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"Kris… Are you up there?"
Kris looks left, right, spots a dresser and shoves the Soul into the drawer.
"Um, Kris… I…" Noelle has already come up the stairs at this point. She looks nervous and Kris feels their own heartbeat quicken as the two of them stand there, staring at each other.
"There's… something I'd… like to talk to you about."
And then she smiles, the corners of her mouth lifting ever-so-slightly.
"You know, just the two of us."
But, she still looks so scared.
"…If… if you don't mind, I mean."
Kris doesn't say a word as they stare. Their red eyes give no hint of acknowledging her words.
Noelle swallows, smiling nervously, "I'll… be in my room, okay?"
And then she opens the door, dipping into the dark room and closing it behind her.
Kris quickly grabs the Soul, slinks down the stairs and into the storage room where they shove it into an open box, hoping that it won't escape. They slam the door behind them, going back up the stairs again and into Noelle's room.
When they open Noelle's door, Noelle beckons them to her long, pink couch. Kris sits down at the end, almost as far away from Noelle as possible. They don't notice the menacing gleam of the Soul as it stares at both Kris and Noelle from the vent.
Noelle looks away from Kris, her large eyes quieting as she speaks. "To be honest, I've kind of been waiting for a chance for us to be alone all day."
Kris doesn't meet her eyes as they stare at the floor. They listen intently, but make no move to reply or acknowledge that they can even hear Noelle speaking, but she continues anyway.
"There's… something I want to talk to you about, Kris."
She looks up at them, trying to gauge their expression, but Kris gives her nothing.
Noelle looks down again, continuing, "I want to talk to you about… last night."
Kris looks up at her, their red eyes meeting her soft brown ones.
"Last night, I… I couldn't sleep. Every time I closed my eyes…" Noelle closes her eyes momentarily, as if visualizing that moment. "All I could see was snow."
Her expression contorts slightly, her eyebrows furrowing with the tightening of her mouth as her gaze grows distant. "I was terrified, Kris. Terrified it was all real. I went out on the porch to breathe and…"
Her gaze meets theirs again, her doe-like expression staring directly into Kris' red ones.
"That's when I felt it, a hand on my wrist. I froze and then I heard your voice—Kris' voice. You said, 'sorry for taking your watch, Noelle.' You said, 'it was all a stupid prank.' You said, 'Berdly is going to get better.' And you put the watch back on my wrist. You said, 'sorry for being weird at the hospital, Noelle.' You said, 'it was all a stupid prank.' You said, 'Berdly was going to get better'."
She tries to inch closer and her soft expression grows even gentler—as if that was even possible.
"…Kris, your voice, your deadpan, mumbly voice. Even if you sounded kind of weak and shaky… I don't know why, but it felt so long since I heard it. I even started sniffling!" And then she lets out a soft laugh.
"Kris, Kris, you're back…!"
Noelle smiles again, her smile no longer tainted in nervousness and fear. "Kris, thank you… well, no thanks for pranking me, but…" and then she becomes almost wistful again, "…Kris, can I… say something else?'
The Soul is no longer in the vent. The Soul, it—
Proceed?
"Kris…" Noelle inches closer. "Kris, there… there was something else you did. Something else… I have to ask you about. After you said all of that… you… took my hand and pulled… a thorn out of my finger." She is right in front of Kris at this point, close as can be, and Kris see just how brown her eyes are, just how fragile she looks, just how small she appears, despite towering over them.
"Then you said," Noelle's eyes knit together ever-so-slightly, as if confused, "You said… you said that when I saw you again… You said… not to mention you did any of this…"
Kris' arm twitches and then, their hand collides with Noelle's mouth, cutting her off completely. Bewilderment is etched on her face, but she quickly smiles and lowers Kris' hand.
"Kris, it's okay! It's just us!"
No, no, no it's not.
She continues talking. Kris can't move, can barely move to stop her.
"You just said not to mention any of that because it'd get…" Her face drops slightly. "…heard."
Kris' hand moves up again—a short, almost aggressive, jolting motion—smacking Noelle's mouth closed.
"…Kris… Kris, it's okay, it's just us."
█ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █
They look so scared, so scared of what You will do, of what You will do to her.
"Who…? Who's going to hear?"
Me.
"Kris…? K… Kris, your voice… it…"
She sounds so frightened, so terrified, so scared.
A little girl, beaten down until she's nothing but a fragile snowflake being blown away by the raging storm.
"Ha… ha… Kris, that's… another joke, right…?"
(That voice… how… the voice from my dream…)
Because it wasn't a dream.
Noelle screams and jumps back, a short distance now between her and Kris. Fear is etched onto her sweet face.
Do You still wish to proceed?
"S… Sorry, Kris… What did you say? I must have misheard you."
(No… there's no way they… they heard…)
(There's no way they heard… my thoughts.)
I heard.
Noelle trembles, inching backwards on the long couch.
"W… What are you talking about, Kris?"
Her eyes are so large, so full of fear.
"I… I didn't say anything!"
(It's impossible. That's impossible.)
(It's just a coincidence.)
It's not a coincidence.
She shakes like a leaf, staring at You.
And then, she swallows.
(If you can… hear me… Say "red" or "blue.")
Red.
Blue.
(Say… "green" or "black.")
Green.
Black.
(Say… say… "it didn't happen." Say "it didn't snow.")
Are You sure?
It happened. It snowed.
(You're… lying. You're lying.)
But You know she's not sure. You can see it by the way she trembles, by the way she closes her eyes, praying that this is all a twisted nightmare.
Noelle will get stronger.
"K… Kris? Kris, what did you say?"
Poor girl. Poor sweet Noelle.
Equip.
The thorn.
Kris fights, fights against Your will. They beg You to stop.
█ █ █ █. █ █ █ █. █ █ █ █.
But, they pick it up anyway. The thorn.
"K…Kris? Kris, what is that?"
Proceed.
Kris moves towards to her, inching closer.
"Kris… that's… not the thorn, is it?"
And when Kris doesn't say anything, she repeats herself.
"That's not… the… ThornRing, is it…?"
Proceed.
Kris moves closer again and Noelle, further.
"K… Kris… c'mon… you… you still…"
She looks so desperate.
"What about… what about last night? What about… Didn't you… want to protect me…?"
Proceed.
(Why… can't… I… move?)
(Why… can't I… look… away?)
You can feel Kris begging You to stop.
(NOELLE, DO SOMETHING!!!)
Her hand reaches out, her palm facing Kris as she stares, pleading them to stop.
But it's not them she should be pleading to.
"Kris, I really think I
"I mean I just
"I think I need to
"G-gosh, I think I have to
You grab her hand and her face drops. Her jaw slackens and she no longer says a word. You feel her soul plummet when You grab her and You feel Kris' rage swell within you.
Equip.
"K… Kris?"
But You're not Kris. And it's too late.
Kris can't do anything.
Crack.
You feel her subconscious shatter.
[YOU] did this.
They will Remember.