Once again Noth had awoken. The peaceful scene of his angel sleeping along with him that greeted him was comforting, even if he knew it was all a ruse. He watched her for a while as she kept her eyes closed and stayed very still, her chest slowly growing and deflating repeatedly as she pretended. Perhaps if he didn’t know better he really would have believed that she had managed to sleep. Maybe if he weren’t so close to her that he could feel the lack of any air when she breathed out, he wouldn’t have felt any kind of disparity.
His angel had gotten quite good at pretending, but in the end she couldn’t betray her ethereal nature.
Something about realizing that such a powerful being was barred from something so basic felt sad somehow. Noth imagined that if someone hypothetically told a priest in the church that ‘The God-dess could never feel happy, no matter how much it wanted to’, that the priest might feel a bit how Noth felt right now. He was sure of what the response would be from someone who truly loved the God-dess; At first they might deny it, but if they found out that it was true, they would surely feel that the world was unfair, and pity the God-dess. Maybe they’d even want to help, but insignificant mortals could never manage to do anything for something so unreachable. The same was true for Noth. It’s not like he could simply wish for Serris to be able to sleep. No matter how powerful he felt with the powers he’d gained from their bond, in the end Serris was the truly powerful one here. His wishes were nothing compared to what she could really do. How could something so weak and reliant possibly ever hope to overcome something that a literal piece of a god could not?
Despite how simple and effortless sleeping may be for everyone else, it would forever be out of Serris’s reach. Despite how simple and effortless sleeping may be, Noth would never be able to help his closest companion do it, no matter how badly she wanted it. It put a bad taste in Noth’s mouth whenever he heard his angel lament over it, because it felt like it truly proved how powerless he was to do anything that really mattered for Serris. She’d always done so much for him from the first day he’d met her, and yet he never gave anything back.
“Serris.”
The teen called out when he could no longer stand the lonely, stuffy feeling that was pervading his chest. His angel opened her eyes wide and looked towards him. Her face held a beautiful yet slightly sad smile, but her body never moved.
Noth hadn’t actually had anything to say, he just felt like he didn’t want to see such a sad scene anymore. However, now that he saw the uncharacteristically sad smile on her face, he finally realized that she hadn’t been smiling at him with the same vigor as usual ever since she came back from the fight with the archdemon. Worry began to fill his heart, as did curiosity. He still hadn’t been told about what happened back then. She’d promised to tell him all about it, so wouldn’t it be ok if he asked? But then again she’d looked so sad for a while now, and hadn’t said anything about it to him yet. Would… would it only make her even more sad if he asked? Even if he found out that something had gone wrong, was it worth finding out what it was if all it did was hurt Serris? And what if it was something that he truly couldn’t help her with, or wasn’t allowed to know everything about? Would it be worth making her dredge up painful things if it all just led to disappointment in the end?
After much debate Noth decided to tentatively ask questions.
He would make sure that Serris was alright, but would not pry.
If it seemed like things were going in a bad direction, he would swallow his curiosity and drop everything.
“Are… Are you alright?”
“Is there anything… that I can do to help?”
For the first time in a long time, Serris’s face looked truly troubled. She seemed to be desperately searching for something she could say, but eventually she just settled on giving him a strained and awkward smile.
<...I guess you could hug me? I’m always the one who hugs you first. Maybe you could show me a bit of affection more often like you do with the kids?>
“Huh?”
Now that Noth thought about it, he didn’t really initiate contact with her very often. Usually he only touched her looking for some form of comfort or consolation after something scary happened, although there was the one time that he’d hugged her first because she’d been crying. It was hard for him to remember a time that he had ever given her the kind of sincere physical affection he gave to the children. Why was that? Wasn’t she also very precious to him? Perhaps it was because she was always clinging on to him that he’d never gotten the idea to cling on to her? But the idea of him trying to stick on to her like she always did to him was very repulsive in his mind. It seemed like much too girly of a way of expressing himself for Noth.
“Erm, well then…”
He struggled to think of a way to go about hugging her that wouldn’t feel awkward or wrong. As a vague fidgety look of discomfort and confusion spread on Noth’s face, Serris slowly sat up while watching him. She could feel a teasing look growing on her face, but she bit her lip so that it wouldn’t show. She was eating up this wonderful dilemma she was watching him face. Deciding to add a bit of fuel onto the fire, she spread her arms out in a pose eager for the hugging, and tried to look a bit pitiful.
“Ghk-!”
Noth’s face almost looked pale for a moment as he flinched. He really didn’t know how to handle this! Why did he feel so uncomfortable with this when he barely even cared when she was the one doing the hugs? Maybe he was just too used to her constant public displays of affection? When he was younger he definitely didn’t care for it, so him getting used to it must have been the answer. Then would it be possible for him to get used to being the one who acts first? Ah but that’s just too embarrassing! But it’s also unfair for him to act so coldly to her when he’s always so close to the kids! Wasn’t she the closest person to him in the world?! Eventually his head began to hurt, and he gave up trying to think about it. The teen flung his arms out, closed his eyes, and clumsily hugged her. He made sure to turn his head away, thinking that maybe the hug would feel less awkward so long as their faces weren’t near each other.
The stiff and awkward hug was absolutely hilarious to the angel. Noth even seemed like he was trying to lean away from her to the maximum that his arms would allow. Maybe if her wings didn’t take up so much space, then his long arms would have given him a lot of room away from her even while they were wrapped around her. Her shoulders began to tremble, and she couldn’t help the tiny bit of sound that escaped. Eventually she couldn’t handle it anymore and burst out laughing, flinging her head back and bringing up a hand to wipe at her tearing up eyes.
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Noth’s eyebrows scrunched together when he looked back at her in surprise and saw how much fun she was having teasing him. He tried to stammer out a response in his defence, but he couldn’t seem to think one up. Seeing how wronged he looked, Serris quickly took a few calming breaths and suddenly grabbed his head and hugged it to her chest.
All Noth could do was pout and reluctantly hug her back. He was happy to have helped her in some way, but he didn’t really like the feeling of being made fun of. …Maybe if it was only her doing it then it would be okay. Serris stroked his hair and placed her cheek on his head. Her voice was so soft that if he couldn’t feel her jaw slightly moving against him then he wouldn’t have believed he’d heard it.
Serris’s words sounded so weak. Noth could feel a bit of pain and loneliness coming from them. If this was really what she needed, then he could get over himself and learn to be more proactive with his affections. He owed her at least that, didn’t he?
Noth pulled back enough to look up into her face, giving her a very determined look.
“I promise I’ll do my best. … But there’s just one thing.”
Serris tilted her head cutely, confused at what he might be talking about. Noth shot her an even more serious look and slightly narrowed his eyes as if in thought.
“How will I know if it’s something you can’t answer?”
Once again the angel burst out laughing.
~~~
Jean knocked on the door of a small dingy hovel. It might have once housed a family, but it was clear from the amount of dilapidation and neglect that people had long since abandoned the place. Her knock was only met with silence, and after a minute without an answer she looked over towards the amethyst boy who was draped against her shoulder with a look almost reaching agony plastered onto his face. He painstakingly nodded his head, and the girl quickly looked back at the door with an annoyed face.
“Hey, I know you’re in there! You’re not fooling anyone, you know!”
There was a slight rustling sound inside the house, but still no response came from behind the door.
“Ugh, really? Look! You have 2 minutes to open this door, or I’m getting someone to break it down. If you don’t want your crappy hiding place to come crashing down on you, I suggest you open. This. Door.”
Helt weakly looked in her direction with a disapproving frown. He’d told her many times that she shouldn’t use such vulgar language. Growing up next to the slums had taught her quite a few words not acceptable for children, and Helt who had grown up under the watchful eye of a semi-strict mother shuddered every time he heard such things fall from her lips.
“...Jean.”
“What?!”
Jean’s snappy reply came out as an almost hiss, since she was trying to keep her voice down so as not to alert their foes. Helt, taking the hint, rolled his eyes and looked at her pointedly in lieu of answering. Jean’s cheeks puffed up when she realized what he was trying to say, and her voice grew just a tad bit louder in indignation.
“How can you even care about that right now when-”
Suddenly the door opened up. Both of the children immediately stood up straight in wariness, and Jean quickly stepped forward to shield Helt.
“Huh? It’s just kids?”
“I told you that the voice sounded way too young. Just close the door back up and leave ‘em, we’re too busy for this.”
“Yeah yeah.”
The roguish looking man who’d opened the door started to close it back up, but Jean quickly stuffed her arm in the way so that it couldn't shut.
“Hey! You’re being really rude right now!”
“What?”
The man quickly opened the door back up enough to glare at the small girl, and for the first time he really looked at her. She was too gorgeous and well dressed to just be some girl from this podunk nowhere town. The only people that could possibly afford such well-made looking attire would either have to be from out of town or…
“...Didn’t they say that the lord had some children he brought with him?”
The woman in the back of the room finally came forward. She looked like one of the townspeople that Jean had met before, during the time when Noth had run around repairing all the houses. However, if Helt was correct, then this person was a fake. She looked at Jean with a calculating smile on her face, and then peeked around the girl at Helt.
“Yeah, they did… Three of them in fact, and it seems like two of them came right up to our doorstep. Hey little guys, did you want to come in and talk to us?”
The obvious change from suspicious to sweet made Jean’s eyes narrow. Did this woman think that she was the kind of idiot who couldn’t see the easily readable change? She rolled her eyes and huffed, taking Helt’s hand and bringing him inside with her. Once they were finally inside with the door firmly closed, Jean sought out a sturdy enough chair and sat Helt down so that he could rest. She leaned in gently and placed her forehead against his as she whispered to him.
“Thanks for hanging in there for so long. Get some rest, it’s my turn now.”
Helt gave her a weak smile and closed his eyes; He wouldn’t miss a single thing without them anyways. Besides, somehow seeing through everyone else’s eyes took a small burden off of him.
“Now, then.”
Jean turned to the two rats who were slowly approaching her with their dubious looks. Her eyes grew just a bit wider as she let her [Gift] attack them both. She was still a bit weakened from her previous attempt at charming Helt, but she was at least plenty strong enough for these nobodies. It barely took any time at all for her to feel the hooks of her charm sinking into them.
“I think… Shouldn’t the both of you be kneeling right now?”
Without a word, both of the spies kneeled down with a loud thud. They didn’t even flinch once from the pain of the impact, only keeping their eyes trained on the beautiful girl in front of them with enraptured looks on their faces.
“Perfect.”
Jean walked leisurely towards them, stopping close enough so that she could meanly tug on the hair of the man who was rude to her. With that little bit of vengeance out of the way, she began to slowly circle around them, crossing her arms as she pondered all the questions she could get them to answer. The more information she could get out of them before she sent them packing, the more she could be of help to Noth. A small smile floated on to her face when she thought of Noth praising her, but she quickly did her best to erase it. Even if no one but Helt would remember it, she didn’t want to show such a childish side in front of others. She cleared her throat and stopped in front of the hynotized rats.
“Alrighty then… Let’s see how much you can answer.”