Chapter Text
You’re back in the meadow.
For the thousandth time.
(Exaggeration, Siffrin~! It’s actually your fifty-fifth! After two hundred and forty-three blinding loops, you’ve only seen this sight fifty-three times and it’s starting to DRIVE YOU INSANE ANYWAYS!!!)
Small, hiccuped giggles come out of you as you think, think, hurt, hurt, hurt. What she said stabbed you right down, didn’t it? The entirety of Vaugarde trapped you here for the rest of eternity!! The Head Housemaiden used wishcraft improperly (blinding IDIOT she is, shouldn’t she know the proper way to wish? She’s so obviously from your homeland!!), and now you’re going to rot and wither except you’re NOT. Because you don’t get the liberty of death?
You push yourself up off the ground, muscles feeling so unnaturally strong that they wobble. Isn’t that silly? Your legs feel like they can hold five of you, yet you still think that you’re going to fall at any moment!
Oh, who are you kidding? You’re ignoring the main culprit!
The stars-blinded UNIVERSE.
This is all it’s fault! The damned thing just LOVES twisting wishes on itself! Stars, BONNIE could do a better job at granting wishes than it has done!
You slowly walk towards town on shaky legs.
It granted the King’s wish in the worst way possible, jeopardizing an entire country and getting you into this mess in the first place.
It didn’t even BOTHER trying for Vaugarde’s wish, just sticking a random NO ONE in as their eternally-trapped savior.
Isn’t it all hilarious?
You run your gloved hands through your hair, knocking your hat off of your head as the weight of it all sinks in.
Everyone is doomed.
Not only JUST Vaugarde has been frozen, but the entire world, encased in two endless days.
Mira will never get to be a Housemaiden again.
Isa will never get to tailor.
Bonnie will never get to see their sister again.
Odile’s country will be lost to her, lost to everyone not in it.
It will be this way forever.
...
...no.
You won’t let that happen. You can’t let that happen.
You think about those close to you, and all you are fueled with is resolve. Determination.
You think about Bonnie, and how they deserve better than to spend their life in this forsaken town.
You think about Odile, and how she deserves to learn more than she ever could within the house.
You think about Isa, and how he deserves to stick it up to the Defenders for bailing.
You think about Mirabelle, and how she deserves to keep the memory of the King’s defeat as a treasure to hold.
No. NO. You won’t let this happen to everyone.
If the universe wants to play dirty...
Then so. Will. You.
[Stardust? What are you planning?]
Nothing you should concern yourself with. Or, haha, I guess you should! Get ready, Loop!
[...]
You step foot out of the meadow, scanning the environment for Mira. You gather you woke up a little early, seeing as she’s still on her bench.
You feel fizzled. All emotions that you were, that you should be feeling, nonexistent in the face of your resolve.
So as you stand in front of Mira, you know damn well you would’ve paled and killed yourself over even the consideration of the idea that you’re about to try.
But you can’t feel that now. Maybe you’ll regret it later, but you’re charged with newfound spite for the universe enough to ignore every voice telling you to stop.
“Hey, Mira,” You say, cooly.
“H-” She starts.
You don’t think. You don’t let yourself think. You just say it.
“Gather the others,” You say, interrupting her. “And meet me at the Favor Tree.”
[STARDUST. Do not bring them to me-]
Your opinions don’t MATTER here, Loop. I’m carving us a way out, and I need YOU as much as anyone else.
[Your “way out” involves quite possibly the collapse of the universe itself!!]
Better than the stagnation of it.
[You’re insane.]
I am. Aren’t you?
[,,,]
“I-? Okay? Uhm-” She starts.
“I’ll be there,” you say, as you turn tail and make way straight towards the Favor Tree clearing.
You hear her call your name hesitantly as you walk away. She doesn’t again after you don’t turn aroun.
---
Stepping into the clearing, your eye immediately catches onto Isabeau.
Your one eye. You wonder if you could fix that with Wishcraft.
...probably not. The Universe works in backhanded, twisted, and otherwise sadistic ways.
“Hi, Isa,” you say. Before he can even open his mouth, you continue. “Everyone will be meeting under the favor tree in about one and a half minutes. Would you like to come a little early?”
“Sif???” He says, confused. “Okay?? Sure, why not. I need to have more fun in my life, haha!! Let’s go on a quest!!”
You laugh. “Do-dododo!”
...is this mania? No, mania would be... well, manic.
You’re just... calm. Weirdly calm. With a premonition that it’s going to collapse sometime later. But you feel normal right now.
It certainly doesn’t feel right on you anymore.
You take Isa’s hand, and lead him under the favor tree.
The first thing you notice is that Loop isn’t there.
Coward.
[Tresspasser.]
Yeah, sure.
[You are now.]
You sigh. You don’t get their resistance to your plan. It’s sound enough to work- to be fully honest, you’re unsure why no one else has ever tried it. Especially after the universe has blinded humanity over as much as it has, you’d THINK that at least someone would have tried to exploit it in similar fashion.
It’s not like it doesn’t deserve it.
Isa sits down against the tree.
“So, uh, what’s the whole deal? Very out of the... uh, something. Can’t remember the phrasing. But you get what I mean, heh,” He says.
“I’ll explain in a little more detail once the others get here. But have you ever made a deal with a magical being before?” You say, cooly.
“UHM??? No??? Sif, what did you do??” Isa says, incredulous. “Does that mean anything better in context??”
You stick a tongue out at him. “Maybe, maybe not. Do you think you’d make a good lawyer?”
Isa laughs at that. “I dunno if I could even begin to-”
“Isa, I know that you’re smart underneath there. That you’re hiding it. I don’t care, I still like you, but I really want to know if you’d honestly be good at lawyering.”
Isa is stunned, for a moment. Then he slowly speaks. “Uh... I could. If you needed it.”
“Good. Cause we’re going to be spend a LONG WHILE trying to exploit some loopholes,” you say.
You start to hear the crunching of grass. Sounds like the rest of the caravan has arrived!
“Thank you all for coming,” You say as they step under the tree. “I’m sure you’re dying to know what I’ve gathered you here for!”
Heh. Dying. You fail to supress giggles at the joke.
Everyone else is dead serious.
“Aww, no takers? Oh well,” You say, shrugging.
“I’d very much like to know what this sudden escapade is all about,” Odile says, suspicious.
You don’t really think that you could describe the way she looks at you whenever stuff like this happens other than suspicious. It’s like she’s the textbook definition of it.
Hehe. You could definitely see her face in a textbook.
“Yeah. Stop being stupid and just tell us,” Bonnie huffs, glaring at you.
“Alright, alright!” You say, smiling.
They’re all staring at you.
You’re going to admit it now.
You’re going to admit it, and it’s going to be okay. Because if it ISN’T okay, you can just go back with the definite knowledge that you were right all along.
But this is the hardest part of this all. If you can get past this, this raw fear, you could start making REAL progress. Universe knows the whole of your party is going to be invaluable in the plan.
So you suck it up.
And you let it spill.
“I’m stuck in a timeloop,” you say.
Mira’s brow furrows.
Bonnie stares blankly.
Odile’s quite unimpressed.
Isa seems to be waiting in anticipation for you to say something. Anything along the lines of “Haha, got you!”
It surprises you that Odile is the one who says that part out loud.
“Sure, Siffrin. What did you REALLY bring us under here for? A tree, of all places?”
You hide yourself in your cloak and look away from her. Stars, they don’t believe you. Of course they don’t. Wasn’t that just a swell plan? Go in and just say it without any cushioning? You must be quite an idiot.
“I’m not joking,” you mumble into your cloak.
Odile’s eyes... widen?
“Gems, you’re serious.”
You’re quite confused. “You believe me??” You ask.
“You’re not the type for an extended rug pull joke. You would’ve delivered the punchline by now,” She says, letting out a low whistle.
“Madame, a time loop though?” Mira says. It only makes you want to hide even more. “But how would that even- ohhh.”
“Time craft, somehow,” Odile says. She then looks towards you. “I presume..?”
“In a sense,” you half-answer.
“What’s a timeloop?” Bonnie asks, innocently.
“It’s uhm... It’s like,” Isa starts, trying to explain. “When you go to sleep tonight, you wake up time traveled to 5 hours ago. And you remember but no one else does. And that just happens every time you go to sleep.”
Bonnie seems to be thinking really hard about it, and then it clicks.
“Oh! Okay, that makes sense. So Frin has been waking up for lots of days in this one?”
“So it seems,” Isa says, a little absently. He looks over you a fair bit.
“Have you ever told us about it before, Sif?” He says.
Stars. You know he’s smart, but you don’t think you’ll get used to him being perceptive. Did he pick that up from your hesitance alone??
“I, uhm... no. I haven’t.” Before any of them can start making assumptions, you continue. “I just didn’t want to burden you all, cause I thought that it was just until we beat the king! But then we beat him, and I still ended up back there, and at that point I didn’t want to pain you all with the knowledge and, I still don’t to be honest I’m not even sure that I’m READY for this moment but I need you now more than ever. I know you’ll hate me for everything that’s happened and for what I’m going to make you all do but this is WORSE than death so-”
You hear Isa faintly whisper an “I’m sorry” before his hands grip your shoulders, stunning you out of your spiral.
“SIFFRIN!” Mira shouts at you. “We’re not going to hate you!!! What? Why would we??”
“Come on, we’re your friends,” Isa says to you. “It’d take a lot more than what happened in a timeloop to make us mad at you!”
“I’m disappointed you didn’t tell us sooner,” Odile adds. “We could’ve been a greater help than you give us credit for.”
“Yeah. Don’t be stupid, Frin!! If there’s any looping shi-gun-ni-nins-”
“Shenanegins, Boniface,” Odile corrects.
“Shi-ni-ni-gans.”
“You got that wrong on purpose,” Odile accuses.
Bonnie elects to ignore her, and continue their sentence. “If there’s any looping shenanegins, I wanna help!!”
You... can’t quite believe it.
They’re helping. They want to help. They want to help YOU.
Haha! You could just- you- they’re- they want to-
You force yourself to pull yourself together. It’s great it’s amazing, but you’ve still got a long way to go.
“I... there’s more.”
[I will not.]
Get DOWN here.
[You can’t make me-!]
I could, and you KNOW I could. But I want you to come down willingly.
[I refuse.]
Next loop I’ll bring back some food and we can see if you’re able to eat.
[And how do you know that I don’t know that?]
You just admitted to it, and... a hunch, I guess.
[And how do we even know there’s going to BE a next loop with what YOU’RE planning to do?]
Give it a REST, Loop! You and I BOTH know that the universe can take much more than what I’m gonna do.
[...]
[...and I get a loop with your hat and cloak.]
You snort. That certainly got eyes on you.
“Care to share with the class, Siffrin?” Odile questions.
“You’ll see in a moment,” You say, a little carelessly.
Why would you WANT those?
[That’s a star’s secret to keep~]
Sure, yeah, whatever. Are you gonna come down now?
[Make it legally binding first, stardust~]
UGH. Okay. I, Siffrin Nomiddlename Nolastname do hereby and promptly, and forevermore, declare that I will bring you a Pain Au Chocolat in the loop succeeding this one, and that you will get to keep my white cloak and hat for a whole separate loop that you may choose to invocate. Will you come down now?
[I agree to those conditions! And now that I’ve agreed, I’d like to point out that nowhere in that formal binding contract did you list any conditions I had to fulfill to GET the rewards, stardust~]
LOOP.
[Hehe, okay, okay!]
You hear the rustling of branches above you, and the sound of Loop’s signature giggling as they fall to land on their log- right in between Mira and Odile.
You think to yourself that you probably should’ve warned them as they both let out the most uncharacteristic screeches and jump separate ways. Instead, you just try your best to suppress your giggles.
“Why, hello, my wonderful starlight party~” Loop says, waggling their eyebrows. “How may I help you all on this wonderful new loop?”
“Who are you,” Odile says flatly as she quickly gets up and into a combat stance.
Isa, having flinched away, looks at them with no short amount of wariness. “Uh, what Odile said.”
“Oh, silly fighter, I’m your guide! Here to help you with the loops- although it seems that THAT whole system is going to be switching up pretty soon!”
“‘Switching up?’ How?” Mira says, a little quietly.
“Also, that was not anywhere NEAR a satisfactory explanation,” Odile says, still glaring.
“I-It’s okay, they’re with me,” you clarify. “They’ve been my... only companion in all this. They’re not a threat.”
“Awww, what do you mean?” Loop says with an exaggerated poet. “I’m a BIG threat! Much more than you, cutie-patootie stardust~”
You raise your eyebrows, unimpressed and ignoring the fact that Isa’s face just turned fifty percent redder.
“Really now.”
“Mehh. Tough crowd. You’re not getting that much out of me, you all~! To be frank, I’m barely able to even stand looking at your faces~!!”
“...why?” Mira says, clearly a little hurt.
“Why, indeed. That’s the question! I’ll leave you to ponder that little hint~” Loop teases. “What’s REALLY important is what my stardust has to tell you. Which, by the way, I do not agree with at all! It is very potentially destructive of the whole world as we know it!”
“THE WORLD IS GOING TO DESTRUCT??” Bonnie shouts.
You glare at Loop. “It’s really not that bad. I promise.”
“Well then, what is it?” Isa asks.
You sigh.
“We’ve exhausted all possible solutions. We’ve found plenty of answers to lesser questions- such as the mightily important piece of information that wishcraft is a thing that exists.”
“Wishcraft?” Odile says, intrigued.
“I... yeah. Again, sounds like fantasy, but... we think it’s what got us into these loops in the first place. That’s what I meant by when I said ‘in a sense.’ Wishcraft is allowing the use of timecraft without instant death.”
“I... I’ll put a raincheck on my questions. Continue.”
“But yes,” you say. “It turns out that the head housemaiden used the entirety of Vaugarde to wish for it to be saved- which ended up wound with me. But they wished wrong. And now, unless there’s something I’m missing, which I highly doubt, we’re stuck in time purgatory forever.”
“Oh Change,” Mira says, looking like she’s about to pass out.
“You said you have a plan?” Isa asks.
“Though it might not be very orthodox,” you answer.
You take a deep breath.
“The universe has not been kind. It has granted wishes poorly, caused so much pain and suffering through inadvertant actions, and has been my personal tormentor for a long, long while. So, I’m done playing by it’s rules.”
“My plan,” you continue, “is to brute force a way out. Come up with wishes upon wishes to make, and test them over and over until we find a loophole that will end the loops anticlimactically.”
“And the universe doesn’t like that at all~!” Loop chimes in. “In fact, it might actively damage itself to keep these loops going! Trust me, I’d know~!”
“But we’re going to try anyways, cause it’s the last option that we have,” you conclude. “So. Will you all help me..?”
Silence. They seem a little stunned. You start to shrink away-
“Of course we’ll help you!!” Mira says. “Whatever this ‘universe’ is, we’ll help you win against it!”
“Yeah, Sif,” Isa affirms. “You’re worth more than the world. I’d be willing to do anything for you.”
You suppress yourself from chuckling at that. He doesn’t know you know...
“If this is gonna stop me from seeing Nille, then I wanna beat the yoo-ni-verse!” Bonnie shouts. A little loudly.
“We’re with you until the end, Siffrin,” Odile rounds out.
Stars... you could cry. You’ve never felt so warm.
“T-thank you all so much,” You say, barely holding back tears. Barely, but successfully. You sniffle. “Okay. So, first things first, give me a second.”
You reach up and pick a leaf off of the favor tree. Swiftly, you hold it to your mouth, and then make what is most likely the longest wish you’ve ever made in your life.
“I wish that any and all future wishes that are made at any point during these loops are entirely bound by the time that they are made, ergo, going to a time before they are made will nullify the wish safely.”
It’s long, so you think only three times is well more than enough for the universe to get the jist. You let the leaf go fly away, blown by the air.
“Was that a wish?” Mira asks. “I thought it was-”
“To clap your hands a couple times, I know,” you say. “No, you have to do something along those lines. I’ll tell you all sometime later.”
“What did you wish for?” Isa asks.
“I wished for all the future wishes we make to be undone if I go to a time before them. So that we don’t have to worry about unintentional wish-stacking,” you answer.
“Hmm. Good foresight, Siffrin,” Odile says.
“You definitely seem experienced in the craft,” Isa says.
“Yeah, I’ve got a little,” You say.
Now for the important part.
“I’m going to create a new starting point. One I will make sure I go to instead of waking up in the meadow.”
You take out your knife.
“The moment I plunge this into the ground will be the starting point. So, if there’s any permanent things that you want to say, now’s the time to do it.”
Silence, from everyone, for a moment. And then...
“Well. I love you all, and I have confidence in us! We’ve got this!” Isa says.
“Yeah, I think you all know everything that I want you to! At least for now...” Mira says.
“Nothing for me Frin!” Bonnie says.
“Go ahead, o Knight of the Dark,” Odile says, smirking.
You’ll have to ask her later what she’s talking about. For now...
“Okay. Just... thank you all. I really do thank you.”
You whisper an “I love you” under your breath.
You raise your knife far above your head.
And then-
You-