Susie shoved her hands into her pockets, leaning back and taking in the sheer scale of the wall right in front of her.
She had lived in the city when she was pretty young, in that far off realm where her memories were sporadic. Yet, she could still remember the towering skyscrapers of Hotlandopolis, those mammoth pillars that climbed into the very sky. Any one of those was just as tall as the wall which was before her. The difference was that this mass of metal and electronics repeated that exact same skyscraper in her mind over and over again as they linked together into a truly gargantuan perimeter of safety.
Compared to this wall, the skyscrapers felt paltry indeed.
``Impressive, isn't it?'' Ralsei asked, walking towards her.
Susie nodded. ``It is.'' She turned to look at him, seeing that he approached with two ice cream cones in his hands. Much like the walls, they were also towering with three scopes plopped precariously upon each. ``Is that the good stuff?''
Ralsei smirked and looked at them. He hummed and hawed as he tilted his head to the side. ``Nah, I got the bad stuff.''
``Did you now,'' Susie chided, rolling her eyes. She took the offered cone from him and gave him a kiss on the cheek in exchange. It was nice to see that slight dusting of red as it bled into his complexion. ``I should've never taught you sarcasm.''
``But sarcasm is so much fun,'' Ralsei teased.
He stood beside her, looking up at the wall as well. It had a way of taking the words out of a conversation, just being so vast that it didn't possibly seem real. Though that brought up the uncomfortable question of whether this realm was or wasn't even real in the first place.
``Think the new cannons are going to work?'' Susie asked, once more looking to the top of the wall. She could see the back of those turrets poking over the lip of the structure, impressive in size considering she could make them out from this far away.
Ralsei nodded. ``I mean they have to, right?''
Susie didn't say a thing. She didn't have to. Just because something needed to work didn't mean that it would work.
``That Titan out there was scary,'' Susie admitted.
Ralsei nodded. ``I never saw one of them use its spawn as a weapon before.'' He nuzzled up to her, wiggling into place so that she was forced to move her arm around his body in order to accommodate him. Not that this was an especially hard sell for her. ``Are you okay?''
A long time ago Susie would've brushed off the question. A long time ago she would've been brave and stubborn, dealing with this on her own.
``I need to be,'' was what she finally answered with.
Ralsei nodded. ``Pretend that you don't need to be.'' He pressed his cheek into the front of her jacket, brushing against the spikey studs embedded into the leather. ``Are you okay?''
``I'm afraid,'' Susie admitted.
Ralsei frowned. ``Same.'' He looked up at her, forcing a smile. ``But that makes me want to make the most of what we have.''
``Yeah,'' Susie replied, looking down at him. ``Yeah, it does.''
The two of them hung like that and looked into one another's eyes, lost to the moment. Slowly, they leaned in towards one another, drawing closer and closer. Until finally, they brought themselves together, exchanging a heated peck upon the lips.
``How about you?'' Susie asked, hoping that her cheeks weren't too warm
Ralsei blinked, seeming stunned by the question. Or maybe he was just flustered by the kiss. ``Huh?''
``How are you holding up?'' Susie asked, licking her ice cream. It was as delectable as ever, being a mix of strawberry, chocolate, and vanilla all in one. ``I know you get touchy when people bring up the prophecy.''
The story was painted on Ralsei's face. He'd never been particularly good at lying.
``It sucked to have it brought up in front of everyone like that,'' he admitted. ``I... I still don't know how to really feel about all of it.'' He looked at Susie who nodded along, ushering him to go on. ``On one hand, I'm glad we've held on for so many years. On the other hand, the history books were supposed to end. We... we went off the rails and should've crashed for our hubris.''
``A miracle,'' Susie said.
Ralsei scoffed. ``Something like that.'' He looked at his ice cream and quickly took a couple of licks before it started to melt. ``I don't know. I don't just... I don't think I can ever really feel comfortable with how much things have diverged from where they were supposed to be.''
Susie nodded. ``But you keep fighting anyways.''
``Because you keep fighting,'' Ralsei said, grinning at her. ``You're a terrible example. You know that, right?''
``Yeah, fuck me for not listening to some dumb prophecy and letting the world end,'' Susie grumbled.
Ralsei frowned. ``I guess it was kind of dumb, huh? Maybe if I would've seen through the cracks then Kris would-''
Susie held up her hand. ``You couldn't have known that. We were just dumb kids back then. What's important is that you're trying to make up for it now, right?''
Ralsei nodded and looked down at his ice cream, cautiously taking a lick from it. He looked deep in thought, probably running through that exact same spiral of wondering why it hadn't all fallen apart just yet. Susie knew it was a common torment of his.
Susie suppressed a scoff. As if a bunch of dumb stained-glass got to dictate how her life played out. Still, while it might've been dumb to her, it was more than capable of eating at him. And that meant it was important.
``Thanks for the ice cream,'' Susie said, quickly changing the subject. Wasn't that the best defense? Avoiding the difficulties in the first place?
Ralsei perked up, stirring as he looked at his knuckles and saw the green and pink-coloured cream starting to soak into his white fur. ``Motherfricker!''
Susie cackled. ``Motherfricker?'' She playfully bumped into him as she barked with genuine laughter. ``Please say `fuck'.''
``Frick,'' Ralsei grumbled, quickly licking at the ice cream and doing what he could to avoid getting even more of it onto his very easy to stain fur. Now, there was a proper lost cause as it utterly drenched his fingers. ``Next time we're getting candy apples.''
``Like that would be any less messy, dude,'' Susie ribbed.
``What would be less messy?'' a familiar voice interjected.
Susie perked up, smiling wide as she turned to face him. ``Lancer?''
The boy hopped over some railings, landing with a cartwheel. As he sprung back up, he triumphantly planted his hands upon his hips. ``In the flesh.''
``Got away from all of that government bullshit?'' Susie asked.
Lancer nodded. ``Girl dad and lesser dad have been helping with it but I'm getting pretty good at dealing with it on my own. Just be bossy without being a jerk about it like dad.'' He nodded towards the wall. ``In fact, I finished helping put a few more of those cannons up.''
Ralsei stirred. ``Queen wants to add even more of them?'' He frowned. ``Can she even handle that?''
``She wouldn't be adding them if she couldn't,'' Lancer said, grinning. ``You might not know this but she's a computer and computers are super smart.''
``Computers are super smart, Ralsei,'' Susie teased, nodding in agreement.
Ralsei sighed. ``I'm aware that computers are super smart, thank you very much.''
Lancer looked away from them and instead traced his eyes all the way up the massive wall. He grinned as he did so. ``Maybe we'll be up there the next time you two get into a fight.'' He sighed. ``I'm sad that I missed the last one.''
Susie sheepishly rubbed at the back of her head. ``I uh... I kind of got my ass kicked.''
``That's not what the church-y darkners were talking about,'' Lancer said, stepping away from the wall. Susie decided to follow after him, nodding for Ralsei to do the same. ``They said that you tore the heart right out of one of them and crushed it in your hand. It was like something out of one of the movies that Tenna is letting me watch. What was it called again?'' He tapped a finger against his chin. ``Skull Crushers?''
``He's letting you watch Skull Crusher?'' Susie asked, grinning.
Ralsei bleated. ``He's what?''
``Don't worry, Toothpaste Boy,'' Lancer said, pressing a thumb into the chest plate of his own armour. ``I'm fourteen now and can handle it.''
``He's fourteen now and can handle it, Ralsei,'' Susie chided, grinning with glee as she reached out and ruffled Lancer's hair. Thankfully, he wasn't old enough to make a big deal out of ruffling his hair quite yet.
Ralsei sighed. ``I guess that I have no choice but to trust your wisdom on the matter.'' He looked at Lancer and smiled. ``And what did you hear about my performance?''
``That it was so cool,'' Lancer beamed, suddenly darting ahead and mimicking the motions of Renewed Purpose as it zoomed across the field with a Titan in hand. ``The way you used those rockets to absolutely pulverize it. I wish I would've seen it because it sounded so freaking cool''
Susie nodded. ``It was pretty cool, Ral.''
Ralsei grinned, getting this slight dusting of red in his cheeks. He looked adorable like that. To think she got to wake up to that face every morning. Who knew all she had to do was stay trapped in an alternative dimension and fight a half decade long war of survival in order to get here in the first place?
Really it was nothing major.
``How are you handling being the leader of the Card Castle?'' Susie asked.
It was still strange to think that a literal child was being put in charge of something like that. Though he wasn't too much older than she'd been when she was first put into a mech and told to fight the apocalypse. Nor was he much younger than Ralsei when he'd first founded this town. So, she really didn't have a whole lot of room to talk.
``It's alright,'' Lancer said, shrugging. ``But I don't want to talk about that. It's boring.''
``Fair enough,'' Susie said. She wouldn't want to talk about it either.
Lancer bounded ahead and Susie lazily followed after him, tilting her chin towards Ralsei and gesturing for him to do the same. The kid had way more energy than her, being this ball of ceaseless vigour who bounced ahead totally care free. It was kind of nice and only made Susie a little envious in comparison.
``We write our own ending,'' Susie said, keeping her voice low enough that only Ralsei would be able to hear it.
Ralsei perked up, taking in those words. In the end, he nodded along to them. ``Yeah, I know... I know... I just...''
``Just what?'' Susie asked.
Ralsei shook his head. ``I guess I just wonder if this is all worth it, you know?''
Susie's gut instinct was to shout that down but she knew it wouldn't be even remotely helpful. It wouldn't be their first time having this conversation unfold. Yet, she had the power to ensure that the last time they had this exactly same argument was really and truly the last time.
...
Hopefully.
She held her tongue and let him say his words.
``Like the Prophecy says there's only one ending,'' Ralsei said, looking around. ``And Kris screwed up and we missed that ending.''
``Ralsei, how accurate was the Prophecy in the first place?'' Susie asked.
Ralsei blinked. ``Pardon?''
``Like you've told me about it before,'' Susie said, shrugging. ``About how a prince, a girl, and a cage were destined to go through seven different lands in order to stop the Roaring from happening. But the reality is, the prophecy stopped being reliable by the time we hit Cyber City and the Knight opened a fountain inside a fountain, bringing about the Roaring that we were supposed to stop.''
``I know, I know, I just...'' Ralsei sighed, staring at Lancer and making sure he wasn't listening. Thankfully, he was talking with some of his subjects and seemed utterly oblivious to them. ``I was created for the purpose of knowing, studying, and acting out the prophecy. And it still feels wrong to be working against it even if it was wrong.''
``You ain't working against shit,'' Susie grumbled. ``There is no more prophecy to work against. You're your own person now.''
Ralsei sighed. ``Tell that to my brain.''
Susie smirked and leaned down, putting her snout right against Ralsei's ear. She made her voice soft but gruff as she whispered into it. ``You dipshit, Ralsei didn't do anything wrong. Now, fuck right off and let him chill the fuck out, okay?''
Ralsei snickered, shaking his head. ``Thanks, Susie.''
``No problem.'' Susie drew back and playfully punched him on the arm. ``Anyways, we better not leave Lancer on his own for too long.''
She moved ahead, seeing that Ralsei picked up the pace as well. Though it wasn't really necessary as Lancer waved his subjects good bye and bounced towards them instead.
``Susie, Susie,'' Lancer said. ``I was wondering if I could talk to you about something important?''
Susie lifted a brow. ``What's up?''
``I...'' Lancer rubbed at his arm. ``I was going to try talking to dad. Like my actual dad.''
Susie grunted, feeling her smile slip. That was not a man that she liked to think about. No, she didn't like to think about him in the slightest. ``I... I don't know if that's such a good idea, dude.''
``I know that he's stubborn and hasn't really changed his mind but I'm really hoping that...'' Lancer sighed. ``I don't know, I guess I'm hoping that he'll wake up and realize that the Knight isn't the good guy in all of this. I know he could be really helpful to us. He was super strong back when he was the king and I know that Queen is always looking for strong darkners to help out around town.''
Susie sighed. ``Yeah... I know.''
``I'm just wondering if you'd come with me,'' Lancer said.
Every part of Susie thought that this was a terrible idea. Yet, she still nodded along regardless. The kid needed a friend and the least she could do was be that friend. ``Yeah, I can keep an eye on you. Just promise me that you won't get your hopes up, okay?''
Ralsei was at her side now. ``But we can hope for the best.''
Susie nodded.
``Thanks Toothpaste Boy,'' Lancer said before grinning brightly at Susie. ``And thanks Susie. I really appreciate it.''
Susie took a chance to look at their surroundings, only now realizing where they were.
Right in front of her was a great purple tree which towered over the buildings that surrounded it. Red and magenta leaves hung from its many branches, offering protection to those resting underneath. At its base were so many different darkners, talking and chatting and looking at markers which littered the landscape protected by the tree's massive branches.
Ralsei looked at it as well, his jaw tensing.
Even Lancer's ceaseless energy seemed to slowly fade in the face of this monument. ``Sorry, I just wanted to say hi to Clover.''
Susie nodded and followed after him. As they got closer, the markers made a lot more sense, being pictures and baubles, the fragments of souls, and memories of darkners who were no longer in the safety of this bastion. It was a venue of remembrance with each step feeling heavier as the grounds became more and more crowded with so many different souls who were no longer there.
Lancer stopped before a monument made out of a hockey stick with several cutouts from gardening and boy band magazines pasted onto it. He reached out and patted it, seeming at a loss for words as he felt the smooth varnished wood beneath his thumb.
Susie looked at it for a good couple of seconds, remembering that three-headed cat. Her own memories of them were scarce and fragmented. She kind of wished that she'd stuck around and helped Kris and Ralsei with that fight.
Another marker caught her eye. She knew that this was the first marker, resting right against the very bark of the tree itself. Three items leaned against the mythic wood: a blue halberd over a purple shield with a silver wristwatch hanging from the glimmering piked tip of the weapon. Each belonged to someone else, a different lightner, just like herself.
``I wish I got to know you three better,'' Susie whispered.
Ralsei nodded, placing his hand upon her shoulder. ``Same.''
Susie didn't know why but she clutched the ring which dangled from her necklace, feeling its sharp barbs prick against her palm. The only keepsake she'd kept from those troubled times. A reminder not to fuck up.
[hr]
``Hands lower,'' Gerson barked, using the tip of his cane to thwack Susie in the stomach. ``You're protecting your face too much and leaving your belly exposed.''
Susie grunted and lowered her arms, just a little. The kid had a fire in their eyes and Gerson tried his best to ignore how that fire was currently aimed towards wanting to take a bite out of him. This wasn't his first student and he knew this song and dance well.
``The best defense is not getting seen,'' Gerson lectured. ``If that fails then the second best is not getting hit. And if that fails, it's making sure that you get hit somewhere that isn't going to kill you quickly enough to stop you from killing the bugger you're fighting. So, make sure your arms are somewhere they can stop claws from gutting you like that Titan did to your robot.''
Gerson walked over to a bank of TVs, grabbing a remote. He squinted as he read it, trying to figure out how to make the video play.
``I...'' He clicked a button and nothing happened. ``Okay what about...''
He heard Susie scoff as she came over and plucked the remote right out of his hand. ``Let me help with that, old man.'' She pushed a button and the video immediately started to play.
``I just about had that,'' Gerson grumbled, unable to stop himself from earning a razor thin smile. Let her have a leg up on him. Her confidence really needed a win after the kind of beating she'd just come back from.
The video that played out was of her duel with the Titan from the perspective of Castle Town's walls. It very much felt like a background shot compared to the far more prevalent view of numerous data cannons firing into the void to intercept the constant waves of Titan spawn which were raining down upon them.
Thankfully, Tenna zoomed in, giving a much clearer picture of the brawl which was unfolding. There was no audio but that wasn't really needed as the visuals did a good enough job of giving the impression of weight with each hit just feeling so very heavy.
``This is from when you were blinded,'' Gerson said. ``Now, it's natural to get desperate when you can't see. It's why blinding your opponent with sunlight or sand has been a tactic in warfare for ages now.''
Susie nodded and tensed her jaw.
``But it caused you to leave yourself open for an attack,'' Gerson explained. ``You swinging wildly meant that the Titan was able to...'' The Titan in the video pushed ahead and stabbed its claws right into her core, raking them up along her chest plate. If that had been her organic body then that wound would've been lethal, spilling her guts out upon the blackened soil below. ``Do that.''
``What could I have done differently?'' Susie asked.
Gerson tossed his cane aside and lifted his arms, blocking his core and chest. ``If you keep your arms here, they can more readily move up and down to counter an oncoming blow.''
Susie nodded and mirrored his motions, looking from the TV and towards him before doing so again. She was a smart girl; she could figure it out. He knew as much.
Gerson started to slowly pace in front of her, getting more and more confident with each step that he took. His age was real but the way he treated it was a ruse. He was still the boxer he'd been as a kid, still the warrior he'd played the role of so perfectly from the war. Age could only do so much against a spirit like his.
``Block my blows,'' he said.
Susie frowned. ``Old man.''
``And don't underestimate me,'' Gerson said.
He threw a punch, aiming it right for her stomach. For a second, it seemed like it would connect but Susie quickly dropped her arms, intercepting it.
Gerson cackled. ``See how much harder that would be if you were too busy covering your face to even see my punch coming at you?''
``Just don't want my face to get even uglier,'' Susie chided.
Gerson smirked. ``I think the war wounds look distinguished, dear.'' He threw another punch and Susie blocked it as well. The two of them circled around each other, tense with combat but relaxed with their words. ``Had a few of them myself before this Dark World nonsense decided I apparently didn't need them anymore.''
The pace of their fight started to pick up, the footwork became more hurried. It was a song and dance, a balancing act as Gerson tried his best to land a blow with Susie blocking and weaving, avoiding easily enough.
Susie had style about her these days, not being the brutish warrior who just took abuse anymore. No, she was rapidly becoming a real fighter and it was nice to see.
``What was the war like?'' Susie asked.
Gerson frowned. ``Humans were relentless and it seemed that everything around us was about to fall apart.'' He looked at Susie. ``Try landing a blow.''
Susie blinked. ``What?''
``You need to see this strategy on both the offensive and defensive sides,'' Gerson explained, putting his hands out. He then added with a smile. ``It isn't like you've landed a blow on me before anyways. Maybe if you pull it off, I'll let you go home early.''
Susie huffed and threw a punch.
Gerson blocked it easily enough, grunting against the force. ``But just as we were on our last stand, a group of human wizards came to us. They were turncoats.''
``Turncoats?'' Susie asked, trying another punch.
Just like before, Gerson blocked it with shocking ease. ``They had apparently been commissioned by a human noble to craft a spell capable of trapping us beneath the Earth.'' He avoided another blow, dodging it at the last second. It was good to reinforce prior lessons while training. ``They instead came to us with a solution.''
Susie attempted a few more punches and none of them managed to land. She was so close, that much was certain. Gerson could actually feel the air current come whooshing off of her hand as it whizzed by his face with terrifying speed.
It was time to change things up as Gerson suddenly threw a punch. His student yelped but blocked it at the last second, stumbling back against the raw force of the blow.
``Are we sparring now?'' Susie grumbled.
Gerson chuckled. ``The Titans won't give you warning and neither will I.''
The two of them faced off with Gerson looking up at her. In his prime, he could easily handle a monster bearing down on him that was her size. At this point, he needed to be smart. He dipped and dived, blocking when necessary. Occasionally, he would throw his own punch, happy to see that Susie was smart and able to block it before it landed somewhere important.
``What was the solution?'' Susie puffed.
Gerson grunted as her fist hit his guard. Now, that ached something fierce. ``Draw a line across the world and project their barrier. One half of the planet went to us; the other half went to them. Which considering all we wanted was the original borders of our Kingdom, felt like a pretty good deal all things considered.''
Susie frowned. ``Then how did Kris get in?''
``Now isn't that an interesting question,'' Gerson replied, shaking his hand. ``That Dreemurr kid was always an interesting problem.''
The time for conversation was over as sweat dripped from his brow and his breathing came forth in terse puffs of exertion. It was hard work going toe-to-toe with this woman, hard work indeed.
This was like a dance with the two of them following their steps perfectly, blending together and moving as one. Sadly, Gerson couldn't dance like he used to. He was just a smidge too slow, earning himself a rough punch which cracked against his cheek.
He recoiled from the force of the blow, spinning and falling onto his ass.
``Old man!'' Susie yelped, reaching out for him.
Gerson cackled, rubbing at his cheek. It hurt but he'd earned it, fair and square. ``Gonna need more than a little punch to stop me.'' He looked at her and grinned with a cocksure glee, struggling back to his feet. When she tried to help, he waved her off. ``Think you understand how to block a punch now?''
Susie nodded, still looking at him with concern. He didn't like it. It made him feel old and enfeebled. A perspective he very much didn't like to contend as he considered himself pretty spry for a man five years past death.
``How about a quick break before I lecture you about what else you did wrong in that fight,'' Gerson chided.
Susie scoffed. ``I did even more things wrong in that fight?''
Gerson grabbed the remote and skillfully pushed a button, changing the channel on the screen.
Susie looked a little shocked that he managed to do that but he thought he deserved a little win over her in exchange for the win he surrendered earlier. Everyone needed a little bump to their ego from time to time and he was no exception.
The channel was now on the news network and showed Tenna standing in front of Shattered Prophecy as it was being worked on. He was dressed in a reporter's garb, being live on scene. The TV was muted but he seemed to be energetically talking about the repairs taking place, gesturing behind himself as darkners worked on repairing his mech.
Susie cocked a brow. ``Queen is adding something to it.''
``Is she now?'' Gerson asked, grabbing his cane and hobbling towards his table. ``Probably some new fangled gadget for you to try out.''
Susie shrugged and looked at the screen, obviously taking in the massive gaping hole that the claws left behind or the one arm which seemed to only be holding on by a few incredibly fragile threads. The mech was still in one piece but it would only take a stiff breeze before it was two... or three... or maybe a hundred more.
``Would you like some tea?'' Gerson asked.
Susie stirred and looked towards him. She nodded along to the question. ``Yeah, sure.''
Gerson drew out a kettle and placed it upon the table, snapping his fingers and producing a small flame in order to heat it. He grinned as he did so. It was always novel to do something that he hadn't been able to do on the surface for a very long time.
As it started to heat up, he pulled out his seat and settled down upon it, gesturing to the one across from himself.
This wasn't Susie's first rodeo as she went over and grabbed another tray which had a pair of teacups, an assortment of teabags, and a few other accessories necessary to make a nice cup of tea. Even if Gerson silently judged anyone who didn't take it black and strong.
``So, how have you been?'' Gerson asked.
Susie perked up. ``Fine, I guess.''
Gerson nodded and lifted a brow. ``And how about you give me the honest truth, huh?''
Susie sighed. ``Guess there's no keeping secrets from you.''
``Not when you're this bad of a liar.'' Gerson chuckled. Though his mirth was cut short as he started to cough, covering his mouth with a handkerchief. He tried to ignore the concern that Susie was showing just like he desperately tried to ignore the splotches of grey dust which covered the handkerchief as he slipped it back into his pocket. ``What's got you so worried?''
Susie sighed and went silent for a moment, looking down at the table. She casually scratched at it for a few moments, dragging her nail back and forth across the wood. At one point this would've bothered Gerson. Now, he just saw the numerous shallow cuts left upon the furniture, each another story of stress and trial that needed to be overcome. He could handle some damage to his personal property if she could handle whatever was weighing down upon her.
``The Titans are getting stronger,'' Susie said.
Gerson nodded. ``And so are you.''
``But they're getting stronger way faster than me,'' Susie said. ``When we first started doing this, they sent one Titan a month. Now they're sending two a week. How much longer until we see three a day or four or just a constant assault that never stops coming. It feels like we're playing with borrowed time here and it's getting to me.''
``I don't have a good answer for you,'' Gerson said. The kettle clicked and he picked it up, snapping his fingers to extinguish the flame. ``But that sounds like a problem that you have absolutely zero influence over.''
Susie decided not to reply as her expression turned rather dark.
Gerson took that chance to pour two cups of hot water, covering a bag of earl grey and another that was chai. His students smelt far too spicy for his liking but he kept that comment to himself; new fangled trends were a product of every generation. Hell, he could remember when they first introduced electricity to monster society for Angel's sake. If his father could bear that revolutionary of a trend, then he could handle this one without too much complaint.
``I get where you're coming from,'' he finally said. He could see that incredulous look she was giving him. ``Back when I was first diagnosed with cancer, I wanted to be active and figure out a way to fight back and fix it. But well...'' He sighed, gesturing vaguely. ``You can only fight so hard before nature decides to take that away from you completely.''
Susie frowned. ``I didn't realize that...''
Gerson nodded. ``And then all of this happened and I was literally given a second chance to do better. Nature is going to do what nature does and all you can do is react to it. Be the best monster you can be in order to meet the challenges you face but also try not to lose sleep over the things that you can't really fix.''
``I see.'' Susie sighed. ``Doesn't make it any easier.''
Gerson nodded towards her. ``It's important to figure out why you fight and hold onto that. It'll keep you stable when things get rough.''
Susie picked up the cream, putting a splash into her drink. She smirked as she did so, scoffing with a tired shake of her head.
``What?'' Gerson asked.
``I must look miserable,'' Susie chided. ``You haven't asked me if I wanted some tea with my cream yet.''
Gerson threw back his head and barked with laughter. ``Who knows? Maybe I'm looking to try something new myself!'' He nabbed the cream from her and added some into his own drink. ``Maybe you're rubbing off on me a little.''
``Uh huh,'' Susie said, eyeing him up. She had a knowing smile.
Gerson casually picked up his cup and took a dainty sip from it. He didn't even last a second before he winced, cringing at the flavour.
``Well?'' Susie asked.
Gerson placed the cup back down and forced a smile. ``Nothing ventured, nothing gained, I suppose.''
Susie took a sip herself, seeming to enjoy the poison far more than himself. He watched her, smiling. It was great to see that awkward girl grow-up into a woman like this, confident and cocky.
A part of him missed the days on the surface, getting to see so many generations go through the motions just like this. It was nice to know that he still had the ability to do this and do it well.
``How are things going with the Prince?'' Gerson asked.
Susie perked up. ``Pardon?''
``You two just seem to be getting close,'' Gerson said, motioning towards her. ``A monster picks up on a thing or two.''
It was hard to miss that dusting of red as it bled into Susie's cheeks. She scratched at her chin, nodding to the comment.
``He's good for me,'' Susie said.
Gerson nodded. ``Seems like it. I'm really glad that you have someone like that in my life.''
``Aren't you worried that he'll take away from my training?'' Susie asked.
``Not in the slightest.'' Gerson shook his head. ``If anything, he might help cement that lesson that I've been trying to teach you.'' He wagged a finger at her. ``Is he the reason that you fight?''
Susie went silent for a moment, looking at her hand. She was running her thumb along the handle of her cup.
``Well?'' Gerson asked.
``He is,'' Susie said. She then looked up at him, smirking. ``But are we here to talk about my love life or are you here to help me learn how to kick some Titan ass?'' She leaned back in her chair and pointed towards the TVs.
Gerson looked over his shoulders, smirking. ``I guess we're here to talk about kicking some Titan ass.''
