Starri's Story

Prisons and Boredom

So uh, warning, this chapter

Is L O N G

Erre woke up back in Alphys's classroom with the nervous teacher frantically trying to shake her awake. She pushed herself up, making Alphys stumble backwards in surprise.
"O-oh, thank goodness! You fell asleep, so I thought I'd leave you because you looked tired, b-but th-then the bell rang a-and you still didn't wake up, s-so I had to wake you up myself, i-it was like you were in a coma!"
"Alphys."
"H-huh? Y-yeah?" She turned to the small lizard monster and smiled.
"I'm fine now, don't worry."
"O-okay, b-but are you getting enough sleep? I-I don't want you passing out in front of the class or something..."
"It's okay, you don't have to worry anymore." Alphys was going to say something else but Erre had already gathered up her stuff and was walking home, anxious to get in bed and get back to Ralsei. When she got back, she greeted her mother, saying that she was going to visit the Dark Kingdom (well, that was kinda true), and went straight to her room, taking off her shoes and backpack and flopping into her bed. Her mother simply smiled, happy that her daughter liked going to the land that her father lived in, and went back to baking her cookies.

Starri woke up in a cell, chained to the wall, alone. She flexed her fingers and wrists and tried to summon some stars to saw herself free. It didn't work. 'Must be magic draining cuffs. Greaaaaat. They thought ahead this time.' She huffed and mumbled a bit.
"So, anyone interested in being a ffffffffffrighead to the King..." She laughed softly at her own reluctance to curse. 'That's Ralsei rubbing off on me, I guess.' No one responded to her question(it was more of a statement to herself, but still), as expected. If anyone here recognized her voice, they would be scared, regardless of what she said, 'treasonous' or not. A flash of bright pink and dark purple went by her. She knew those colors by now. "Susie!" She whisper-shouted, forgetting that the reptile didn't know her. She stopped and turned around anyway.
"Who's there?"
"It's-" Starri paused, remembering that little important detail. "It's Ralsei's friend."
"What? He told us he was living alone for... Forever."
"Just shush, if you find him, tell him that Starri is here."
"What?"
"Just do it!" She snapped, even raising her voice. The chains clinked together as she pulled against them.
"Alright, alright, jeez. Calm down." Starri heard her muttering as she walked away, catching the word "weirdo." "You're a weirdo..." She muttered back.

Several minutes passed without anyone coming. Well, Susie had come back for about two seconds and then walked away in the opposite direction she had been going earlier. Starri had caught sight of a ring of keys in her hand. But other than that, no one else had come. She had started humming one of Ralsei's lullabies out of habit, and someone had started singing along, though they stopped with her soon after Susie passed. All in all, things had gotten pretty boring, even with the situation at hand. She could've sworn she heard Ralsei and Susie from somewhere in the prison, and someone else breathing weirdly in their direction, but with the conditions down here, she didn't think much of it.
She was considering just sleeping the weirdness of this place off when someone found her. Someone blue, with no eyes. She barely paid attention to them at first, until they called someone else over with no words.
"Starri!" She perked up at the familiar voice.
"Ralsei?"
"Susie didn't say you were here!"
"Oh, she didn't, did she?" Starri gave Susie a look as the reptile came into view.
"Hey, can you really blame me for not believing you? He didn't mention you at all." Susie crossed her arms and gave the look right back to Starri.
"Oh, I don't know, maybe the fact that I knew his name and who you were?"
"Psh, stalker."
"HOW-" She realized she was raising her voice again and took a deep breath. "How dare you?" Now Susie was nervous, Ralsei was concerned, and even Kris somehow looked on edge with that neutral expression of theirs.
"Starri, your eyes..." Ralsei reached for her through the bars. Starri reached for her eyes before remembering that her hands were chained up above her head.
"You know what, go and get the Fountain taken care of. I'll stay here until this is all over and done with. Okay?"
"Alright, cool." Susie started leaving immediately, but Kris grabbed her arm and took the keys from wherever she was keeping them without breaking eye contact with the cat monster. They looked through the keys and chose a few to try and unlock the door, and miraculously, one of them worked.
"Wow, good job. I don't suppose you could find a key to your emotions in those, could ya?" Starri commented with a sarcastic tone while pointing at the keys. Susie even laughed, and then covered it up with a throat clear. Kris still kept a neutral expression, but their breathing got weird for a moment, then went back to normal. They approached her and started trying out keys for her chains. After a little while, one worked and she was free.
"Alright, I'll admit, that was kinda smart." She rubbed her wrists and then patted Kris on the head. "Good job." She said with a smile, then muttered "Shorty," as she walked past them. They whipped around to glare at her. She turned around once she got out of the cage and grinned at them, crossing her arms. "Ah, that hit a nerve. Glad to know you have a SOUL with emotions."
"Of course they have a SOUL, they've been using it to fight for us this whole time!" Ralsei jumped to Kris's defense for them. Starri looked down at him(yes, she's taller than him and Kris, but Kris is pretty darn short).
"Hey, I'm not saying they don't have a SOUL, I'm just saying it seemed like they didn't have emotions before." Ralsei looked nervous again.
"...How long have you been following us?"
"Eh, the whole time. Why else would I have ended up here? You know I hate this place." She looked around, grimacing at the walls and rubbing her arms.
"Heh, what, you a wuss?" Susie said, poking her head.
"No, I just really don't like this place. And why are you TALL?" Starri snapped back, looking up at the girl who towered over all of them. Susie just shrugged.
"Eh, dunno, just the way I turned out, I guess. What, you jealous, catty bratty-"
"DON'T CALL ME THAT!" Starri's claws snapped free from her arms, and her eyes flared red. Susie flinched away from her with her hands up, Ralsei took a step back, and Kris looked almost terrified. Starri let her arms drop to her side without looking at him or them and walked past the group to the elevator. "Let's get outta here. I don't want to spend more time here than I have to."