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Nox stared numbly at the wall in front of him. The Old Man was speaking, though the boy didn't hear a word that was being said. Instead, he fiddled with the strings on his fingers. Well, the one still there. It was the one string he had managed to keep, despite it all. The older members of Ex Libris had all but forced him to cut all his strings. Having one of the keys watch as he did so to make sure he didn't lie. He didn't remember what key it was that watched him. Nor did he care.
All he cared about was the feeling he felt as each string snapped to the blades of the scissors. Those damn gold scissors. The same ones that he watched a young girl hold now, staring down at her own strings, hands shaking.
Nox watched on as she lifted the scissors, the blades opening as she rested a blue string between them. He watched as she closed the scissors, letting out a pained cry as the string snapped.
“Nox?” The Old Man said simply.
Nox merely nodded. The string had snapped.
“Carry on.”
The girl whimpered as she cut the next string. And then the next. And again. All the way until there was one string left. It was a purple string. Bright and thick. It was clear whoever was on the other side of that string, this girl had a strong friendship with. The girl looked at Nox, a pleading look in her gaze.
There was a moment where the Ex human sympathized. He gripped his red string tight in his palm as if holding it would help ground himself. And it did. He had that comfort. But with the old man standing here, he couldn't let the girl have the same.
Steeling his gaze, Nox nodded at her to cut the string.
The cry that tore through her throat was not a pleasant one. It was raw and hoarse and full of pain . Nox almost flinched.
Almost.
Instead, he straightened his form as the old man smiled softly and rested an arm on the girl’s shoulder.
“You did good, Savannah. I'm so proud.”
Mia let out a soft whimper as she held her hand close to her chest. She cradled the cut strings as if that could help her find some sort of comfort in this mess.
Nox knew it wouldn't work. The strings were cut. There was nothing more to it.
Nox and the girl were dismissed. Nox off to the table he and the keys called home. The girl left for the dormitories. That was the one thing Nox didn't miss about being human. The dormitories were bad. Like, really bad. Shoving at least twelve people in a room no bigger than 120 feet got uncomfortable at times.
He guessed living with the keys didn’t change much on that aspect, but at least their desk they sat on was big enough for each of them to get their own space. Not a lot of privacy, but definitely their own space.
“Nox,” Violet set a hand on his shoulder. “Are you okay?”
Nox nodded. He made his way over to his little corner. He sat down on the edge and held his hand out in front of him. The red string trailed over the edge and out the doors. The other strings… three faded blue ones and two faded purple ones. He distantly wondered who they belonged to. His parents, possibly. Maybe a sibling? Would he even be a good brother? He liked to think so. But maybe he was wrong. Maybe it was all just hopeful thinking. Maybe he wouldn’t be a good brother, seeing as he went and got himself thrown into a string cutting book cult.
He glanced at the purple ones.
Would he have made a good friend? Would they have liked him for who he was? Maybe not. Maybe they would’ve found his knowledge annoying. Maybe they would’ve teased him for not understanding pop culture references. Maybe…
He placed his head in his hands and sighed.
He was just getting caught up in the past. None of it mattered now anyways. He wouldn’t meet them now. It was all just… behind him…
“Oh Nox…” he heard a voice from behind him say as the rest of the keys crowded around him.
They all knew how hard it was to watch someone cut their strings. They’ve all went through the Old Man making them watch as someone cut out a piece of their soul.
But none of them were ever made to cut their own strings.
After all, Keys shouldn’t be able to have strings in the first place.
☾*☾*☾*☾
Four years later, Nox had watched another poor member go through the String Cutting. He was on his way back to his table when he was stopped by someone walking up to him.
“Uh… Nox… right?”
Nox turned around to see a young girl, the same age as him. He recognized her from the first String Cutting he witnessed.
He nodded slowly at her.
“Hey… Uh… are you.. Busy? I was wondering if you’d like to… I don’t know…” she breathed out a puff of air, blowing her bangs out of her face. “I was wondering if you want to talk.”
Nox raised an eyebrow.
“Talk? You have other humans you can talk with, you don’t need me.”
The girl rolled her eyes and rested her elbows on the desk. The Old Man had left, showing the new member to their dorms. Now it was just Nox and the girl. If anyone found out she was talking with a key, though… Nox didn’t want to be the reason she got punished.
“The other humans are boring .” the girl whined, resting her forehead against the tabletop. “All they talk about is book stuff and Naratonin and rising the ranks. No one talks about… I don’t know… fun stuff?”
Nox let out a soft huff.
“You thought I would talk to you about fun stuff?”
The corner of the girl’s lips quirked up slightly.
“Hey, my options are limited in this library. It’s either you or a lampshade.”
That got an actual chuckle out of Nox. He moved over to where the girl’s hands rested on the table.
“You never know. A lampshade could be good company.”
“Yeah, in what universe?” she joked. “Beauty and The Beast?”
Nox’s lips tugged into a small smirk.
“Perhaps if you fancy a chat with a lampshade, you do have the means of going there.”
The girl rolled her eyes playfully.
“Yeah. Maybe when they actually let me use a stupid key. I haven’t been allowed to touch one since The Little Mermaid.”
Nox stifled a laugh.
“Ah yes. I believe I remember you now.” He mused, sitting on the edge of the desk. “Weren’t you the one who flooded the castle?”
The girl groaned and threw her head in her hands.
“I also accidentally cursed the wrong dude. Why are fairytales so hard ?”
The metal person gave a soft smile.
“They are not hard if you do them properly.”
“Yeah, yeah. Okay mister ‘I’m not forced to go into stories I’ve never read before’.” she huffed before standing up straight. “I… I’m sorry you have to watch it, by the way.”
Nox looked up at her with a confused expression.
“The String Cutting. I know it must be hard. I heard rumors you were human once, right?”
Nox looked away and nodded.
“I’m sorry to hear that. Did they… make you cut your strings too?”
“They… yes. They did.”
The girl smiled sadly and picked at one of her strings. A purple one. She fiddled with the end of it before she glanced over at Nox.
“You can see my strings, right?”
Nox hesitantly nodded.
“Here.” she held out her hand that was holding her purple string. “Tie this to one of yours.”
Nox’s eyes widened. Was she telling him to… to change fate? They already cut the strings. How would fate react if they just… tied them back together? For a moment, the metal key was unsure. Then he slowly reached out and took her string before shaking his head.
“Blue.”
The girl’s eyes widened.
“What?”
“Your blue string.” he stated, moving to grab one of the blue ones instead. If he was going to tie himself to someone else, he would make them his family.
He worked slowly, trying to knot the string perfectly. After a while, he eventually got it. The string pulled tightly and grew longer the further Nox stepped backwards. It…
“...works…” the girl breathed out slowly, running her hand along the string. “I can see it… Nox…” she looked up and met his eyes. Hazel meeting Blue. “Thank you.”
Nox nodded, smiling up at the girl.
“I’m glad to call you family…?”
“Savannah.”
Nox nodded.
“Let’s… not tell the elders about this…”
Savannah nodded energetically.
“Oh, yeah. Of course. Don’t want them to cut our strings again. Or worse…”
They both shivered at that thought.
After that, they spent a few hours getting to know each other. Chatting about everything and nothing. About Ex Libris. Their life before the cult found them. Eventually, Violet came over and joined the conversations. Mostly as a standby listener, but Savannah didn’t seem to mind.
It seemed things for Nox were finally looking up.
☾*☾*☾*☾
The keys were gone. The only ones left were Nox and Violet. The rest went missing in an escape. The escapees were gone quickly since they could not be traced. Nox wasn’t sure what to do. Neither was Violet.
The Old Man was growing restless. Sending all his members out to find the missing keys and, in turn, the escapees. It was then that Nox and Violet came up with an idea.
“We have to see if the keys are being used.” Violet said in hushed tones. It was just the two of them, all the humans gone for the moment. “Then we must go in and retrieve them. Maybe we could finally get you your wish to–”
“That’s too risky, Vi.” Nox cut in, glancing over at the door, afraid it would burst open at any second and spot them scheming. “What if we get punished for going behind his back?”
“We cannot sit around and do nothing!”
“Then don’t do nothing.” A female voice said from above them.
The two looked up to see Savannah holding a paper clutched to her chest.
“I found this in their book of spells. You can follow any key archetype into any story so long as that key is being used. I could use one of you to go in and–”
“No.” Nox said stiffly. “You aren’t risking yourself for us.”
“Why not?” Savannah huffed, hands on her hips. “He won’t even know I’m gone.”
“She has a point, Nox–”
“No. I’ll do it.”
Both girls looked at the metal man.
“Nox, you can’t be serious.” Violet scolded.
“You can’t go in! What if they realize you’re not human? What if–”
“We’ll deal with those later.” Nox tilted his nose up slightly. “I’ll go in. I’ll find the keys. Let the Old Man know our plan. Make sure he knows it was my plan. If I’m getting punished, then I’m not dragging you two with me.”
The girls exchanged a glance before nodding.
And so, the plan began.
It was simple, and once the Old Man found out about it, he was already on board. He liked the idea of slowly gaining their trust or scaring them out of books. Revealing real world locations under the guise of friendship. It made Nox sick.
Especially when he went into the first book and came face to face with honey brown eyes. Eyes that sparkled in the candlelight. Eyes so innocent and filled with childlike wonder that it could put anyone into a trance.
He snapped himself out of it, though. He did have a job to do.
Though that was made much harder when he glanced down and saw the red string that tied them together. He sucked in a breath. This couldn’t be right. His soulmate couldn’t have found a key. His soulmate…
He should have cut the string along with the others. Then his soulmate wouldn’t be in danger. Then his soulmate wouldn’t be in the books. He would be able to complete his mission. Go back to Ex Libris and be rewarded handsomely. Be able to spend time with his sisters.
But now… Now he wasn’t so sure that was an option…
When he came out of the book, the Old Man was gone, just Violet and Savannah watching him closely. They noticed his panicked eyes and confused stance.
“I… I think I just met my soulmate.”