Work Text:
Something was wrong.
The city, a sprawling mass of wires, ads, programs and vehicles, was always so lively. The sounds of the city were endless- honking cars, electrical buzzing, idle chatter, spinning teacup rides. Everything was silent now, aside from the howling noise of wind, and the rumble of Queen’s own car.
It never snowed in Cyber City. The water would seep into the electronics and things would malfunction, so it was a blessing it didn’t. Queen knew of the concept of snow, of course- Lightners would look it up sometimes. She’d never seen it, though.
It was snowing very hard, now.
Everything was blanketed in white. It was hard to drive on, but she’d rather not have to walk everywhere, and her rocket chair ran out of fuel faster than the car.
Noelle and the bird boy were missing, and she had to find them.
Her plans required a Lightner. Darkners couldn’t make fountains, so one of them would have to be the new Knight. But she didn’t have entirely selfish goals.
She liked Noelle. Noelle shouldn’t be out here alone in the cold.
Her scanners swept across the roads as she passed, but she couldn’t find any signs of life. It was foreboding. She could only scan so far at a time, with the reduced visibility in the snow, and she was driving slowly to avoid missing anything. She’d much prefer to quicken her pace- if Noelle was in danger, it wouldn’t do to keep her waiting for the situation to worsen. But if she went too fast, she might drive right past her, and she’d be left going in circles.
Some of the shops’ signs still read ‘open’, but they looked empty. Like the Addisons had left without bothering to close up. Some of the doors were covered in frost or iced shut completely.
A ghost town, some might say, though that sounded vaguely offensive to ghosts.
The snow got worse, suddenly. Wind battered against the windows. Queen’s scanners strained to see anything through the curtains of white. She drove-
And her car skidded on ice, sending it crashing towards a wall.
She hastily exited the vehicle as it spun out of her control. She heard the loud smash interrupt the quiet stillness. Her boots landed in the snow and she hoped she could survive out here but she’d never walked through snow before. She’d never seen snow before. It was thick and tall and she had to take awkward, forceful steps.
She should probably head back in the direction of her mansion. If she couldn’t survive out here long, she should head towards safety right away. She spun around to head back, and had to do a double-take as her scanners tried to lock on to something.
Someone was in the depths of that snowstorm. Where the snow was heavier and harder to see through, she could see the faintest silhouette.
Oh, thank the Light above, someone was still standing in this empty city! She walked through the snow to approach them, joints unpleasantly stiff and cold. As she approached, she saw antlers, golden hair, a white dress, and she gasped when her scanners finally recognized the face.
“Noelle!” She exclaimed, loud as she could in the wind. She apparently went unheard, as Noelle’s expression did not change, eyes vacant and tired as she shambled forward. She looked like she’d been out in the cold too long, coated in snow, clothes wet, shivering despite her thick fur.
Queen tried to move faster, but her mobility was limited enough that it made little difference. Noelle wasn’t moving quickly, either. She looked like she was sleepwalking, like she was caught in a dream, unaware of her real surroundings. Queen had a feeling she was wide awake, though, and the thought was unpleasant somehow. Finding her asleep in the snow would be much worse, surely, but the idea that she was witnessing this in full filled Queen with dread, wrongness creeping through her circuits.
“Noelle!” She shouted again, once she was closer. Noelle’s head tilted the tiniest bit in her direction, and her aimless walking stopped. Queen continued the slight trek closer, then stopped when she stood right beside the deer. Noelle did not move, or speak. Just stood.
“We Need To Get Shelter From The Snow.” Queen said. “Have You Seen Burghley? Is He Nearby?” She waited a moment for a response, but Noelle made no signs of having heard her. Her teeth were faintly chattering.
Queen nodded, feeling more panic than she could ever recall feeling before. This was wrong, everything was wrong. She grabbed Noelle’s hand, and she figured she must be running warm because Noelle stumbled forward to lean right against her side. Okay, good, maybe she was helping her not freeze.
The snow somehow seemed to clear a bit, coming down with less force, but there was still too much on the ground to walk any faster. She guided Noelle along, though, towards a tea shop. The sign read ‘open’, but there was no one to be seen through the windows.
When they made it to the door, it was a little stuck, but thankfully Queen got it open with enough force. Snow started spilling into the building, so Queen rushed Noelle inside, ran in herself, and shut the door tight behind them.
The building was empty and quiet. Noelle’s breaths were horribly faint.
Queen wanted to start going through search queries on how best to help someone who was freezing, because she’d never done this before and desperately needed to keep Noelle from dying. But the Internet was down, so there was little she could do. She tried to recall things she had seen from search results before.
Her clothes were all cold and wet from the snow, so she should find a change of clothes for her. Unfortunately, this wasn’t a clothing store, but Addisons often lived where they worked, so Queen found the staircase and headed up to a living area above. Still no one was here, but she hadn’t expected otherwise at this point.
She dug through a dresser and pulled out the warmest looking clothes she could find. Given that it never snowed in Cyber City, people weren’t exactly equipped with winter coats and warm sweaters, but anything was probably better than the current situation.
She grabbed the blankets off the bed, found some more blankets in a closet and grabbed those too for good measure, then headed back down the stairs with her haul.
Noelle hadn’t moved an inch, still standing in place near the door. Still as an ice sculpture.
Some people found being undressed in front of others inappropriate, but her life was more important, so Queen muttered an awkward apology before trying to pull Noelle’s clothes off. The haze seemed to fade a slight bit because Noelle started helping to take them off after a moment. Queen offered her the new clothes and she took them, pulling a shirt over her head and pants over her legs. They didn’t fit right, made for an adult ad rather than a teenage deer.
Her fur and hair were snow-drenched too, should she have tried to dry that off first? She had no clue. She was trying to work fast, and trying to find the most accurate and helpful data was taking too long. She hoped it was good enough and wrapped Noelle in some blankets.
She took the dress and before she could figure out where to put it, she noticed a red stain on one of the sleeves.
She looked to Noelle’s hand. It was actively bleeding from one of her fingers.
How had she not noticed that! She was utterly incompetent with first-aid! If only she could find an Ambyu-Lance, maybe they’d know what to do. Although, this probably wasn’t anything like a computer virus, so maybe they’d be out of their depth as well.
“What Happened To Your Hand?” She asked, grabbing it to inspect it in one of her own. Noelle glanced dazedly at it. There was a ring on the bleeding finger made of thorny brambles that stabbed into her flesh. “Holy Circuits, Why Would You Ever Wear That??”
“Had to…” Noelle mumbled, but if she said anything else it was too quiet for Queen to pick up on. She shook her head and tried to get the stubborn ring off, but it was stuck, tightly winding around Noelle’s finger. Noelle didn’t even wince when Queen pulled on it.
Okay. That wasn’t working.
She didn’t know healing magic. Would there be disinfectant in the house? Bandages? Most Lightner first aid supplies were useless for Cyber City residents, she was unlikely to find much if she searched. Would it be okay to leave it for now?
“Do You Know Healing Spells?” She asked, and Noelle faintly nodded. “Can You Do One On Your Hand?” And Noelle shook her head.
“Don’t have TP.” She said, “Wouldn’t do much good with the thorns still there anyway.”
Queen hummed, feeling deeply uncertain about the situation. Maybe she could at least raise Noelle’s HP with an item.
Oh! Of course! They were in a tea shop. Tea was warm and a healing item. She’d never made tea before, but she could probably figure it out? She’d seen Swatch do it before, she thought.
Okay, the Internet being down was really annoying right about now. She’d love to just look up instructions.
“I’m Going To Try To Make Tea.” She announced, and Noelle nodded but didn’t say anything. As Queen stood up, Noelle stayed seated on the floor, wrapped in blankets, staring out at nothing.
It was better than earlier, she supposed, trying to count her blessings.
Okay how the Hell did people make tea. They like. Put leafs in water or something right. Or like- teabags? And tea is normally hot so the water should be hot. That all sounded right.
She headed to the kitchen.
——
It was hard to think.
Everything was still a foggy haze, and without Kris’ instruction, she felt unsure. She had been fine without them before, but now everything felt ten times more difficult. She felt far away and fuzzy.
Her head was pounding. Her throat hurt when she breathed. Her finger was stinging. She felt dizzy.
She had barely processed who had rescued her, brain screaming it’s another enemy and I need to get stronger, but Kris was nowhere in sight to guide her hand towards that end. And she didn’t want to anyway.
It took her too long to realize it was Queen, and by the time she did, she didn’t know how to feel about it. It was hard to feel anything, distant as she was at the moment. She knew Queen’s plans for her, and did not particularly like them, but any help was better than none at all right now. She needed someone.
It was cold.
She huddled in the blankets, but it felt like her bones were made of ice. Shivers ran up her spine over and over.
She wasn’t in the mansion. She wasn’t caged. She didn’t know where she was, exactly. Some kind of café, maybe? There were tables and chairs, and a little kitchen area where Queen was currently trying to make tea. The tea probably wouldn’t be good, Queen looked like she didn’t know what she was doing, but it should at least be warm. She’d like to hold a warm cup in her hands, that sounded nice.
She was tired. She didn’t think she could sleep. She felt like she was living a nightmare already. Her hands itched, her ring stung. She thought about freezing Queen to death.
She shouldn’t be thinking that. But she was too tired to feel any particular way about the thought. She just knew it wasn’t normal, and that ordinarily, she would be upset about the idea.
Her brain felt like gross muddy ice slush, swishing around in circles. She wanted to throw up. Had she eaten much today? She couldn’t remember much, everything felt distant, everything felt wrong, felt empty. Her insides had been carved out and she was left hollow and dead. But at least that voice was gone.
She wanted the ring off. But it was stuck. Tight, and stabbing, and stuck. She was getting blood on the blankets. She felt numb and stinging pain at the same time.
“Okay I Have No Idea What I’m Doing Lmao.” Queen said, and Noelle’s eyes drifted away from the bloodstain and over to the kitchen. There was boiling water spilled on the counter, four tea bags placed incorrectly into a cup (tags in the cup, bags hanging out of it), and she was stirring her mess with a spoon rapidly.
Noelle felt herself smile faintly. That was funny.
“I can make it.” She said, standing up on wobbly legs. Everything tilted to the side, and in a blink, she found herself on the ground again.
“I Don’t Think You Can Lol But Thanks For The Offer.” Queen said, walking over to give her a hand. Noelle took it gratefully, sitting herself upright. Her hand was stiff, but warm. “Okay Well That Plan Was A Bust. Got Any Better Ideas?”
She didn’t really have any ideas. About anything. It was too hard to think.
“Can we go back to the mansion? Have your butler make a drink?” She settled on, because a warm drink did sound good. Her throat hurt, and she was cold, and she wanted something comforting.
“Last I Checked He Was Trapped.” Queen shrugged. “A Statue Ended Up In Front Of The Door Somehow Or Something. Can’t Move It.”
Oh.
… Well, that kind of sucked. “I don’t have any other ideas.”
“Going Back To The Mansion Might Be A Good Idea, Though.” Queen’s visor flashed with the word ‘TRUE’. “But I Crashed My Car So We’d Have To Walk In The Cold.”
Oh. So they were stuck here.
She didn’t think she could control the storm anymore. It was raging on without her input. She didn’t know how that spell worked. She shouldn’t have cast it, but the voice was insistent, and…
He was… gone.
Tears gathered in the corners of her eyes. Everything still felt hazy and distant- she hated it! She wanted to go home, she wanted to do her project with Berdly and Susie and Kris, the real Kris, and she wanted to see her dad and she wanted to see her sister and she was stuck here and she…
She was so cold.
“Oh Shit You Okay?” Queen asked, voice a little grating with her current headache but it was a distraction from her thoughts so she’d take it. “Oops Wait Dumb Question. Can I Help Somehow??”
She was helping. She got her out of the snow, and into fresh clothes, and covered her in warm quilts, and tried to make tea. She was helping, and it was lovely, and she’d be so grateful if she could feel anything at all.
She sobbed.
She pulled Queen into a hug with shaking hands. Queen startled, but didn’t pull away. Her metal was hard and stiff and uncomfortable, but Noelle didn’t care. He was gone, and something was wrong with Kris, and none of her friends were here, and she was trapped in another world, and Queen was trying and Noelle didn’t want to be alone.
The snow made her think of cold Christmas days spent with her whole family. Her family was split into pieces, now. If she disappeared here, they’d be missing another child. They’d never know what happened.
She sobbed harder.
Queen awkwardly patted her back, and it was such an awkward and forced gesture, but she was trying, and it was something, and Noelle imagined it was her dad hugging her and telling her everything would be okay. She didn’t quite believe him, but she’d try, because she loved him.
It felt like the world was ending. Snow was piling up out the door, they’d probably be snowed in. Noelle curled up in Queen’s arms, eyes closed, and pretended everything was fine.