A figure stepped out from behind the boulders.
Noble gasped, averted her eyes, and fought back the sick feeling forming in her stomach.
The man had a leathery, hairless head with an elongated reptilian mouth. His sleeveless shirt showed his broad, scarred arms patched with a myriad of different skin tones and textures.
At a glance. He looked more like a beast than a human. And a glance was all Noble could take.
"You weren't supposed to co out here." His gravelly voice brought Noble back from her shock.
"Is that why you didn't co to help ?" Noble had felt the emotional signature enter her orbit, but there hadn't been ti to react to it until now.
"You didn't listen to my warning," The man smiled, revealing two rows of thin, spiky teeth, "plus you seed to have it handled. Didn't expect the weird guy to show up, though. That was a surprise!"
"I…seed to have it handled? I could have died!" Noble touched her throat.
He straightened his back, his smile becoming crooked. "Deadly encounters seem to be the nature of our relationship. After all, it's always a good day for a suicide mission."
Noble's voice caught in her throat. "Ch-chip?"
She had put the clues together. The notes, his knowledge of her family, and even the naming of his echo had all pointed her to one conclusion. The biggest indicator, however, was his insistence on calling Rain by the Aussie term 'Sheila.'
But even after examining the evidence, Noble didn't dare hope. Even as he stood before her, the woman was having trouble coming to grips with what her heart told her was impossible.
"Is it really you?"
"In the flesh…fleshs…fleshes? What is the plural of flesh? No matter. Yes, it's , Noble." The man chuckled.
Noble pressed her eyes shut as a flood of questions entered her mind. Finally, a single word broke through.
"How?"
Indeed, the last ti she had seen the man, he had been overwheld by Skinwalkers. She had heard the Skinwalker's voice in her ear before dismissing her mory.
Before leaving her friend for dead.
Chip shook his head and said seriously. "I fell through a gate."
"What?!" Noble glanced up at him, making sure not to look him directly in the face and receive another dose of his Flaw.
"I'm joking, unless you count my neighbor's fence when I was eight, but that wasn't entirely my fault! You have to admit that falling through a Nightmare Gate would have been quite the twist, though." Chip nodded.
"This tale is twisty enough. How are you alive?!" Noble's eyes swirled.
"Ah, that." The man's smile faded. "It's strange how things work out, isn't it? The last creature that I had killed the day before the incident had a funny little power that made it quickly regenerate even as it was being torn apart. I had ant to die when that bomb of Coy's detonated, but so part of activated that power from my arsenal, preserving through the blast.
"So the creatures killed over and over as they tried to climb into my soul. I just kept coming back. When I finally felt the pulse of the do open, I pulled on my tether and went to the Dream Realm.
"However, I had been pulled apart so many tis that I wasn't quite put back together the right way. My body made so…adjustnts to compensate."
Chip pointed to the patches of skin, which Noble now realized were likely parts of creatures the man had killed in the past. Noble had known he absorbed parts of his kills, but she had never been exactly sure how it worked, because her friend hadn't been certain himself.
Now it seed like pieces of them, be it their powers or their parts, remained dormant in him until he needed them. And being ripped apart repeatedly by a monster seed to qualify as just the right ergency.
Noble's expression darkened. She hit the man in the arm, and he jumped, genuinely surprised by her violence.
"Why didn't you tell us you were alive?! Coy and I… we had a funeral for Spell's sake!"
Now that the shock was over, her indignation took hold. She had mourned this man—was still mourning him when she thought about him. Yet he had been alive for years!
Chip ran his hand across his leathery head.
"My appearance doesn't exactly scream trustworthy to you, does it? I was a bit lost back then, and if either of you had accused of being a vessel of Skinny, well, that would have done in. So I figured it was better to let Chip die. You two deserved to rember how I was."
"Coy and I don't care how you look. We care about who you are. We never should have let you take that risk…I never should have let you…" Noble's eyes filled with tears as she stifled a sob.
Chip shushed her softly and pulled her into a hug. "None of that. I would never have let you stop . You'd have found tougher to thwart than even ol' Skinny. There's no place for guilt or regret. I should know."
He released Noble from his grip.
She floated away, wiping the tears from her cheeks. "Still, I am sorry."
"As am I." Chip nodded.
A silence stretched between them.
"What changed?" Noble tilted her head.
"What do you an?" The man was once again confused by his companion.
"You said you wanted to remain dead. But I am sure you sent both an application to the Academy and a note to with Rain's soul shard."
Chip rubbed the back of his neck. "Ah, well, I will admit to both. The first was a bit of a lapse in judgnt. I saved a young man from a monster, and he wanted to repay the debt. I had him submit that application. I didn't realize you were gone at the ti. When he brought the news, I ca to my senses and had it retracted."
"And Rain?" Noble narrowed her gaze, staring as close to the man's face as she dared.
"I can see a great deal, but I accidentally happened upon her without warning, and she fled. I didn't want her to lose her prize. So I returned it." Chip shrugged.
"But you returned it to , not her." Noble watched the man shift uncomfortably.
He rubbed the back of his neck. "I suppose that was another lapse in judgnt."
"That's two 'lapses' in a very short ti." The woman pressed. "From what I know, you have been out here a long while. Have you ever tried to contact before?"
Chip chewed his lip, which would have been especially upsetting if Noble had been able to view it. "No, I have not."
Noble tilted her head.
"Well then, I repeat, what changed?"
The man sighed. "Alright, I suppose there is no sense in hiding it. I had sothing happen, and I guess I wanted to share it with soone who would actually care."
"Oh?" Noble waited.
"Well, there's been a developnt. You see..." Chip sighed, releasing the aura that he had been suppressing. "I recently beca a Saint."
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