Chapter Text
"You know," you say, with all the nonchalance of someone with a some sort of summer-y blended assortment of fruit to drink and without a care in the world, "these dreams usually turn into nightmares by now, or don't make it this far."
Four heads snap to you as you idly walk into the death corridor and flip the switch with a practiced ease.
Sure, waking up in that meadow again is the stuff of nightmares, but at this point you're used to just riding out the dream until it decides to snap and throw something awful (your friends dead, your family hating you, Loop being gone gone gone---) at you.
(You didn't pretend to visit Loop at the tree in this dream. You rarely do. There or not, either would hurt.)
"Hey Sif? What do you mean by that?" Isa is staring at you. They all are, actually, wide-eyed as if shocked by this. Weird. You guess they wouldn't know, if this were real, but...
"I mean, we beat the King a year ago...? Had a whole huge feelings talk and everything at the end. So. Dream." You force a shrug. If this is an oooh no you've left these versions of us behind to rot forever deal, you're not looking forward to that. The distorted faces still get to you sometimes.
"We've beaten the King before, yes, but you shouldn't re...mem...ber.... that..." Odile trails off.
The air around you is uncomfortably real. It doesn't have the syrupy quality of your dreams.
Your ears hurt from the noise the boulder made.
"Hey Bonbon," you say, drifting over to them, not quite feeling solid, "can you punch me as hard as possible? Or give me a sour tonic?"
They punch you, and "Ouch!"
That hurt way more than it had any right to, with the amount of health you have. With the amount of strength they should have.
The sour tonic they hand you after also hits far harder than something in a dream should.
"Ah. I understand. This isn't a dream."
You're back in this hell again!!!
"If you guys don't mind," you say, sitting on the ground and working very hard to not hyperventilate yet, "I'm going to have a panic attack now."
Communication! You've been getting better at it!
With that thought, you brace yourself against the pillar and curl up tight.
This absolutely can’t be happening.
You were out! Free!!! You ran out of Wishcraft! You stopped looping! Odile stopped you! She still knows how!
This shouldn't be happening! this CAN'T be happening, you were out out out! You were free! Free from this blinding building and the fake smiles and the forever screaming stomach.
You can’t be here, you can’t be here, you don’t want to be here!
You're aware that your friends, family, they're piling around you, but this isn't them, it's not the people you've spent the past year with. Isabeau who has started trying out copying pattern books for practice, Odile who has finished reading the familytale and started one with the rest of you, Bonbon who got to see their sister again and introduce you, Mirabelle who finally left those papers behind.
Everything you worked for gone.
Gone!
Gone in a flash!
You should've known you'd never get to keep it!
You feel a---
"Siffrin! Breathe!"
You inhale, sharp. Hold it. Exhale.
In, and out.
Calmer now, thanks to Mirabelle's reminder.
Her hands are on top of yours, clenched in your lap. Isa is kneeling at your side, hand a steady weight on your shoulder, and Bonnie is opposite him. Odile stands a bit farther back, face scrunched still. Staring at you.
You look at her, even as Bonnie at your side continues to cry. "I'm sorry, 'Frin! I didn't mean to wish! I take it back! I'm sorry! Go back to being normal!"
Wait, no, back up, you look at them, "Bonnie, what did you wish for?"
"I just wanted you to remember! All the times with us together! All the loops!" They say, squeezing your arm tight.
Ah.
"... I wish Siffrin remembered the loops?"
They nod.
Well.
"Stars. Can't the Universe grant wishes in less convoluted ways?" you mutter. Then, to everyone, no doubt looking for an explanation, you say, "So. You all have been looping through time?"
There are four nods in response.
"Well. I don't remember your loops. I remember mine. For me, I've been out of them for a year."
Odile is quick to catch your words. She'd puzzled about as much already, you figure. "You, singular."
"Technically, no!" Oh, you wish you could do something on the level of the Royal We joke now. "Functionally, yes. I was the only one of our group to remember the loops."
"Technically?" She narrows her eyes.
"I had help. They went by Loop. Complicated, but they acted as a guide, a sounding board. Help. I couldn't have managed without them. You all...?"
Mirabelle shakes her head. "We don't have anyone like that. Just the four of us. And... Our Siffrin." She pauses, flinches back, "Oh my crab if you're here what happened to them?"
"... maybe they're having a fun vacation in Poteria with the rest of my group?" Maybe! You just switched places! If that's the case! Then you can probably get home! You’re running with this theory for now.
"... You all stuck together?" Mirabelle asks, and you look between the four of them.
"Have you all... not? Discussed further plans?" It cannot be this simple to solve for them.
"I mean, not really?" Isa says.
"... what loop are you all on?"
"36," says Odile.
".... Huh. I made it 129 before everything fell apart." You debate going for your dagger, or trying to make a break for a tear, but no. The dagger would just be rude to them all. And even if you're still the fastest, the tears are just too far. Long way around to the Favor Tree, then, you suppose.
They all flinch at the number. Bonnie frowns, saying, "I think if I had to do this that long, I'd blow up the world."
Hey! That's what you almost did! "It wasn't great! It wasn’t great. But I’ve been doing better lately."
For a moment, you consider swapping stories. Tales of what it's been like for them, what it was like for you, but...
You understand what Loop meant, when they talked about seeing your party. Imitations of the real thing.
These people aren't yours, they aren't the ones you spent time learning.
You’ll go through this loop with them. Maybe you’ll talk about it all, but you won’t be staying. You have a home to return to. They have a Siffrin to bring home, one who fits into this puzzle better than you would.
You stand up, brushing off the dust and getting ready to get a move on. "I'm spending my downtime this loop workshopping my wish. The sooner I'm back with my party, and your Siffrin is back with you, the better. You all can workshop the feelings talk," you chuckle, "about what to do after you all win again. It might take a lot to convince your version of me you'll stick around."
They've all beaten the King, they said. So it won't be that hard. They probably know most of what you know. The keys, the tears, the falling rocks. The King's patterns. Mirabelle probably has an array of shields to choose from!
As you wonder if they've found the orrery, if they know about the island, you hear Isabeau going, "It can't be that simple, can it?"