Chapter Text
(You close your eye.)
(The Head Housemaiden's words wash over you.)
(Your head doesn't hurt.)
(Your stomach is full.)
(You feel Bonnie and Isabeau gripping your hands tightly.)
(You feel the wind caress your hair.)
(You feel.. nothing, but the world around you.)
(You inhale...)
(It smells.. Bitter. Caramel. It must be one of Bonnie's snacks. You've gotten used to the smell at this point.)
(You smile.)
(You open your eye to ask Bonnie what they have, but-)
(Darkness. Ahead of you was a black void.)
(You stare ahead of you. An outline of yourself, perfectly carved into the darkness in a white array of lines.)
(And, the next moment, you were staring up towards the sky.)
(...)
(The blades of grass that fold around your palms. The songs of the birds that dance around. Your hair flourishes in the iced winds that knived you, many, many times.)
(You're back here.)
(...)
(Back here.)
(These meadows. The birds. You are familiar with.)
(It's not fine. It's not fine it's not fine it's not fine it's not-)
(You reach up, and grab your hair. You pull, and scream. You feel like driving your thumb into your own eyeball. Falling back into the dirt beneath you, you go limp.)
(The universe had demanded an encore.)
(IT WASN'T OVER. IT NEVER WAS OVER! YOU'RE AN IDIOT, SIFFRIN! HAHAH! YOU'RE HERE FOREVER! IT'S YOUR FAULT, TOO! YOU MADE THE BLINDING WISH- GOD, YOU FEEL LIKE DRIVING THAT DAMN DAGGER INTO EVERYBODY AROUND DORMONT, AND THEN YOURSELF! AGAIN! AND AGAIN! MAKE THEM FEEL IT TOO!)
(Because it aaalll reset, didn't it??? All that blinding talking with your friends. Your companions. Your family. EVERYTHING IS RESET! AGAIN! AND AGAIN!!!!!!!)
(...)
(..Except- Your hat. You're still missing it. You're... Still.. Missing it?)
(How? You would get it back, wouldn't you?)
(..You look around the grass around you and, your hat was nowhere around.)
(You would get it back, you know how the loops work... So-)
(Is. Is it. Is it different? Is there finally a sign of change?! SOMETHING!)
(...something...?)
(Something drops and smacks your hair, seeping into your scalp. Then another. And another.)
(It trickles down your forehead, and dampens your eyepatch. Reaching your hand to the sky, you feel it strike your palm.)
(...)
(..This wasn't a normal loop. This isn't in the stage directions. Somethings different. Somethings wrong.)
(But, that's exactly what you needed most. Some blinding change...!)
(You sit up from the field of grass around you, and look onwards towards Dormont. Mirabelle would be coming on stage right about now. Stars, you even remember how long it takes down to the second.)
(But, no sign of The Housemaiden anywhere. Why. Why is it different now???)
(You had your happy ending, but no. No. Of course you don't, Sif. Of course you don't! You don't deserve your ending! You don't deserve happiness! All those things you said- How could they forgive you for any of it??? You deserve to suffer through this
again for all of it.)
(To you, they weren't human. Merely puppets. Actors. Following directions.)
(..Guess now it's time to improvise, huh? Isn't this what the universe wanted?)
(...)
(Get up, Siffrin. You need to see what's changed. And appreciate it.)
(Silence.)
(A single glance at the situation made you realise what was occurring. Everybody was missing. The once bustling town of Dormont as you knew it from the loops was.. Desolate. No energetic kid who likes Rock Paper Scissors. No fishing... Person. And no crabbing annoying runner that kept getting in your way-)
(You stare at where the statue of the Change God is meant to stand, and gaze at the monument. Rather than being stable, the once tall statue was rubble. It had been completely broken apart, with chunks of it's stone flesh and bones spewed all across
the dirt beneath. Much like the ones you saw time and time again in the castle, all broken.)
(It was certainly not something you expected, but, why would you have expected change, Siffrin?)
(You know better than that.)
(..Part of you even wondered. Maybe... The Change God was something you should have believed in. But you were too stubborn. Maybe you actually loved that! That.. Normality. People being the same. After all, you knew your allies at that point better than they knew themselves.)
(You're disgusting, Siffrin.)
(Take your mind away- Look! Mirabelle isn't where she usually is! Change!)
(..Where were they? Where is everybody.. In general??)
(This new stage just gets more and more interesting. You are exhausted.. But. You feel motivated to push on now.)
(Despite everything. Despite what felt like a happy ending, and you ending up here. The fact that things are different makes you feel like continuing on. Your friends aren't near, and you are left with yourself and your thoughts. You don't even know if Loop is still around.)
(...Loop.)
(Wait! Loop! They might have looped here with you!-)
(You yank your heels from the wet mud beneath you, and sprint.)
(Running through puddles of rainwater, splashing your cloak with the dirt- But it doesn't matter. Nothing did. You had a goal. And, like you do, you need to achieve it.)
(You turn the corner and pass the sign, passing directly ahead to the path to the Favour Tree. No Isabeau off to the side, as you guessed. Every member was gone.)
(But, the tree stayed in the same condition as before.)
(You run beneath the leaves of the tree, and to the same spot you always used to sit. But. The other side was vacant.)
"LOOP!!! ARE YOU HERE?!?!"
"TELL ME I'M NOT ALONE!!!"
(No response.)
(You wait patiently. The leaves served as a nice shield from the rainfall. It was... Nice?)
(...)
(Loop.)
(Would they even talk to you, anyway? After the whole fight, after the whole situation. If you were in their shoes, which, you were, in some form... You don't think you would talk to yourself again. Stars... To think they bottled that up for so long...)
(But, you aren't exactly one to talk, Siffrin, are you?)
(You just wished that they killed you when they could've. But, you would have just looped here, right? Or...)
(No. Shut up, Siffrin. Stop thinking about it.)
"Stop thinking about it, Stardust."
(That voice. Too familiar.)
(You sit back and sigh.)
"Oh, you are here. Where are you?-"
(Silence.)
(You wait for a moment, before, you see a figure peak out from behind the base of the tree, their head lowered.)
(But- That figure.)
(That wasn't the star you knew well.)
(Looking back, was)
(You.)