True to the angel’s word, the bracelet really did patch itself up completely, around half a day later. Not so much as a single crack remained. On the other hand, however, Noth’s resolve to get some answers on the new situation he’d found himself in wasn’t bearing any fruit. It’d been almost a week, and his probing had been deflected left, right, and center. The angel even seemed to have picked up on what he was hoping for, and looked to be having fun with the whole situation.


    There was only one thing that stood out as a possible clue that something might be going wrong.


    This past week, whenever the servants would come by to bring him his slop, Noth and his angel would scoop it up and bury it somewhere deep inside the greenhouse, so as not to arouse any suspicion. They’d talked it over, and had agreed that anyone taking notice of him not eating the putrid scraps they delivered to him was likely to bring in questions, and possibly even some trouble. For now they’d lie low. It helped that Noth’s big wish to repair the villa hadn’t touched the still broken and overgrown greenhouse. But even while the beautiful spirit would laugh and clap along as Noth stomped the disgusting food remnants down into the freshly dug dirt, the boy would often catch her throwing worried or conflicted glances his way on the days that the servants gossip had gotten just a bit too loud.


    Noth had been trying to think up how he could broach this particular question to the angel, thinking that she might try and evade it just like she’d been evading giving him any answers. On the 7th day, much to the child’s surprise, she made all of his thinking for naught. As Noth was about to stand up after having eaten his freshly wished up dinner, the lovely vision of a woman flew over to him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders from the side as she gently spoke into his ear. The look on her face as he glanced over at her immediately set off his alarms; It was just a few steps off of the twisted expression she’d shown him before.


    <You know, my precious little child, that I care for you, yes? That I would never let anything bad happen to you?>


    The way her almost whisper-like words blew against his ears would have made him blush, if he hadn’t already had a full week of contact with the overly touchy angel. Now, though, as he was slowly getting used to the way she did things, he could tell that something was going on, something probably not good, and his body immediately stiffened in reaction. He stayed quiet and listened, worried what words might waft from between her lips next.


    <But even though I care so much for you, no matter how much I might want to protect you, I fear there’s only so much I’m allowed to do right now. Our bond, new as it is, is still so weak. The best I can do for you at this point is to warn you, my dear one, of the danger that is about to come.>


    The angel let the fingers of one of her hands stroke ticklingly across Noth’s cheek, then came up to lovingly tuck a strand of hair behind his ear. Her mouth came the tiniest amount closer to him as she loudly whispered.


    <You father will come try to kill you soon, my love.>


    Her words carried along a grating sort of feeling, and the boy jumped up from his seat, her arms falling away from him as he clapped his hand over his ear. He looked down at her with the most affronted face he could, his mouth open with his teeth bared. The anger and fear he was feeling in his stomach was bubbling over so badly, that it felt like it would turn into some kind of froth and drip down from his lips. He tightened his grip around his ear painfully hard, leaving nail marks in the soft flesh around it. His shoulders rose as he started to hunch. He bit his lip hard enough to draw blood. His muscles tightened so hard that they ached.


    …His father was coming back to finish what he started? This time, Noth would be his target, just like what befell his mother. His terror had him running before he even realized what he was doing, and he found himself moments later, curled in a ball under the covers of his bed. His teeth chattered loudly. When the sound caught his attention he stuck his finger in his mouth to quiet it. Dear God-dess, his worst fears were finally going to happen. What would he do? How could he stop that monster? He was just a little kid!


    After a long time he finally calmed down enough to realize he really only had one person to discuss all this with: The one who’d told him this terrible news in the first place.


    “Angel.”


    Barely a second passed before she seemed to appear out of the darkness at his bedside. Her smile looked calm and serene as she floated next to him, like she’d expected to be summoned, but her eyes betrayed a small look of worry upon seeing the state of the boy.


    “How much time do I have before father comes for me?”


    <Oh, I’d say at best about… 2 days?>


    “How do you know? Was it the gossip? Did you hear something I didn’t?”


    <Do you think I would tell you such a thing so seriously if I only had rumours to go off of?>


    The spirit cutely huffed and put her hands on her hips.


    “Then how could you be so sure that it was happening soon? What makes you so sure about something so scary?!”


    Noth was almost yelling at her, and he was certainly glaring. This was far too serious and fearsome a situation for mere speculation. He needed answers, dammit!


    <Oh my~ How interesting. So you can accept that I come from the side of the God-dess, that I can give you my power and grant you wishes, but oh no, simply knowing things is just going much too far.>


    Her smirking face and teasing tone were only making him more upset, but it seemed that only fueled her need to tease him further. The angel tapped her cheek and twirled in the air as he indignantly glared at her, until she finally laid down next to him in the bed, resting her head on her arm.


    <Do you really wanna know how I know? If you ask then I might just tell you. You might not like it, though.>


    “I already asked you that!!!”


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    <Oh, huh, I suppose you’re right.>


    She giggled and winked at his roar, but only seconds later her face fell just a tad.


    <Do you remember the first day we met? When I said I had seen your suffering and pitied your fate? I didn’t just see what’s already happened to you, my poor beleaguered boy, I also know your future. I saw the life you’d live and what more you’d have to go through, and I just had to fix it. It’s precisely because of what I saw that I decided to answer your call and become your [Gift], so that I could help you change what you would become.>


    The implications of the angel’s words washed over Noth in waves, more and more realizations of exactly what it all meant repeatedly popping into his mind. A life that only got even more miserable than the current hell he was suffering. That all of this could and would go even further south. That a different Noth had had to face all of this completely alone- A different Noth that already had to face his father trying to murder him.


    “What did that version of me do to stop father?”


    <Well, you chose [Monstrous Strength] as your [Gift] and killed him while he tried to attack you.>


    She said it so matter-of-factly that Noth almost didn’t register what the angel had said. He remembered wishing he could be strong enough to escape this hellhole a few times over the past 2 years, but to think that that other version of him had had that particular wish granted instead of his wish to no longer be alone… How awful. And his father…was killed? That was possible? That was an answer to all this?


    <Honestly it was a very interesting turn of events when it happened, you know, because I was so worried how this small boy could live against that happening. But then yeah, you came out nice and safe after he was dead. He really deserved it too, after all that. His reasoning for coming to kill you was just so stupid, too, that it was hard to feel sorry for him getting offed like that. Mhmm, yeah, killing him was a good resolution there. Made for a good little revenge arc.>


    As she shrugged and nodded along with her own words Noth grew more and more pale. Was this the only way? He’d have to become a killer, just like the father he’d loathed, cursed, and feared for the past few years? Would it be justified like it seemed the angel thought it to be? Was it even alright for an angel of all things to have such thoughts?!


    “Is that…really the only way? Do I really have to do it?”


    There had to be another way, or else he’d be forced to kill a killer and then become a killer. Then he’d just be living his life waiting for someone to come kill this new killer he’d created. It would never end. He didn’t want to be part of such a hateful thing.


    <Well, it was such a shame that the previous you never got to figure out your father’s secret, dumb though it is. Perhaps something different might happen if a certain Earl’s son were to discover the truth this time around.>


    She dropped this revelation on him in such a passing tone, like she was remarking on how sad it was that it had been raining lately. Noth almost didn’t believe that he was understanding what she had said correctly. His lips trembled a little as he tried to grasp on to this new string of hope she’d so casually cast before him.


    “Are you-…There’s some sort of secret?”


    The angel smiled cheekily at her slowly reviving ward, then got up from the bed and floated slowly towards the door.


    <There might just be~, but I’m not telling. That discovery is up to you to make. It might even help you figure out what to do afterwards as well.>


    Noth chewed on his lip, trying to think through what all of this might mean. It seemed like getting that info might be the best way for him to solve this situation, but how would he even procure it? He sat up and looked pleadingly in the angel’s direction, timidly hoping she’d feel like handing out more hints.


    “Would you happen to, um, have any ideas… on a good way to, uh, go about... finding that out?”


    The holy vision peaked back behind her shoulder at Noth, the face he was making positively tickling her. She looked away to compose herself even as her shoulders shook a little from her suppressed giggles. She placed her finger on her chin and pretended to think for a while as she calmed herself, and then sauntered over to the boy, casting a long shadow over him as she leaned down, stopping inches from his face and looking at him impassively.


    “Well… I suppose you have a few options, don’t you? There’s plenty of possible ways you could go about this, but at the end of the day it all depends on you. How willing are you to confront your demons? How bold are you willing to be? How fearless? Are you a mouse? A lion? A dog? What kind of beast are you willing to become to escape this enclosure you’ve found yourself in?”


    Anxiety was clear in the child’s eyes as he tilted his head back and looked up at his angel. The tips of her hair tickled over his face, and the little drops of blood it would occasionally drip had started to cover him in damp splotches. He could feel them land on him, and slide across his face, making their way down his neck... But then they would suddenly vanish. When he tried to back away from her, further towards his bed, it only increased the weight of the drops landing on him. The feeling was almost maddening. Combined with how much he was trying to focus on what she had been saying to him, he couldn’t think at all. All he could do was stare wide-eyed up at the woman above him. For a long while he just gazed up at her, stuck in that position, being rained on as he turned her words over and over again inside his head. After a long time had passed and Noth’s face had been thoroughly baptised, he let out a big sigh and turned his head to the side, covering his face with his arm.


    “I don’t even know what I am, let alone what I want to be. Why do I have to be something?”


    <Everyone is something.>


    The angel’s face softened, and she laid down next to him once again, softly stroking his hair.


    “Do I have to decide now?”


    <Deciding now would be better than having it decided for you later. You’ve let everything be decided for you so far, and ended up in this mess. The moment you chose my help was the moment you stepped away from letting other people decide your path.>


    “But it’s so hard to choose…”


    <Anything worthwhile or life changing will always be hard, my love.>


    The boy’s free hand fisted his shirt as his mind fought itself over what choice to make. Seeing this, the spirit moved her hand from his hair, and placed it on top of his clenched hand.


    <It’s getting late. Spend the night to think things over. Fall asleep and let your mind rest on it. A good night’s sleep often helps one to gather their thoughts. We can get to work on whatever you resolve to do tomorrow.>


    Noth removed his arm from his face and glanced over with a pitiable, thankful look, before rolling over and closing his eyes. He squeezed his pillow tight, hoping that what the angel had told him would come true, and that he’d miraculously have found a path to follow by morning. The rustling of the curtains and the feel of the sheets being pulled up to blanket him made him loosen his hold on the pillow just a smidge. The sound of his angel humming to herself nearby as she floated about the room, watching over him as she did, relaxed him just a tad further. It wasn’t too much later before the exhausted child had fallen asleep.