Chapter Text
The school bell rings, punctuating the end of the day.
Monster Kid and Snowy are always the first to bolt out the door at the earliest chime. Running with bags in their teeth and beak respectively, it’s not really a surprise to anybody.
“D-don’t forget textbook pages twelve, eighteen, and... they’re already gone.” Ms. Alphys has a tendency to give up halfway through everything. She didn’t even finish writing Math on the chalkboard, leaving just “MA” to hang for eternity. This habit makes her the third to go, begging for whoever leaves last to make sure the door is closed and locked.
Next is Catti slinging Jockington over her shoulder, giving a curt nod to Noelle as the duo leaves to... hex a basketball or something??? She isn’t quite sure what the two do for fun when Jockington isn’t doing track.
Berdly is a special conditional case based on if Noelle is joining a librarby study session. She gives him a wave and a quick shake of the head to signal today isn’t one of those days. His eyebrows raise. He almost looks concerned? That’s silly though! She’s a straight A student, and he’s a straight A+ student. Skipping once or twice isn’t gonna ruin them! Berdly huffs, balancing books on his good arm, and exits without pressing further.
Then, there’s Temmie... She doesn’t seem to leave. Like, ever. At any time of any day, there’s a 100% guarantee Temmie will be flopped on her desk staring at her egg until it hatches. Maybe she’s the one Berdly ought to show concern for.
Second to last is Susie who appears to be—
“...and that’s not what I was saying, dumbass! I was just checkin’ on you because, well... y’know! Everyone’s noticed something’s up with you and—”
Stop her. Stop her. Stop her. Stop her
“Ready, Krismas?”
Susie nearly falls out of her seat with how hard she jumps, “THE HELL?!?!” She flails her arms in every direction, nearly hitting Kris, before settling enough to notice the new conversation partner. “N-Noelle! Jeez, dude... I didn’t hear you walk up. Needa tie some sleighbells on you or something, heh.”
Two strikes already. Noelle leans forward, a cheery mask on full display, “Whatcha two talking about?”
Kris keeps their head glued to the floor, their hair substituting a face for the time being. Noelle’s glare turns back to Susie.
“We were uh... talking about doin’ more crime! Yeah. Can’t get enough of it and stuff... yeah. Goin to jail... again.”
“Sounds like fun, fahaha!” Noelle lied, “Well, if it’s not urgent then, Krismas has a LOT of material to catch up on from their class nap, so we really should get going...” she starts tugging their hand along.
“Actually, uh,” Susie interjects, “Kris didn’t sleep through class this time and me and them already made plans to... do crimes... today. Yeah.” It’s hard to believe this is the same lizard girl as the sharp-edged one from weeks ago but seems like Noelle’s daggered eyes are cutting deep.
“Oh, well, um, we’re still partners for the group project, and I’d like their help so...” she slowly lifts Kris from their seat.
Susie puts a claw on their shoulder and shoves them back down. Kris jolts from the sudden shift in trajectory.
Susie growls, “They’re BUSY okay?!”
Strike thhrrrtwoandahalf. Damn this stupid crush rearing its head no matter how many times she’s tried to kill it.
Noelle manages to mask the frustration at her core into a more fearful, concerned look. Doe eyes on full blast.
Works like a charm. Susie loosens her grip as soon as she catches a pair of sad doe eyes staring into her. “Sorry... just... you can work on it some other time, kay?”
Noelle cocks her head, laying the cluelessness on thick, “Is something wrong?”
Susie grits her teeth, the sound reminiscent of revving a chainsaw, “Noelle, c’mon. You’re not an idiot. People’ve been talkin about you and Kris getting... close. And it hasn’t been GOOD talk, yeah?”
“Faha... what’d be wrong with me talking to Krismas again? I’ve known them since we were kids! Of COURSE we’re close!” Say it. Say it to her face you coward. You sorry excuse for a friend. Everyone seems AWFULLY chatty until they notice Noelle is actually listening.
“I... I dunno. I wasn’t payin attention to the words, just that they sounded bad.” Looks like Susie’s no different. She shifts around in her seat, trying to avoid the glassy texture of Noelle’s cheerful eyes.
“Well then! It’s fine! There’s no problem after all!” Noelle chimes before leaning close. Her hand grips Susie’s jaw to ensure she can’t look away. Empty, joyless pits in the shape of eyes look down on her prey. “So stop looking for one.”
A shiver travels from Susie’s head to Noelle’s hand. How was this girl intimidating to Noelle in the first place? It’s pathetic, really. She’d laugh in Susie’s face if there weren’t bigger priorities right now. “What’d you REALLY tell them?”
Susie musters the last of her confidence together to try and match Noelle’s glare. It’s not very effective. “W-was just sayin maybe Kris should take a break from you is all. DEFINITELY now that I’m seeing this weird—”
Noelle doesn’t bother listening to the rest. That was strike three, after all.
In practically less than a blink of an eye, Noelle releases Susie and has Kris halfway out the classroom. One perk of them never packing any school materials is how it’s very easy to “grab and go” when Noelle loses her patience.
SLAM. SLAM. SLAM.
The first is the sound of the door closing. The second is Kris’ body against a locker. The third is Noelle shoving her hand into their chest, violently extracting the heart shaped thing from inside.
“Disgusting.” She always takes a second to look at it, trying to spot the wretched creature residing inside, icing her hatred for it deeper and deeper. She can’t bear looking at it long and slams the demon into the metal lunchbox Noelle has on hand at all times.
Kris heaves the wind taken out of their sails from the, now daily, ritual. They mutter some gratitude.
Noelle pins them tight to the locker, gripping Kris’ fringe to jerk their eyes into contact. “Thanks to who and for what, Krismas?”
They bite their lip. Kris thanks Noelle for their... freedom.
Red eyes meet brown. Squinting and shaking and shivering float between the looks shared by prisoner and warden. “And?”
Kris’ face pales. Noelle rolls her eyes before tilting her head toward the classroom door. A flicker of recognition and relief.
Kris also thanks Noelle for saving them from Susie.
She loosens her grip to pat them on the head, “Good! Good. It really is AWFUL how she bullies you all the time!” Noelle scoffs, “I mean, acting like she’s your friend right in front of ME?!? It’s hard to say which of us she’s being crueler to, fahaha!”
Kris shivers into a nod, silently chuckling along. Noelle finds it adorable how easy it is to read her human. It’s even cuter how Kris STILL thinks they’re just playing along.
It’ll be fun to make them understand the truth.
“But forget about her. We’ve got things to do!” Dragging a gasping and rasping childhood friend in tow as the two break through the front doors of the school.
You are terrified.
You’re at a loss for what to do, the plan has flown off the rails, yet time seems to have stopped in its tracks, nonetheless.
It hasn’t literally frozen, but anything and everything that’d be relevant to the prophecy coming true has paused. The festival’s delayed “for the foreseeable future”, the internet’s still down, Jockington doesn’t have a lick of facial hair to his name...
Azzy isn’t back.
And nobody is saying anything about it. A passing notice, a soft mention, and a quick dismissal of anything and everything related to the frozen state of Hometown. Everyone just keeps following their designated path.
Practically every day now, Susie makes an attempt to take you to Castle Town or have an impromptu sleepover at your place, or even just to hang out, but it’s all for nothing.
Noelle Holiday decides when the prophecy happens now.
Your soul is nothing more than a bargaining chip. The being inside’s in the same stasis as everything else. She plucks it out of you for as long as she can before dunking you in the ice bath of life when she shoves it back in. A never-ending cycle of stolen breaths and compressed air.
You’re her best friend. She’s your only friend. Any free moment is a moment spent in her presence. There’s an awful lot of time to make up for since drifting apart, after all.
You’re scared. You’re afraid and you hate yourself for being afraid of your oldest friend of all things. You hate yourself for still loving her despite all this. You hate yourself for all the feelings you’ll never get to share, because if you do, it’ll break the rules of the world worse than they already are. It’s still possible for the plan to go on as intended. As long as the variables don’t mess up too much, you can salvage this.
So, play along. Play along until you can stay true to your promise.
“Hey, Krismas?”
You’re hesitant, but you manage to look her in the eye.
“How are you feeling?”
You tell her the only correct answer.
“Scared? Scared of what?”
You tell her you’re afraid of Noelle Holiday.
Noelle laughs. Noelle smiles. Noelle leans in.
Noelle whispers.
“Good.”
~
“I had this crazy dream, and you were in it!”
“We were fighting all these enemies, attacking them until they ran away.”
“Every battle we won, I felt stronger. But... there’s something more, I think.”
“Watching them all run, run in FEAR, from me... it...”
“It made me think about something.”
“You know how I like scary things? Horror movies and stuff?”
“Killers and spirits aren’t afraid of ANYTHING! They’re the ones doing the scaring after all, fahaha!”
“Well, I had an idea.”
“What if I was the scary thing instead?”