Three days of deep hatred and contemplation passed, intermixed with worried looks and the occasional question or two from a very concerned angel. Noth’s sudden worsening mood wasn’t unexpected, but of course the spirit didn’t like to see him so visibly rattled for quite this long. The first day she’d maybe snuck in a pleased, if not bordering on sinister, smile towards the boy, but now it was chaffing a bit just how greatly he was being affected by this new information.

And yes, he was indeed affected. Terribly so.

This new revelation was eating him up inside. His thoughts constantly struggled between all the possible things he could do to help the victims he’d learned of, and all the possible things he could do to Jeck. But amongst those unending ruminations, he also had to realize that it wasn’t only the snake that was doing such horrendous things in the shadows. There were very many monsters lurking about outside the average citizen’s gaze, and maybe even some prolific and too large to stop monsters that weren’t abashed to show themselves directly in the light of day. The boy imagined at first that the ones that were hiding would be the most difficult to remove, but it could also be that the well known monsters were allowed to roam about untouched for a reason, and whatever reason that was would make them very hard to uproot. Everything seemed like far too much work for just one small hated boy, and while he spent his time getting older and stronger, more and more atrocities would be happening where he couldn’t reach.

While Noth had been drowning himself in his irritation and frustrations, time had marched forwards as it always does. He hadn’t noticed because he didn’t particularly care, but he’d actually managed to miss one of his tri-weekly dinners with his father yesterday. The boy’s thoughts had been so loud and ceaseless that he hadn’t been paying attention to much else, and had barely eaten for a day and a half as he focused more and more on his new problems. He’d hardly even paid attention to what the angel next to him had said, so of course he hadn’t heard even a single word of the servants beyond his door, who had come to fetch and serve him. There wasn’t even the slightest possibility that the unwilling servants, who were still loath to get close to the stigmatized boy, would come into his room and actually touch or get near him. It wasn’t until the next day, when his father himself had barged in to see him, that Noth had actually listened to what was being said to him.

“Are you planning to break such a simple agreement with me so easily?”

The words almost sounded pouty, like a child that had been left behind by his friends. The petulant tone spoken nearby out of nowhere made Noth turn his head towards the voice, but the far too close face that had suddenly filled his periphery was what really snapped him out of his thoughts. His father was still only halfway to him from the door, but his angel had somehow managed to abduct him off of his bed and away to the couch while Noth had been too riveted in his thoughts, and had sat down with the boy placed firmly on her lap. Her arms seemed to be wrapped around him as tight as steel beams, and as he became abruptly aware of them, he also became equally aware of the fact that his lungs were slightly burning, like he’d been taking incomplete breaths for a long time.

Though his angel had often shown him this kind of close skinship since she’d come into his life, and though he’d been desperate for affection and had felt fuzzy and happy whenever she’d done such things in the past, he found himself shying away from such things more and more as time passed. Noth was 11 now, and sitting on someone else’s lap just felt…awkward to him as he grew bigger and matured. He wasn’t sure he’d be able to take her cutting off all forms of affection, but he was sure that he didn’t want to be treated like a kid so much anymore. And so, instead of the precious fuzzy warmth he would have previously felt from this action, more than anything he was feeling annoyed that the spirit had decided to take advantage of his lack of vigilance in this way. His uncomfortable lungs had also reinforced the thought that he should be upset by this. The boy tried to get up as he looked sideways to give the angel a grimace of displeasure, but he stopped for a quick moment when he noticed the look on her face. The way her eyes were clouded and dim and the way her mouth was stuck in a crooked nearly too wide smile made her look almost intoxicated, although he could feel a subtle, close to ‘evil’ undercurrent to the look. He shuddered and redoubled his efforts to escape.

“Get off me you creepy ghost!”

The way her face snapped back to the usual beam she wore and her eyes immediately stopped looking so addled was also a good bit disturbing to Noth, and when she automatically let him go while she was responding, he leapt up and balled his fists, glaring at her. The boy couldn’t help but snap out his next words with a heavy deal of repulsion mixed into them.

“Stop doing such weird things to me! You’re such a scary woman sometimes, what the hell?!”

A look of pure hurt crossed the beautiful vision’s face, one that kept looking more and more wounded by the second, and Noth’s heart stung a bit as he saw it. Everything always seemed worse when it happened to pretty people, and whether it was their anger or their sorrow, you wouldn’t want either pointed at you. He wasn’t sure how to take back and fix what he’d just said, as he was still a young, unsociable, and inexperienced child, so all he could do was stand in place and shiver lightly as he watched.

This of course, created a misunderstanding.

It was understandable why Ruth Kieran misunderstood the interaction that he just witnessed. Part of it lay with the fact that ever since the angel had manifested in front of him in his office she’d never shown herself to him ever again, although he still knew she was with his son. He could only see Noth’s intense reaction and displeasure at whatever was happening, and not at all anything that had been done to him, so the man had to guess. His pessimistic mind spun out the worst possible assumptions about what was happening to his one and only son, and he rushed over to the boy’s side quickly, horrible worry strewn across his face.

“...What’s wrong? Did something happen? Did the angel do something to you, Noth?! Th-that must be why you’ve been locked in here and missed dinner yesterday!!!”

The way the man exploded and lunged at his son made the already emotional boy flinch and step away with a grimace. Of course this action reinforced Ruth’s anxieties, on top of leaving him feeling rejected, making for too powerful a combo for the Earl to take. He quickly turned his head left and right, gritting his teeth as he looked around for a clue as to where the angel might be. He even went as far as to take out his sword from its sheath on his hip, determined to fight and kill the horrid spectre who would dare touch his son, but his anger quickly died down as he realized how futile his actions were, and his sadness ultimately won out. Tears started forming in his previously blazing eyes as he once again felt powerless.

“I’m… so sorry… your father is so... useless Noth…”

Noth shook his head at the stupid situation, feeling far too overwhelmed as he looked between the two people whose moods he’d somehow utterly tanked in just the matter of a few minutes. He was going to have to find a way to fix this somehow, and the thought was far too tiring to the boy. As he tried to think of a way to solve this with his meager social skills, his stomach rumbled loudly, the sound drawn out as if in protest.

Right, he hadn’t eaten in over a day.

No one could blame him if he just…

The child put on a blank face as he swiftly headed for the door of the gloomy room without sparing the two sad beings inside a passing glance. It was a clear escape attempt. Sadly for him, however, his still growing legs were no match for his father, who immediately followed after Noth, bringing along all his overprotective feelings and angst with him. And as Noth turned when he reached the door he caught sight of his angel, with her fingers loosely arched over her lips. He could just barely make out her soft tinkling laughter, along with a small mischievous mutter.

Noth quickened his retreat.

~~~

A lovely dinner had been prepared for the Earl and his son, and Noth dug into it eagerly. After the first couple of spoonfuls, a graceful angel finally floated her way into the room, making a beeline over to her precious boy and standing behind him as she stroked his soft hair. The way Noth’s head jerked a bit out of nowhere and the quick grimace on his face did not go unnoticed to his father across the table, who was already on high alert from earlier. His concern for his beloved son just barely managed to win out against his cowardly nature once again, and he decided it was time to broach the question.

“My son, are you… alright? I’m worried about why you hadn't left your room for a few days before this. You’d tell me if you were being harassed by…”

The Earl coughed and his eyes swam around the room in a way that made it all too obvious who he meant.

“...someone?”

One corner of Noth’s mouth frowned, and he put his food down slowly as he glanced behind him. Did he count these honest affections he was being shown as being harassed? It’d be a lie to say they weren’t making him uncomfortable, but at this point he was so used to having the bothersome angel around that she’d become almost just another part of him. It wouldn’t be wrong to think of her as his arm or leg, perhaps even a vital organ, because her mere existence gave him so much. The things she could give to him were by far worth any discomfort. After all, one wouldn’t cut off their foot just because they stubbed their toe, no? And as the days passed and he grew more and more acclimated with her powers, he could feel a strange sense that the two of them were becoming more and more integrated in some indescribable way. He could only guess that this was the “bonding” phenomenon that his angel had hinted at before.

The boy’s eyes made contact with the angel’s expectant ones, and he felt a small twinge of regret for how mean he’d been to her earlier. It’s not like he hadn’t learned how odd the spirit liked to act sometimes over all these days together, and perhaps it was a little unreasonable for him to still freak out like he had. Maybe he’d have to just eat his niggling feelings of fear and discomfort, instead of letting them sit there and stew like he had been. There were already too many things going on in his life as is, he didn’t need to create a bad relationship with the only close ally he had on top of it all. He turned to the Earl and slowly opened his mouth, even as the petting on his head was growing in intensity.

“Yes, but no. Though she may be mischievous, she’s done nothing wrong to me, father. And as for my recent behaviour… No, I don’t think I am ok. I've been quite furious lately.”

Relief was clear on Ruth Kieran’s face, but it only lasted for a few moments before his visage grew slightly stern. With one concern out of the way, another easily took its place.

“Furious?”

The man stroked his chin in thought as connections formed in his mind, and his eyes turned slightly more serious.

“This doesn’t have anything to do with Jeck, does it? The day he came to complain about your manners was also the day this whole shut in act began, if I’m remembering correctly. I had promised to scold you for your rudeness to the head of the house's personal guest, you know. I can’t believe after all those classes you’d be so disrespectful to your new teacher. And he’s my friend, on top of that! I know how taciturn a child you can be, but that’s no excuse to be rude to such an important person!”

The more he talked, the more Ruth Kieran seemed to be working himself up, his words coming out more and more roughly, and the more his grip on the fork in his hand intensified. By the time it had been bent in half, the man had slammed his utensil down onto the table in front of him, sending it flying by the sheer force of impact and leaving a divot in the table’s wood.

Noth had only seen his father get angry like this once, before.

The memory of that time was vastly unpleasant.

And this equally unpleasant man was choosing to side with that hideous monster against him?

The atmosphere in the room grew icey instantly.

If looks could kill, the glare Noth was levelling on his father would have been an immediate death sentence.

Somehow, even though it was so quiet you could hear a pin drop, there was still one deafening sound pervading the air:

Someone was giggling. Someone behind the boy. Someone the Earl couldn’t see.

He could feel them though.

His eyes were playing tricks on him, making him hallucinate that he could see an evil smile floating in the air.

A smile far too wide to be normal.

“You dare call that monster a friend?”

The question was practically growled out at the man. He tore his eyes away from his hallucinations and looked at his son’s face. Perhaps the lights in the room had dimmed, but the boy’s eyes were almost shining in a colour that he hadn’t seen since the first day a little under 2 years ago that he’d angered Noth. The queer rusty sheen that was creeping up his irises looked so unnatural and flakey, like they’d simply flake off and fall onto the boy’s long eyelashes any second. It felt like the world was somehow shrinking in on him and growing darker the longer he looked into those eyes.

“Are you really that stupid? You must be. How disgusting.”

Noth’s eyes looked away from the Earl, and the man immediately fell to the floor.