Journey of the Sanses

Chapter 38: The Crayon Kingdom Voyage

When Sera woke up once again, she found that she was still in the warm embrace of her closest friend - who was still fast asleep. She smiled in appreciation for Geno's actions, for the memories of last night's events came rushing back as soon as she glanced at him. What he'd done for her was far more than she deserved, she was certain about that - but at least she had nothing to hide from him, despite having a difficult time with her emotions.

She was convinced that if it hadn't been for his kindness and compassion, she would've lost herself to her conflicting emotions a long time ago - perhaps even before meeting him and his teammates. That was all the more reason why she was so grateful for Geno and his unfailing determination to help his teammates, including Sera herself. With that, she snuggled deeper into Geno's embrace and found that she was even more comfortable when she was in closer proximity to the red-scarfed skeleton.

Because of his presence, she'd had no more nightmares and had gotten a good night's sleep. Even though the crack of dawn was slowly but surely rising from the horizon, Sera was more than happy to lie around for more time than necessary - even more so when it was with Geno. She hummed in happiness when the red-scarfed skeleton once again wrapped his arms around the pink Draconian while he was still asleep.

Yet another memory came back to her mind, which was the one where she and Geno had slept and cuddled together after they had opened up to each other while they had been in the Draconian Kingdom. It filled her soul with even more happiness than before - and to know that it had been all because of Geno made it all the more enjoyable.

"You love him, don't you?" A familiar female voice inquired. Sera quickly turned her head to see who the speaker was, only to discover that it was Kaiser who had asked the question. "K-Kaiser," the pink Draconian stuttered. "I-I can explain, I -" "You don't have to explain anything to me," the female human said, with a smile on her face. "It's excruciatingly obvious that you two love and care about each other deeply."

"H-h-how did you k-know?" Sera asked, not wanting to concede to Kaiser's conclusion. "How do you know that y-you're not just making this up?" "Sera," Kaiser said. "Your body language speaks for you much more than words ever could, not to mention that you're blushing like crazy right now." "Darn it," Sera thought to herself. "Am I really that transparent?" "C-could you just not tell anyone about this?" Sera pleaded. "Please?"

"Fine," Kaiser said. "But you can't hide it forever, you know." "That's true," the pink Draconian admitted. "Sooner or later, everyone except Geno will know that I love him... but I won't rush us into a relationship just because of their peer pressure." "So," Kaiser inquired, giving her female friend a mischievous smile. "Do you want to wake up now, or did you plan to lie around with him for a little bit?" "Kaiser, I know that you're just fooling around," Sera countered. "Besides... shouldn't you be with Cross?"

Now it was the human's turn to become flustered. "S-shoot," she admitted. "You're right!" And with that, Kaiser ran off in another direction - no doubt to be with the aforementioned black-and-white skeleton. Sera smiled in satisfaction of Kaiser's response to her question, for it had been effective in ceasing her teasing. She would never admit it out loud, but the female human had been right - she did care a lot about Geno... perhaps more so than a friend would.

The aforementioned red-scarfed skeleton began shifting around in his sleep as he slowly woke up. "Sera," he murmured in drowsiness, apparently having been awakened by the females' conversation. "What happened?" "Nothing happened, Geno," Sera answered, trying her best to suppress her ever-growing blush. "Kaiser was just... messing around, that's all." Geno sleepily nodded before yawning and opening his eyes. "How'd you sleep?" He asked. "Did you have any more nightmares?"

"I slept fine," Sera replied, smiling in appreciation for his concern. "I didn't have any more nightmares." "That's good to hear," the red-scarfed skeleton responded. "I'm happy to know that I was able to help you." "Thank you for your help last night," she said. "I... don't know what I would've done without you." "It wasn't anything that I wouldn't have done for you," the red-scarfed skeleton responded. "And... same here."

They then gazed at one another with true appreciation for each other's presence, with both of them blushing deeply. All of the thoughts in their minds had vanished, for they were simply lost in one another's eyes. Then, they both simultaneously tightened their embrace in a gentle and loving manner, for they could think of nothing else to do in order to express their gratitude and feelings for each other.

They snuggled into one another and allowed themselves to relax into a short yet comfortable sleep, temporarily forgetting the upcoming task of continuing their journey through the Pencil Dust Plains in order to arrive at the Crayon Kingdom. Hopefully, they would be able to do so before dusk - but little did they and the other group members know that it would, at the end, have a surprise in store for them.

---------------------------------

When everyone in the group had awakened and gotten up, they wasted no time in heading in the direction of the Crayon Kingdom - for they all knew that they needed to get there as soon as possible. The plan was, according to Sera's suggestion that had been made upon escaping the Draconian Kingdom, to meet up with the Crayon Queen as well as the other rulers in order to establish an effective attack against Fallacy and his armies.

The Vampire Lord's soldiers would consist of mainly monsters from Underfell and misguided Draconians who had been tricked into fighting for an evil cause, so the rulers of the Alternate Universes would need to form their own troops in order to counter them. The purpose of this was not only to fend off the opposing side, but to also allow Sera to get into Fallacy's castle unnoticed by his troops.

Once she'd gotten inside the fortress, she would need to find Fallacy and somehow defeat him. Despite knowing that everyone was expecting her to destroy him, Sera had committed herself to sparing the Vampire Lord - that is, if she could do so without being killed by her opponent.

She, at one time, had always wondered about how she was going to be able to show Fallacy mercy and defeat him - but now that Yekel had talked to her and told her what would happen during the battle, she felt slightly confident that she would be able to do so. However, that didn't mean that she wasn't still fearful of her possible death at the hands of her opponent. Regardless, she'd vowed to do her best in the fated battle between her and Fallacy - even if it meant sacrificing her life to save the Multiverse and its inhabitants.

After a long and tedious journey through the Pencil Dust Plains, a large castle had appeared to be built from crayons emerged from the dunes into the group members' line of sight. The excited expressions on the caretakers' faces indicated that they'd arrived at the Crayon Kingdom. The group was only a short distance away from the entrance to the castle before an unfamiliar voice echoed from across the dunes.

"Fresh!" A somewhat glitchy voice shouted. "Get back here! You know what will happen if you get lost!" "Nah, bro!" Another voice responded, with a slight accent of outdated language. "I heard something coming for the castle, and I wanna know what it is!" Before anyone could think of anything to do, a multicolored-clothed skeleton who wore dark shades that said "YO-LO" suddenly ran out of the silvery sands of the Pencil Dust Plains - but he stopped in his tracks as soon as he laid his eyes on the group.

No one could see it, but the multicolored-clothed skeleton's eye sockets were wide with shock and disbelief at the people standing before him. "Yo, brah!" The multicolored-clothed skeleton shouted. "You won't believe who's here!" "Who is?!" The glitchy voice questioned, with slight impatience in his tone. "It's them," the multicolored-clothed skeleton answered. "It's da peeps who're supposed to save us! And they've got our long-lost bro!"