that treats you like you're more than just a punching bag. Anything you wanna do with her, you could do with me. I could be your personal Susie girlfriend." She tried to smile and took one hand off his hands to brush her hair aside to fixate his eyes more clearly. "So? Whaddya say?"

He answered calmly, with a voice clear of doubts and without a moment's hesitation. "No."

She twitched. "Say what?"

"I said no."

Her grip on his hands became stronger, enough so for both his and hers to tremble from the force. "You can't - you can't just - why?"

"I just said I can't just leave Mom, and Noelle's still out there. If I just stay here, then she's stuck here, too."

At last, she let go of him and got up. With how close to him she stood, in the light of the torches at the walls, her shadow covered him, the light trailing along the outline of her uncovered, and well-trained arms. She punched his shoulder in a way that threw him back into the lean. "Forget about the deer! We'll send her back when tempts has taken the throne. No need to worry! So, what do you say?"

"Still no."

"You little shit!" She grabbed the trembling human by the collar and began to shake him. "I put effort into that whole speech, I rehearsed it, you're gonna be at least a little appreciative!" All he could do, was loosen his movements and return to being completely calm. Clearing his mind, distracting his mind. Thinking of anything but this or Susie always worked, it'd work now.

"And don't go playing 'cool and quiet' now either. I don't know how she takes that, but I see right through that shit!" She finished up with her finger pointed at him in a menacing way, inches away from his face, and then punched his other shoulder with enough force to send the chair falling sideways, and him with it.

With this, she stormed off. Kris was still lying on his side, tied to his chair, so he couldn't see her and relied on listening to when she was gone. He waited until the coast was clear and began summoning his sword. And froze in motion when he heard her voice from close by. "I see you full well." She didn't even leave the room, she was just somewhere around the kitchen. Watching him. Pouting in the corner like a spoiled little girl that didn't get her way.

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Noelle didn't sulk over their setback for long. Not least because Dasher was there to cheer her up. And Starlet was still with them. She appeared to have some grasp of the surrounding geography and led them in one direction. In the distance, where they were headed, they could see acres of crop plants ranging to increasingly wide reaches, the closer they got to it.

Half way through, the glowing angels accompanied them, floating beside the little group of four. From time to time, when Noelle hesitated to move on and teared up a little, the archer was quick to be at her side, place his hand on her back and encourage her to move on. Ralsei, usually upbeat and happy, had a cold look on his face and did not say a word throughout their walk towards the farmland.

As they got closer, the fields appeared to form a ring around a township, built on trampled earth. The occasional stray blade of grass lying on the field gave them an inclination that the path was once grown on like everything else. The further inward they crossed through the fields, the more they began to see people working on them.

Monsters on one hand - or at least darkners that looked like monsters. On the other, they saw same lengthy people with long, grey legs and tiny feet, and people with goat heads as in the city before.

Noelle was a little less clueless than Kris. She recognized that she had to pay attention to patterns and where she knew what from. Here was no exception. Those strange people had come with the Journeyman, Sinwielder, Starlet, all of the major arcana. So those smaller, more numerous people were what minor arcana became in the dark world.

The grey metal people were the suit of swords. Their long legs were the blade, their feet were so small, because at the end of the blade came its pointy end. By process of elimination knowing what the other suits were, the men and women with goat heads were doubtlessly the suit of pentacles.

The pentagram used in most card designs - even her own - was often associated with worship of a caprine deity. That was why their horns grew diagonally, so as to make up the upper points of a pentagram, rather than in a curve like with a real goat.

Maybe this was something she could use to break this deafening silence between them all. "Say..." It didn't take more to draw the archer's attention. "The other people - you know the other people you came here with like those over there. Do they have a name?"

For a moment, the archer looked concerned, expecting her to bring up something that matched the constricting mood, but his face loosened up when he realized there was no cause for concern. "Of course." As though to present them to her, he swung up his arm with his palm pointing up, directed vaguely towards one of the 'swords'. "Those fine fellows are Ironfolk. When we can divide tasks between our houses, they tend to make up our guards. And those over there, would be goatfolk. Usually tasked with magic and administration.

"...and...and the others?"

"Goldfolk - most of the time they are the arms of the Empress. And our wooden friends are Arborfolk. Workers and manufacturers - that's what they've always been." He took a few moments to examine the farm workers in on the surrounding fields. "Now that I think about it, why aren't there any Arborfolk or Goldfolk here? You don't just have entire houses missing. Normally at least."

He turned to march straight onto one of the acres, pushed his way past stalks of corn and called for one Goatman working in the middle. "Hey! Hello! It's me!" The caprine worker looked busy before, but the moment he heard Dasher calling for him, he actually put everything aside and met him half-way. Not far behind, the others followed him. "Say, I fail to see any Goldfolk or Arborfolk around here. Is something unusual afoot?"

The way the goat man raised his eyebrow projected the impression that Dasher must have been living under a rock to ask something like this. "You could say that again. Your 'beloved's new dragon minions are only a growth in numbers away from laying siege to this town. They are camping right on the other side of it. And we sent for reinforcements from the Empress, but no-one came back. Our numbers around here are stretched thin. If the rumours are true, we won't be able to hold this town."

"What rumours?"

"Temptress is searching something. Carving holes into the ground with a magic we haven't seen her use before. If what the locals say is true, there is an entire swarm of bigger dragons - elder dragons - sealed into the ground somewhere out here."

"Tempt - did you see her?"

The farm worker shrugged. "Someone surely has. But if you follow the succubi from just outside the town, you'll surely come across her eventually. And someone will have to. I don't think we will live through any more bad news at this point."

"I think I bring good news." The smiling archer dragged Noelle to the front and presented her to the goat man. "I come with a lightner. A real one, in the flesh. I came with two at first, but the dragons took the other one prisoner."

The farm worker raised both eyebrows now. "Well, that is at least something. Not quite good news just yet though. But maybe we can turn it into that. Is it true?" He lowered himself just a bit, to look up at the startled deer. "Are you really a lightner?" She nodded without saying anything.

"By the li - by you. Come on. Dasher - Starlet! Good to see you. Follow me, travelers, I will take you to the Emperor. Maybe he knows how we can leverage the power of a lightner." He just left his plow behind where it was and walked up to and past the rest of the group, onto the path between the fields and led the way inwards. "Follow me."

It was at this point that they passed the first wooden huts and sheds. Most of them were merely utilities for the surrounding farmland. And the closer to the actually built-on properties they came, the more they could read the urgency in the farmers' rhythm. The Ironfolk and Goatfolk made up a small proportion of the total amount of people they passed.

Moreso in the town than outside of it. The sign at the entrance read 'Welcome to Tiller Town'. All buildings here were made of wood, and very intricately put together. Every house was symmetrical, and down to every board that made up its exterior, matched in measurements that somehow just - fit together perfectly in a way Noelle wasn't sure how to describe.

Some of the buildings almost looked like they fit more into a western theme. Noelle even saw them pass by a saloon, down to the sign above the entrance describing it as one. On its side, a trough served up water to the horses bound next to it. Come to think of it, the rows of houses built along the road the way they did made more sense if you thought of it as western town. But there was a crossing in the much more busy center of the town.

After a turn there, they approached a building large enough, its tall roof peeked out over the rows of houses even before they got anywhere near it. It was designed a lot like a barn, but it didn't really make sense for it to be one, being built where it was. "Not far anymore. We're already at the town hall.

It actually was a barn on the inside. Complete with upper layers of storage that were unused. Only that there were no animals, tools, or vehicles stored here. Not even crops or hay. Instead, a wooden stage had been built in the middle, with a circular, wooden support structure on top, from which fine white silk cloth - covered in glittering gemstones - hung down all around it. Behind the curtain were two figures. One sat on a throne.

And next to the stage, stood someone else. An elderly human, his age betrayed by the folds on his face, and the short, greyed out hair. Dressed in a robe made of several very long layers of brocade fabric with flower patterns on them. He was hunched forward, supporting himself on a long, golden bishop's crosier.

His robe was covered in golden crosses, and it was cut into deliberately long drapes to still hang down to his feet, even when wrapped around the enormous hump on his back. The hand not occupied with holding his staff, had at least one golden ring with some colourful gemstone embedded onto it on each finger.

She knew this was the Hierophant. Modeled after Father Alvin. The hump on his back was a tortoise shell, they just couldn't see it because the robe covered it. In a slow motion, he gave them a warm smile. "Travelers - lightner. This is Father Asmodeus. He will be your steward to our honored Emperor, as he is to all." The moment the introduction was made, the man guiding them made sure to leave quickly.

When he opened his mouth, Noelle was startled. She didn't expect him to actually have Father Alvin's calm, clear voice, but he did. She should have guessed, going by the Journeyman and the Sinwielder having their respective original's voice, but somehow, she was still taken by surprise. "I hear a lightner is here with you. Please, step forward, so that I can look over you more closely." Noelle did as she was asked, in very, very slow steps, dragging her feet across the dry, sand-like earth.

"A curious colour to arrive in. Deep blue. The colour of integrity. It means that what brought you here, within the greater cosmic order, is a lacking introspection and surety. Indecisiveness has mowed down your moral fibres and left your character dull and devoid of redeeming traits."

"Than- thanks! Maybe? That didn't sound very nice."

Nothing about his half-lidded smile changed. "I offer insight. Not compliments. I foresee that as with all longer visits to the dark world, your journey is one of discovery. It will remind you of what is important in life and how crucial those things are. You will learn to appreciate what you have, and find a better outlook on life."

A bright yellow light began to emanate from the spiral at the top of his staff. "Curious. My power mends what is broken. Do you have something it could be responding to?" Something broken? That only left her fidgeting about. The only 'broken' thing she could think of was her staff, but she didn't have her staff on herself anymore. It was left behind when she and Dasher jumped out of the plane.

But then again, she didn't get her staff in a normal way either. For a moment she had completely forgotten that she only got it by summoning it, with magic. And she always had it ever since she summoned it the first time. Now she was expected to summon it again. It worked like regular magic, right? It had to. She just had to trace her steps from the first time. She pictured herself right outside the safety of Ralsei's silent kingdom. Standing next to Kris. Kris drawing his sword and attacking her.

The shock she felt.

The panic.

The staff. Just like that, it was there, in her hand. Still broken in two. One half in each hand. "Show it to me. Raise both pieces." The priest beckoned her to come closer. And she did. When she presented him the two pieces, the yellow glow of his staff gained intensity, loosely hanging strings of light reached out for her staff, tethered it to that of the hierophant. Tugged at it as though they were actual physical strings.

Eventually strongly enough to hold the pieces' weight. She kept her hands open, and soon enough, the pieces floated up out of them. The stream of light coming from the crosier filled her staff. The pieces aligned themselves the way they were aligned when it broke.

And then right between them, out of thin air, the bits that were lost when it broke appeared and joined them together. A faint blast of green light emanated from the middle, and right from there, a new, wider vine wrapped itself around her staff, and circled its top, over the wilted crown.

It wasn't just repaired, an additional, thornless vine was wrapped around it to make it more stable. When it glided back down into her hand, she grabbed it with one, and slowly dangled it back and forth. It didn't fall apart. It was fixed and in mint condition.

The priest bowed and walked backwards, ascending the stage without turning around. "It is time for the emperor to receive you." He grabbed the curtain by the end he was standing at and walked from right to left, pulling it open and revealing the two inside. The broader, standing figure, holding a tray in front of the man on the throne...was Asgore. Kris' father. She couldn't explain him, as he wasn't one of her cards, and he wasn't a human reimagining of Kris' father. He looked just like him. Down to the shorts and his pink flower-patterned shirt. "Oh, are the lightners really blessing us?"

"Then what are you waiting for?" Stretching out his arms, the man on the throne spoke up. "Bring them in, let me see them."

'Asgore' walked out to the approaching group and greeted Noelle with a warm smile. "Howdy there. I'm the Emperor's right hand. A pleasure to meet you."

Further complaints from the Emperor spurred him on to hurry with pulling the other end of the curtain to the side, giving Noelle a full view of the human on the throne. It was a man with reddish skin, short black hair, a thin black mustache and a goatee. He had a wide smile on his face and his buck teeth stood out just a bit. On his head, grown like on Temptress', were the antlers of a deer monster. "Come closer, so I can give you a look. Welcome, welcome everyone."

Noelle came closer to the throne, but the others walked up the stairs and up the stage as well. The emperor sat in his throne, dressed in a thick red and white Christmas robe, here and there with gold woven onto the wool. The outer coat was open to the front, but it had an equally voluminous winter coat wrapped around him beneath it. Fittingly with the theme, he didn't wear some extravagant but impractical pair of shoes, but solid brown boots made for traversing snow.

His fingers were adorned with more rings than Asmodeus'. And like several other darkners like him, he had the voice of the person he was modeled after. Hearing her father's voice beckon her was what gave her the confidence to come as close to the throne as she did. Even if it wasn't really her father, she liked to imagine that - in some capacity - it was. And in spite of that..."Come on now, not so shy. I don't bite. Or do I!" She gave 'Asgore's elbow a slap and laughed.

A sense of...nostalgia? No, comfort. A sense of comfort overcame her being around the Emperor. It almost felt like she was back at home, snug inside the isolated house, with snowed in grass and trees behind every window. And as if a lot of changes for the worse had been undone in a matter of seconds.

The human in front of her had the cheerfulness her father always had when he and Noelle were alone together. Not to mention that his voice was clearer than she had heard it in quite some time now. Just like that, all the anxiousness and the worries of what came for them, and whether she would be able to even do anything, let alone succeed at getting through to Temptress, blew away.

"So are you the only lightner? The messages I got said..."

Starlet came forward to clarify: "Hubby sent you two. But we were ambushed. The human was kidnapped, but we still have her."

Relaxed as always, the Emperor shrugged. "Better than nothing. Welcome aboard young lady. I'm sure you'll work some real miracles." Just from that, she felt pressured by the expectations put on her. "Aw come on, not so nervous. It'll all work out, you'll see. Even when things don't look so good for a moment, in the end, things are never as bad as they seem. You'll do just fine." He even leaned forward to grab her by the head and rub her hair. "Now the human. Is he on the dragons' side or..."

"I doubt it. They took him by force. And they need him alive for some reason, so he isn't all lost either."

"Hey." He gave her a wink. "That's some good news right there. I'll be honest with you. You're not the reinforcements I expected. But you're a welcome surprise. I'll be honest. We've got more than enough manpower to fend off the dragons as things stand now. But if what Temptress is looking for is as big and powerful as the people here say, then we'll need the full army to stand a chance. But hey. No need to look so down. Things aren't as bad as they look. Here, I have something for you."

He reached behind his throne and picked up a bag. "The dragon girls aren't letting us through to Temptress without it getting ugly, but maybe a small group can slip through more easily. They gave us trouble right away. They wanted something from us. They even got one girl standing just outside the town waiting. I want you to have it. Come on, go ahead. This might be your ticket to passing them and going after Temptress."

When he dangled the bag a little closer, Noelle took this as her cue to reach for it and loosen the knot keeping it shut. It contained sandwiches. Very plain sandwiches, but they were definitely slices of bread with cheese and some other food in-between. "Thank...you?"

Seeing her confused face sent the Emperor slapping his knee and bursting out in laughter. "Don't look at me like that, they were the ones asking for it. Now off you go. I've been taking my time, but time isn't really what we have. I figured we could use it as a bargaining chip to move my troops south, but even if I did, they wouldn't let them get to our friend. But if you distract them with it, maybe a small group like you guys can slip through. Better yet, if anyone can get through to her, it's Dashie right here. But time's short. The faster you get to Temptress, the better."

Noelle froze, but then shook her head, ashamed of how rude she felt she had been. "Thank you. Thank you so much."

He patted her shoulder. A familiar, and much-needed feeling. "No need for that. It's you that's helping me."

Dasher bowed before the Emperor, and Noelle and Ralsei figured to do the same. When they left, Starlet made no effort to follow them. She was here to lead them here after all. She wasn't much of a help anymore. Their group was reduced to one of three.

From a certain point onward, the southern part of the farmland surrounding the town was empty. Completely empty. Everyone stayed away from the edge. Right on the dirt road, between the fields, stood a single person in white. From a little more closely, it was a sight that made Noelle's heart skip a beat. It was Susie, the colors of her skin and hair were undeniably the same ones, but she had much softer, more enticing and well-aligned facial features.

Her hair was longer than with a regular succubus. And it wasn't messy, it didn't show signs of neglect, quite the opposite. It was well kept, combed so thoroughly, the smooth silken strands hung down her back without a single one standing out. She highlighted her eyelashes with mascara, and wore a white, see-through dress that was so transparent, you could see the white underwear beneath it stand out against her scales.

The only thing out of place, was her delicate feet. To match with everything else, she expected her to wear high heels, but the dragon wore sandals over her much less menacing-looking feet.

Even the way she smiled alone stoked up an uneasy itch and made her feel more welcome to approach her. And her voice, even her voice was somehow...she didn't even know. "Ah, the lightners. Or should I say, the lightner and her party of 'heroes'? My name is 'Beauty'. A pleasure to see - uh..."

Their mood was thrown aback completely when Noelle heard the clicking of a gun being readied to fire. With both hands stretched out to hold it, Ralsei was pointing his pistol right at Beauty's head. He had a cold expression on his face, his eyes were wide open and all emotion had left his voice. "Where is Kris?"

"Ralsei!" By impulse, Noelle voiced her outrage.

And the archer tried pressing down the gun while trying to talk sense into him as well. "What in the world are you doing?"

With her snout tilted upwards, the dragon girl stared back at him. The calm softness of her voice wasn't scared away by the prince's sudden choices. "The human is in a safe location. Where it is, I don't know."

"I don't believe you." Ralsei stepped closer and pressed the barrel of his gun into the dragon's snout. "Where is he?"

"I really don't know!"

Her voice became a little more shaky, and what was more, Dasher took up the initiative all of a sudden, grabbed the gun with both hands and wrestled it from the struggling goat boy's hand. "Give me that! What's gotten into you? It's obvious she's telling the truth!"

As soon as the situation was dismantled, the dragon girl relaxed again. With one finger in her mouth, grinning like a giddy little girl, she walked backwards on her forefeet. "Those are some heated tempers, sure. But did you only come here to point your weapons at me?"

Noelle snapped out of her shock and raised the bag of sandwiches. "Yes...yes. We have something for you..." For a moment, she forgot that the bag was their bargaining chip and could pull it away from the slowly reaching hand of the dragon girl. "Wait. I - we want something in return. We want you to let us through so we can meet Temptress."

Beauty shook her head. "You know I can't do that. She gave me orders to keep the Emperor's people away, and certainly you too if you came along."

Careful not to let Beauty make any too sudden movements, Noelle backed away. This bag was her one chance at getting to Temptress. She couldn't let this chance slip away. With some distance, one pair of acres further away from the dragon at the edge of the town, she waited for the others to follow her, and led them further away to be sure to be out of hearing range.

"What should we do? This is our chance to talk to them. But if they won't let us through, what...I wish Kris was here. The sandwiches were his idea. How did he even get that idea? How did he know sandwiches would work?"

Now that the Susie-like was out of sight, the prince put his gun away. "That's easy. The succubi are all 'Susie' in a way. And when she was in our party, she said something about ham sandwich day."

The perplexed doe's eyes widened. "You mean - is that why he brought up ham sandwich day in the castle?"

"Yes. I think. I don't really ask him these kinds of questions, but...do you know what that even is?"

The sudden curiosity and change of subject was a welcome ease to the air between them. "Yes. It's an event we used to have at our school. Kris' mother would make sandwiches for all the students of several classes. But when we were younger, Susie went on an eating frenzy, ate all of them at once and smashed all the plates."

"Oh goodness."

"Yeah...she can be like that sometimes." She pulled her head back into the confines of her robe to hide her reddening cheeks.

"Nonetheless, Kris must have figured that they are all similar to Susie in some way, and that things that work on Susie, work on the succubi as well." Ralsei froze for a solid five seconds. His face turned more rigid and slowly, he looked back at Noelle after a moment of consideration. "I know how we can get past them."

"How?"

The cold, sociopathic streak he suddenly showed when they met Beauty was all gone. He smiled at her with the same familiarity as before, as if it had never happened. "Give me the bag. I know exactly what to do." And unlike Beauty, he didn't reach to pull it out of her hand, but held his hand open and her way, waiting for her to give it to him on her own volition. "Now before we talk to her...we'll be meeting all the others. When we do, get ready to run, just in case what I'm thinking doesn't quite work."

That hint of doubt made her suspicious. "What are you thinking anyway?"

"If what works on Susie works on the succubi, then I can put them to sleep."

"How?"

But they were already too close to Beauty for her to not listen in. Now much more friendly and much more confident, the prince walked right up to her. "We will give them to you, but ONLY if we can talk to all of you."

He was met with well-reasoned skepticism. "All of us? Why?"

"Because we have another offer, but we want all of you to hear it at once. We want to be the ones who tell you everything about it."

It was clear that Beauty didn't quite believe him at first. But after trying to read him through the flat surfaces on his face, she shrugged it off and danced away. "All right. Follow me, I'll take you right to them." So far so good. She led the way. Out of the empty patches of soil and onto the meadows outside. Past several smaller hills, until they made their way up one really big one.

Here, a little army of Grunts and Berserkers lay on and around a few rocks. Twiddling their thumbs, staring into the pitch-black sky. One was lying on the grass with her hands behind her head and tipping her feet in an even rhythm. Another was resting against a nearby tree the way Susie often did with school lockers. "Wake up everyone! We have guests."

Most of them didn't even notice the trio following her until Beauty drew attention to them. "And they have something for us."

Now they REALLY had their attention. Everywhere, around them, dragon girls got up from the grass and the rocks and gathered all around them. Ralsei looked over to Noelle. It seemed this was the time, so she gave the dragon girls what they were here for. She passed around one sandwich after the other, the more she gave away, the more greedily those that hadn't gotten one yet, swarmed them and reached for her bag.

When she looked to the prince, she wasn't met with a sign that he intended to follow through with his idea just yet, and the sandwiches didn't seem to run out for the time being either. Like with the bag Kris had gotten, the tiny bag had piles over piles of sandwiches to pull out. Ralsei waited until she either got close to running out of sandwiches, or did run out.

Because once she did, the Grunts stopped swarming them. When all the nearby ones were distracted, that was when Ralsei climbed up on one of the rocks, inhaled as far as his lungs allowed and then began to sing.

To sing with a voice much clearer than the bumbling, uneasy tangle he was usually in. His song had a melancholic tune and described imagery all about tall walls and empty roads. It didn't take long, until the dragons - all of them - even Beauty, were overcome with fatigue and dozed off. He kept singing for a while longer to make sure they were fast asleep, but from what it seemed, his plan worked. The succubi were incapacitated. And the path to Temptress was open.