Noelle would never admit this to anyone, not even Kris, but… she hated her last name. It was an irony that she’d never hear the end of: Noelle Holiday hates the holidays. And she always had. Winter was cold (even when your fur had a new winter coat). She shed her antlers and then they came off, and while it didn’t hurt, it didn’t make it any loss gross and awful to feel like her antlers were bleeding for three weeks (though at least she got some time off school whenever it happened.)
And things were boring. The winter festival happened every year, but she liked the summer festival better, with its carnival games and rides and cotton candy. The winter festival was more something couples and kids did. She couldn’t do more than dream of asking Susie to do it with her, and well, she hadn’t find it very fun as a kid either. She sucked at ice skating, and there were only so many snow angels you could make before you never wanted to see one again.
And then there was the music. Oh, Angel, the music. Awful. The music that played in every store and restaurant and building in Hometown seemed designed to be as grating as monsterly possible. Even worse, everyone just assumed she loved it, so she had to laugh and smile as everyone in town sang half-remembered pop songs and drunken carols at her.
But even putting all of that aside…
That wasn’t the real reason she hated when the last month of the year rolled around.
That was because every time she opened the front door and ice-cold winds tore at her skin, she felt a chill in her deeper than any winter.
That was because her mother, who already seemed to want to do as little with her as possible, always stopped existing for an entire month.
That was because every time she saw her calendar, she felt her soul constrict in her chest.
Still, you couldn’t fight it. You couldn’t even get mad at it openly. Even if she wasn’t part of a family literally synonymous (and also homonyms) with Holly Day, if you hated the holidays openly like Susie and Kris did, you got called names, or people who thought they were really funny would go “Ha, and a bungle to you!” at you (which wasn’t even the correct quote from the book.) So she put on her antler headband, threw on her jacket, and started the walk to school alone.
Kris clearly wasn’t supposed to see Noelle in the month after the-thing-nobody-wanted-to-talk-about had happened. Her Mom had locked the front gate, as they had discovered before they’d climbed over it, nearly impaled themselves on the spiked top, and also almost sprained their arm falling off and landing in the snow on the other side. And then the front door was locked too, as they’d discovered before deciding to sneak around the side of the huge mansion and go under Noelle’s window on the second floor.
A few well-placed snowballs at the window didn’t even get a response, despite the window conveniently being wide open, so they’d resorted to the only logical thing to do. Namely - and with great difficulty - climbing up the nearly bare tree just outside, shimmying across the nearest branch to the window with both arms, and leaping bodily through the window like a deranged Santa Claus.
Normally, it would have been a perfect way to scare the pants (skirt?) off Noelle. And that was something she probably needed, they thought – if they came up to her all concerned and worried, they knew she’d be weirded out in a way that wasn’t fun at all.
But she didn’t react. Because she wasn’t in the room.
They paused, looking around for her, but the only thing they could see were Holly Day decorations, and the only thing they heard was voices. They were coming from far away, but in the silence of the house, they could still be heard clearly. And they were getting louder.
“Damn it, Carol, I’m not taking her to one of those crackpots!”
“Rudolph Holiday, do you hear yourself?”
“Well, are you blind? Just look at her! She’s already cracked, Carol – you really want some nutcase pushing and prodding her until she breaks too?”
Oh. This was familiar. They backed away from the door, but they could still hear.
“She’s not an ornament.”
“Oh yeah? That’s rich.”
“And what’s that supposed to mean?”
“You know exactly what… wait. Wait, No, honey…”
“Oh, wonderful. Now look what you’ve done.”
“Noelle, sweetheart, I didn’t… ah, crap.”
After a moment, Kris could hear footsteps getting louder and louder, and then someone running up the staircase, and then muffled crying. Not knowing what else to do – it wasn’t like they could climb back out the window now – they hid in the corner behind the door to her room.
Only a moment later, the door was thrown open, and Noelle stumbled into the room, her hooves trying to wipe away the tears rolling furiously down her cheeks. She was sobbing, though from her near-silence, she was trying not to be too loud about it (which was another familiar feeling) and was walking unsteadily.
Kris didn’t really know what to do. As much as they didn’t want to admit it, they were ten years old, and even by the standards of other people their age, comforting people was the opposite of their limited skillset. They felt awkward standing in the corner of the room, not saying anything, but it wasn’t like they’d feel any less out of place if they stayed hidden.
The only thing they could think to do was to act normal.
So they crept up to the door, walked behind it, and very, very, very slowly closed it, in the way that they knew would make the old door creak and groan like an agonized hag.
Noelle’s arms hunched, her ears raising in alarm. She turned around as slowly as the door, and by the time she had, Kris was already there, standing inches behind her. She backed away, a gasp rising up her throat as her hooves flew to her mouth in shock.
“Boo,” Kris said, expression not changing an inch.
“K-Kris,” Noelle said, voice warbling, and her eyes watered as a huge smile broke across her face. Before Kris could even blink, she’d launched forward and wrapped the arms of her bright red Holly Day sweater around Kris’ neck, pulling them close.
It hadn’t really been the reaction Kris had been hoping for. This whole time, they had come here to try to cheer her up, because they knew that she must be heartbroken. It wasn’t the same thing at all, not even close, but one time Asriel had left for a kind of church summer camp, leaving Kris without him. And the entire time Kris had felt directionless, alone, and miserable.
They couldn’t even come close to imagining what was happening to Noelle – to have your sister so far away it was like nobody would ever find her, to not know when she would come back, or if she would even come back at all. It was completely alien to them.
Very awkwardly, Kris lifted both their hands and placed them on Noelle’s back, giving her what they hoped was a gentle hug. Noelle pulled them closer, her breath shaking as she squeezed them to the point it was more than a little uncomfortable - especially to someone who didn’t like hugs at the best of times. Her hooves were digging into their back.
“Kris, Mom and Dad are going to be mad,” Noelle finally said, voice wracked with guilt, as if this was somehow her fault and not Kris’ for jumping through her window.
“Mhm,” Kris mumbled in reply, leaving it to Noelle to interpret what that meant between “I don’t care” and “They sound mad already.”
“I… I know,” Noelle replied. “But I don’t want you in trouble, OK?”
“M’not going,” Kris replied, trying to sound firm despite their mumbling. “It’s not fair. That they keep you locked up here.”
Noelle laughed shakily. “That makes me sound like… like Sleeping Beauty or something.”
Kris smiled softly. “Can I be the dragon?”
“No, you’re… wait, wait, hold on.”
Noelle broke away from the hug and wiped the tears from her eyes.
“Um, get on one knee,” she said, very seriously. Kris did so, and they heard Noelle walk around the room, before returning with a giant plastic candy cane. She smacked it against Kris’ shoulder and announced, “From now on, you are hereby Princex Phil-ish, brave knight of the Kingdom of Hometown.”
“Phyllis?” Kris replied, trying not to smile too widely.
Noelle laughed again. “OK, fine, fine! Princex Kris.”
“Are you the dragon?”
“Fahaha!” Noelle laughed. Kris couldn’t stop the grin that broke their face. “Can you imagine? No way. I could never be a dragon.”
Kris couldn’t help but agree. The only dragon they could imagine was that purple dinosaur girl who hated dresses.
“So who are you?”
Noelle paused for a long moment.
“I’m not sure,” she admitted, smile fading. She started to pace back and forth, looking up at the ceiling. “Maybe I’m the hero. Or the evil witch? The evil witch is pretty cool...”
“But the evil witch turns into a dragon,” Kris said.
“Oh, yeah, you’re right,” Noelle says. “Well… it doesn’t have to be the same story. We can write our own story.”
Kris went quiet, letting her think. Noelle turned back to them and smiled, her smile small and bashful.
“What if… the dragon was in love with the princex…? And the dragon had to rescue them from an evil monarch.”
Kris nodded.
“So you are the dragon.”
“It’s more interesting that way,” Noelle said, “don’t you think?”
“Yeah,” Kris agreed. “But… I think I want to be the dragon instead.”
Noelle frowned. “Oh.” She set her hooves in front of herself, crossed the digits together. “Why’s that?”
“Because then I get to rescue you.”
Just as Kris was hoping for, Noelle’s entire face went red. Even her nose lit up, bright as a cherry on her snout.
“Krissssss!” she said, laughing it off. “Come on, don’t tease me!”