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Kris sat at the table. They poured a chocolate milk.
Finally.
They were shaken. Tired. Exhausted. Tenna, and Ramb, and that horrid game, and the final board-
They picked the glass up with shaky hands and took a sip to calm themself. Another. They felt the cool liquid go down their throat, the sensations in their nerves, felt by their brain. Up, down, up, down, a spoon of chocolate syrup washes all their cares away. After the glass was finished, Kris poured another. The Holidays were rich, they could afford the loss of chocolate syrup. Kris was the only one who drank it, anyways.
Suddenly, out of the corner of their eye, they saw a flash of red. And then, before they could react, the bloody parasite had embedded itself into their chest once more. They heard it in their head, grinning without a face. "What's wrong, is your chest burning? That's normal now, you know."
It all went numb. All they could feel was their own disappointment in themself for not reacting in time, they were better than this! And just after they had gotten the freedom. They admonished themself mentally as The Angel made them pour out the chocolate milk.
Why? They thought to themself. The SOUL doesn't do that kind of petty stuff, unless it's-
Oh no.
The only times the heart-shaped object made them do such trivially upsetting things as tossing out chocolate milk or describing them and Noelle as "something else" are the times that led to something weird happening with them and Noelle.
They heard footsteps and instinctively shot their hand to their sword. Except it wasn't there, and they'd never instinctively reach for it at Noelle's house. Why did they reach for it? It was fine. Everything was fine. They were safe. No, they weren't. They would never be safe so long as that thing was taking up space in their core.
Noelle walked in the room, and they opened their mouth to speak, until they felt that dreaded textbox. One was just saying hi, but the other, instead of anything they could interpret as dialogue, or even words, was a simple, raw command.
Kill her.
They felt horror flood their numb body. The bits of their cardiovascular system that weren't replaced with the otherworldy intruder went into overdrive, blood shooting through their system as the cursor hovered over the simpler of the two options.
It commanded. They refused.
The surge of pride and relief that came with outright defying the knowledgeable one's will was snuffed as it merely commanded again.
Kill her.
It proceeded. They refused.
At this point, Noelle was seeing an incredibly tense Kris, stiff with panic and dread. "Kris?" She started. "You alright? You look like you've seen a ghost."
Kill her.
The heart that isn't theirs pressed on, clearly thinking that repeated demands would get what it wanted. Kris wanted no more than to treat it like a petulant child, to just say no until it got tired. But the reddish voice didn't get tired. For every deep well of force Kris used, it would just press a button from its Heaven and force them down again. But they wouldn't break this time.
"Kris, you're scaring me. C'mon, don't prank me right now, we have to study. Your project is due soon, Susie said you didn't even have an idea for it yet!"
It demanded. They refused.
Kill her.
They felt pain. Like their chest was crushing them, their mind was being dissolved, and their lungs were being wrung out until their sins were poured on the floor in front of them.
"Kris, are you okay? Should I call someone? Susie? Mrs. Dreemurr?" Noelle stepped closer, into range of Kris's attacks. They hated thinking of it that way.
Kill her.
"No." They managed, but it was the worst timing. The one chance they had at getting help, gone. They felt like curling up. They felt like crying. They wished they had a sleeve to cry into, someone to come save them.
But nobody came.
Kill her.
They did the only thing they could. They were the leader of the party, the commander. They reviewed their options.
Ripping it out wasn't an option. They couldn't reach it at this point, too weakened by the defiance to do anything.
"Kris, please, if something's wrong… really, this isn't a prank. I can tell. Just let me help you! Are you sick?" She held out her hand to help them.
The puppeteer tried to grab it, to pull her closer. But they refused.
Instead, they did the only thing they could.
They took the knife from the counter and plunged it deep into their abdomen.
Noelle fell away in shock. "KRIS! What are you doing?! Stop! Oh, no, there's so much blood, how will I bandage this…"
Kris's eyes went unfocused, but they felt it. The unwelcome bug had been excised, at least for now. They were weak, weaker than ever before, and they weren't sure if they'd recover at all. Shit. They thought to themself.
They hadn't thought this through at all. They'd probably die, or at least be hospitalized, and then what? Noelle would have two people in the hospital? There had to have been a better way to do this.
"SUSIE!" Noelle screamed. "Come quick! Kris stabbed themself in the gut! There's blood everywhere, Angel save us…"
Kris once more had to think quickly. The only thing they could think of. They grabbed the disgusting life-giver and shoved it back into them. All of a sudden, the blood vanished, soaking into them like they were a little sponge. With the last moments of control they had, they grabbed Noelle by the antler, and forced her to look at them.
As they stared into her wide, fearful eyes, Kris thought back to their time as children. Sure, they weren't always the nicest to her, but the two were still friends, and with their siblings hanging out with them, the days were more enjoyable than not. Peaceful, at least.
But then Kris spoke with the last of their energy. "Noelle, leave this room or I will kill you on the spot."