Noth awoke to his old room in the villa, with the bed just as he remembered it feeling. His mind was muddled with sleep and confusion, and as he slowly sat up he could feel the covers strangely being tugged off the bed by something. When he looked down he saw a bundle of ashen hair, messily done up in a little ponytail. As the sleeping girl kneeling at the side of his bed groaned from having been disturbed, Noth’s mind finally reminded him of the hazy events from last night. Yes, now it made sense how he’d ended up back in his old home. And no wonder Ren was here as well, since they’d stayed up so crazy late together talking. …But how did he end up in his bed? He was sure he must have passed out on the dining table.
The teen’s eyes scanned over his room, feeling a bit of nostalgia rush through him. How many years of his life had been spent in this room? He even felt nostalgic remembering how it used to look before his angel came as well, even though he felt like the memories should have made him at least a little upset. Perhaps he was growing up and finding a way past his traumas if he was able to think that way.
Speaking of his angel, was she still gone?
Even though he could clearly sense her existence somewhere through their bond, Serris was still nowhere to be seen. Should he be worried about this? There was a time she was gone even longer than now, but he’d been too out of it to really care too much then. Perhaps it wasn’t too big of an issue if she was off taking time to herself, but it was just so rare, and he couldn’t help how unused to it he was, and how uneasy it made him feel. Noth rubbed his eyes, trying to push what he felt to be too needy of feelings to the back of his mind, and deciding it was time to get himself out of bed.
Noth moved as stealthily as he could to not further stirr the sleeping girl clinging to his blanket. His movements were slow, and he felt an odd pressure on his throat as he tried to stay as quiet as possible. His eyes were locked on to her face, constantly checking that he hadn’t somehow messed up and woken Ren. It was so difficult for him not to sigh in relief when he finally made it off of the bed. And yet, now that he was here, what was he going to do about the sleeping child in front of him? He couldn’t just leave her there completely uncovered and in such an uncomfortable position. The easiest solution would be to quickly place her back down on his bed, but just the thought of someone other than him or his angel in his bed seemed weird to him. In the end he decided that the best course of action would be to gently pick her up and take her to her room, lest she wake up as confused as he did.
It took an inordinate amount of time, due to how slow he was going in order to not wake her up and how unused to picking up a child he was, but he eventually managed to cradle her in his arms and stand up. When he finally started making his way out of his room his movements were still slow and unsteady, but by the time he made it out of the villa he’d managed to find a more comfortable pace. Despite all the distance they’d covered, the small girl was still snoozing peacefully, looking oh so serene. One of the times that he took a quick peek down to make sure she was still sleeping he caught sight of something out of the corner of his eye which made him immediately stop. The way her hands were fisted made it quite hard to see, but there was a small bit of red hidden on one of her palms.
Noth stood there awkwardly for a small while trying to figure out how to get a better look at her hand, but both of his hands were already preoccupied holding her up. Eventually he gave up and decided to just try and get a better look once she was laying down, and hastened his way to her room. He passed by the dining room on his way and spotted Elillith and the other two children busy munching away at their breakfast. Elillith raised an eyebrow at him since she was the only one who could easily see the doorway, and Noth just lightly motioned towards Ren with his head before setting off once again.
Although it was an ordeal to get Ren in bed and covered without waking her up, the moment Noth lifted her hand to try and see where the red came from, the girl’s tiny ashen eyelashes quivered. She made a little noise as she awoke, and her hand escaped his gentle grasp to come up and rub at her eyes.
“Mmm… Noth? Good morning.”
Her sluggish voice made Noth chuckle, and he patted her messy hair like the dear little sister she was.
“Good morning, Ren. Did you sleep alright?”
“Uh huh.”
The smile on Noth’s face from her cute sleepy actions lingered for a short while, but eventually his visage turned to a small look of concern.
“And what about your hand? It looks like there might be blood on it somehow?”
His words seemed to completely freeze Ren for a moment, and she immediately woke up. She quickly curled her hand into a tight fist against her stomach, and her whole body seemed to slouch and furl like it was trying to hide and protect it.
“Oh, um, yeah… Af-after you, um, fell asleep, I... I went into the greenhouse and t-tripped and hurt it…”
Noth could tell that she seemed to be acting strange, but in his obliviousness he mistook the clear worry and fear in her eyes for pain. He frowned and came a tiny bit closer, speaking a little softer to the little injured bird in front of him.
“I’m sorry Ren. I’ll have to make sure the greenhouse gets a proper cleaning so you don’t trip again; I know how much you love spending time in there.”
Ren flinched at his words, her eyes growing a smidgen more guilty, and yet Noth still attributed it to pain. He once again slowly reached his hand towards her presumed injury.
“Does it hurt a lot? I could heal it for you if you’d like.”
Something seemed to dawn on Ren’s face at that, her eyes growing as wide as saucers.
“NO!”
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The small girl’s expression crumpled even further, and then she quickly looked down so far that Noth couldn’t even see her face anymore. However, he could make out the small tears that had started running down her face.
“No, please don’t touch it! It… it’s dirty, and… and ugly... and it doesn't really hurt. Please…”
Her pitiful voice felt like it was chipping at Noth’s heart. He had absolutely no idea what to do to console a crying child, and even though he desperately wanted to help her feel better, another part of him was urging him to run away from the situation all together. There was too great of a chance of him screwing up and making things worse anyways. Perhaps it would be better for him to retreat and ask Elillith to help the girl instead. Deeming that the best option, Noth quietly rose, choking out a quick apology to Ren and telling her of his plan. The only response he got was quiet sobbing. But as he grabbed the door to close it behind him, he could hear a small wavering voice call out to him.
“Noth, tha-thank you for always being so nice to me.”
The teen turned around and shot her what he hoped would be a reassuring smile.
“Of course, Ren.”
~~~
Noth once again found himself wandering around the mansion as if he had nothing to do. He was still put off by the idea of going outside where the townsfolk were, and if he decided to head back to the villa and wander through his nostalgia, he was concerned with where it might lead him emotionally. His mind was wandering far too easily at the moment for him to simply go read something, and after failing to take proper care of Ren and running away earlier he’d lost a good bit of his confidence in social interactions for the day. And so he marched through the halls, hoping it might help him to wander into doing the right thing. He’d done so for about a little over half an hour, just letting his mind roam and ruminate as much as it pleased, until it finally came to a decisive point. And the point was: Noth felt quite off without his angel around. Perhaps it was part of the bond they had, but with her gone from his side for so long he was beginning to feel wrong, like a piece of him had been taken and hidden away somewhere. It was as if he was hearing a song, but the main melody had been stripped from it.
Was this just loneliness, or was it something more? Noth really couldn’t be sure.
His bond was telling him that his angel was somewhere nearby, likely still within his territory at the very least, but it wasn’t allowing him any more fine tuned information than that. What could she possibly be up to? He could still feel her powers through the bracelet, as well as that strange bit of energy he’d received from the demons… But did that mean that he still had the ability to use them? Figuring it wouldn’t hurt to try and find out, Noth looked around for some inspiration for a quick wish, and his eyes landed on a nearby painting. It was a tasteful depiction of a family gathering around for a feast, possibly the family of the previous lord of this mansion. Maybe it served some kind of historical purpose, but Noth felt no sentimentality for such things. His hand reached out to touch the oil on the canvas, and as he stroked over it he searched through his thoughts for what he’d rather see. Oddly enough, his mind came up with the perfect picture rather quickly.
Soon the painting had been replaced with a lovely, almost realistic looking painting of his angel, dancing in the middle of a lush garden while holding hands with a skeleton. Serris looked absolutely angelic and ethereal, as would only be befitting considering what she was, and the skeleton was decorated with blossoming red flowers in its eyes and mouth, hinting at what it was to become. Yes, this was a painting that Noth had once often wished to make, hoping to paint it by hand one day, but lamenting his lack of skill. Finally, it was in his possession. And yet, somehow it sparked a desire to create all the other pieces of art he’d been keeping captive in his imagination until now.
Now quickly scrambling through the halls, Noth found another bland painting he didn’t care for, replacing it with a picture from his memory. His angel knelt next to him at a table, her arm draped across it. Her head rested gingerly on her arm, and her face looked up at him with a compelling confidence while also looking somehow as if asking for something. It was a sensual looking piece of art, while also showing off the sheer grace of its subject. Yes, he’d been right, this scene made for an amazingly picturesque feast for the eyes. His mind flew wildly through the things he’d seen in the past, trying to compare anything he’d seen before to the perfection of this image. The only thing that seemed to pop up again and again in the list of possible contenders was the scene of the lovely angel, knelt on the ground, crying like she was about to lose everything. The memory tugged at his heart strings, and made him feel an indescribable emotion. As he fumbled to put the emotion into words, a familiar feeling suddenly washed over him from his bond.
Serris was back.
The moment the realization dawned over him and he began to feel whole again, the angel’s graceful arms slitheringly slipped around him, loosely hugging around his collar from behind.
Her voice immediately brought a smile to Noth’s face. Yes, the piece that was missing had finally returned to him.
“I didn’t make up anything, it’s just something I remembered.”
“I refuse to say anything further on the topic. Besides, you were gone for two whole days, so I think I’m the one who deserves to be harassing you right now.”
Serris suddenly nuzzled him and squeezed around Noth’s neck super tight, making him choke a little bit. When he started tugging on her arm to signal to let him go, she finally giggled and set him free, placing a kiss on the top of his head before retreating. As Noth rubbed his bruised feeling neck, the angel lightly landed beside him, her gaze locked towards at the painting he’d made.
“Important?”
Her eyes slyly glanced at him, with a teasing expression on her face.
Noth just stared at her with an unimpressed face in response, and eventually she broke down into giggles before her smile suddenly grew wider, and somehow a shade more sinister.