VOXISTALE: Novel Edition

Chapter 116

She wound her way through the woods, the ruins of the Kingdom of Hopes falling behind her. Most everyone was gearing for war and/or training for it. Mosu was hosting some kind of dojo lesson with a bunch of wide-eyed monsters. Truck was . . . being Truck; carrying some stuff for Alphys as she built something. A "failsafe" as she put it. This left Magnum to wander off. She'd been alerted to the fact that Trickster had been here not long ago. Frisk had spoken with her. It was stupid of Magnum to head out here. To hope that Trixie would show for her, too.

She just missed her too much to sit around and do nothing about it. Magnum's wandering led her around a bend of thick trees—to find the mouth of a cave. It wasn't that large, barely tall enough for her to go inside without having to duck her head. Not even wide enough for two people to simultaneously slip in. Magnum had zero desire to go inside. Probably home to some wild animal or something. She wasn't in the mood to scuffle with a-

She froze. Had she heard that right? Magnum stared at the void-black mouth of the cave, the blanket of snow on the ground making her eyes sting as she strained them to see into the blackness.

"Psst," the sound came again, immediately followed by three knocks of what sounded like rock on rock. A pause . . . then a fourth knock. Magnum's jaw slackened, mouth opening slightly in shock. Only one person knew that (well, okay, it was a simple thing and could have been anything, really, but . . .) Magnum had been hoping to find Trickster out here, and now, she didn't know what to do. "Pssssst," the sound was more urgent this time. Magnum felt her heart hammer against her chest as she cautiously made her way to the cave entrance—and ducked inside.

Almost immediately, arms wrapped around her neck as she was pulled rather forcefully into a tight hug. A familiar smell hit Magnum's nose. The smell of lavender, with a hint of copper. A strange smell, to be sure, but one she'd grown to love. Desperately, she wanted to hug back. To wrap her arms around the other woman. Yet, she relented from this course of action. Her arms shook slightly at her side from the effort of keeping them there. A ball formed in Magnum's throat. Detecting the forced hostility, Trickster's embrace slackened, holding on for a moment, before she let go and took a step back. It was too dark in the cave entrance for Magnum to get a clear read on the girl's face, but she knew she looked hurt. At least just a bit.

"Magnum," Trickster said almost breathlessly.

Magnum felt her lip quiver slightly. "Trixie," she forced out after a moment. God, why was this so hard? Pretending to hate Trickster, or at least dislike her, was just as hard as trying to ask the girl out. Maybe even harder. "So . . ." Trixie began, but trailed off immediately. It was incredibly awkward and, in Magnum's opinion, kind of cute. Trickster acting awkward had always been adorable. The way she nervously swayed her body side to side, wringing her left thumb as she bit the inside of her lip.

Magnum tried to force her affection away. "What are you doing? How did you know I'd be here?" she asked, feeling as though she sounded a little too casual for that.

"I wanted to see you, and . . . I wanted to see you," Trickster replied simply with a shrug, taking a step forward.

"This isn't Romeo and Juliet," Magnum replied, before realizing the correlation wasn't too accurate here. Trixie seemed to pick up on that too.

"Oh?" she asked. "Are we star-crossed lovers now?" She dropped to a knee dramatically, holding her hands out to Magnum. "Magnum, oh Magnum!"

Magnum giggled. Inwardly, she cursed herself for this. She had to act hostile toward Trixie, it was the only way to get her to stop trying . . . even if it was really touching that she was still trying. Holy shit why was this so hard?

Magnum cleared her throat, averting her gaze. "No," she replied, forcing herself to sound a little more antagonistic. Trixie stared at her for a moment, before her hand grabbed Magnum's own, and squeezed it as she returned to her full height. The contact sent shivers down Magnum's spine. She . . . wasn't even really sure why. She'd always had a thing for Trixie for as long as she could remember, but ever since they'd come to odds . . . it was as though her crush had intensified—almost into an obsession. Trickster was probably on her mind 99% of the time these days. Nah, she was totally obsessed. And she hated that she was.