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“Tori says Dess isn't there.”
“Maybe she's out with Asriel.”
“She says Asriel's in his room.”
“Where could she have gone?”
“I don't know, honey. I don't know.”
“What if something's happened to her?”
“Asgore's getting the police on it. They'll find her.”
“I'm going out there, too.”
Rustling. A door slams, locked hastily. Down the drive, a car starts.
The Holiday estate feels nothing like a home without its residents, now merely a shell of its former self. A cold draft moves through the vacant space. Roused by the urgency in her parents’ hushed conversation, Noelle creeps out from her room well past her bedtime, pounding like a beating heart as she rushes down the stairs.
Dess hasn't come home. She understands that much. And now her parents are gone.
She pads over to the hearth, its mantle decorated with family photos and wintry figures fanning outward from the centerpiece—the symbol of the Deltarune. She can scarcely see the tops of her family's heads from her height, but the Deltarune is taller than the rest, a work of metal mounted to the wall itself. She folds her nightgown under herself as she gets down on her knees, hands folded as she murmurs a prayer for Dess to be found.
There's a hollow thud from her right. She looks and lets out a scream at what she sees through the window—a figure pushing its face against the glass.
“Kris!” she yells, her reprimanding tone going unheard. She stomps outside, her agitated posture an act to hide her apprehension.
Before she can reach them, they run away from her, and she gives chase. The grass is dewy, staining her nightgown. They run through a small patch of trees until they break through to the road on the other side. Her hooves click and clack against the sidewalk.
Kris slows as they near the church. She comes up beside them, walking now. It's late at night, too dark to make out their face past their mop of bangs.
“You're so mean! Why'd you have to scare me like that?”
They don't respond. She's unfazed; Kris doesn't always talk, but that doesn't mean they aren't listening.
“You're lucky Dess isn't here right now. She'd chase you off with her bat!” she says, pantomiming a swing through the air. “My parents say she's missing. But I dunno… I think she's just by the lake. I've seen her smoke there. Did you know she smokes? It smells so bad, fahaha. But she told me I can't tell Mom, so…”
They pass the church, leaving it behind. Trees rise around them, swallowing them as they push into the forest. Noelle watches the darkness between the trunks, imagining creatures lurking in the shadow, looking for their glowing eyes. She clasps her hands together, squeezing them tight.
“Or is she out here with you? My parents are making a huge deal out of it, getting your dad and the rest of the police to look for her, so you should tell her it's time to come home.” Quietly, she adds, “I-I think I should go back, too…”
Kris stops and turns toward her. They hold out their hand, offering her to take it. She takes a deep breath; they're not trying to scare her after all. She reaches out...
Light shines from behind, and she whips around, becoming blinded by it.
“December?” a voice calls out.
“It's me, Mom,” Noelle says flatly, blinking through the beams from the flashlights to make out her mother.
“Noelle? Noelle, what are you doing out here?” Her mother's figure appears before her, a pair of cold hands holding onto her small shoulders. “I don't need both my daughters wandering around at night.”
“I'll take her back to our place,” a deep voice offers from beyond her mother. Mr. Dreemurr.
“I'm fine,” Noelle says, a whine in her voice. “I was with Kris.” When she turns to gesture, they're already gone.
Her mother's hands come to rest on her cheeks, turning her face forward. “Sweetie, what are you talking about? Kris is with Toriel.”