Noth arose drowsily from his slumber, as he often did. His legs untangled themselves from the blanket, and swung over to seat him at the edge of his bed. In his not yet fully awake state his mind raced over one thing to the next, as if it were scanning through the most pressing thoughts that weighed upon him, and eventually it settled on the most particularly important topic it could find; His angel was still missing. Almost 6 months had gone by since Serris’s disappearance. Noth had tried so many different shots in the dark to try communicating with her, or to plead with the God-dess to somehow send her back, but nothing had worked. He'd even written a few letters to the prophet about it a few times in case he might get some sort sort of help from him, but not a single reply had ever come back. He couldn’t help but feel that maybe he was just missing some all important clue that would miraculously bring her back, and it teased at the back of his mind constantly like some sort of word or lyric he just couldn’t seem to remember.
Often, when Noth was confronted with some sort of problem that was actually much simpler than he had made it out to be, his mind would reveal a probable answer to him in a realistic dream. He usually found that dreams were in fact quite useful tools for letting his mind rearrange and process through his problems or traumas. Even what could be considered a nightmare could also be seen as a learning experience after the fact, if he really took the time to pay attention. However, ever since he gained the strange new energy from the archdemon, his dreams had all of a sudden become completely unhelpful. Rarely, if ever, did he dream about anything except the sad and pitiful monster that he’d once been forced to be. There didn’t seem to be any moral to the story, or some secret message that he was supposed to extrapolate; The only thing Noth could manage to take away from such memories was that the God-dess’s [Gifts] could be horrifically cruel to the unlucky. And didn’t he already know that? Hadn’t he already given up 2 awful years of his childhood because of that? Why did he need something to reaffirm that fact for him?
Was there really something that he was missing?
As Noth’s mind once again turned over and over, looking for clues, he suddenly came to the realization that for the first time since his angel had left, his mind had somehow become clearer than it had been in the past few months. True, he still wasn’t actually fully awake, but it felt as if some sort of fog that had been clouding his brain had somehow lifted, and now, with that realization, all sorts of glaring things seemed to be popping into his mind. Like for instance, why had he been so magnetically attracted to Ren lately? Was it because they’d bonded in the garden? But Noth already felt like he had quite a good bond with his family. He’d spent time playing with or reading to Ren on multiple occasions before, but it had never made him neglect time with everyone else like he’d been doing as of late.
Looking back, Noth didn’t think he’d really spent much time with Elillith, Jean, or Helt for months now. Was Helt doing alright? Didn’t he at least need a bit of time with Noth each day for him to not be tortured as much by his [Gift]? Sure, Jean was following him around and trying her best to nurse him, but no matter how mature she might have tried to act, that didn’t mean that it was okay to just leave one child to watch over another! Wasn’t this like a guardian neglecting the kids they were supposed to protect? Wasn’t this endangerment?!
The more Noth thought over his actions, the more his own oddity and stupidity seemed to be glaring at him. Why had he been acting like that? How neglectful, how creepy! If his angel were here now, wouldn’t she have scolded him again, like she had when he’d seemed too friendly or something with Jean before? If his angel were here…
...Had he been so desperate to spend time with Ren because she reminded him of his angel?
Their temperaments were of course completely different, but perhaps the ashen colour of Ren’s hair reminded Noth of the white of Serris’s? Maybe if the ends of Ren’s hair were dipped in a rusty orange, they would… No, it was too far-fetched. How could that ever possibly be the reason for him to have acted so strangely? What, would he just follow around anyone who had vaguely white or orange hair? Was he that much of a simpleton? Who would be next, some grandma from his town? But he was sure he’d only felt such a tug towards Ren. Why hadn’t he noticed any of this even once before?!
Noth groaned, flummoxed by it all.
The bed next to him shifted slightly, and a melodic voice softly drawled out a question from behind him.
Noth’s heavy-lidded eyes quickly shot open as wide as they could. His body moved to look behind him so fast that it felt as if his bed must have moved along with the force of it. Laying in a position as if she’d crumpled like a doll, a beauteous angel stared up at him with a smiling gaze. She looked tired, as if she truly wouldn’t be able to move from the awkward angle she was currently in, and although she certainly seemed to be in control of her face, not a single other bit of her made even the smallest of movements, not even the wing that she was surely crushing in her awkward pose. And yet somehow, despite how uncomfortable and fatigued she looked, she still managed to look like a vision straight out of a painting.
“S-Ser-”
Tears began to well up in the teen’s eyes. His throat felt like it had closed up so tightly that he wouldn’t be able to utter out a single word, and yet, as the first tear fell, he managed to choke out the one word that he needed.
“Serris…!”
Noth flung himself down to hug the angel as if he were trying to crush her. His tears mingled with the blood spots from her hair that speckled across the neck of her robes, both muting and discolouring the rosey-deep stains into something more soft. Serris simply laughed, sounding surprised but genuinely joyful.
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Noth sat up from his hug with a slight glare and snuffled up his snot in an attempt to clear his throat enough to talk.
“Of course I missed you! Do you know how long you were gone?!”
At first Serris just giggled at his cute chiding, but after a moment her eyes turned to the side and narrowed slightly. Noth couldn’t make out what the expression could have meant at all, but before he could figure any of it out, Serris’s face quickly changed to a look of wry embarrassment.
Somehow Noth couldn’t quite bring himself to believe that that was all there was to it. Hadn’t Serris been taken away right after she let something slip that she wasn’t supposed to have? The sense that her disappearance was all his fault, the thing he’d often felt ever since it happened, once again nagged at him. With a complicated look on his face, Noth took Serris’s hand and stared deep into her eyes, searching for any possible clue he could find.
“...Didn’t you get taken away because I made you slip up and say something bad? Are you sure the God-dess wasn’t angry with you at all? Is that why you look so exhausted?”
For a moment Serris’s face twisted into a look like she really didn’t know how to reply, but soon she quickly let out a loud laugh and gave Noth a reassuring smile.
Noth’s face crumpled. She was right, what was he going to do about a literal god being angry? What could anyone possibly do? The only ones who even had the ability to speak directly to the God-dess were its angels and its prophets; If the angel right in front of him wasn’t enough to assuage the God-dess’s anger, then what was left?
“...Shouldn’t I be the one who gets punished? You were just distracted, I’m the one who asked the question.”
Perhaps it was too late to throw himself into the line of fire, seeing as how Serris had already been made to endure all of the punishment. However, if it meant that he could take away some of the God-dess’s anger towards his angel, then Noth would be willing to at the very least share in some of it. He was sure he owed that much, if not more, to her.
Serris’s face looked touched and concerned for a moment. Although obviously still too weak to move, her arms trembled as if she were trying her hardest to reach out and touch him with the hand he wasn’t already holding. However, soon her face quickly changed to a bitter, regretful look, and her struggling muscles quickly stopped. She sent a brief, hopeless glance up towards the heavens, and then closed her eyes before reopening them with a cheerful look.
His angel’s teasing words made Noth pull an awkward face. She knew him too well; It would in fact be far too hard for the curious teen. He’d already been dying to ask a bunch of questions to her already that he knew he wasn’t likely to get an answer for, so how was he going to be able to add yet another one on to the pile without even the option to ask about it? Sure, it would have been futile either way, but at the very least his angel might have been able to spare him a hint or two, were asking allowed. …This promise would be… very vexing. Still, Noth knew what he owed, and he would always pay his debts as best he could, lest he become some kind of despicable reprobate who preyed on the kindness of others.
Somehow though, knowing his angel, he was worried just what kind of ‘favour’ this one could possibly turn out to be.
Her previous favours had often turned out to be quite unsavory and dangerous, after all.
“I… promise. What do you need me to do?”
Serris did her best to put on a reassuring smile, but something about it seemed to worry Noth all the more. Perhaps it was because the smile seemed just a bit too big, and loaded with lies.
The suspicious frown that had already creeped onto Noth’s face deepened visibly at her words. An eyebrow raised, and his hand that was holding hers unknowingly let go.
“...Something?”
The angel’s familiar giggle tinkled through the air. Even her weak wings that she’d partially pinned down under her weight seemed to struggle a bit as if they wished to spread.
The angel’s eyes, twinkling with a malicious air, narrowed happily as they took in the sight of Noth’s untrusting and uncomfortable gaze. Eventually her eyes closed, and with a very tired look, Serris weakly nuzzled her head against the soft sheets it rested on, looking well and truly pleased and serene.