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Hapi had figured out pretty quickly when it had started happening—that part had been simple— but the why was just beyond her.
Her day—to use the term lightly—began as all her days now did: she suddenly found herself in Garreg Mach's dining hall, standing behind Caspar who was in the process of ordering the same thing he always did. "I'll have the Gronder meat skewers." He rubbed his hands together in anticipation. "Oh man does that meat smell good."
She had to resist the urge to sigh as she stepped forward and opted for the cabbage and herring stew; she'd last eaten it seven or eight meals ago. It was hard to keep track since, even if she wrote anything down, it would vanish when the day—or rather night—began again. As it had been beginning over and over again for some time now. The first time had been the most jarring since she'd been asleep in bed and all of a sudden found herself in the dinner line. After a few iterations she'd stayed up instead of going to bed and almost made it to dawn, at which point, just as the first hint of lightening had crept up the eastern horizon… she'd found herself in the dinner line again. And famished. She'd been famished the first time and so was doomed to always start her night with a snarling stomach. Fate truly was a cruel mistress.
She scarfed dinner down more quickly than she might have on another evening, but she had a busy schedule. Or at least she did tonight; sometimes she just went to bed. But no, tonight she had things to do.
Hapi had done this enough times now that she knew the exact moment that the kitchen staff would be distracted and she could walk into the pantry and grab a few things without having to do her "Hey, I'm a general and I need these supplies for official business" speech. Which worked but was such a bore. She pocketed a block of sharp cheese, a bunch of deep purple grapes that were perfectly ripe and firm, some almond cookies, and a flask of wine she wasn't supposed to know was tucked into the back of the pantry, and then slipped out of the kitchen without having to speak to a soul.
The next stop was the greenhouse. She lit the lantern at the entrance, grabbed the paring knife by the door and began making her rounds. She was just snipping some lily of the valley, its bell-shaped white flowers bobbing as she added them to her bouquet, when Lysithea entered the greenhouse.
"It seems late to be gardening," Lysithea observed as she moved to join her.
"I could say the same to you," Hapi replied.
Lysithea's brow furrowed. "I'm here to gather some medicinal herbs Manuela requested."
Hapi moved on to the cluster of white carnations in the back corner of the greenhouse. "For the professor."
Lysithea started. "How did you know?"
"Word gets around fast. I heard she collapsed around dinner time. A poisoned wound, right?"
"That's what we suspect, yes. Whatever it, is it's resistant to magical healing, but we're hoping to have a remedy available by morning."
It seemed far too coincidental that the professor's collapse coincided with Hapi's predicament. When she'd still been trying to piece together what was happening, she'd sometimes skipped dinner in order to arrive just in time to see the professor being carried off to the infirmary. She'd spent entire nights by her bedside, spooning broth and medicinal concoctions into her mouth, and trying to find some clue in her delirious muttering. The professor had called for Jeralt, for the goddess, had kept repeating strange phrases, 'divine pulse', and 'both sides of time,". Hapi wasn't nursing material, but as she'd pressed her hand to the professor's brow and felt her burning up with fever and looked into her glassy eyes, Hapi had truly and sincerely wished there was something she could do for her so she wasn't suffering like this night after night after night. At least when Hapi needed a break she could just go to bed and wake up the next night, or go to the library and read for a while, or just sneak into the stables and go for a moonlit ride.
The professor's lot was a miserable one, but Hapi was sure it wasn't unconnected to her own slightly less miserable lot.
She snipped a white hyacinth and, assembling her bouquet, tucked the flowers into her belt pouch. "Well good luck with the herbs." They wouldn't be ready before dawn and thus would make no difference, but what point was there in telling Lysithea when she'd only forget about it in a scant ten or so hours? As far as Hapi could tell, she herself was the only one aware of the eternally repeating night.
With that task accomplished, it was time to head back to Abyss. She found Constance where she always did, in her workroom, bent over her desk where three different tomes filled with complicated magical diagrams lay open. "Hey, Coco. It's break time."
Constance stared at her in bafflement. "I cannot possibly take a break now."
"Sure you can," Hapi pressed. "I know you haven't eaten, and you can't do serious research on an empty tummy." There was a pause during which Constance appeared to hesitate, and Hapi pounced before Constance could come up with a plausible excuse. "Look, I even brought a present," she said and pulled the bouquet out from behind her back.
Constance's expression softened at the sight of the flowers, all as pale as moonlight. A little smile tugged at Hapi's lips too. She'd tried jewelry once, a broach she'd bought from one of the shady Abyss merchants, also exotic teas, a silk scarf, but the flowers worked best, especially once she'd found the right combination. Nothing flashy, nothing that looked like it belonged in daylight.
"Thank you, Hapi, they're lovely but—"
"No 'buts'. You're coming with me." She snagged Constance's wrist and pulled her up out of her chair. Constance didn't protest.
A short while later they were settled on the grounds, a little corner of green space near the dormitories but out of the way of most foot traffic. Hapi had brought a blanket from her quarters and spread it out on the grass while Constance watched her with a raised eyebrow. "How… quaint," she'd said uncertainly but followed Hapi's lead when she'd plopped down on the blanket and begun unpacking her bag of goodies.
Above them the night sky was pinpricked with stars save in the east where the rising moon drowned them out with its pallid glow. The air was cool against her cheeks and gave her a pleasant excuse to sit closer than was strictly necessary.
Constance eyed the flask dubiously. "Did you not bring glasses?"
Hapi shook her head. "Nope. Tonight we're doing it like us lowly commoners do." She tipped back the flask and drank directly from it. The wine hit her tongue, tangy at first and then faintly sweet. When she was done, she held the flask out to Constance. "Your turn." Constance stared in horror and Hapi raised an eyebrow. "Don't tell me you're grossed out by my lips."
"I—no of course not," she said and snatched the flask, but Hapi hadn't missed how Constance's eyes had darted down to her lips.
They ate. They drank. They talked. She didn't have to convince Constance to stay.
Constance, in moonlight, was always at her best: vivacious, ambitious, determined. She confined all her self-doubt to the sunlight. Hapi wondered sometimes what Constance had been like before, before the war with Dagda had shattered House Nuvelle, and her with it. But this was the Coco she knew, and she'd never trade her, even if her sunbathed self required a good deal extra care and attention. Her moonlight and shadow self more than made up for it.
"Hey, Coco…" They sat haunch to haunch, shoulder to shoulder, Constance's warmth seeping into her where they touched.
"Hmm?" The wine had made her cheeks rosy even as the moon, still rising, silvered her hair and glinted in her eyes. Hapi could have sat there and stared at her night after night.
"Say you only had one day left here, what would you do with it?"
Her expression turned to one of alarm. "Do you mean if we were all about to die? Do you not think that would be a truly distressing proposition?"
Hapi shook her head. "No, I mean more like… what if you knew you were being whisked away to Morfis tomorrow and you knew you'd never see anyone in Fódlan ever again. What would you do?"
One of Constance's fingers twirled through her hair as she considered the matter with the intensity she would her magical research. "I suppose my first priority would be to name an heir to House Nuvelle and pass on my research notes so I'd know my efforts to restore my house had not been in vain."
"And after that?"
"After that I suppose I…"
"Yes?" Hapi prodded, her voice barely more than a whisper.
Constance's eyes darted to her and then away just as quickly. "I suppose, since it would be my final chance, I would tell the people I most cherish how much they mean to me."
"That's what I would do too," Hapi whispered, and then she leaned in and kissed Constance. Constance's eyes widened for a split second before they fluttered shut. Her lips parted beneath hers and her hand wound around Hapi's neck, pulling her in. Hapi kissed Constance harder just to keep from sighing in utter contentment.
Constance pulled back suddenly, looking distressed. "Is something wrong? Are you going somewhere? Is that why—"
Hapi reached out and let her fingers brush through Constance's hair. "I'm not going anywhere. But there is something happening. Let me tell you the whole thing before you say you don't believe me, okay?"
Constance raised an eyebrow. "Very well."
"There's some sort of spell on me that's keeping me trapped in the same ten hours or so. I just keep living the same span of time over and over again and I can't figure out how to make it stop. I think it has something to do with the professor's injury because it started at the same time." She held up a hand before Constance could interrupt. "Let me finish." Constance's lips thinned to a line, but she only nodded. Hapi reached out and grasped her wrist. "During the war when you were fleeing the Dagdan assault, you were injured. But there were so many injured and so few healers you had to have the wound sutured instead of healed. You were a child and you were afraid of the needle but you forced yourself to watch as they stitched you up because you were more afraid of not knowing what was being done to you. You still have a scar… right here," she added and pressed her lips to Constance's forearm, just beneath the elbow.
Constance's breath caught. "How… how can you possibly know that? I've always kept it well covered."
Hapi met Constance's gaze. "You told me. And you showed it to me. And then this night began again and I was the only one who remembered it."
A prolonged silence followed during which Constance digested this new and distressing information, her gaze distant. When she looked up again to meet Hapi's gaze, her eyes were bright with determination. "What have we tried so far? Tell me everything."
They'd tried hastily-brewed herbal concoctions, every spell Constance could think of, even those completely irrelevant, which had, in one case resulted in the professor's hair turning orange and growing wildly but had not restored her lucidity. One time they'd resorted to dumping icy water on her. That had seemed to bring her back to herself for a short while, but by dawn the poison had her in its grip again and the night had started over as usual.
"Have you tried sighing?" Constance asked when Hapi had exhausted her list.
"No." The word fell from her lips like a hammer strike.
"But if you're the only one unaffected then surely it must have something to do with your condition. It only makes sense for you to—"
"I mean no, I'm not doing that again."
"Again?" Constance repeated. "You tried once before then?"
Arms crossed over her chest, Hapi's eyes scanned the remains of their meal, bits of cheese and cookie crumbs scattered on the blanket. The wine flask, now quite empty, lay off to one side. This meal, this time together was what she wanted to relive, what she wanted to remember, not…
"Hapi?" Constance's fingers brushed over hers so softly.
Hapi didn't look up as she spoke. "Once. You got hurt. Badly." Her mind flashed to Constance cradled in her arms, her body limp, blood on her lips. Clinging to Constance, sobs wracked her body as she waited for the dawn to come and erase this moment from existence, if not from her memory.
"I see." Her fingers wrapped themselves around Hapi's. "Then I suppose you should try it without me. Do it shortly before dawn to minimize the risk of casualties."
"But—"
"You said the water briefly pulled the professor from her delirium. Perhaps the shock of a monster will as well. And if she retains her sense during the period when the day normally restarts, perhaps that will be enough." Her grip tightened around Hapi's hand. "You must try it at least once. Please, Hapi. For your sake if not for the professor's."
Hapi only just managed to restrain a sigh and turned it into a huff instead. "Fine."
"Thank you. Now, there remains one thing I do not understand."
This time it was a huff of laughter that escaped Hapi. "Only one?"
Constance waved off the comment. "You knew you could convince me of your situation by telling me about my scar. That being the case, why bother with all of this?" she said, indicating the remains of their meal. "You could have simply told me in my study and we'd have had more time to work on possible solutions."
"I just… wanted to spend time with you. I guess I was… lonely."
"And have we done… this… before?" Constance asked, cheeks reddening.
Hapi swallowed hard. "A few times."
"And I never remembered afterwards?"
"No," Hapi whispered. It had, perhaps, been more than a few. That's how she knew which flowers to bring, what food, where the quietest spot was. Once, one of the Garreg Mach cats, a sleek tabby, had paid them a visit, sniffing around their meal until they'd fed it cheese crumbs. Constance had named him Curds in honour of the visitation. Another time, when they'd set up closer to one of the barracks, the sound of music had drifted from the soldiers' quarters, a lute played a little clumsily but whose tune had been lively. She'd pulled Constance to her feet and they'd danced in the moonlight until their lips had met and the dance had become one of eager hands and mouths and hips.
Constance's usual energy seemed to have dimmed. She reached out and pressed her palm to Hapi's cheek. "I'd like you to promise me one thing."
"Okay," Hapi said.
"That we'll do this again."
"Sure, I—"
"Tomorrow."
The word hung between them like an invisible barrier, a threshold Hapi couldn't seem to cross no matter how often she tried. "I—" She took a breath and forced herself to meet Constance's eyes. "I'll try." She knew what she was agreeing to. "As long as you don't come with me this time."
"All right," Constance agreed. She tossed her head and let loose one of her boisterous laughs. "In that case I will expect you to see you in the morning."
"But if it doesn't work—"
"Then we'll review the facts once again and come up with a new course of action." She tilted her chin up, once again the picture of assurance. "Between the two of us I'm certain we will discover the solution to your problem. And just to make certain you have ample motivation…" She leaned in and pressed her lips to Hapi's in a searing kiss that quite took Hapi's breath away.
And then Constance rose and dusted off her skirts. "Until tomorrow then," she said and headed back towards the entrance to Abyss.
"Tomorrow," Hapi whispered.
#
It was shortly before dawn when Hapi made her way to the infirmary. After Constance had left, she'd gone in search of some strong tea, yawning all the way. Staying up all night wasn't easy. Her fatigue from being up all day wasn't erased when she was thrown back into the dinner queue every night. The tea made her a little more alert, which she'd need if she was going to have to fend off a monster.
The infirmary staff recognised her and let her through when she asked to see the professor. She was the same as Hapi remembered from the last time she'd been here. She pressed a hand to her forehead and it was as hot as ever. The Sword of the Creator, propped up against the wall, looked strangely desolate, like an abandoned pet. The professor's left arm, where the poison wound had been, was bandaged. Her lips were cracked and her eyes, when they sprang open to stare at Hapi, were wild. "Have to go back," the professor muttered, voice hoarse. "Try again."
Hapi shook her head. "Going back's really not all it's cracked up to be. Trust me."
And then she let out a long, drawn-out sigh.
For a minute nothing at all happened. Then the floor just to the right of them, burst, the very stones shattering as something forced its way up from the bowels of Garreg Mach. A giant crawler, just like last time.
A woman screamed. Hapi's heart was in her throat as she cast her gaze around the room just to be sure Constance hadn't followed her. But instead, she found one of the healers, eyes wide with horror. "I'll hold it off! Go get help!" Hapi called.
The crawler was only halfway through the hole it had punched through the floor, its lower half still coiled in the earth below, but its snapping jaws were all too happy to make a snack of the professor. Hapi leaped forward, loosing a crackle of magic at the beast, shocking it back. Its sinuous body shuddered, but it only slowed for a moment and then it lunged again. Hapi stumbled backwards in the too-small space, nearly tripping over the bedpost. When she looked up again, the creature's jaws were lunging at the bed. "Professor!"
The professor rolled away just in time, crashing down onto the floor as the crawler's jaws splintered the bed. She sprang back to her feet, eyes wild, face flushed scarlet with fever, but her hands were gripping the Sword of the Creator.
The illness hadn't sapped the professor's strength: with the Sword of the Creator, she sliced a deep gash in the crawler's hide. Hapi followed with a jolt of magic, aiming for the wound. It sizzled through the creature's flesh, making it writhe and hiss. The professor seized its distraction and pressed her attack. A few ferocious strikes were all it took, and the crawler collapsed, its body shrivelling until there was hardly anything left.
The professor swayed on her feet and Hapi rushed in to support her. "Whoa there, Professor. Take it easy. I'd really appreciate it if you could stay awake for a bit."
The professor's eyes were bloodshot, but no longer glassy as she turned to look at Hapi. "I was having this awful dream, over and over again. I kept trying to turn back time."
Hapi's eyebrows shot up. Was that the goddess's power then? Had she always been able to turn back time or had it only happened due to her injury somehow corrupting her power, just as Cornelia's experiments had corrupted the power of Hapi's crest? The notion that somehow Cornelia's tampering was what had made her immune to the professor's abilities made her stomach churn. "Maybe just… don't do that when you're not lucid?"
"Did I… Did something happen?"
Hapi shifted a little, trying to better prop up the professor, who was heavier than she looked—all that muscle she supposed. "Sort of, but don't worry about that now. I need you to stay awake until the healers are ready with an antidote for you. Can you do that?"
"I… yes. I can manage." Her voice was still weak, and she looked like death warmed over, grey in the face with exhaustion, but as Hapi moved her over to the next room she remained alert and continued to as the healers fussed over her. Hapi stayed close until Lysithea and Manuella appeared, bags under both their eyes from what had clearly been a sleepless night and applied a salve to the curiously magic-resistant wound.
It was only after all that that Hapi stepped out of the infirmary… and into the soft buttery glow of dawn light. The long night was over. It was tomorrow. And she had a promise to keep.
The End