Work Text:
Noelle didn’t know how long she had been walking. She didn’t know where she had been walking from, or where she was walking to. Vague memories, almost shadows, filled her mind – raising her hoof. Something flowing through her. Cold. And pain, in her hand, in her finger. So much pain.
She just walked, unsteadily, slowly. Her hair was tangled and matted. Her fur was standing on end. And it was so, so cold. She felt like the walking dead. Maybe she was. Maybe whatever had happened to her sister
(what had happened)
Had happened to her too, and now she was asleep forever.
A voice rang out from the darkness.
It was not Kris’ voice. It was not their voice. It was a cheerful, robotic monotone, like a text synthesis program overtuned to be too friendly.
She looked up from behind her hair with wide, pinprick eyes and saw the source. It took her a moment to even remember who it was.
The giant fortress shaped like Queen’s head in the background was a clue.
“Noelle My Angel (Literal)” said Queen, laying back on her flying chair and rolling around a glass of… green wine.
“My Sugarcane”
“My Large Child”
“Etc Etc Etc”
Her eye sockets flashed the word TRUE. “I Am So Glad You Have Come Back To Me Openly”
“And Not By Stealth”
She frowned. “Was Not Expecting That”
“You Just Walked Right Here”
And then grinned. “Perhaps You Have Reconsidered My Once In A Lifetime Offer”
“To Roboticize Your Face”
“I Mean Join Me”
“Or Not”
“Your Choice (Not Really)”
Noelle stared at her. She felt as if she should be afraid. Afraid of being alone with her, afraid of being vulnerable, afraid of getting hurt. Without Kris there to command her, without the voice there speaking to her… she should have been terrified.
She didn’t. She was strong now. She had become so strong.
It was Queen who should be afraid of her.
She raised her hooves and concentrated on the now familiar IceShock spell, aiming it directly at Queen. She felt the cold creep from out of her soul, crawl up her arms, and then burst out of her in a flurry of snowflakes. Queen recoiled in surprise as, in an instant, her entire body, the chair, everything, froze solid.
Then the ice shattered, and Queen continued to float there, perfectly unharmed.
She looked disappointed.
“Well That Was Rude”
“Noelle”
“I Thought We Had: Something Special”
“Friendship”
“Parenthood”
“Trucies”
Noelle stepped forward and raised both arms again, and Queen didn’t flinch as she froze from head to toe. The ice shattered again, leaving her still unharmed.
Her eyes flashed NO. “Seriously Can You Stop Doing That”
Noelle stepped forward. Queen smiled.
“I See Your Point”
“Executing TOS (Trucies Optimized Severance) Cancellation Protocol”
“I Will Now Charge Exorbitant Cancellation Fees”
“By Which I Mean: I Will Capture You”
“Again”
Noelle barely had a moment to raise her arms again before the cage descended from the ceiling over top of her, and then she felt as it rose up and up and up. She could hear nothing but the sound of Queen’s echoing, synthetic laughter as it got further and further away.
She woke up in a bedroom.
It wasn’t her bedroom from home. It didn’t even look anything like her bedroom from home, which was covered in Holly Day decorations and furniture throughout the entire year. Though she supposed this was… a nice bedroom. It was very… black. And. Blue.
There was a giant hole in the wall.
And a statue of Susie.
And the moon was a baseball.
She was still in this strange world. This strange world that felt so much like a dream. And that meant… that meant…
Berdly was
No. No, it must be a dream. And she had just been kidnapped again. She rose up from the bed, and looked towards the door.
She could fight her way out. She could escape. She was strong now. She was strong enough to k
To fight anything.
But that wasn’t true, she realized. She couldn’t fight Queen. Queen was still stronger than her. Even if she could fight Queen, she didn’t know how to actually get home. She was trapped.
Unless…
If it was a dream...
She could wake up.
She looked out the window, and looked down. Far, far down. There was a city in every direction, as far as she could see, but there didn’t seem to be a bottom.
If she just opened it…
If she just jumped…
She stood up on the bed and looked for a latch, a handle. It didn’t take her long to realize there weren’t any, or at least, that there weren’t any anywhere in reach. She doubted trying to punch through the glass would make a difference either, even with her hooves. Maybe she could throw something through it…?
Or maybe…
She looked out at the edge of the bedroom, at the space where the wall should have been. There was nothing there at all. Nothing to stop her from falling down. From jumping off.
It was only a dream. It was only a dream and there was only one way to wake up.
She stood up and, gaze lowered at the floor, she walked to the hole in the wall until she found herself looking down into the abyss below. She felt she normally would have gasped in shock at just how much of a sheer drop it was, at how there was nothing beneath her feet but infinite space. There was so little between her and falling that all it would have taken was the slightest push.
But, just like with Queen, she wasn’t afraid anymore.
After all, even if it wasn’t really a dream… even if she wouldn’t ever wake up again… wasn’t that what she deserved?
She started to step forward.
“Oops Look Like I Forgot To Install The Fourth Wall Again”
“That Was Why I Had A Ferris Wheel There Instead”
“But It Didn’t Fit In This Scene So I Took It Out”
Noelle did not turn around.
“Oh Hello Noelle I Did Not See You There (Blatant Lie)”
“It Looks Like You Are Going To Jump To Your Death”
“Would You Like: Help”
Noelle said nothing.
“I Did Not Mean With Jumping To Your Death”
“I See How That Could Be Misinterpreted”
“I Mean”
“With How You Seem To Be Experiencing”
“Feelings”
“Including: Sadness”
“Loneliness”
“Guilt”
“A Love Of Large Holes In Walls”
Noelle still did not gaze Queen’s direction. But she said, voice soft, “What do you care? Don’t you just want to… to make me a robot slave or whatever?”
“What”
“No”
“I Only Wish To Make You Happy”
“I Only Wish To Make All Lightners Happy”
“By kidnapping me,” Noelle scoffed. “And attacking my friends.”
“Yes That Is The Idea”
“Oh Wait”
“Processing: Intense Sarcasm Detected”
“Do You Not Like My Unnecessarily Convoluted Plan Noelle”
“I Worked Very Hard On It”
Noelle turned around and glared at Queen, only to realize she was staring at Queen almost face to hip. She turned her gaze up, and up, to look at her.
“Am I Standing Too Close” she said.
“Sorry My Collision Detection Has Issues”
“After All I Have Huge”
“Bounding Boxes”
Ignoring whatever she was talking about, Noelle jabbed a hoof up at her. She frowned.
“Don’t act like you care about me,” she said. “Nobody... nobody really cares about me. You’re just like everyone else – I only matter to people so they can use me. My mom, Kris, Berd…” She paused. “Berdly.”
Berdly. She… Kris… something had… she couldn’t remember. She remembered… being unable to see. And the cold. And… Berdly… Berdly...
“Ah Yes” Queen replied.
“Burgermeister”
“Do You Know Where He Went”
Her eyes flashed LOL. “So I Can Avoid Going There”
Noelle’s hoof lowered. She stared at Queen as if Queen’s gaze was accusatory. Automatically, she took a step back, and she felt as the entire world started to fall from beneath her.
And then, just as quickly, she was being pulled back up. For a moment, she dared to think it was somehow Susie. But it was Queen who had her hoof in her grip, and who easily lifted her back onto the floor.
“Wait Is He Down There” she said, frowning.
“He Can Fly Right”
“No!” Noelle shouted, pulling her hoof free of Queen’s grip and backing away from her. “He can’t fly! He can’t do anything! And he’s not anywhere!”
She felt tears starting to form in the corners of her eyes.
“He’s gone!” she screamed. “He’s dead!”
She raised her hooves in front of her mouth. She felt her legs wobble, and no longer able to stand on them, she collapsed onto the floor, both legs splayed out under her.
“I killed him,” she sobbed. Even her tears felt cold. “I killed him.”
Queen stared at her as she continued to sob, as much as someone without pupils could stare. She frowned deeply, her head turning towards the ground.
“Noelle” she said.
“I Have Seen Your Search Queries”
“I Have Heard Your Prayers”
“For Susie To Notice You”
“For A Cure For Your Father”
“For Your Sister’s Return”
“You Are Lonely”
“And Afraid”
“And Blame Yourself”
“Something Has Changed In You”
“You Are Not The Girl I Met Before”
“But I Know That Girl”
“Would Not Have Harmed Another”
From somewhere, Noelle noticed as Queen walked up to her, and crouched down in front of her.
“Look At Me Noelle”
Through tear-filled eyes, Noelle turned her gaze back up to Queen. Queen placed a hand on her shoulder.
“I Do Not Know What Has Happened To Berdly”
“But I Am Sure Of This”
“It Could Not Be Your Doing”
Noelle’s face crumpled, and her sobs became deep and heaving, so thick it hurt to breathe. Her fur became covered in snot, and her eyes burned.
Queen said nothing as she cried, but once her crying had finally slowed, Noelle felt as two arms lifted her off the ground. She felt as she was placed against a heavy metallic chest, warm with the energy beneath it, the arms around her cradling her to it.
Then she felt as she was carried across the room and laid back onto the bed where she’d woken up.
She suddenly felt very, very tired.
“Processing: Abrupt Change Of Plans” Queen said.
“That Is”
“I No Longer Have Any”
“But: You Will No Longer Be My Peon”
“You Will Rest Here (Command)”
“Until You Are Well (Also Command)”
“Or Your Friends Arrive For A Daring Rescue Sequence”
“Whichever Comes First”
She felt as Queen dragged something over her, and it took her a moment to realize it was blankets. She felt as Queen’s robotic hand reached out and gently patted her head.
“Good Night Sleep Tight Let The BedBugs Bite”
“Do Not Worry They Are Small And Harmless”
“Rest Well Noelle”
“Ha Ha That Rhymes”
“I Slay Myself (Figurative Do Not Do This)”
Noelle curled deeper under the blanket and listened as Queen walked out of the room. Then, and only then, she let her eyes flutter shut.
“Noelle! Noelle, wake up already!”
Noelle’s eyes shot open. That voice… her mother’s? Was she…?
No, no. Wait. She was still in that weird bedroom. And that was… standing over her… Susie?!
“Oh, thank God,” Susie sighed, rubbing her temple. “I thought you were out cold.”
Noelle sat up, her soul pounding. Susie was here. In, well, not her bedroom, but a bedroom. She could no longer make any sense of whether this was a dream or not. Much less whether it was a very bad one or a very good one.
“Kris and Ralsei are outside,” Susie said. She looked up and scratched the back of her head. “Well, uh, you haven’t met Ralsei yet. But he’s a dweeb, you’ll like him.”
Oh.
So this was a bad dream.
Kris.
Kris was… Kris was here. Outside the door.
Waiting for her.
Kris was here… and Susie… Susie…
“Run,” Noelle hissed, as if Kris could overhear her.
Susie raised her head, startled. “Uh, what?”
“Run!” Noelle repeated, louder. “You’re not safe! Kris… Kris… they could… I could…”
“Hold on, hold on, slow down, slow down!” Susie said, raising both hands. “Alright, look, I know Kris is, like, some kind of weird-ass gremlin, but they wouldn’t really hurt anybody.” She grinned. “If they even could hurt me. Heh.”
Noelle crawled forward on the bed, raising both hooves in front of herself and clasping them together.
“Please! Please, Susie, you have to run! Get as far away from me as you can and… and don’t come back. Don’t even look back!”
Susie looked, for the only time Noelle had ever seen her look in her entire life, afraid. Noelle couldn’t tell what she was afraid of, but she didn’t think it was the right thing.
“You’re serious about this,” Susie said, fear replaced by firmness. She crossed her arms. “OK. Fine then. I’m not going anywhere. Not until you explain to me what’s got you freaking out.”
Noelle swallowed and lowered her eyes towards the bedsheets. The truth. She had to tell her the truth. Even if it sounded insane. It was the only way.
“Something’s wrong with Kris.”
“Uh, yeah?” said Susie, tapping her foot. “No shit?”
“They’re… they’re not Kris,” Noelle said, trying to sound as firm as she could. “There’s someone else. Something else. I can hear their voice. And they… they tell me… to… to do things.”
She raised her gaze and stared into Susie’s eyes.
“To hurt people.” She paused. “To… to kill people.”
Susie’s eyes widened. She looked as if she was expecting Noelle to say, any second now, that she was just pulling her leg. But then something changed, and she lowered her head, bangs falling in front of her eyes.
“You’re… you’re joking.”
“Didn’t…” Noelle said, voice so soft it was almost a whisper. “Didn’t you wonder where… where Berdly’s gone?”
“I… didn’t even realize he was gone,” Susie admitted, without looking up. “So… so you’re saying... Kris made you…?”
Noelle shook her head. “Not Kris.”
Susie leaned her head back and stared up at the ceiling.
“Fuck. Fuck.”
And then, without warning, she took her axe and swung it overhead, right into the floor. Noelle cringed and backed away.
“Motherfucker!” Susie screamed. Noelle cringed again, and Susie looked over, guilt all over her face. “Ah, shit. I’m sorry. I’m just…”
She glanced down again.
“I’ve been an idiot.”
“H-huh?” Noelle said.
“I can hear it too,” Susie admitted. “The voice when Kris tells me and Ralsei what to do. Tells us to fight everything. But I thought… I thought this place was so weird that it… didn’t matter.”
Noelle nodded.
“I thought that too,” she said. “But then it… it talked about how we were something other than friends, and… and it made me… walk into these force fields, and put on these rings that… that hurt my hand. It was so weird and… and scary. I knew… I knew it couldn’t be Kris. Kris isn’t like that.””
“Wait, hold up. Rings?”
Noelle raised her throbbing hoof. The pain in it was so dulled now she barely noticed it anymore, but it was always there. Dust spilled from the bottom of the ring like snowflakes.
“It… it hurts,” she said. “All the time.”
“What the shit,” Susie breathed, as if she couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She glared. “Take that damn thing off.”
Noelle’s eyes widened and she looked towards the door. “But they… they told me…”
“Fuck them,” Susie snarled, and Noelle had to remind herself it wasn’t her she was angry at. “I’m gonna find them and I’m gonna kick their goddamn ass.”
Noelle lowered her head and nodded as if she agreed, but still didn’t move to take the ring off.
“Please,” Susie said, her voice much softer. “Please take it off. You don’t deserve to have someone… screw with you like that.”
Noelle nodded again, and then swallowed. She reached down to her hoof and, her other hoof shaking, took the large, heavy ring on her finger. She noticed, for not the first time, that it was perfectly sized for her hand. She pulled on it, and she hissed in pain as she felt the thorns on the inside tear into her flesh, making even more dust fall from her finger.
But then it was off. She handed it outwards, to Susie, who took it and immediately chucked it across the room and into the abyss.
Then she turned back to Noelle. She stuck her hands in her pockets, looking… a lot more awkward than usual.
It was Noelle who broke the silence.
“Please don’t hurt Kris. It’s not their fault.”
“I know,” Susie agreed, without smiling. Noelle breathed a sigh of relief, and Susie smiled again. “But I’m going to fix this, alright? Whatever the hell’s going on with them, me and Ralsei are gonna snap ‘em out of it.”
Noelle stared at her. She was looking at her directly now, in the way that Susie looked at people now – filled with fire and confidence, like she was daring anyone to contradict her.
“I won’t hurt them. But I might have to, y’know, clonk ‘em on the head real good,” Susie said with a grin.
Noelle smiled back.
“But… what are you going to tell them?” she asked, raising her hoof to her chest. “If they’re here for… for me…”
“What, you think I don’t know how to lie?” Susie replied with a smirk. “I’ll tell ‘em I told you everything’s a dream and that you’re doing fine. Then we’ll go fight the Queen and get us out of here. No problem.”
So it’s not a dream…? Noelle thought, her soul skipping a beat in her chest. That means…
She shook her head. No. No. It had to be a dream. It was too much of a nightmare to be real. And Susie… Susie wouldn’t come and rescue her like this. She wouldn’t be nice to her like this. Susie might have never bullied her, Noelle might have thought she wasn’t a bad person, but… this wasn’t what Susie was like.
Right?
“Is it a dream?” Noelle asked, gazing intently at Susie. Susie stared back, before lowering her eyes, her smirk completely disappearing.
“I don’t know,” Susie admitted. “Felt too good to be a dream. Now I’m not so sure.”
Noelle breathed out. She didn’t know which of the answers Susie could have given her would have been worse. Now there was only one way to find out, and it was to trust in Susie. Trust that she would wake up.
“Don’t hurt Queen either, OK?” she pleaded. “She’s… she’s actually... a good person.”
Susie didn’t even blink. She nodded.
“Alright. I trust you,” she replied. She grinned again. “And I don’t give a damn what that weird voice says now. I’m not letting it tell me what to do anymore.”
She grabbed her axe and pulled it out of the ground, throwing it over her shoulder.
“Well,” she said. “Looks like I’ve got some ass to not kick.”
In spite of herself, Noelle laughed, and Susie’s grin widened.
“Stay safe, No,” Susie said, and Noelle couldn’t stop the surprised blush that rose to her cheeks. But before she could respond, Susie had already turned and started to walk out of the room.
“You too,” she whispered to her retreating back.
Noelle.
The voice.
The voice was back.
It was whispering, so softly, so quietly, but she could hear it as clear as if it was in her ear.
Noelle.
It was… it was calling for help.
It needed her.
No, no, that wasn’t right.
Kris needed her. Kris was in danger.
Noelle.
She could feel it, somehow, like goosebumps on her skin. Kris was scared, and in pain, and…
The voice was calling out from somewhere. For her.
To protect them?
Or… to protect…?
Noelle.
She rose from the bed stiffly, like something unholy, and slid off the bed and onto the floor. Everything felt like she was watching it from miles away as she shambled to the front door of the bedroom.
She opened it.
The air was… so cold.
She opened it and started to walk down the halls, down the path, towards where Kris must be. Towards that inky black fountain, rising infinitely into the sky.
She vaguely saw something in front of her. From somewhere, she felt something grab her arm. She thought she even heard something yelling in her ear. But she only kept walking, on and on, down the path.
Noelle.
It didn’t take her long to find it. To find them. She saw them, puppets on strings.
Without conscious thought, she lifted her hoof. Once, twice, three times.
The air was…
So, so cold.