The Bond

Noah [3]

Vincent sighed. "Sorry, Will."

The shorter man before him gritted his teeth, he knew that it must have made William furious. "Why? How?"

He dared to look back at William, apparently shuddering at how angry William was at him at this moment. Vincent took a deep breath and exhaled slowly again. He approached William carefully before gently rubbing William's tense shoulders to calm his lover. "I know you must be angry about this, I'm sorry," Vincent said softly as he cupped William's face, still careful—who knows if William might throw another chair at him, or another object. "That night you were exhausted at the construction, so I intend to take you home by taking over your body because you almost fell asleep there."

"You used my body to kill him."

"Wait—just listen to me, darling, please." Vincent stared William straight in the eyes while furrowing his brows deeply, William finally let out a heavy breath and released his fist, trying to calm down. "It was also winter, I passed through an alley close to the traveling circus and I found the boy there; he seemed," Vincent paused, "miserable, dying." He shrugged his shoulders after that. "What is certain is that his condition was a little dire, as if someone was torturing him. He was a smart kid, you know that, he knew you always carry your gun around just in case you're out at night."

William narrowed his eyes at Vincent. "You shot him ...?"

"He asked me to shoot him," Vincent replied calmly, he glanced the other way. "He didn't know it wasn't you at all, I don't know—I just felt bad for him back then, so I did what he wanted."

The Afton looked at Vincent in disbelief for a few times, before he massaged his temples tiredly, trying to digest the information he had just received.

So that's why Noah was no longer visiting them.

"Oh, Vincent ...."

"I know, I'm sorry," Vincent whispered softly as he pulled him into a warm embrace. "Then you know what I did after that?"

William shook his head, he let Vincent gently rub his back. "What?"

"I stuffed him into Ennard."

At least that made William immediately move away from Vincent again, he had no idea how many times Vincent surprised him like this today. William looked in disbelief. "You hid his body inside Ennard?" he asked again to make sure, Vincent nodded. "Wait—is there any chance that Ennard ..."

"Is possessed by his soul like those children, yes, there is a high possibility." Vincent glanced at the basement door briefly. "That's what I suspected from the start, Ennard isn't just an A.I, Ennard is Noah himself."

"Then why did he hide it?"

"You know Noah, Will," Vincent said with a smile.

William was silent, he began to think about the reason why Noah would hide this matter from them if he really possessed Ennard. However, remembering all of Ennard's recent behavior, he was increasingly suspicious that there was something behind it. After Vincent said something about this, everything seemed clearer now. Most likely Noah didn't want them to hate him for lying, especially to Michael. He sat back in his swivel chair and contemplated a way to persuade the animatronic to confess ... at least to them both first, without making him feel forced, of course.

Vincent teleported away shortly after because he said he wanted to check on their kids while he was still sitting in the swivel chair wondering. Should he tell Michael? No, that was a bad idea, he would let Noah tell the man himself. William stood up and decided to check on his eldest son, who he knew Michael was in the living room, repairing the illusion disc there accompanied by music playing from his cell phone.