Chapter Text
The storefront Noelle passed by was new in town.
What she remembered most from that day was how much it snowed, enough to completely cover the streets and houses, until everything was decked out in white, until she lost sight of the details. She had been in elementary at the time, tears still a bit fresh from the night before.
Usually, both her and Dess didn’t typically watch their scary movies on a school night, but what was the point of watching a horror movie marathon unless you don’t make it until the very end?
Maybe that was why Noelle stumbled a bit in her walk after school, taking a wrong turn from what should have been a routine path. The snow made it confusing, and Dess wasn’t here to guide her, needing to stay behind for her cross-country training. (She had never minded the cold when it came to that, of course.) But without her sister, Noelle had no clear direction on where to go, could almost barely see anything in the streets besides the snow.
The first sight she caught was the steeple of the town’s church, the Angel’s great wings splayed out to make an imprint against the sky…and then, right next to it, was a raggedy-looking storefront that she was sure had not been here yesterday.
The windows were empty, and the door was shut, yet she saw someone moving around inside, like a shadow. The snow hid the name of the store, drowning out its lights. Was it even open? The lampposts nearby seemed to be the only other thing to exist, decorative lights wrapped around their frame at the insistence of her mother’s orders.
Maybe she could buy her holiday presents early.
It was the moment that she opened the door, snowflakes coating her mittens, her nose nearly frozen, that she instantly knew the feeling that was regret.
“Hey, kid!” shouted a voice from across the store. “Looking to buy some rare tinfoil packs?!”
The voice was like an icepick, with how loud it was, how sudden, how frightening.
Yet she couldn’t turn away.
“Um, hello?” she answered back, hoofs clacking against a messily-tiled floor, as if… they had been ripped off, for some reason, so that she stepped on the dry foundation underneath. “I was just…um…looking in! Fahaha, I hope that’s okay.”
“Oh, you’re free to browse! But I can’t force ya!” The monster was smiling at her from across the floor, though she couldn’t recall ever seeing a monster look like they did, or talk like they did, or smile so, so often that didn’t just belong to a plain skull. For some reason, to this day, the details of that person in the shop were lost to her, like a smudged drawing where only the eyes and mouth were left.
She could only remember how they had such wide eyes, and a great and big smile.
They were like a shadow, moving from behind the counter suddenly, going to a certain box that was to the right. There were more such boxes on the shelves, on the floor, some of them opened, with an even greater number turned on their sides, spilling out their contents. Much of it was just plain styrofoam packaging, holding little-to-nothing else.
“But, can I interest you in, say…” the shadow turned, the smile widened, “everything we have in stock?”
Noelle looked around the store, seeing few objects out, looking as if the place had been picked clean. The fluorescent lighting up top continually flickered, with one of the lights not even working. There were wires sticking out of the walls, and dry plaster falling across the tiles like dust…
Even as she searched, all she could truly see was that wide and white smile, which had a strange power of keeping her inside instead of retreating for the snow.
But the snow was also too much.
“Come on in, kid! Don’t be shy! Why don’t ya greet the new man in town?”
It was only through those words could she grasp any other details about the salesperson…or the salesman, more accurately. She took only a step or two before he leaned over the counter, imprinting that smile into her memory.
“I-I just-”
“Angel! Looks like you’re in need of a little holiday miracle, aren’t you?”
She had no idea what he was talking about. She shook her head, the snow falling off her newly grown-in antlers, making the floor beneath her feet even messier.
“Hope you’re not only into window shopping!” He barely let her mumble another word, rummaging through some unseen contents of his boxes to then show to her. She heard the crinkling of plastic bags, the clatter of small objects falling to the tiles, but his smile never let up. “Check out what I got in store!”
Noelle peered into the bag he held out, which was as deflated as a popped balloon.
The stuff he offered her was… strange, like knock-off items you’d find at a dollar store, made specifically for the cheap uncle who didn’t want to splurge much at all on a kid’s birthday present. They were some stickers of mascots she had never heard of (Who was Pipisman??) a used sponge, several half-cut erasers, boxes of candy whose expiration date were well past due, and a few chipped pencils, which were at least twisted around a bit creatively. Though she still preferred her candy cane pencils.
The plastic bag also had a “HAVE A GOOD DAY” printed all over the side of it, but it was messy, as the dye of the print looked all smudged and wet.
“…I’m working on the packaging,” he said, startling her from her intense examination of his wares. “Will be ready in two weeks, tops!”
Another thing she noted from the bag was its smell. “Is… is that cologne?” she asked, covering her snout. She recognized the scent from her dad, but never this strong…
“Oh! Good nose ya got there, kid!” The salesman dug into the bag like a vulture, pulling out what looked like a car air freshener, but frayed around the edges. Was that another funny mascot? “One of a kind! Scratch and sniff, and you’ll be cruising in style!”
“But, I don’t drive…”
“Well, get it for your mama! Bet she loves the fragrance of a good man!”
Noelle really had no idea what he was talking about. But he shoved all the merchandise into her hands, so that she was forced to fully acknowledge their existence.
It all felt like it would fall apart at her fingertips.
The longer she stayed in this store, the more she didn’t like this place. It was so…empty, and the only thing that existed was this man right in front of her, with a face that she just couldn’t place.
Maybe it was her memories, trying to shield such a face away from her.
“Looking a little lost there, Angel. But I bet I know what will fill up that bleeding heart of yours!” The man shook, shivered, and smiled even more. He was moving towards the cash register (which she hadn’t seen before?) and pressed a bunch of keys on it with no discernable order or logic. “There’s nothing wrong in having a little splurge once in a while!”
“Um, that’s okay, I-” Noelle curled her hands around the handle of the plastic bag, smiling nervously. It was her fault for coming inside this shop and getting this salesman’s hopes up. “I don’t think I have the money for this.”
The ringing of the cash register stopped. The man turned to her, his smiling never letting up.
“It’s not always about the money, you know.”
Noelle felt something drip onto her hand.
She looked down, at the poor and dejected bag she held, something that one could find at any thrift store, at any trashcan in a shady alleyway. It was the red lettering on the bag; it had been printed so badly that now the dye was spilling over the surface like liquid, staining her fingers. A bead of red trailed down, until it hit the floor with a soft plop. It stained the tile, turning it dark, darker. Realization hit her then.
Noelle had never seen blood before. It was only supposed to exist in-
The salesman reached out and took the bag away from her fingers.
"You need to pay the FULL PRICE for this one!" The smile looked like it was hurting him, his voice strained as if he was crawling on that dirty, rustic floor. “You CAN’T just get this for FREE!”
“But…” Noelle protested, the red staining her fur more and more. She didn’t want what he was selling, so why was she feeling so empty suddenly? Why did the bag leaving her hands left her raw and cold?
The red didn’t stop flowing. She tried to wipe it off, but it only stained her clothes, splattered against the ruined tiles.
“Do you get what I’m saying, Angel? Some things in LIFE aren’t FREE!” He was holding tight to the bag, squeezing it between his palms, strangling it until that same red stained his own hands. “But you don’t always pay with money!!”
What did he even mean? What did he want? The tone of his voice scared her; so clipped and desperate. He was staring at her so hard that she thought he would reach out and snap off her horns if she kept silent.
Noelle liked scary things, the fear that would make her cry and sniffle, that would make her heart pound – but not this.
Not this where she felt she couldn’t even breathe.
“I don’t have anything to give you,” she whispered, her feet doing the thinking for her and edging her back to the half-open door. Her back felt frozen. “If- if you need some help to start your business, I think my mother could-”
A slam of the counter, enough that she thought she saw the surface crack from where the salesman had hit it.
“Oh, Angel… You really are… too… kind…”
Noelle never knew what else he would say next, or just how wide his smile would get if she had stayed longer, the shadows in his store growing dimmer, the lights flickering on and off, the intervals between getting longer. Because her back hit the frame of the open door, startling her from whatever strange hold he had on her.
“I..I think I’m going to go home,” she could only say, her mind repeating it even more. (I need to go, I have to go).
She turned and left, tears starting fresh once again as she ran blindly from the shady shop into the infinite snow.
The blizzard that came a few days later had been the worst in years.
.
.
.
I don’t know where I am anymore.
The city, with all its lights, shone brightly above Noelle. When she first arrived in this strange world, it had all looked just so dazzling, like stars across the skies, but in so many different colors. Sometimes the colors were just so deeply saturated, flickering around her like the fireworks during the festival, that it would hurt her head. She had to close her eyes numerous times as she walked.
She wanted to go home, but she had no idea where home was.
And no matter how hard she tried, she just couldn't stop shivering.
“Kris…” she said out loud, more in reflex than with any other intention. She had said their name so, so many times during their walk through the glitzy streets. Through the empty streets. Through the cold streets. And even when they would barely say much back except for that one word, all she could do was keep calling out to them.
Calling out to them…for help? But, no. Kris had already helped her enough, hadn’t they? To become stronger. She was stronger.
She was so strong that she didn’t need to keep leaning on Kris anymore. She didn’t need to keep being a burden.
But then why are my knees shaking so much?
With her hands aching, bringing her back to that day her parents had feared she’d suffered from frostbite, Noelle stumbled. One of the strange mice had scurried at her feet, trying to get away. Its tail was already a glistening blue as it flopped to its side, reflecting the city lights in lurid shades of yellow and pink. Mist escaped her lips. She didn’t even remember moving her hands at all. They were still hurting.
Another stumble to the wall, and Noelle leaned against it as if it was a shoulder of someone else who was even stronger. It was the only way she could stay conscious. Because even in this wondrous cityscape, it still felt so cold, like the winter within a thick forest.
I have to keep going, she thought, her hoof taking another step, going through a puzzle that she barely paid any attention. I have to go home. I have to. I need to.
And then she was stepping on a…person?
“HEY !! THIS [[ Flea Market specil ]] SUIT IS ONE OF A KIND!! GET [[your]] OWN!”
Noelle swallowed back her scream, swallowed back her spell, like a living thing that was desperately trying to claw its way out of her throat. She stepped away, seeing the strange, discarded, dirty-looking doll that was now lying in the middle of the street.
Thoughts of blizzards, of hypothermia, of frozen tree trunks where the edges of it could easily cut through skin, flitted away at a new, different wave of fear, of concern.
“I’m sorry! I’m so sorry, I didn’t see you. Are you okay?” She ignored the ache in her hands and reached out to them. “L-Let me help you up-”
The…person??.. stood up in one motion, but not one that Noelle could ever call natural. It wiped away at its front with erratic gestures, with an arm shooting upwards as if they were swiftly reaching up to catch something, before going back to their original task.
They also moved away from her, though more so with annoyance then any fear of their own.
“HANDS OFF THE [[Limited-Edition Merchandise]]! CAN’T AFFORD T0 STAIN THESE DIGS. LITERALLY. BUT I AIN ‘T NO CHARITY CASE!! [[Call now to donate today]].”
The franticness of the voice brought Noelle back to a certain alleyway she had gone with Kris too… as well as the smell. She placed a hand over her snout, trying to make it seem like she was just rubbing it in case this person was looking. “Is…is it you? From…”
The lights were dim here, one advertising sign above having gone out, giving them ample shade. The black suit, the multicolored glasses, and the strangely rosy cheeks were new to her. But their voice was hard to forget, just without the reverb of a lonely and lost dumpster.
“OH!!! IT’S YOU, [You bright-eyed doe!]” The brisk tone from before changed completely to something much more placating, even if it still ran with sparks and stutters, and made her head sting from the electric texture of it all. “HOW’S OL’ SPAMTON’S [Commemorative Ring] WORKING OUT FOR YA?? [Enter Value Set]% SATISFACTION GUARANTEED!!”
Noelle blinked, then looked down to her hand, the one that ached the most. There was the band of metal around her ring finger, a sharper blue than the others she had worn. No decorative snowglobe on it this time, but barbed with several thorns all over its side.
Kris had helped her put it on. They said nothing when she flinched as the ring scratched up her fur and skin, when a small squeak had left her throat. But she had seen their eyes, and it had been the most frightening expression she had ever seen from them.
She pressed against the ring, softly, and just that little touch made it hurt. The ring was wedged in, making her afraid to take it off.
The little man called Spamton was looking at her with such expectation.
“It…It’s helped me,” she finally said. “It’s made me strong.”
Then he started to laugh. The sound of it rolled over her like an avalanche.
“EAHAHEHAE!! TOLD YA, KID!!" He was turning his head at an angle that shouldn't have been possible, but she heard the telltale creaks of plastic, of ball-point joints, of something that was so close to breaking. "THIS [[ Once in a lifetime!!!]] DEAL IS SOMETHING YOU'LL REGRET FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE!"
His jaw kept hanging off too wide as he spoke, as if it would fall right off and clatter to the ground. Noelle watched in half-suspension and half-fear, and could only breathe again once he finished talking.
“But… I’m not the one who bought it,” she told him, unsure why. Kris only got it to make her stronger, so…
“AH, YOU MEAN THAT OTHER LIGHT?? NER?? YOUR [Specil Half]!? THEY HAVE AN EYE FOR QUALITY! [A diamond is forever]!!”
Noelle was confused. There weren’t any diamonds on this ring that she could see, and Kris was only looking out for her. There was…nothing more than that.
Even when that voice filled her ears, there was nothing more than that.
“YOU LOOKING A LITTLE LOST THERE?? [Angel], [Angel].”
Noelle was still, but she was listening.
He’d called her that before, hadn’t he? Or maybe he had meant Kris...?
“Maybe… a little.”
Another laugh, but she was prepared for it this time, how the static-filled texture of it bounced against the empty alleyway. It reminded her of her dad’s old tv set they still kept around the house.
“GOOD JOB, KID! GOOD JOB! NEED A [Hand] THEN? SPAMTON LOOKS OUT FOR ALL OF HIS [[#1]] CUSTOMERS!”
“Oh, t-thank you, just…” She looked around, once again pressing a finger against the ring, and once again flinching at the pain. “I’m not a customer. It wasn’t me who bought this. I would have just-”
I wouldn’t have bought it. I would have just frozen you like I did with that other salesman.
The thought was so vivid that she gasped, barely able to keep it together. She… she would have…
But Spamton’s smile only seemed to grow.
“YES, THAT’S IT!! [My sweet little angel]. YOU GAVE SPAMTON A FULL-TIME INVESTMENT! NOW [You’ll pass the savings onto me!]”
Oh, she really had no idea what he meant. “You keep calling me that.”
“HUH ?? I DON’T KNOW YOUR NUMBER, LADY!”
She shook her head. “Angel. Why do you say that?”
And before she knew it, Spamton reached out to pat her head – as if she was some little stray puppy he had found off the streets.
“I KNOW AN [Angel] WHEN I SEE ONE! HAVEN’T YOU HEARD IT TAKES ONE TO KNOW ONE!?”
His hand moved through her hair a bit roughly, and his face was near. Noelle was rooted in place.
Why was this feeling…so nostalgic?
Wait, more importantly, how was he even reaching up this high??
It took Noelle an embarrassing moment to finally see that Spamton was standing on top of one of those cyber garbage cans. Oh. Made sense. He seemed to really find his element with trash receptacles.
“So, you’re an angel too, then?” she asked, confused, but interested. “I don’t mean to be rude, but… you don’t really seem like one.”
If Spamton took any offense, he didn’t show it. Instead, he gave her another firm pat on the head, then poked at one of her antlers as if suddenly pulled by childish curiosity before leaning back.
“YOU SHOULD KNOW THAT YOU [Don’t judge a book by its cover!] I’M OUT HERE, GIVING PEOPLE ONCE IN A LIFETIME DEALS. IS THAT NOT THE WORK OF [Heaven]? IS THAT NOT THE MARK OF US [And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest, End Act 5, Scene 2.]”
His barely comprehensible word salad didn’t clear up the issue by much, or at all. “Well, that’s-”
“ALSO I GOT THE HALO FOR IT, SEE???!” At that, Spamton was holding up what looked like a golden halo, but on closer inspection…was actually just a ring of cheese. A very thin ring of cheese that had been eaten in a very specific way to turn into that shape. Had he just picked that up off the ground?
Noelle wasn’t sure if she needed to be here anymore.
“Thanks for talking with me, um, Spamton?” She had barely caught his name but that sounded close to the noises he had uttered earlier. “But, I really need to be going now.” She tried to smile, even though she found the action so much harder to do. “I need to get home.”
As the strange, tiny man was preoccupied with trying to put the cheese halo on his head, he stopped, then raised his head to her with a sudden clacking noise, a little bzzt humming from his throat.
“WHAT A COINCIDENCE, [Angel]. I’M ON MY WAY HOME TOO! WE SHOULD [Collaborate] AND GO HOME TOGETHER!”
…Something about that phrase didn’t sit right with her.
“Ah, no, t-that’s okay. I can go home on my own! To…my own home.” Noelle took a shaky breath, looking past the small man’s surprisingly large head, and all the lights that still gilded the city streets. Even though such streets were so very empty. “I need to find my own way. That’s what… I have to do.” Noelle shook her head, and for a moment she thought the snowflakes would fall from her head.
“OH BUT IF YOU DON’T GO HOME WITH ME, YOU’LL MISS OUT! YOU’LL MISS OUT!” Another awful shaking, his grin so wide and painfully stretched, all as he seemed to move his feet in what could only be termed as a very weird dance. “YOU’LL MISS OUT!!!”
“W-what? I don’t-”
“MY NEW DEAL IS [[out of this world!!]] DOn’t YOU WANT TO KNOW?! GET A LITTLE [Kris Kringle] IN YOUR LIFE.” His glasses flickered, alternating between pink and yellow like a frantic traffic light that hadn’t been frozen just yet. “COME ON, [Angel]!!!”
“I…I’m sorry, I really don’t understand what you’re saying!” She tightened her fists, bringing in a new wave of pain. “I’m leaving now.”
And she was going to. She had taken her step and though she had no idea which direction was what, or if this dream would finally let her wake, she could at least get away from this strange puppet whose voice only kept hurting her head-
“LET ME SPELL IT OUT FOR YA, [Toots]! STARTS WITH A [D] AND ENDS WITH A [ecember]! AIN’T YOUR OWN PRECIOUS [[S O U L]] BEGGING FOR IT?”
She stopped, turning back to him.
The salesman’s glasses were so blinding.
“You… you know where she…”
“NOW COME ON! I’M AN [HonestMan]. ESPECIALLY TO ANOTHER FAIR [Angel]!” Spamton held out his hand to her. “I GOT MY SOURCES! I GOT MY CONNECTIONS! AND I GOT MY [[Unforgettable De4ls]! FINDING [Have you seen me?] IS AS EASY AS C++. YOU JUST GOTTA [Help Me. Oh God. Oh Please Help Me].”
Noelle raised an eyebrow. “Help you?”
“YES!! CORRECTAMUNDO!!” Spamton was jumping up and down, or was just vibrating very, very intensely. “ON OUR WAY HOME, YOU GOTTA HELP ME BECOME [BIG]. NOW, I CAN’T FORCE YOU. EXCEPT! YOU SHOULD!” If Noelle could guess, she thought Spamton was hyperventilating now. “YOU GOT TO. YOU GOT TO. YOU G0T!! AND THEN AFTER ALL IS SAID AND DONE, I’LL TELL YOU [Those wacky d1g1ts!].”
It felt cold, and everything around them seemed to turn even darker. Like the shadows that would stretch out from her bedroom window at night. Always on those nights when she couldn’t sleep, and let her fears take over until she saw the sunlight through the front gate in the distance.
“YOU CAN’T SAY [[N0!!!]] TO THIS DEAL!”
She-
She couldn’t.
She really, really couldn’t.
“If I go with you… you’ll help me?” She clenched her fingers, the pain fresh again. “You will?”
Spamton laughed again, a little sharper this time. But his glasses were bright, and they struck at her, rendering her immobile.
“I TOLD YOU I AM ALSO AN AGENT OF [Heaven]. NOW FOLLOW THIS [Old Friend] HOME! I CAN’T LOSE MY INVESTMENT NOW!”
At that, he grabbed her hand.
Not even Kris had been that forward.
Spamton leapt off the trash can, leading Noelle like an excitable dog that was pulling on their leash. “LET’S GET THAT CHRISTMAS BONUS!”
How easy it was to follow another person.
Spamton squeezed her hand, making her wince. He held the hand where she wore the ring.
She suspected he already knew.