#and noelle could just try to convince herself that all of the darkners she was made to kill were all just characters in her dream

[calliopeebles]

maybe he'd finally listen if his beak was frozen shut.

felt like drawing some angsty weird route stuff

[clanwarrior-tumbly]

"It's so cold..." with Noelle? maybe in a Snowgrave or botched Snowgrave-adjacent route where she's not particularly in her right mind even after having been separated from Kris but Reader is trying to help her?

A prank.

That's all it was, right?

Just a prank Kris was playing on her. Just like old times.

But Noelle found it a highly unusual that they dragged this prank on for so long. It wasn't like them to go this far.

To threateningly push her into an electrical barrier.

To steal something from that pink Darkner.

To make her freeze people and puzzles alike.

To tell her to "proceed" in a strange voice.

Back then, she didn't want to question their commands. They seemed to know what they were doing down here, and they were just trying to help her survive and get stronger.

Yet if all of that was for self-defense, why did those Darkners run away from them? Why did Kris stomp on the lids of terrified Poppups to drag them out of hiding? And why did they act like it was...painful for them to do and say those things?

Something was definitely off.

Fortunately, they backed off when she got irritated after they asked her to use some spell called "Snowgrave" against Berdly. Even the bluebird seemed confused and scared as they bickered back and forth, convinced she was in true danger.

Though, in the end, it seems Kris just felt guilty about the whole thing. And the battle was peacefully resolved.

Slowly but surely, things in Cyber City got back to normal. But Noelle never saw that Addison again, and the Swatchlings were still trying to chip off the ice that coated the traffic lights. Even the Ambyu-Lances were trying to unfreeze citizens who were still stuck in prisms of ice.

Queen found her rather quickly after that, but for once...she was glad. She didn't really feel like going back into the city anyway.

As she sat alone on her bed, pondering over whether everything here is just a strange dream or reality, the sounds of electrical buzzing startled her out of her musings.

"H-Huh? What's...?"

Out of nowhere, two Werewires appeared. Their fur had specs of snow embedded in them, and the poor reindeer only teared up as she realized why they've come for her.

"Q-Queen!!" She called out for help.

But nobody came.

"Kri....no..I-I can do this."

Tossing aside her cowardice, Noelle stood up and raised her hand. The thorn ring seemed to respond by digging into her hooved finger, throbbing with familiar pain.

Pain that made her stronger-

"Oh no you don't!"

She was surprised yet again by an afterimage of a slash, seeing the wires being cut. The once ferocious electric beasts became normal Plugboys who disappeared into green twinkles before they could even hit the floor.

Noelle put her arm down, relieved to see you had rushed in to save her. But even so, she remained tense and anxious about the whole ordeal.

And the thorn ring made her wince in pain a little. She tried covering it up with a cough, hiding it behind her back so you didn't see it.

"Th-Thank you, [y/n]. How did you-?"

"There was a Werewerewire down the hall on this same floor. And I had a hunch that more like it were here. They didn't hurt you, did they?"

"Oh no. I..was just about to handle them myself.." She softly dismissed, her gaze turning bleak. Like she was lost in thought. "I mean...I was going to freeze them. If they don't move, they can't hurt me. That's what Kris-"

"Noelle, that's what I was afraid you were gonna do."

"...h-huh? What?" Suddenly she seemed confused as she blinked wildly, before shaking her head. "I must be saying weird stuff again...sorry." Then she shivered a bit, bringing her arms around herself and sighing. "It's so cold..."

You nodded in understanding and sat beside her on the bed. Oddly enough, the mattress was freezing as well. But you ignored that and grabbed the blanket to wrap it around her shoulders. Then you glanced down at her ring, frowning slightly.

"Who stuck that on you? Queen?"

Her heart sunk when she realized you noticed it, too, though she looked at it and saw the dried blood. "N-No, Queen actually..took me back here and told me to rest. Kris paid a lot of money to get me this. It's just stings a little. Nothing I can't handle."

"A little? Looks like you were bleeding-" You reached out to take her hand, when she suddenly swiped it away, holding it to her chest.

"It made my spells stronger, made me stronger. Please don't touch it.."

Her response had you bewildered.

Why would she need her spells to be stronger? You could understand if Queen wanted to use her powers for world domination schemes, but apparently she had no idea about this.

If Kris did that then...

Were they they reason everything in the city was frozen?

None of this made any sense.

"I'm sorry, [y/n]. I've..just been having trouble distinguishing all of this from reality. It feels like one weird dream."

"Noelle-"

"I mean how did I even get ice magic?" She forced a chuckle. "Sleep Mist? Iceshock? That's stuff you only see in video games. Plus with Kris acting weird..it just makes sense. I often worry they'll take a prank too far one day and, well...dreams are sometimes made of things you're afraid of, right?"

"That...is true." You sighed, deciding to play along for now. "Dreams can be very bizarre, reflecting both our strongest desires and our worst fears."

"Whenever we wake up, I'm sure we'll all have a good laugh about this while we finish our projects. I doubt I'll be a strong and confident reindeer again, but...for what it's worth this dream is helping me discover a lot about myself."

From the way she spoke, she didn't sound so sure that this was just a dream. And you knew it wasn't--those were very real people that she froze, but you didn't have the heart to tell her the truth. It would break her spirits more than her actions already did.

So you assured her this was just a lucid dream, and it'll be over once the fountain is sealed.

You hoped it would be done soon.

You didn't wanna be in this "dream" any longer than you need to.