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* Me.
"..."
* I heard.
You could feel your unwilling vessel clawing at the walls of its cage with each word that leaves t̶h̶e̶i̶r̶ your mouth, yes it's your mouth now, and the desperation in their struggle to retake whatever control they could. Not unlike a soul trapped in a bird cage, you mused to yourself.
"Red", "Black", "It snowed", "It happened". The following conversation barely registered in your head. The only thing occupying your mind was the thorn in your palm and the petrified deer monster sitting on the couch with you. Her eyes widened in shock at the sound of your voice that abruptly replaced her childhood friend's.
*Equip.
You slowly inch yourself towards her and she inched herself back in response. After a few movements, she ended up backing herself into a corner, her back to the armrest and palms clutching it for deer life. You swear you could faintly hear the clanging of metal from inside your body, as if your host was desperately pounding against the bars of their prison cell. You pay it no mind.
"Kris I really think-"
* Equip.
You feel the thumping in your chest grow more intense, like a wild animal trying to escape its enclosure. You could almost see them desperately trying to force their way out. You could almost see their claws bloodied from scratching at their restraints, their fangs broken from trying to bite off the chains holding them down. You could almost feel the pain too, if you could feel pain at all.
"I think I really need to-"
Perhaps that was how they felt each time you tried wrestling back control of the vessel. But you would never know, you never thought it was a sensation worth feeling. Of course inflicting it was never your intention, you would scarcely describe yourself as cruel, only.. curious. Staring at the cowering figure before you only affirms that your curiosity was an end to be satiated no matter the means.
"Oh gosh I really need to-"
You suppose it would be rude to keep your two guests waiting. You seize her by the hand with your own. You could feel your soul, your very essence of being jumping with joy thinking how this scenario would play out. Could you perhaps take control of her and leave this vessel behind? How would the vessel react after they regain their control? Your mind wanders about speculating every possibility, theorizing every possible outcome until the fateful moment it finally happens, because you just have to know. what. happens.
And it was only a second away from happening too, until your hand, along with your body suddenly stopped. It was as if time stood still, neither of the three entities able to break the deadlock. You feel a tear well up in the corners of your eyes involuntarily, a reflex of the body that neither you nor the vessel could control. Puzzled, you start to wonder what had caused it until you noticed the metallic warmth forming in your mouth.
Taken by surprise, you accidentally take a sharp breath and sent the contents of your mouth barreling into your lungs and lodging something in your throat. Your hands reflexively released both the thorn and her hand to clutch your chest instead. You stood up and curled your right hand into a fist, repeatedly pounding your chest until you fell on your knees and hacked up a lump of flesh.
"K-Kris? Wh-What happened?"
From the corner of your sight you saw her staring at you, at them, with wide eyes. A hand was planted firmly on her mouth as if to suppress a scream as she took in the gruesome sight.
"Kris! Oh gosh Kris are you okay?"
You saw her take two steps towards you before she flinched at the sound of a barely audible hoarse laughter from the human slumped on the ground. A quiet laughter that sounded like someone's bitter victory. Like a child's snicker after tackling someone into the mud despite staining their own clothes in the process.
Still staring at the ground, you hear the sound of footsteps but they seem to be growing faint. In your current state, its unlikely you'll catch up to her if she flees but perhaps out of bad judgement or just plain stubbornness you'll try anyways. You placed your palm on the carpet under you and try pushing yourself up but its slippery surface caused your arm to slide off and your face to plant itself firmly into the ground.
You're a lot calmer at the situation than you'd imagine. Then again, it could be the blood loss off the oxygen to this vessel's brain which somehow affects your own judgement, but maybe a part of you didn't mind the situation. After all, it was something new, was it not?
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Kris felt something, someone, grab their wrist and fur brush their arm through their sleeves as if draping it over their shoulder. In surprise, Kris tried opening their eyes but could only see a collage of colors in shapes they couldn't make out. The human felt someone struggle to lift their torso onto their back before resting their chin on their the remaining shoulder.
For a moment their vision cleared, they saw Noelle with her mouth open wide as if shouting. It looked like she was screaming loud enough for everyone in the house to hear but to them it was as audible as a whisper.
*... * I said I'd protect you, didn't I?
Even at this dire a moment, they'd still like to give her some comfort at least. It was the least they could do after causing all that trouble. Unfortunately the moment they tried to speak, not a single word was able to be spat out. Instead they only felt a steady stream of blood flowing from an numb orifice they could only assume to be their tongue, or at least what's left of it. Of course 𝘪𝘵 is still in control, and it goes without saying it wouldn't let them rebel, not a second time. However, they wondered if they would have even been physically able to speak even if it did.
With their chest resting firmly on Noelle's back, they could feel every deep inhale, every sharp exhale, and the desperation in each and every one of them. In reality, the pair were probably only half way to the door but it felt as if she could collapse at any moment. Part of them wanted her to just drop them and flee, who knows if that thing could puppet their unconscious body if they were to pass out now. If she did, she could at least put some distance between herself and it. Still, they knew that trying to push her away would just make it all worse. She'd probably end up breaking her back trying to drag them to the hospital by their legs if it came to that, so they used whatever energy they had left to grip onto her hand as tight as they could, and even then they felt their grip begin to loosen.
They too were exhausted and Noelle's carrying certainly didn't do any wonders. She was walking so slow Toriel might mistake her for a snail and bake her into one of her more experimental snail pies, but it was comforting too in a way, the up and down motions to them felt almost like someone rocking a baby to sleep.
They felt their eyes begin to droop as the exhaustion began to really take it's toll. They summoned all their energy to push open their eyes again and the sight of brown fur had been replaced with a purple jacket and scales. As if they were blinking in and out of consciousness, they only closed their eyes for a moment and the purple scales had been replaced with clean white fur, only decorated with lines of golden hair and blemished with a human's red blood.
When they finally came to their senses, they felt themselves lying on something soft, almost cloud-like. If it weren't for the sterile smell and the buzzing of fluorescent lights, they could have at least pretended they were with the angel now and everyone was safe from the whims of that creature.
Unfortunately, it looks like they'd survive.