"BE GONE."
With that single command, Maxwell felt the entire world shift.
The whispers vanished instantly.
The crushing pain inside his head disappeared as though it had never existed.
Maxwell staggered slightly, his breathing uneven as he tried to steady himself.
Cold air filled his lungs, yet sweat streamed down his face.
His fingers trembled.
The whispers were gone… but the echo of them still lingered faintly at the edge of his mind.
Slowly, Maxwell looked down.
He was standing in the exact same place as before.
In front of the same diagram Nova had drawn in the snow.
An eye.
Inside its iris, wriggling worm-like shapes twisted unnaturally.
Above the eye floated a triangle, surrounded by strange lines and symbols Maxwell couldn't understand.
Everything was the same.
The same position.
The same drawing.
Maxwell blinked in confusion.
Even now, he had no idea what had just happened.
One moment he had been staring at the drawing.
The next moment he was surrounded by whispers.
Then screaming in unbearable pain.
And finally—
That voice.
"The voice…" he muttered quietly.
"Whose voice was that?"
He turned toward Nova.
She stood a few steps away, staring at the drawing in the snow with a thoughtful expression, completely absorbed in her thoughts.
wasn't nova just whispering? Maxwell thought.
It didn't look like she had noticed anything unusual.
When she felt Maxwell's gaze on her, she turned.
"What?"
Then she noticed the sweat running down his face.
Her brows immediately furrowed.
It was freezing cold.
Yet Maxwell looked like he had just run for miles.
Nova narrowed her eyes.
Why is he sweating?
"Are you alright?" she asked.
Maxwell quickly wiped the sweat from his face.
"Yes… it's nothing," he replied.
He didn't want to worry her with something he himself couldn't explain.
Nova stared at him for a moment longer.
"You're clearly not alright," she said firmly. "What's going on? Speak."
"I promise you it's nothing."
"Let's assume you're actually fine," Nova said, crossing her arms.
"Then explain why you suddenly started sweating."
"Answer that, and I'll drop it."
Maxwell sighed quietly.
He knew he couldn't answer that question.
So there was no point pretending anymore.
"Fine," he admitted.
"Yes, I'm hiding something."
"Probably something big."
"No… definitely something big."
He looked directly at Nova.
Somehow Maxwell didn't know if it was to cold getting to him, or the stress he had gone though building up. But he felt really pissed.
"But now that you know that… what exactly changes?" He add his voice cold.
Nova stared at him in disbelief.
"What changes?" she repeated.
Her teeth clenched slightly as irritation flickered across her face.
"To think you'd actually say something like that."
"Even if we only became a team because of circumstances, I still chose to give it my all."
"But you?"
Her voice rose.
"You want to hide things."
"And you didn't even consider that whatever you're hiding could put us in danger!" She snapped.
"That's exactly why I didn't want to say anything!" Maxwell snapped back.
His voice rose to match hers.
"We already went through enough today!"
"Why would I want to add another problem on top of everything else?"
"Then you should have said that from the beginning!" Nova shouted.
"I would have understood!"
"But instead you tried to hide it!"
"That's what made me angry!" Still yelling, Nova clenched her feets she glared at Maxwell.
"I understand!" Maxwell replied loudly.
"I was wrong!"
"If something like this happens again, I won't hide it."
Nova opened her mouth to argue again…
But the words died before they could come out.
The cold wind passed between them, rustling the snow slightly.
They were both exhausted.
"…Good," Nova finally said.
Then she blinked.
"Wait."
She looked at Maxwell.
"…Why where we even yelling?"
Maxwell blinked back at her.
"I don't know," he said.
"You started it."
"So you should end it."
Crunch.
The snow shifted under Nova's feet as she suddenly sat down.
"That was weird," she muttered. "Why were we even yelling?"
Maxwell chuckled as he lowered himself onto the snow as well.
"I don't know," he admitted. "You started it, so I just followed."
For a moment, they sat in silence.
But it wasn't awkward.
It was the kind of silence where neither of them felt the need to speak immediately.
Finally, Nova let out a slow breath.
"Alright." She turned toward Maxwell again.
"Now that we're calm… and we've cleared our heads"
Her eyes narrowed slightly.
"Tell me what happened."
"What made you start sweating like that?"