Today was the day.

They’d planned the confrontation, and now it would finally be time to attack.

As they eyed their prey from around the corner, the two children nodded at each other.

It was finally time to make things right.

Almost every day, Ren joined Elillith in the kitchen. She still wasn’t very much good at cooking, but she always insisted that she had to at least help with something, and so Ren would make sure to show up and help with every meal. For the past few months, Ren and Noth had been practically attached at the hip. However, he usually wouldn’t go out of his way to join her during her time in the kitchen, since he felt that the room was a bit too cramped and claustrophobic with three people moving around inside of it. Everyone else insisted that the kitchen was actually quite large and spacious, but for some reason Noth simply couldn’t stand it and would brush off their confused protests.

This fact meant that Jean and Helt of course ambushed Noth exactly during this time.

When the duo confirmed that Noth was finally alone, they covertly dashed to intercept him on his way to the drawing room. Distracted with the return of his angel and her worrying upcoming ‘favour’, it took Noth a bit longer to notice the approaching children than it should have. As usual he gave them a smile and tried to greet his little siblings, trying his best not to let any of his worries show and somehow cause them to worry as well. Unluckily though, before he could even manage to get either of their names out of his mouth, the children quickly latched on to his hands and swiftly dragged him away. Baffled by their actions, Noth looked back and forth between the two of them, letting them lead him off to wherever it was, calling out to them with his confusion evident in his voice.

“Jean? Helt?”

The children didn’t even bother to respond, only looking back to occasionally shush him when it seemed his calls might have gotten too loud. Not a word of explanation was given to the teen until the children managed to rush him out of the house, and even then they still didn’t stop dragging him away.

“We’re leaving the mansion? …Did something happen outside?”

It was Helt who finally cracked under all of Noth’s questions. He felt a bit as if they’d escaped the watchful eye of whatever had been haunting Ren as of late now that they’d escaped from the mansion, and with that newfound miniscule amount of comfort he’d gained, Helt’s lips soon loosened.

“We can’t talk about it until we get somewhere safe. …Sorry Noth, just… Please just trust us and come along, okay?”

Noth was obviously worried about whatever might have been distressing his little siblings, but after giving Serris who’d been following after them a quick glance and seeing that she only smiled and shook her head, Noth soon decided to just quietly follow along and see what was wrong when they were ready. His angel had finally returned, so nothing too horrendous or possibly fatal should be able to befall him, even if, say, the demons had somehow revived, or the pope had sent another hidden assassin. But maybe he wouldn’t be able to properly guarantee the two children’s safety…

Another quick glance was sent back to Serris, but when she gave him a look as if he was simply being far too silly, he gave up and instead focused on where the two children were taking him again.

~~~

In the back of a secluded and dilapidated house near the end of town, the same one that the two children had managed to drive the rats away from previously, Noth, Jean, and Helt all sat huddled underneath a table that was missing one of its legs. Noth found the little hiding spot quite cute, and he couldn’t help the small smile that tried to tease at his lips. Jean, however, shot him a quick glare because of this.

“This is really serious, Noth! Don’t you dare smile about this!”

“Oh… I see, sorry.”

Noth had to fight his squirming mouth that only wanted to smile all the more from the cute little admonishment, but when he repeated to himself that this could indeed be quite serious and that he also probably wouldn’t get to hear what they had to say until he stopped smiling, he soon managed to get his expression under control. All the while, Helt gave him a small apologetic look for Jean’s high strung words. No matter how close they might feel and how much they might insist to be a family, that didn’t mean that a mere commoner could simply talk to a noble like that; It was only because of Noth’s love for them that Jean could have even possibly gotten away with such blasphemy.

Once Jean saw that Noth had a much more fitting expression on his face, she cleared her throat and looked towards Helt. She hated that it was true, but she had to accept that what they were going to say would sound more believable coming from Helt, who had experienced these oddities much more than she had. Helt silently swallowed a lump that felt like it had lodged in his throat, and then nodded at Jean. The small girl reached her hand out to lend strength to her friend, and the two of them turned to look at Noth while they each took one of his hands in their own as well, creating a circle of arms.

“Noth…”

The small crystalline boy cleared his throat, feeling that his words would sound too shaky and unbelievable otherwise.

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“Noth, we’re worried about Ren.”

“Ren? Why Ren?”

The teen’s face had scrunched a bit in confusion, but when it still stayed quite serious and focused on them, Helt felt a bit of relief; Their words hadn’t been dismissed right away like they’d been afraid might happen.

“You see, ever since you lost your old powers… Maybe even for a while before that, too… Ren’s been acting um… She’s been acting really strange. I- Um…”

Helt nervously squeezed Jean’s hand. He’d planned out this whole speech before with her, but now that he was in the moment and felt so wracked with nervousness, he was forgetting everything they’d agreed upon discussing. Jean shot him a worried look and returned his squeeze, trying to remind him that she was there with him, but when it seemed like that just wasn’t doing enough, the girl leaned in close to him and bumped her shoulder against his own.

“Go on… Tell him about your [Gift].”

Helt shot her a small apologetic wince and then quickly turned back to Noth with a look of determination steadily growing on his face.

“Right. Well, the first thing we should talk about is how weirdly my [Gift] is reacting to her. You know I should be able to read everyone’s mind but yours, right Noth?”

“...Yes? Has that changed while I wasn’t paying attention?”

“Ah, no, just… Only with Ren. I used to be able to read her mind just fine, but somehow, maybe ever since we came here… Without me noticing, I can’t read her mind now.”

“You can’t…?”

Noth’s face scrunched up all the more at these sudden words, and his mind pondered over what could have possibly blocked Helt’s superbly strong [Gift]. Not even his father had been immune to Helt’s mind reading ability, and he was considered to have a [Gift] tier that was on the higher side of the nobles who ruled over society. What would have to happen for Ren to suddenly have been able to block something so powerful? …Could it be that she had finally chosen a [Gift], and that it was something so incredibly strong that it was out of Helt’s reach? But then why would she not tell anyone about finally getting what she’d wanted?

Oh, but he was forgetting something in the first place.

Didn’t he only have protection from the mind reading because of his angel?

Right, she’d told him that their bond made it so he wouldn’t be afflicted by other’s [Gifts].

It was part of why he also wasn’t really affected by Jean’s [Gift], either.

But Jean’s [Gift] could be stopped by a [Gift] of a higher tier…

…Wasn’t that also how Helt’s worked, or-

“Ah! Oh, no, wait! I’m sorry, I didn’t tell you the whole thing-”

Helt suddenly shouted and let go of the hands he was holding, nervously waving his hands in a panic. Once Noth had refocused on the boy and Jean had slightly rolled her eyes at him for forgetting, Helt re-grabbed both of their hands and started talking again.

“No, so it’s not that I can’t read her mind, it’s just that I usually can’t. Sometimes if I concentrate on my [Gift] hard enough, or she’s thinking a thought really hard, then I can still hear it. So it’s not really that it’s getting blocked persay, maybe it’s just, um, that it’s getting muted, maybe? It’s not like you, where I completely can’t hear anything, ever.”

Noth’s eyebrows raised, and his mouth couldn’t find a single word to say in response. His mind truly couldn’t think of what could have caused anything to mute Helt’s [Gift] like that. If it was because of anything that Noth had done, then everyone would have been muted for Helt, not just Ren. And if it was because of her suddenly acquiring a [Gift], then it should have completely been blocked all the time. Could this have something to do with the new demonic power he’d taken in? No, but Helt said this had been going on ever since they’d all moved here…

Noth peeked back at his angel. She seemed to be displeased by something, but when she saw that Noth was looking at her, she quickly changed her expression and moved to gently lace her fingers in his hair.

“Hold on, don’t just stop there! You still haven’t told him the important stuff yet!”

Jean’s sudden interjection interrupted Serris, and her hand dropped back to her side without another word. Noth’s gaze lingered on her, curious about what she had been about to say, but he soon turned back to the two flustered children in front of him.

“Yes, you're right, okay, um…”

Helt’s eyes shiftily looked back and forth at the floor as if he were desperately searching for how he was supposed to say the words that were stuck in his head. However, when he could feel the two other’s eyes boring into him, he quickly gave up on finding the best way to say it, and instead decided to just blurt out whatever he could. Hopefully, since Jean was here, she could finish filling up any of the dots he might have failed to connect.

“So, um, Ren’s been acting weird, I said that, right? At first I didn’t think it was anything, I mean, people can have moments when they’re feeling a bit odd or different, I know that… But for some reason, um… Well, sometimes she was just a little bit too odd. Like, like, um… I think the first time that really stood out for me was when she was a little freaked out about the demons? She kept insisting that it was all her fault, but no matter how much we asked, she wouldn’t tell us anything. And I also realized that for some reason I just couldn’t read her thoughts at all! I was really worried, since it looked like something was bothering her more than she could handle, so… I tried to use my [Gift] to maybe hear her a little better. I don’t know what happened, but um, there- there was a voice? It wasn’t Ren’s voice though. And then that’s when I passed out.”

The small amethyst boy had a look on his face as if he was truly uncomfortable revealing the story that he’d just revealed. Jean leaned herself against him closer in her support, but her determined eyes never left Noth’s as she waited for his response. Noth looked back and forth between both of them, feeling the clear waves of wariness and discomfort that the story elicited from both of them. He, too, found the story quite scary, and couldn’t quite shake off the idea that this might indeed have been a serious problem. It definitely merited a deeper look, and Noth was every bit willing to give it one. However…

“I believe your story, Helt, but how do you know that voice had anything to do with Ren?”