Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

You walk forward near a cliff

“That girl from way back was right, this country really does have great scenery, I should have visited earlier.” you sit down at its edge, enjoying the beautiful sunrise. You lay back as a nice summer breeze hits you. After some time passes you see the sun again. “Ah. I guess it's time to do something.” 

you get up from your spot. A permanent dent left in the grass where you used to lay. 

“I should probably see what all that noise about a king was. I was fairly certain this country wasn’t a monarchy anymore. I doubt they’d change back after only a couple of years”

From a distance you hear a sound. 

“A scream? It's far too early for people to be fighting sadness. Might as well help.”

You weave through trees eventually making it to a dirt road where three people fight a sadness. One of their group seems to have fallen on their back. The sadness is ready to strike at any moment but before it can you throw your knife logging it in its head before grabbing it back and slashing downward. With a cry from the sadness it is defeated.

you breathe in. . . and out before turning to the one who fell and offering a hand.

“You okay stranger?”

“Oh! Um!? Yeah, thank you for the save. I would have been done for if it wasn’t for you.”

“Don’t worry about it, happens all the time.” you take a quick look at the other two before turning back. “Especially to you tank types.” 

You help them off the ground. They must be a furnace, their palm is really sweaty. You hear the two behind you start walking and running over.

“What's your name stranger? If you don’t mind me asking”

“Oh! Right uh I-it’s Isabeau. What's yours?”

“I’ve had a few names over the years but you can call me Siffrin.”

“Isabeau! Are you okay!?” one of their group, the one that ran. Sprints over to Isabeau and starts checking for injuries. “Oh thank change! You're not hurt”

“Yeah, thanks to Siffrin.”

“Thank you Siffrin, how can we repay you.”

“Your thanks are enough but I will ask if you can point me to the nearest town. I don’t have a map and it’s been a while since I’ve been to this country”

“Oh, of course your welcome to jo–”

“Hold on Mirabelle.” The last of the group finally made their way over. And immediately takes charge. A tall Ka Buan person walks up to you, putting the others behind them. “Thank you for saving Isabeau, but why? Don't you have a map?”

“I never have any… particular destination, so wherever I end up must be where I'm supposed to be.” you’ve traveled far and wide but have never felt like you belonged in any one place. Now that you're thinking about it, maybe that's where you're trying to go.

“So you just want directions to the nearest town?”

“Yea–”

“We’re actually going there!” Mirabelle loudly says from the back.

“Mirabelle!”

“But Madam Odile, they saved Isabeau. The least we can do is take them where we’re going anyway”

Odile takes a second to contemplate. Weighing the pros and cons of letting a stranger in their mists. You aren’t looking to join them but it would be nice to have someone to talk to again even if it is for the little bit it takes to walk to the nearest town. 

Finally after some puppy dog eyes from Mirabelle and some persuasion from Isabeau, Odile gives in.

“Fine. I won't deny that you did help us and you seem to be strong enough.” They sigh deeply, dreading an eventual headache. “Would you like to join us?”

“If it’s not too much of a bother.”

After hearing that, the other two walk over

“Gald to have you on board, some proper introductions are in order. I’m Isabeau, he/him Rock type.”

“Ah! Right, I'm Mirabelle, she/her paper/scissors type.”

“And I'm Odile, she/her paper type.”

“It’s nice to meet you all. I’m Siffrin, he/they scissors type.”

“Likewise. Now we should start moving. We’ll be able to make it to the nearest town by sun down. Come, we shouldn’t waste any more time than we already have.” She starts leading but eventually gets out-paced by the youngest of the group. “You seemed fast before. How come you're back here with me?”

“Oh, sorry, I haven't traveled with a group in a long time. I suppose I started taking my time when it came to walking to places. I do have all the time in the world after all.”

“Do you now… tell me, how old are you?”

“Um……. What year is it?”

“####”

“Oh………… do I really have to answer?”

She gives a small chuckle and raises an eyebrow “Now you do, Please enlighten me. How old are you?”

you start to count the years. A little embarrassed you pull your hat down. “Five… hundred and…twenty one…”

“. . . . .”

Too stunned to speak she stops and looks forward, eyes unfocused trying to process the absurd information she had received. After realizing she's falling behind, she quickly catches up.

“You're joking.”

Still embarrassed you squeak out a little “no”

“How!?” she quietly yells.

“The memories are hazy but I made a… Desperate. wish and haven't physically aged in a long, long time.”

“Wish!? Like one of those favor tree things?”

“No, no I had to do something far more complicated than that, but… I… can't seem to remember what I did exactly.”

“So… You can’t age?”

“Yeah. that or I age extremely slowly.” 

Odile continues to be stunned by your words but is recovering faster by the second.

“Okay answer me this. What have you done with all of that time?”

“Traveled”

“That’s it!?”

“Hey! I have…… yeah okay that's about it, but you won’t believe all the things I've seen.”

“No doubt… so tell me oh ancient one, why are you here? There's so much to explore out there and you choose to come to the one country where there's an active crisis happening. Why?”

“A lady from a long time ago told me about this country. She painted such a beautiful picture that I had to come see for myself. That was about two? hundred years ago if I remember correctly, give or take a few years.”

“Okay but why now? You said it yourself; you have all the time in the world. Sorry I’m just confused”

“Well when I arrived it wasn’t like this.”

“Same but our definition of time may differ so i ask. When did you get here?”

“About… twenty years ago.”

“Gems alive… the king started his attack this year… what were you doing?”

“Nothing.”

“You can’t expect me to believe that.”

“Well, okay I wasn't doing nothing. I was going town to town taking in the new sites. Last time I was here it was a monarchy and not  everyone liked it. Loads of people wanted to flee the country and I couldn't blame them, it sucked.”

“I think I read about that. Strange to hear it from someone who was actually there.”

The group finally makes it to the town, your conversation interrupted by Mirabelle who was further ahead with Isabeau.

“Odile! Siffrin! We’re here.”

“Ah, it seems this is where we part ways. It's been a while since I've told someone about myself. It was nice talking with you Odile.”

you begin to walk towards the town exchanging goodbyes with Mirabelle and Isabeau

Odile seems to think about a few things, hesitating, before letting the moment pass. 

You wave the trio goodbye before heading to the nearest inn to buy lodgings.

you are unable to sleep. During your conversation with Odile… you said a lot, opened yourself up more than you normally do with strangers. Last time that happened you had to flee the country because the people there started hunting you down.

you feel like talking to her again, asking her to keep your secret safe. You really don't want to spend another hundred years hiding.

Before you know it the sun rises, you don't need sleep but it feels good to do so, so you do it every now and then.

“Might as well see if I can find them.”

you leave the room and head down to the lobby, immediately you run into Isabeau who is helping Mirabelle.

“Ah, Siffrin we were hoping to run into you again” Isabeau puts down a heavy looking bag.

“Right we talked after you went into town and we were hoping to ask you something.” Mirabelle looks nervous, she rings her hands; a common tick for people trying not to bite their nails. You know it well. “We wanted to ask if you’d like to join us!” she said that in the same breath. Nerves would have gotten the better of her if not for Isabeau encouraging her.

With no real destination in mind and a secret that needs to be kept hidden… why not. “Sure, I’d be happy to join”

“Are you–”

“Yeah! Welcome to the team!” Isabeau puts an arm around you. You flinch at the sudden and loud contact. Isabeau quickly retracts with a “sorry. I should have warned you…”

An awkward silence fills the air. Isabeau walks back over to the heavy bag and carries it outside. you messed up.

“…”

“I'm sorry you were going to say something?”

“…….Are you sure you want to join us…? We plan on fighting the King after all. Some people say it's a doomed mission and that we should give up since he’s too strong. It’s just…….. I….. I want you to know that it’s fine if you don’t want to!” She's clearly nervous. She stopped ringing her hands and is trying desperately to keep them occupied, her poor dress.

“Well…. I think it will be fine.”

She looks a little better after hearing that, almost hopeful “really! Thanks for joining us. I promise you won’t regret it.” She picks back up a bag you didn’t notice because of Isabeau’s bigger one and carries it out the door.

You still need to talk to Odile. You try to leave the inn but before you do Odile walks in.

“Ah Siffrin, I heard you were going to join us. Did the others tell you what we plan on doing?”

“Yeah that we’re going to fight the King right?”

“Yes. While our number may be few, I still think it’s better than letting this country get frozen in time. I’m happy you're joining us. Your strength and knowledge will be invaluable. We are currently getting ready to depart so if you have anything you need you only have to ask.”

That's kind but. “Um… Odile?”

“Yes, Siffrin?”

“Um, about my… my long lifespan. Could we keep it a secret? It didn’t end well for me last time it got out.”

“Oh I didn't know it was a secret. I haven’t told the others so it shouldn’t be a problem.”

You sigh in relief “Thank you.”

“Anything else?”

“No, I don’t think so”

“Well, let's go then. We have a country to save.”

Chapter Text

You didn’t think traveling with this group would actually be fun. Time usually just passes you by until you want to do something but since you’ve been traveling with this group you actually know what day it is. It’s strange but it’s good? You think you remember this happening before but the details aren’t exactly firm in your mind.

Recently the group picked up an abandoned child. They’re fun, they play pranks and are an excellent cook. Just yesterday you were enjoying some vodka with Odile the child, Bonnie wanted to taste some, you remember that children can’t drink alcohol so you swapped it with some water you were keeping around. They kid said that “this tastes just like water!” and walked out the room with a weird look on their face. Once gone you and Odile were cackling for the rest of the day and It became a little in-joke between the two of you.

Today the group is about to get the last orb needed to get inside Dormont’s House Of Change. You are a little sad that your journey with them is about to end but you enjoyed what time you had with them.

You have nothing to do right now so you decide to go see what Mirabelle’s doing.

She’s currently sitting in the lounge reading one of her romance novels. “Hey Mira, how are you today?”

She looks up from her book “Oh, hi Siffrin. I’m okay just catching up on this series I haven't read in a long time. I remembered it being better though. How are you?”

“I’m fine, just thought I'd check up on you, see how you're doing. How do you feel though, about finally getting to see your home town?”

“I’m a little nervous but I think everything will be okay. It's the House itself I'm more worried about.”

Right. They filled you in about how The King and how he’s freezing all of Vaugared in time. He knows he can only be stopped by Mirabelle so he locked himself in the center of the continent’s town Dormont and is waiting for us. “I think we’ll be fine, we’re strong enough to beat him.”

She looked a little down but your comment seems to have lifted her spirits just a bit. “I hope so.”

You let her read her book. Taking the time to carve out some good luck charm made of wood. You whisper to it “please bring good luck, please bring good luck, please bring good luck.”

It’s not before long that Odile gets everyone together to leave. The orb is in some abandoned house of change and the only way to get to it is past a bunch of sadnesses.

“Hey Mira. Before we leave I wanted to give you this.” you hand over the good luck charm. You designed it after the brooches she wears so you hope she at least likes it.

She inspects the charm and without even a second thought she unclips one of her brooches replacing it with the charm. “Thank you Siffrin, this is really nice.”

“I’m glad you like it” ever observant Isa shows up and asks

“What’s that?”

“Its a good luck charm I made.”

“Oooohhh cool. Did you make any more?”

“Yeah I made some for all of you actually.” you show Isa the charm you made for him. It’s a little shield you carved out, He’s the one who takes hits and deals them back so you think it fits him. “It’s more of a protection charm but it should help you in a fight. You’ll need a necklace to attach it but-”

“I love it…” he says under his breath. You didn’t think he’d like it that much but you're happy he does. He drops his backpack in front of him and rummages around eventually pulling out an empty necklace, he threads the charm on it and puts it on. “How’s it look?” He does a little pose; You and Mira give a small laugh before giving him an equally small applause, he accepts it with a bow.

“I’m glad you like it.” Odile is-

“Hey did you make me one!” ah right the kid.

“Yes I did.” you pull out a little Bonnie you’ve been carving for a while, since you met them really. They weren’t doing so great when you first picked them up so you thought you’d make them something to brighten them up a bit. “It should keep you safe as long as you hold it close.”

“It’s a little me… I love it…” they cradle it like a little baby before putting it in their pack. They try to hug you. You flinch violently in their arms. “S-Sorry”

“No I…” they ran away.

Well… that was awkward. You still have to give Odile a charm so you walk up to her, charm already in hand.

“Hey i-”

“Hold on to it. My birthday is two days away so you can give it to me then.”

Wait what! “Wait What!?” you think you heard the others join you “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I wasn’t going to tell anyone but then I saw that you were giving gifts so you might as well give it at the appropriate time.”

You… stare blankly forward. She always does things like this! …Fine…. "You could have told me at least.”

“Ah but then I wouldn’t have gotten to see that priceless look on your face.” She laughs to herself as everyone starts moving. Eventually you join them. You are so going to prank her on her birthday, consequences be damned!

You miss this feeling. This… happy and warm feeling only people who care about each other bring.

You really don’t want the journey to end.

Chapter Text

Somehow you and your friends have managed to not fight a ton of sadnesses but you guess this is where they all were because suddenly you were all ambushed by close to ten sadnesses. They’re relatively weak compared to most sadnesses you’ve fought but you no longer have the luxury of just caring about yourself; you keep looking back to check on the kid, they’re putting on a brave face but you can tell that they’re scared.

You have to end this quickly, your placing too much stress on your body.

The others are doing better than you thought. The number of sadnesses starts to dwindle as some run away and the rest rush in– WAIT!

One that you thought was running away was actually rushing towards Bonnie!

Having time to process what was coming at them, the kid yells “GET AWAY FROM ME!” while trying to back up falling over in the process.

You sprint over using [Make Up The Time] to get in front of the sadness before it has the chance to strike.

You raise your dagger to attack but the rock sadness hits you first.

You hear the sound of ceramic being crushed before blanking out.

…

You hear panicked noises as you wake up.

“What a… weird dream.” you rub your eyes… wait… eye? Where's… the… other… oh right, not a dream… oooohhh… you really didn’t want to explain this. You even tried to keep it from Odile but. Oh well, there goes that. You sit up and reluctantly open your eye.

You see them all standing in front of you, Questions plastered on their faces. No doubt it’s: How are you alive! What manner of creature are you, why is there a skeleton inside you? Or something along those lines.

“So I know you have questions but. Please. Don’t freak out.”

Odile steps forward and shows you a piece of your eye. It’s not complete which explains why you still can’t see out of it. She probably says the question that they’re all thinking. “What are you?”

“Human. In a sense.”

“I understand that but why do you seem to be made out of…ceramic?”

Stars give me strength. Okay… you take a deep breath in… and out… “ you remember how i told you before that i made a desperate wish.”

She squints her eyes trying to piece it together before you say it.“...Yes…”

“I’m not the one who made that wish… my creator did.”

“Your…… creator? You mean your parents or?”

“No. You see, I was modeled after someone.” you point to the skeleton inside your body. “My creator lost someone he cared about, her son? If I remember correctly, and was struck with so much grief that she put the skeleton in this body and made a wish for me to come to life.”

Mira steps closer, eyes wide, like if she just got to the good part of a book. “So what happened then? Did she live out the rest of her life with her child!”

You take another deep breath in and out. “For a while… yeah… we did. A nice and happy family. Until she noticed.”

She steps even closer, Her eyes grow even wider. Isa takes a step back, a look of horror and sadness on his face, it seems he pieced it together. “And! AND! What did she notice”

“That I… wasn't her son… her wish didn’t make the corpse inside me magically start living again, it just made me. Maybe I was too obedient or my mannerisms were off or maybe I just couldn’t play the part but after she found out she kicked me out of the only home I knew. And since I was modeled after a dead person I had to go into hiding; Any time I was noticed, there were screams and cries, people shouting that there was a living dead person wandering about!..... I understand if you don’t want to see me. Or look upon me anymore. I’ll leave. Just let me collect the pieces of me scattered around, please.”

You stand up to collect your pieces but before you do Bonnie suddenly pops out of a bush. With a “I FOUND IT!” they hold up a small cheek piece; How much of your left did you lose? The kid quickly runs up to you with your pieces in their cupped hands. “I heard all of it and went looking for you! You need them right?”

“Yeah… thanks Bonnie…” you cup your hands so they can drop it in them.

“I know you're sad but I don't want you to leave. You can’t after saving me! That's not fair!”

“Yeah you can’t leave now, I want to learn more about you!” you get that you saved Bonnie so it kind of makes sense that they’d want to keep you around but you're starting to think Mira is seeing you more as a book than as a person but, whatever will get you to stay you’ll gladly take.

Odile walks up to you and gives you the piece of eye she had. “I knew a little about your situation but this new information changed the entire image of you I had. I also don’t want you to leave but know you are still welcome to if you want.”

Everyone looks to Isa who hasn't said a thing since you’ve woken up. He’s been silently piecing everything together from what you could glean by his reactions. After some inner debate he asks “how are you going to put yourself back together?”

Ah right. “I always keep some ceramic glue in my bag, there will be cracks in my face but it’s never bothered me.”

“Have you broken before?” he asks.

“Yeah. It's why I wear gloves actually. It’s not really normal for people to have cracks in their hands after all.”

He walks up to you as Odile gives him room in the now group huddle around you. “Can I see?”

“Sssuuurrree?” you take your gloves off to reveal the cracked and broken things you call hands. “It’s kind of hard to piece my hands back together with no hands.”

He hovers his hands around yours, apprehensive or maybe careful to not brake them again? “Can I? Touch them I mean.”

You aren’t sure…… “okay? But be careful, I don't know how much glue I'll need to piece my face back together.” He places his hand under yours and carefully runs the other over it.

He mutters something so faint that you can’t even hear it but you think you heard something about “craft…”

You’ve never felt like this before, you feel a faint beating somewhere inside of you, you take your hand back. “Enough of that, I still need to glue my face back together.”

He seems to realize something and grows dark, probably embarrassed about the situation.

“How did you break your hands ‘Frin?”

“Well when on the run and fighting it’s surprisingly easy to stress your hands. Enough of that without rest and they start to crack, too many cracks and they break. I broke my right hand like that so I started to use my left and right hands. I broke my left hand trying to punch a sadness; the shards got stuck in it though and I had to fight without it for the rest of that fight.”

“Cool…” the kid and Mira say in unison.

You notice Odile looking up at the sun and down at the shadows. After some time she says. “Sorry but we have to start going. The sun's already going down and we still have a ways to go before the next camp. Siffrin do you have all of the pieces of… you.”

You lay them out and start piecing them back together. You're able to form all of your left face but you can’t find the right part of your left eye. Without it you won’t be able to see… “an eye piece is missing.”

“I found a part but I couldn't find the other.”

“I couldn’t find it either and I looked all around!”

You can’t spend all day on this…. Stars you hate to do this but. “I can always fit a new piece if we find a pottery.”

“Are you… sure? Can you… I guess you would know more about this than us. Okay if you're sure lets go. We should get to the next town tomorrow if we’re lucky.”

You collect yourself and start walking. Mira and Bonnie ask you countless questions along the way. Isa’s nearby within earshot with Odile who’s leading everyone to camp.

You're glad your friends didn’t run or run after you. You feel closer to them than ever now that your secret is finally out.

You feel warm.

You feel happy.

Chapter Text

Mirabelle and Isabeau wanted to come with you and since Odile was also interested the whole party came with you to watch you make your new eye piece. You're trying to hide your broken parts so as to not draw attention, them being here is helping.

everyone starts walking around the store, looking at all the different displays. Mira asks, “So… what kind of clay are we looking for?” 

“We aren't looking for clay, we have to make it actually, hopefully they have what we need.” Vaugarde sure has changed, it’s more like Poteria now with its openness; You had to spend a few years there since it was the only place you could walk into a pottery with a Kiln open to the public. You're glad they decided to adopt this practice here.

“Oh? What are we looking for?”

“I need two parts: bone-ash, one part kaolin, and a secret ingredient.”

Odile stops looking at a piece of imported Ka Buan ceramic “A-a secret ingredient?” she looks at you with bewilderment.

“Yeah- don’t worry about it, once we have it i’ll be able to start”

“I wanna try!”

“You. want. To try making me. an eye?”

“Yeah!” 

“Oh me too! I took a class on making ceramics. I know it's a little different but can I?”

Oh no, you recognize the look in Isabeau's eyes. “Well, how about this, we can make a competition of it.” 

 “A competition!?” so this is what it's like on the receiving end of your and Isa's stupid games.

“A competition? That does sound fun. Okay, whoever can make the best fit for Siffrin wins.”

“Okay!” Isa, Mira and Bonnie all say in unison. It seems like you get no say in this anymore, oh well you’ll at least have some fun with it.

“Fine if you all are so dead set on this then at least let me teach you all on how to properly do it. It’s going to take a little explaining so we can start tomorrow.”

You spend the rest of the day teaching the party how to eventually make parts of you. Odile and Isa take and compare notes while Bonnie and Mira ask you countless questions. You barely get any rest (not that you really need it anyway.) Before you know it you're all back in the pottery buying the materials needed. The shopkeeper is actually here this time and seeing "Mirabelle the savior" he cuts us a deal on everything.

Once everyone is done they start the long process of making you a new part.

Bonnie is forced to give up thanks to how exhausting the craft process is. It was a good effort on their part and after some rest they start cheering on the others

Mira’s completely focused on the craft. Making sure the temperature is just right and the materials are melding properly. She starts to exhaust herself towards the end but successfully finishes. She says that she’s not really happy with the finished product but it's perfectly fine especially for someone’s first time doing this type of craft.

Isabeau is up next. He somehow looks more nervous than Mira does normally. Once he gets started though he loses any notion of worry. He takes longer than Mira but once he’s done he shows you a completely new left face. He says that “you said there would be cracks if you had to glue it together so I thought why stop at an eye. Why not make the whole part for you.” you inspect it....... it’s perfect. Like he’s done this before. But it’s discolored, a slightly darker shade than the rest of you. “I’m sorry, I think I used the wrong ingredient.”

You watch as Mira slowly takes her piece back. she says that she wants to add some designs to it and that she'll give it to you when it's done. “It’s fine, it happens sometimes. But now it’s Odile’s turn, right?”

“It is.” Odile gets up from her spot, clearly confident in her knowledge and skills. Ka Bue was big for their pottery once if you remember right, maybe she has some practice already and that's why she liked the idea of this competition. She takes her time getting the materials and shaping them. Once she starts working though she works fast and efficiently. She fires the piece multiple times, reinforcing it and shaping it each time she takes it out. By the time she’s done Bonnie’s fallen to sleep on Mira’s lap; she gently wakes the kid up so everyone can see the end of this competition.

Where and why did she get a box? You open it and see… “This… isn’t an eye.”

“Well when I saw Isabeau’s I decided to make this instead. It looked like your arms were too cracked to be of any good use to you so I made you new ones. I hope you like it, think of it as payment for any information I may ask in the future regarding the past.”

This is too much. You never could make whole limbs since it took too long and people got suspicious of you before you could do anything of significance. But she really took the time to make this… for you…

You hear a faint beating somewhere inside of you as you take the arms out of the box. "........Mira."

"Yes?"

"Can I ask for your help?"

"Of course, what do you need?"

"...I... need you to cut my arms off."

“WHAT?” yeah you expected that

“It needs precision and Odile just spent a lot of craft. You are the only other person who could do this.”

“Okay understand that. But why do you want me to cut them off?”

“I can’t just take them off; they're a part of me; besides it won't even hurt. I just need you to cut right here, at the joints.”

The party (minus Odile who looks more curious than anything) looks concerned and a little more than horrified at your request. “I guess this was a big ask. Sorry, I can do it myself.”

you aim some craft at your left arm as you start cutting into it, mindful of the skeleton taking space there.

You now realize how terrible this may seem as you look up to the party. Isabeau is holding Bonnie away making sure they can't see this while Mirabelle looks at you in, awe? You're not sure. Odile however is writing down something in her book. once you're done cutting Odile hands you the arm so you can start fitting it. The process to animate it with the same craft you have takes longer than you thought but then again you only had to do this with small pieces before. Once you're done though you check for basic functions: Opening and closing the hand, turning the whole arm and testing the grip strength on your dagger. You feel stronger than before, you were long overdue for some replacements.

You start the same process on your other arm; you're faster this time cutting off your arm and fitting the new one in far less time than the other took.

Once you’re done you look at your hands. It’s been so long since they’ve looked like this. No more cracks, no more pieces out of place stuck only by glue and craft. you feel wonderful, complete. “Bonnie can look now”

“Why was I not allowed to see in the first place?”

“That wasn’t something you would have wanted to see Bon bon.”

“So Frin! How is it? No more cracks right?”

“No more cracks. Though I still have to fit the new face piece.” you gesture to Isa to turn Bonnie away again so you can start cutting out the parts you glued together. Mira and Odile help you with this part since you can’t exactly see your own face but you still have to do the craft part. Once you were able to see out of both eyes again you knew you could stop.

You trace a line across your face marking where the new connects to the old. You can and have played it off as scars before so it shouldn’t be a problem. “So. How do I look?”

The party gives you a good long look, you feel a little embarrassed to be honest. But they start saying “you look great!”

“Yeah, the line scar gives you more character, it looks cool”

“The shade shift might be a problem but you're short enough that you should be fine.” Why must Odile make fun of you. You can’t grow like normal people, and you know she knows that!

"Thank you all for doing this. It means a lot." You look outside and see that it’s dark already…... Stars! You didn’t notice the time flying by. The poor shopkeeper must be staying open for us; the others notice what you do and quickly apologize to him before leaving the store. 

You all go back to the inn from yesterday. 

Bonnie makes some delicious food again. but before they serve you, they ask, “Can you… eat food?”

… “I never thought about that and I suggest we don’t start now.” they accept that answer with a shrug and continue. You know you can eat and drink, but how? you never figured out and you don’t think you ever will.

After a hearty dinner everyone says their goodnights and goodbyes as they all head to their rooms.

You walk to the bathroom

You look at yourself in the mirror.

You look yourself over: Your new arms, Your new eye

You. this is the new you. The one your Friends help make.

You feel warm, No, more than that. 

You feel alive. 

You feel and hear the sound of a heartbeat somewhere inside of you.

You dress yourself and walk to your room. You feel tired. It’s new but you're sure this is how it was described to you.

You fall asleep.

Chapter Text

Somehow. In all the mess that was the past two days everyone forgot that we were on a mission to get the last orb needed to open Dormont’s House of Change. Even today we were well into a relaxing lunch when Mirabelle suddenly remembered and yelled out “WE FORGOT THE ORB!!!” Everyone jumped up and started to panic until Odile and Isabeau calmed us down. We then turned our relaxing lunch into a strategy meeting to get that orb. All of the orbs so far have either been in the old, abandoned castles from long ago or in Houses of Change that got converted from those castles.

The party was lucky that before you joined they only had to go to houses of change to get the orbs but the last one and this one are in those old places. Odile and you managed to convince the others that it’d be wise to let you lead when going into these places before by somewhat lying and telling them that you were “good with traps” but in reality you have seen and had to take down traps like these before back when they were active and you would sneak in to see why they were special.

After the lunch/meeting you all started making your way to the castle. There weren’t as many sadnesses as before, luckily, and once you actually got inside you started looking around for traps or…

…… hold on

“I remember this place!”

“Oh? Please tell us”

“Here I know a shortcut that’ll lead us to the noble's office.”

“You know a shortcut? Did you know the noble or something?”

“Yeah, I guess you could say that he was old even when I first met him, he would tell me stories about the past and we’d play games whenever he had time. He was really nice but his husband ugh. Hated him. He kept trying to chase me out anytime he caught me saying “stop coming back” or something. Anyway, this should be the place.” you open the old door leading to the old noble's office. You still remember how he would keep a treat or two here just in case you visited…… you wonder what happened to him… you never did say goodbye. “You did say that the orb was in here right Mira?”

“Yes… it should be around… Ah here it is.” she grabs the orb out of a drawer putting it in her bag with the rest. “We can leave now. Was there anything else you remember about this place, Siffrin?”

“Not much else. Though it is a shame to see that this place didn’t get converted to a house of change.”

“After all of this is over maybe we can ask the Head House Maiden. We’ll have to beat The King first though.”

Isa already sensing Mirabelle getting into her own head he steps up “No need to sound so defeated Mira. we got this right guys!”

You and Bonnie Join Isa in cheering Mira up as everyone leaves the castle. But as you get back to the entrance you see a sadness. It’s just roaming around, barely even keeping its form; at least it seems to be old enough to start fading.… it turns to you as everyone leaves but instead of attacking or running at you it just stares… you feel something stirring inside of you. You're not familiar with this feeling but you don’t like or dislike it… You quickly leave joining the others but before you can it runs up to you.

You don’t have time to react as you close your eyes and prepare for it to strike!

… you feel a malformed hand touch you. You open your eyes and see the sadness with more clarity. It reminds you of him, but that's impossible. It's been years, decades! Sadnesses don’t last that long. But this one… this one isn’t attacking you nor is it trying to freeze you in time. It’s just looking at you, looking at your face with big teary eyes.

you move your hand to touch it back. You open your mouth to say sorry, to say goodbye but before you can you see the old man smile

Before vanishing.

…

……

………

Chapter Text

You join the others outside without a word.

“Hey Sif! …… you okay bud?”

“... i’m fine…just thought i saw something is all.”

“What’d you see?”

…… “i don’t want to talk about it.”

“Alright, I won't push you if you don’t want to talk now but… promise we’ll talk later?”

“sure.”

You’ll lose them if you keep acting like this. Focus, Smile and keep walking away from That Place.

“So! Is everyone ready to go?”

“Uh, yeah we’re ready. We were waiting for you”

“Sorry, we can go now.”

You and everyone start heading back to town. Odile already got the supplies needed to make the journey to Dormont last time everyone was here so you didn’t need to stay there any longer. Before you know it you're at a camp sitting alone in dim fire light.

…You plunge your right foot into the fire. Recently it’s been showing signs of cracks again so you need to fix it before anything bad happens while you're traveling.

 Odile walks out of her tent. “So that’s why you wanted to be on Fire duty. And here I thought you were just being courteous.”

“I thought you’d fallen asleep by now.”

“I was but a few thoughts kept me up.” She sits down on a wooden log across from you, her book already open and ready to be written in. “It concerns you actually so if you could answer some questions of mine I'd be grateful.”

“Ask away” you add some more wood to the fire.  “i still have some time before the glue sets in”

“Great. So you’ve been around for a long time, moved from place to place never really setting down for too long.”

“Thats not a question but yes, you already know this.”

“Just making sure all of my facts are straight…… So here's question one: where are you originally from?”

Ah. you know how to answer this now after so long. “North”

“Thats it? No particular details, No Name of the Place?”

“It’s that I can’t say where I'm from… Do you remember wishes?”

“Yes you said something about how your “creator” as you put it, made a wish to bring you to life hoping it would resurrect her dead child whose corpse is inside of you, Right?”

“Yeah, wishes are a powerful thing. They can grant something as small as winning a coin toss or something as big as giving life to the lifeless.”

“So someone made a wish that forces you to not say where you're from? Why?”

“Thats not it. Someone made a wish to make everyone forget that The Island exists.Obscuring it in the minds of anyone who knew of it.”

“So… the Island North of Vaugarde is where you're from, and someone made a wish to basically erase it.That is concerning to find out but i think i’m starting to understand how powerful wishes are… Next question: if anyone can make a wish then why doesn’t everyone wish for the King's defeat. 

“Because to make a wish you must know the proper rituals, Not many do and all that did were on the Island. Anyone who managed to escape probably doesn't remember the place. rituals included”

“But what about the Favor Trees? They’re a part of Vaugardian culture and are believed to grant wishes of a sort.”

““Superstition” Isabeau and Mirabelle say. No one really believes that it can but that’s because they don’t know the right ritual to do it.”

“You keep saying “the proper rituals” or “the right ones”. So enlighten me, what is the Ritual for the Favor Tree?”

“First grab a leaf to represent yourself, not just any leaf but one you instinctively feel drawn to, It’s to represent yourself. Then whisper your wish into the leaf a number of times you feel necessary, once you're done fold your wish into the leaf to create a tether linking you and the wish. Once you're done blow the leaf and walk away. You should only make a wish you feel strongly about or it can mess up and grant you something else entirely. Your phrasing should also be precise or that can mess it up too. That should be about it.”

“Quite the process, how come others from your homeland don’t remember these rituals?”

“Because the wish forced people to forget.”

“Then how come you do?”

“Because I'm not a person, I just look like one.”

She stops writing in her book and raises an eyebrow at you. “Intresting.”

“The wish still prevents me from saying much about the actual place itself but i retain the memories”

“... … Okay final question: what do you plan to do if we beat the king?”

“You mean after.”

“Sure.”

“Not sure… I…”I’ll stop traveling, settle down somewhere maybe, stay with anyone who’d have me until their end…... .But you can’t say that quiet part out loud can you Siffrin… you take a deep breath in… and out… “I’ll write a book about my travels.”

“Oh yeah? You are living history; it'd certainly make the book authentic. You'd let me read the first draft, right Siffrin?”

You let out a small laugh “Sure, you’ll be the first one I give it to.”

She continues to write in her book for a while letting the air be filled with nothing but the sound of the dying fire and her penmanship. once the fire gets low, she stops “Well, I think I've exhausted my curiosity for now. I’ll see you in the morning, Siffrin.” 

“See you in the morning.” she gets up and walks back to her tent leaving you alone in the dark.

You inspect your foot for cracks… all sealed. Good, you can rest now without worrying. You enter your shared tent with Isa and lay down on your bed roll. You're not tired but you close your eyes anyway and wait for the sun to rise.

Chapter Text

“Sif… Siffrin… Sifaroonie~” you don’t know when you fell asleep but you already want to go back. “Wake up, we have to go.”

“Okay i’ll… I’ll get up...” you yawn

“Okay… but if I have to I will pick you up to take you with us.”

“Not again” you're almost tempted to take the offer… almost.

He laughs to himself at your plight “Sorry Sif but Bon Bon’s already made breakfast and they asked that you’d try it.”

“You should have led with that… i… am hungry…”

“Is that strange?”

“Yeah… I've never been hungry, I just did it to appear human… I guess Bon Bon’s cooking is just that good!...”

“. . . . . .Hahaha yeah it is, isn’t it… Well i’ll tell them your up and hungry, take your time getting up i’ll bring you the bowl”

“Thanks Isa”

“No problem.”

As he leaves the tent you begin to stand up. You undress yourself and begin checking for changes… Are you becoming human? If so, how? If not then what could explain these changes in your physiology? First it was just a warm feeling you’d get even though you can’t feel temperature, then the beating of a heart you don’t have, then there's the fact that you can sleep and actually feel tired, and now you're hungry!? You shouldn’t be able to feel these things, you haven’t for as long as you’ve “lived” so why now……

You’ve checked all over but you can’t find any discernible changes on your body 

“Hey Sif I got your- OH CRAB SORRY!!!” 

“Hm?” you turn around and see Isa already running out of the tent. Food bowl in hand. Why did he run. Did  he get scared of your body? Sure there are cracks but it shouldn’t warrant him running.

Oh well, you’ll have to take care not to let him see you when you do these inspections later. You start dressing yourself and head out of your tent.

Mira and Bonnie are asking Isa a million questions while leaning against a tree facing away from them, while Odile sits on a log near the campfire trying not to laugh; you can tell since it’s the same face she had when you pulled that vodka trick on Bonnie. You walk up to her wanting to know what happened.

“Odile… What did I miss?”

“oh, siffrin, you…” she swallows a laugh “you should ask Isabeau what happened. I’m sure you’ll get a response.”

“Okay…” you walk over to the other. Isa’s face is all sorts of shades and once the two asking questions notice you they turn and start asking you questions.

“Frin! What happened!? Why is Za not answering us? Did you pull a prank on him or something?”

“Siffrin! What happened? Why is Isabeau not saying anything? Why is he blushing? Why did he come out of your tent running and screaming?”

The both of them asking questions at the same time makes you a little dizzy but you don’t know either. You ignore them to ask Isa himself. “Why did you run out of the tent?”

He somehow grows a shade darker and instead of answering he just lets out a “eep”. As he hands you a bowl of porridge.

“Thanks……” you turn to the others. Odile is now laughing extremely hard making the other two want to question you and him even more but “we should probably leave him alone, i don’t know what happened but he seems embarrassed by something.” you just got an idea “Maybe we should ask Odile, she seem to know what’s going on”

You grin as the others stare at Odile like hungry dogs “No wait! hold on! Siffrin!!!” you unleash them on Odile who starts running away before Bonnie catches her. Odile still can’t help but laugh as they badger her with questions allowing you some time with Isa. you lead him into the forest before Mira and Bonnie can realise you're gone.

“You okay?”

He lets out a heavy sigh like he hasn’t taken a breath in a while. “Thanks Sif. but I'm…… fine now. I just needed some time to think.”

“What was that about though? You came into the tent with the food but left screaming with it still in your hands.”

“I- well- you were…… naked? I guess. I’m sorry i didn’t know you where changing”

Naked? “Naked?” 

“Yeah you were…do you not know why you wear clothes?”

“I do it to hide any cracks that form along my body and the sockets that make my joints.”

“THATS IT”

“Yeah. I know humans don’t have cracks but you do have scars right? Isn’t that why you all wear clothes? besides the fashion”

“Wel- no that's not the main reason but…” he lets out another deep sigh. “Sorry this is a lot to take in at once…… so the only reason you wear clothes is to hide. Cracks? Is that what you were doing in the tent?”

Well not really but “yeah. And I like these clothes since they were the ones my creator gave me.”

“Really that was nice of her.” you both stop walking as he reaches out a hand “Can I?”

“Sure” he takes a closer look at your cloak.

“The craft… it’s really well made, she must have been an exceptional seamstress”

“Yeah she……I… don’t want to talk about her anymore.”

“Memorys?” 

“Bad ones yeah. Sorry”

“No I'm… we should head back, Odile said that we should make it to the final town before Dormont today if we’re lucky.”

“Okay… isn’t it her birthday today?”

“...I think so, yeah.”

“We have to plan something for her when we get to town.”

“Me and Mira already have something in mind if you want in on it.”

“Of course. What's the plan?”

He tells you about the plan he and Mira cooked up while you both head back to camp. Mira and Bonnie have calmed down by now and are taking their tent down while Odile has already taken hers down.

Once they notice you both come out of the woods they look like they want to ask questions but hold back, you're not sure if it's because of exhaustion or because of Odile but you both silently thank her anyway. 

Once the party starts walking to town you, Mira, Isa, and Bonnie all start planning Odile’s birthday party.

Bonnie and Mira will make the cake (apparently Bonnie blatantly asked Odile and she said carrot, you would have thought it'd be something like red velvet but oh well. You prefer chocolate anyways) while you and Isa get presents.

You already made yours a while back so it was just the others who had to get theirs.

Mira wanted us to get her a horror novel because apparently they share an interest in horror books. You don’t see the appeal but then again you prefer comedy and dramas.

Bonnie wanted us to get them a cook book from Ka Bue so they could make Odile some home country food. It would be nice if they could replicate the spectacle of how they presented their food too but you won’t get your hopes up, At least you’ll be able to actually taste it this time.

Finally Isa wanted to get her a new craftology book since the one Odile’s been using was a little outdated.

“I think that's everything right, Isa?”

“Yeah we should hurry back. Can’t make the m’dame wait too long.”

“Right. Wait! I gotta get something really quick.” you run over to a store and get some birthday candles. Isa questions why you have those so you tell him that you need it for her gift. “Okay now we should hurry.” You both run back and help Mira and Bonnie set up the final touches. You’re glad the owner of this inn allowed you all to do this, she seemed ecstatic at the fact that one of the “saviors” will be having their birthday party in her establishment.

Once everyone's done you run up to Odile's room and bring her out. Mira gave you a blindfold for the occasion so you ask that she puts it on. She calls you all children but obliges anyway. you lead her down and sit her at the table before getting into place.

Bonnie says “On the count of three.” 

One.

Two.

Three!

you take the blindfold off. “HAPPY BIRTHDAY ODILE” you all say in unison.

Before her is the cake made by Bonnie with the entire party made out of frosting and her in the middle. You added some candles to the design to Mira's dismay but you told her that it needed to have these.

“This is really nice. Thank you, everyone.”

“Wait! You have to open your presents first!” Bonnie grabs their present and runs over to Odile practically shoving it in her hands.

“I wonder what this is?” she unwraps the gift revealing Isa’s present….. “I didn’t know you were curious about crafology. Thank you Boniface.”

“WHAT, wait, that's not mine. It was supposed to be a-”

“Thats actually mine. I think you grabbed the wrong one Bon Bon.”

They blush in embarrassment before running back and grabbing the other book-shaped present, muttering something about crabs and how stupid Isa is for making them mess up like that.

They then mess up again by getting Mira’s horror novel instead of their cookbook.

Odile starts to chuckle which makes Mira and Isa laugh as well. You join in and eventually seeing the humor in this situation Bonnie starts laughing too. Now that there's only one book-shaped present left Bonnie gives it to Odile who accepts it for what it is. It really was more of a gift for themself but nobody brings it up.

Once the excitement calms down a little you bring out your gift. You made some augments to it so that it did more than just a simple luck boost or damage reduction.

“So Siffrin what does this charm do?”

“Can’t say.”

“What- why not?”

“Well if i say then it won’t work. It's the same with the other gift I have for you.”

“Oh? And what is this other gift?”

“If you want, I can teach you how to make a wish.” 

“A wish? Do tell.”

“Okay you see those candles on the cake.”

“Yes, I was wondering why they were there.”

“Well this wish only works on your birthday, you need a cake and some lit candles for the ritual.”

“Okay simple enough.”

“Now you have to picture your wish clearly in your mind and fully believe that it’ll come true. Once you have it. You need to blow all of your candles out at once.”

“Seems a little silly but okay. Is that it?”

“Yeah that about does it, oh but you can’t say what you wished for or it won’t come true.”

“...Alright I think I have one in mind.” she sits there for a few seconds before blowing all of her candles out. “So now I just have to wait for it to come true?”

“Yeah. depending on what you wished for it could take some time or none at all. But as long as you don’t say what it is you should get it.”

“Well now what do we do?”

“WE EAT!!!” Bonnie, who was patiently waiting, finally jumps at the opportunity to share the food they cooked.

Everyone starts to enjoy the confectionaries and the party, talking and just having a nice time. Mira and Bonnie ask if they could do what Odile did on their birthdays and you tell them yeah, as long as they have the things you said. The sparkle in their eyes grows before going to bed first, apparently Bonnie's seemingly endless stamina finally gave out and Mira didn’t want to stick around while You, Isa, and Odile get into a little drinking competition. Somehow (even though you're not sure you can get drunk) you lose to Odile but you out-drunk Isa so you count that as a victory.

You basically drag Isa to your shared room as you and Odile exchange good nights.

Today was fun. You are tired though so after putting Isa to bed you climb into your own and clock out.

You dream of the stars and the vast universe behind them.

Chapter Text

You wake up to searing light. It seems Bonnie or Mira came into your room and opened the curtains……

Ugh. you force your body to get up and close them.

Isabeau’s still asleep. Hungover most likely so you’ll grab food for the both of you.

Walking down the steps into the hall where you hosted Odile’s party you see Mira cleaning and you can hear Bonnie cooking. “Hey Mira.”

“Hm? Oh, Siffrin you're awake!” ach. “Oh sorry… I didn't think you could get hungover. Are you going to be okay?”

“I think I'll be fine. Honestly this is the first time drinking’s ever done anything to me, so this is new.” You can see a light start forming in her eyes. You know what this means. “Questions?”

“A lot.”

You sit down at the clean table and gesture for her to “go on”

“Okay so: Were you able to sleep before you met us? Can you dream? What do you dream about? Also, if this is the first time you’ve felt drunk does that mean you’ve gained organs or something closely like them? Does that also mean you have blood and a brain? And finally, how did it feel to be drunk for the first time?”

You think this is the first time she’s had so many questions other than the first few days after that incident with your eye. Whenever she questions you like this you feel like you're putting a part of yourself on display but in all honesty it doesn’t really bother you… maybe it’s the light in her eyes, that pure curiosity or maybe it’s just the fact that it’s her but for whatever reason you can’t help but indulge her strings of questions. Okay first: “No, apparently yes, the stars, I don't know I'll have to check, I can think so I don't know if I need a brain, and finally I felt really sleepy and a bit happier than normal but after that 4th drink, I could barely remember what happened.”

The shine in her eyes grows brighter, almost blinding but she stops herself and begins to think for a while, she says some words to herself that you can’t hear and for a while you think that she forgot about you being there until she snaps back to look at you. “I know this might sound rude but…… are you becoming more human?”

you listen for a heartbeat. . . . . . . . that isn’t there.

“I'm not sure. But I’d like to think that I am.” 

The beams of light radiating from her eyes somehow grow brighter as she runs up to her room saying something along the lines of "hold on, I need to grab something.” at least you think. She was going so fast that you have to guess what those last words were.

The noise apparently woke Odile who seems to be better off than you are even though she had more to drink. She acknowledges you and continues to the kitchen to probably get some tea and see what Bonnie's made. Which reminds you to get up and grab a bowl for yourself and Isa.

By the time you get back to the room he’s awake and in the bathroom. You place his bowl on the stand while you enjoy the… warm… it’s warm! You. you can actually taste and feel heat in your mouth! This! No. Calm down. First, you have to check, then you can celebrate. Isa’s in the bathroom right now so you’ll have to ask for someone to check for you.

You leave the room and start walking but you accidentally bump into Mira knocking her to the ground. “Oh Stars! Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, I'm glad I ran into you actually, I have some more questions, and I was hoping to answer some with your help.”

“Oh? I was actually hoping you could help me with something too.”

“Perfect! We should do this in mine and Bonnie's room. They’re doing something so we’ll be alone.” You both enter her room and sit on her bed. She stares at you, looking for, something?

“So, what did you want to ask?”

“Right. Um…… you know how you said you didn’t know if you had organs and needed to check?” yeah… you were making a joke but. Oh stars is she- "I wanted to help you check. I took a class on the human body and if anything, bad happens I could probably help! Only if you want me too though, if you’re not comfortable with it there were some other questions I want to ask but I really wanted to say this first just to get it out of the way.”

Oh boy……you did say that you’d check, even if it was a joke, you still said it. She said she’d help if anything goes wrong so… “Okay. I've never done this before on my body so if you could help that would be great.”

“Of course! We don’t want anything bad to happen…hm... Can you lay down.” she gets up allowing you the space. “Are you sure you’re okay with this?” she’s scaring you a little, but you also want to know. Are you human? Is it possible for a thing like you who only acts like one to truly become one.

You take a deep breath in… and out… “As sure as I can be at the moment.” it won't hurt, it won't hurt, it won't hurt, it won't hurt. It didn’t hurt before so why would it now right? You undress yourself and lay there on her bed. You feel a little vulnerable bearing your cracks, (or scars?) but you don’t move.

Even when she starts cutting into you, you don’t move. 

Even as she removes a chunk of your chest. You don’t move.

Even as the look on her face changed to one you weren't sure was possible. YOU. DON’T. MOVE.

“Siffrin.”

“Yes!”

“When’s the last time you looked at the skeleton?” she says in an almost terrified whisper.

“I don’t know, it's been a while. Why? Did it disappear or something?” make a joke. Make light of the situation. ANYTHING to keep your thoughts from panic. 

“In a sense? It’s… growing organs. It’s like it’s, reverting back to when it was alive!”

What.

What is happening inside of you. You still don’t move but now don’t want to. You’re scared that you’ll mess up something if you do. “Mira, what’s happening to me!?”

She looks as confused and scared as you probably do. “I don't know but I think it’s best we put you back together”

“Yes. please.” She carefully puts the chunk of chest back on you, sealing it with craft.

Finally, you get up and dress yourself. You don’t know what to think. Are you human? or are you only as human as the thing inside of you. And if that’s the case, what will happen when it fully reverts? Will you lose all the parts that made you human? That’s not fair! you finally can feel things, experience all of the things' humans can without having to act. they've been nothing but skeleton for as long as you've known existence and now when you finally have things to look forward to it wants to take it from you! you....... you... you don’t know what to do, you just stand there in the middle of her room as she watches you trying to figure out the same thing. She eventually leads you back to the bed and sits next to you but you both still don’t say anything. 

You sit there for what feels like hours but was only minutes as a hard slam hits the door followed by something about crabs and a few knocks. You both get up and greet Bonnie.

“We’re leaving. ‘Dile told me to come get you guys. Dormont’s not far from here right Belle?”

“Yeah, not too far now. I can’t wait to go back home…”

you don't say anything but follow them down the stairs. you don't know what will happen, but it terrifies you regardless.

Chapter Text

You and the party have spent the entire day walking towards your final destination but finally you all take a break and make for camp; you spent so long walking you actually feel tired, yet another reminder of how human you’re becoming.

You don’t understand why you feel like this. You’ve spent most if not your whole “life” wanting to be human but now that you’re finally getting your wish you feel… worried? Fearful? Empty? You can’t place this feeling yet but you shouldn’t feel like this right? You should be happy. So you’ll be happy.

You can’t wait to taste more of Bonnie’s food. They’re such a good cook that you developed taste buds and hunger just to enjoy it better. Oh! And now that you can actually get drunk, the little talks you have with Odile about the past will be a lot more fun than simple reminiscing. 

Mira’s questions will probably change now that you're becoming human, maybe you can ask her some questions of your own about how to be more human than you already are. You like that idea a lot actually…

You didn’t mean to snoop on Isa's stuff but one time while you were packing up yours and his, a book fell out of his bag and you saw that he was a really good artist. He drew cute pictures of the whole party in different outfits, You took up most of the book but it’s probably because you were more doll than human and you’ve seen how easy it is to dress dolls in different outfits. You should probably tell him you really liked one of them.

It’s comfortably quiet tonight. Bonnie was tired after cooking some delicious dinner so Mira took them into the tent to sleep. Odile’s sitting across from you writing in her… wait no she’s reading one of the books she got as a present. You need to check your legs for…… stars be damned you need to seal this one again.

You grab the glue from your pack and apply it to your leg again. Stars you haven’t had to use this much in such a short time before that you’re not sure you actually have enough this time…… “ugh….”

“Siffrin?”

“Yeah…”

“What’s wrong? Are you running out of adhesive?”

“Yeah… I haven't had to use this much in a long time. Since the beginning I think, when I was still learning what I can and can’t do without cracking.”

“I’m surprised you still take part in combat actually. I know you’re good with craft but with how easily it is to break major parts of your body I'm sure no one would blame you for taking a more supportive role like Boniface.”

“I don’t want to be dead weight… At least Bonnie knows how to cook. And if I took support from Bonnie, I think they’d hate me!” you laugh to yourself. Odile doesn’t say anything but stares at you with piercing eyes. “I’ll be fine as long as I don't put too much strain on my legs tomorrow, I should be okay until we reach Dormont.”

“Okay. But if a sadness attacks us before we get to Dormont and you feel at risk of breaking, then please know that we won’t force you to fight.”

“Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind.”

You finish applying the glue and stick your leg in the fire... It’s hot, Really hot actually, but it’s nice at the same time. You wait for the glue to set in.

Odile heads to sleep before you’re done, leaving you in dimming fire light. The fire feels nice; you want to stay near it for as long as you can so add more wood to it and lay next to it. You never felt this kind of warmth before. You thank the Universe for allowing you to feel this heat as you drift off to peaceful sleep.

You dream of your reflection. It mirrors what you do. You get closer to the mirror and touch it. Your reflection grabs your hand forcing itself out. It speaks in a language you haven't heard in a long time. It says “took long enough. Let me out.”

You back away from your star covered reflection. “Wh-what?” what does that mean

“I said let me out doll”

“I’m not a doll anymore! I’m human.”

“Hahahahahaha” It’s laugh echoes in your head making you wince at the volume. “Do you really believe that? ……okay we’ll see how human you truly are.” it starts to walk towards you

“Don’t take this from me, please, I- I” you run away from it, but it doesn't chase you. It just stares at you before disappearing.

You frantically search for it in the void that surrounds you, but you can’t find it. You try waking yourself up, but it grabs your wrist. It doesn't even have an expression as it begins to crush your wrist.

“LET GO OF ME!” You scream, trying desperately to fight it off of you

You hear the familiar crunch of your body breaking as it shatters your wrist.

You try to scream in pain, but nothing comes out.

It just stares at you, as you clutch the broken part that remains attached to you. It says in a monotone voice “see real humans wouldn’t break like this. A pale copy of me is all you are. Now” it picks you up by your cloak forcing you to eye level. “Let me out.”

“I don’t even know how…”

It sighs before letting you go. “Fine. I'll just let myself out.”

“W-Why can’t you just let me have this? I’ve finally found people who accept me and care for me. Why take that from me now when you’ve been nothing but a skeleton for years!”

“Because I want to go home.”

“You can’t! Someone erased it with a wish. You don’t have a home to go back to.”

“Really? …fine I'll just take what you have instead. I can make a new home with these people you care for so much.”

No No No No No No No No No “YOU CAN’T!” It starts walking away into a distant light. Leaving you in the void. You force yourself to move, to chase after it but as you begin to run your legs start to crack and shatter making you fall, hitting the ground hard enough to crack your head open. You can’t let it leave you here! You begin to crawl with the one hand you have left, reaching desperately for the light. You can almost touch it- you 

You wake up to the morning light. You… ha.

HAHAHAHAHAHA… It was just a nightmare. Hooh... you stand up taking multiple deep breaths in . . . and out. . . oh stars that really scared you… it felt so real. You look around the camp… it seems everyone's still asleep, thankfully.

You spend what little time you have alone just staring at the sunrise. Thankful you got to see it. 

You don’t want to sleep again.

Chapter Text

Isa is the first to wake up. Followed by Bonnie and Mira, and lastly Odile. You try acting normal, like you didn’t just have the worst experience in your life. Surprisingly you make it well into the day before Isa confronts you about your behavior.

While walking towards the party's final destination you see Isabeau talking to Odile who then starts walking faster leaving just you and him in the back.

He slows down to match your admittedly very slow pace. “Sooo, bud. What happened?”

You sigh. “Was I that obvious?”

“Yeah. Everyone noticed, but they wanted to give you some space. I just wanted to ask in case it was something I could help with.”

“I don’t know… I had this weird dream. It was…… I was… it happened I don't want to talk about it.”

“Okay but know that we are here for you if you need us, no need to hold back.”

“I just–.....can you make sure I don’t fall asleep. I’m scared.”

“Make sure you don’t fall asleep huh?...Okay, I'll try”

“Thank you Isa, I- thank you.”

“No thanks necessary……... So… How’s the uh, how’s the eye treating you?”

The eye? Oh, right he made your new eye, almost forgot about that. “It's nice, I don't know how I’d get around if I only had one of them, so thanks!”

“I’m still embarrassed that I messed up with the colors though.”

“I think it’s okay, a nice reminder of you.”

You watch him grow a few shades darker as he starts walking a little bit faster. You wonder what you said for him to get embarrassed and run away. Oh well, you can see Dormont in the distance so you speed up with him and catch up to the group.

Once you all get to the entrance you see people going about their day as normal. One is running around a giant statue. Another’s getting all of their equipment to fish and kids are running around without a care in the world. You like this place, everywhere else already resigned themselves to being frozen forever thinking that you’d all fail but not here, or at least it appears that way. Mira tells you that “we’ll be staying in the clocktower to the east.” before heading off somewhere. 

Since this is the party's final stop none of you have to do the usual stuff to keep yourselves occupied so your day is becoming longer than you're used to. Which is weird to think because before all of this, you’d typically do nothing for hours, days at a time before finally deciding to do something with yourself. For now, you climb up a really tall tree before realizing that it gives you a perfect view of the House where the King resides. You don’t want to think about that right now so you walk in the opposite direction over to a very nice field. The grass is soft and there's enough space around that no critters will jump on top of you accidentally.

You lie in the middle of the field and bask in the sun. It's delightfully warm, coupled with the soft grass beneath you and the occasional cool breeze. Makes this the perfect spot to lay.

You stare at the sky and watch the clouds go by.

Eventually you hear Mirabelle’s voice calling you from a distance. You get up and she tells you “I was thinking about hosting a slumber party. We can all eat good food together, sleep in the same room, maybe tell stories! What do you think?”

“That sounds wonderful.”

“Oh? I’m glad you think so, I was thinking it was a little dumb but if you think it good then it must be! I was hoping you could go around and ask the others about it too.”

“Sure, I’m not really doing anything.”

“Great! Here it’s a letter of where everyone is” she starts walking away, waving you goodbye “if you need a reminder come talk to me, thank you again!”

Well, you’ve got a job to do.

You go around the town talking to Bonnie, then Odile and finally Isa telling them all about the incoming slumber party. You’ve all had to sleep in the same room a couple of times already so it’s nothing you all haven’t experienced before. Once the party does kick up though it’s laughter and fun times all around. Bonnie made some incredible Samosas though some were a little burnt that didn’t stop you from devouring them.

Mira does a cute speech thinking that we’d leave her alone on the final day and for that we punish her by giving her a nice big “group hug” as Isa puts it. Even Odile pats her on the head and calls her “foolish for thinking we’d abandon you.”

Once the party winds down everyone starts heading to bed. You walk outside to the cool chill of night; you even left your cloak behind so you can take in more of the cold. At some point, probably noticing that you aren't in your shared bed Isabeau joins you outside.

“Hey Isa.”

“Hey Sif… I brought you a cup of coffee, it’s supposed to give you some energy and seeing as how you can get drunk, I thought it would be good to get you some. See if that helps." He hands you a piping hot cup of coffee and sets beside you a kettle full of it. ‘What’s got you so scared of sleeping? If you don’t mind me asking.”

Should you tell him? …you breathe in. . . . and out. . . . “I’m scared of what’s inside of me.”

He looks visibly confused! “Wh- wha– WHAT”

“The skeleton, um it… it grew organs”

“WHAT?”

“Mirabelle and I wanted to see if I had any kind of, I don't know, we wanted to see how I got drunk. And since you kind of need organs to do that she cut me open and we looked inside.”

“What.”

“And we found organs alright. Except that not the only thing we found. Apparently, it’s the skeleton that's doing the growing though, not me. And it seems to be… reverting? Back to being alive? We weren’t sure but after that we left that town and when we camped again, I felt so warm and nice near the fire and fell asleep. But I didn't dream of stars like I did before. I was in this infinite void and the only thing around was a mirror. I stupidly touched it and my reflection grabbed me. Some other stuff happened but I think you get the picture. I just really don’t want to sleep in case I go back there and don’t come back out.” you wait to get his response, but you can see that you clearly overloaded him because he does nothing but stare at you for minutes.

You sip your coffee and wait. It's nice. You think you’d like some sugar in it but you don’t want to go back inside right now.

After taking some time to process he finally starts talking again. “Okay. I think I can understand now. It sounds like you had your first nightmare. I don’t know what it means, I'm not a psychiatrist, but I think it may have to do with how much you’ve changed over the past few months. You went from not feeling anything to suddenly having dreams and taste and all sorts of things. Stuff like that can do a lot to people and I don't know if you need me to say this, but you are people. You’re human, and nothing can take that away from you. Now. I'm going inside, I thought I could stay up with you and still be ready for tomorrow, but my body is disagreeing. I’ll see you in the morning.” he hangs by the door.

you wave him off with a. “See you.” human huh. That makes you happy. You feel like you needed someone to say that to you at least once, before you could start believing it.

You still don’t want to fall asleep but with coffee in hand and the cold breeze hitting your side you manage to stay up long enough to see the sun rise.

You go back inside and start preparing for the day.

Bonnie’s the first to wake up, eager but surprisingly quiet, so you help them with breakfast. You drink some more coffee and while everyone eats and before you know it, you're in front of the house. Orb already in hand. 

The gates open and you all enter. Navigating this place is fairly easy, all of the normal traps that would have been in place aren't activated since people actually used the space freely before the curse.

Mirabelle does however warn you about this “death corridor”. Probably being active so you look around. No secret switches, no hidden trap doors, not even a presser plate to speak of in this hall. You’re almost certain it’s safe and to show how safe it is you walk to the middle of the hall and–

Experience how it feels to be crushed by a giant rock.

You lay in an endless void.

Oh… how did you get here? Did. Wait, didn’t you die? Can you die? You guess a giant rock crushing your entire body would be one of the few things that can truly kill you.

You stand up and check your surroundings. It’s not here or at least anywhere close enough where you can see it. You breathe a little bit easier for that honestly.

The mirror is still here but you don’t have a reflection. You don’t want to touch it, especially after what happened last time, but you feel oddly compelled to…… against your better judgment you touch the mirror and see…

Mira? But your- how you're supposed to be dead? How are you…

Your body suddenly stands up and starts looking around!? It talks to Mira again, this time in the town.

How can she not see that that isn’t you!? It-

It’s acting like you…

That thing, last time you were in this space it said that it would let itself out- it wanted to go home, right? But since it knows it can’t it changed its target to your friends. But how does it know how to act like you? Was it watching you through this mirror like you are now? Are you trapped in here like it was? Will you……

You’re trapped in here… and it's out there…… with your friends who don’t suspect a thing…… 

you want to scream.

Chapter Text

You watch as the thing that’s controlling your body moves around. It seems to not be used to your body as it stumbles and trips over itself a few times.

It appears to be repeating the day you just went through, but it only talked to Mira, going immediately to the clocktower and waiting for everyone to get there before going inside.  Once it’s nighttime it doesn’t follow what you did before, for one it doesn't eat anything, says nothing when Mira finishes her speech and it avoids the group hug. Finally, when it’s time for everyone to sleep it heads straight to bed but decides to sleep on the floor stating that it’s “more comfortable on the ground.” Not only did you, Not sleep, but you never felt uncomfortable sleeping next to Isabeau. If it’s trying to copy you then it’s doing a poor job at it. You can see it on Isa’s face; he’s confused but sadly he doesn’t say anything about that thing's strange behavior.

Once it falls asleep you start looking around, maybe it would appear here like you did!

But. Nothing appears.

Just an endless void.

You can’t do anything but sit in silence watching the now empty mirror.

Is this what it saw? 

Is this endless void all it could see for as long as you lived? Watching you basically waste your life while it couldn’t even experience most of its.

Was it trapped like you are now.

You don’t want to feel bad for the thing that took over your life, but you can’t help it now that you're in the same situation. If you ever see it again maybe a conversation is due. Your first interaction wasn’t the… most pleasant… and maybe you could have handled it better. Now that you can’t do anything but think. You're seeing that a lot of things you did in the past could have been handled better. But you can’t change the past. And. you don’t want to admit it but, you might not have a future to change with how things are progressing.

You continue to sit. And wait. For what feels like an eternity. Eventually the mirror changes and you can continue watching it puppet your body.

Once everyone's awake and breakfast starts It continues to deviate from the script you made by not eating breakfast, they just wait for everyone to join them outside so they can continue to the House.

Once the tutorial combat starts, they lunge at the sadness, beating it with its fist before realizing that the knife you keep on you isn’t just because it’s cool, it plunges the knife into the sadness over and over and over until there's nothing but a puddle of what used to be the sadness left. You don’t understand, how can it be this violent? And primal? You're beginning to not want to see it in person again, afraid of what it could do to you.

The others look rightfully horrified at the gruesome display; Odile takes charge and protects the others putting space between it and them.

It just stares at them and speaks. “Come on. We have a king to kill.” but the others don’t move. Actually, they move back, away from it, it makes an annoyed sound as it continues into the house. The other sadnesses run away from it as it walks by grabbing nothing but the key before heading towards the Death Corridor. It doesn’t make the same mistake you did, finding the switch that controls the trap and activating it. The giant rock falls on nothing this time and it continues its journey through the house. Alone. 

You're not sure what its goal here is. If it wanted to replace you then it’s failing miserably. if it just wanted out then why act like this? You’re strong but you’re not strong enough to kill the king by yourself. And if it thinks acting like a wild animal will be enough then it’s in for a rude awakening. there has to be a reason why everyone gave up. if he isn't as strong as everyone makes him out to be then you will curse the very stars for making Mirabelle go through all of that.

It makes its way down some hallways; you weren't paying attention to the Mirror so you're not sure where it is but... what are those blobs of water floating around?

You and it are both curious it seems because it steps closer and touches the blob.

Your hand immediately starts to freeze over with the King's curse and before it can properly react the curse takes over your entire body.

It gets frozen in time.

You feel your mind start to waver as the Mirror shines brightly before. it gets forcefully ejected from the Mirror. It’s unconscious lying in the void just like how you woke up. …the Mirror… is it acting as a gateway?

Is this how it got control of your body?

…Can you use it?

…

You step closer and touch the mirror. You feel it pulling you in and before you can even blink your back in your body. 

Staring up at the sky. 

Just as you were, a day before.

Chapter Text

Ha…hahahaha… HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

YOU’RE BACK!

AHAHHAHAAHA…

You breathe in. . . and out. . . okay. Enough laughing like a lunatic you need to focus……

Okay, first. You’re back in your own body. No damage other than what was there yesterday. Oh stars! If you are repeating the same two days over again then. You get up and start walking towards Dormont. You spot Mira halfway there, just like you thought.

“Siffrin!”

“Mira!”

“I was coming to check in on you, how are you doing?”

You both start walking back to Dormont. “I’m uh… I had a nightmare, but I wanted to come talk to you about an idea I had.”

“Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. What… was your idea?”

“I was thinking. How about we have a sleepover?”

“Oh!? I was thinking the same!”

“Great. I should go tell everyone.”

“If you want to, I'll be in front of the library if you need anything.” you wave each other goodbye. 

You really thought you weren’t going to be able to do this again. Sure it may be repeating the same thing but at least you can do that with your friends!

But why are you repeating the day? This kind of craft can only be done by a wish and you don’t remember making any sort of wish that would cause this. At least not recently… Does this have something to do with it? No, that would be more related to her wish….. How are you looping… none of the others seemed to notice. Even when it was in control of your body. You really should give it a name… if it’s supposed to be who you were modeled after then their name should be…… 

What was their name again? Stars, this curse is annoying. Can’t even remember your own blinding name.

even if you didn't want it.

you still don't.

Oh well. You’ll come up with something later, if it doesn’t give itself a name. For now you have Friends to talk to and enjoy the company of!

“Hey Bon bon, how’s the field look?”

“It’s nice the tomatoes are big and shiny and I want one.”

“Hungry? Or just to taste it?”

“Both”

“Ah.” you look around and spot an old, seemingly blind man outside of a house. “I’ll be right back.”

“Okay” they continue to stare at the field longingly.

You walk over to the Blind One “Oho? Is someone there?”

“Yeah, hello.”

“Aha! Hello there! Oh, I don’t recognise your voice… are you perhaps one of the saviors…?”

“Yeah people call me Siffrin.”

“Ah, I knew it, I knew it! It’s very nice to meet you! I’ve met another one of you earlier… they smelled like snacks… A little kid by the name of Bonnie, was it? If you're looking for them they should be by my veggie field.”

“Yes, I saw them still there earlier.”

“Haha… yes they seem to like my veggie field, said that it looked “really shiny and delicious!!!”, so i would die for them.”

“Hah! Yeah they seem to really like your tomatoes in particular.”

“Really? Well if you're willing to wait a moment I could grab some. I have some inside of my house that were supposed to be shipped off before all of this happened.”

“We wouldn’t want to impose but if it’s no problem then thank you, im sure Bonnie will love them.”

“Hehe, i hope they do.” he hobbles inside his house, after some time passes he comes back out with a sack of various produce. It looks like he put whatever he had extra inside. He offers you the bag “Here you go lad. Tell Bonnie I hope they like ‘em.”

You take the bag of various produce “Thank you. I’m sure they will. Bye for now”

“Good bye.”

You walk back to Bonnie. “Hey Bonnie, I got you a present.”

They hop off of the fence and turn to you. Once they see the bag of produce their eyes shine “where did you get that!”

“I have my ways.”

“Did the old man give them to you?”

Busted “Yeah.” you hand them the bag.

They start rummaging through the bag, taking out and putting back various vegetables before looking back at you, eyes a’light “Thank you!” if they werent holding the bag your sure they would have tackled you already in an attempted hug. But in the middle of their excitement they seem to remember something and start to panic. “OH NO”

“What, what happened!?”

“I gave Dile a list of everything I would need for dinner tonight. But if we have this then I want to make something else! She’s going to be mad if she wastes money!!!”

“Well, I'm sure you still have some time before she buys anything. If you run, you should make it!”

“RIGHT” they sling the produce bag over their shoulder running off before you even have the chance to join them.

You walk over to the store seeing the aftermath of what you could only assume was chaos for a few minutes. You see Bonnie and Odile are walking out the store when she immediately spots you with a look in her eye as you try your best to not laugh.

“Did you really have to do that?”

“Hey I didn’t know they would immediately run off, I was just as surprised as you probably were.”

“Suprised. Sure.”

Oh right you didn’t even get to tell them about the sleep over. “By the way, me and Mira thought it would be a good idea if we did a sleep over at the clocktower.”

“A sleep over? That sounds great! And with these vegetables I can make something really nice”

Odlie looked like she was about to say something but held back. “That… sounds fun.”

“Great, I just have to go tell Isa about it then i’ll see you two at the clocktower”

“Bye Frin!”

“Yes good bye Siffrin.”

You wave them bye as you walk towards the favor tree, Isabeau is right where you remember him being and just as lost in thought. You walk up to him and interrupt his train of thought. “Hey Isa”

“Oh! Hey Sif, when did you get here?”

“I just got here, wanted to tell you that me and Mira were thinking about putting together a sleep over.”

“A sleep over? Crab yeah! Sounds great! Oh but… do you still want to stay up? I know yo–”

“No, I think it should be fine. Thanks though, I should be able to sleep even if it’s just a little.”

“If you’re sure… is there anything else you wanted to talk about?”

“No, I'll see you later.”

“Yeah, I’ll see you at the clocktower” He starts walking back to Dormont, but you decide to stay. 

You need to think. What could have caused this? And why is it centered on you of all people?

……

…

UGH, this sucks. You never were good with wishes. Only the basic stuff like luck and protection; and even those are placebo half the time.

What does the universe want from you!? To kill the King? To be human? To die!? No, you just need more information, maybe the House has something. Tomorrow will hopefully bring an answer if you make it far. But before tomorrow can come you have a sleep over to get to.

You cross the town talking to people here and there, apparently there's a kid that drew your crayon pictures of the party, they’re pretty talented if you take their age into account, you even got to keep a little crayon portrait of yourself.

As you walk up to the clocktower just like before everyone is waiting outside for you. Except for Bonnie who’s in the kitchen cooking up a storm as always.

Everyone enters the clocktower and just like last time you all have a fun time. Mira gives her speech, you, Isa, and Bonnie group hug her and the party calms down for the night. This time though instead of walking outside and enjoying a cup of coffee with Isa you and him sleep in and get some well-deserved rest. At least you try to. You’re still scared of sleeping but if it can without going back then you should be fine.

Right? 

The question keeps you up for a while, but the warm bed and company lull you into a deep sleep.

You dream once more. Of a lonely star sitting in a vast void.

Chapter Text

Okay the lever should be right around… AH here it is. you flip the lever. Seconds later the giant rock that smashed you last time hits the floor. “I think I got it!”

“Woah… giant rock….. ZA HELP ME CLIMB IT” they’re already trying to climb it?

“Maybe later kiddo. But nice job Sif.”

“Why a giant rock?” Odile looks to Mira for some kind of answer

“I’m not sure… the teacher said that it was supposed to be quick and painless?”

Well, it certainly was quick. “We should keep going”

“Ah Right. Let's get going everyone.” back in line you lead everyone into the house. You didn’t get to see much of it since almost immediately it froze by touching one of those weird water things. You’ll have to keep away from them if you can help it.

If you remember correctly this hallway should have the-

“What’s that?”

Stars! you almost stumbled right into it lost in thought. “I’m not sure what it’s called but I'm pretty sure it freezes whatever it touches in time.”

“OH, I heard something similar! If you touch it you freeze and it gives you a really good dream!”

“And where did you hear that?”

“Oh, Um… the people in my village told me that after my sister got frozen…”

Oh.

“OH”

“M’dame…”

“My apologies.”

“It’s fine. I know it’s not true, it’s just… it would be nice right? if everyone who got frozen were having a good dream until they woke up.”

Well... when it fell back into the void it was sleeping so… “I think you're right, maybe they are all having a good nap.” They try to hide it but you can see a little smile form on their face. “Let’s try to avoid these things. Can't wake everyone up if we fall asleep too.”

“Right!”

With new energy you continue into the house. You explore all around starting from the left of the house and making your way to the right checking each room for any kind of treasure you could find. Eventually you enter a small room with a sadness inside. It does nothing, it’s not even paying attention to your party. It’s interesting. You walk up to it cautiously, silently telling the others to stay back as you get closer. You get close enough to it to see what it’s staring at. “Some kind of star?” the moment you say that the sadness looks at you with a fused eye and hides the star behind itself. You back up as the sadness tries to attack you. Isa gets in front of you and takes the hit

“Ah! That hurt. You okay Sif?”

“Yeah I'm fine, thank you. What about you?”

“I’m okay but I think it’s a paper type; that hurt a lot more than I was expecting.”

“Leave it to us then, Isabeau, get back with Boniface and heal.”

“Will do M’dame” he stands at the door with Bonnie while you, Mira and Odile take care of the paper sadness.

After it dissipates the star it was holding drops to the ground. As you pick it up you notice that the frozen ground underneath it was starting to go back to normal, quickly reverting back to its frozen state after a few seconds. Weird. “Hey Odile, what do you think about this?” you show it to her.

“I’m not sure. I’ve never seen anything like this nor have I heard of anything that can do that, other than Mirabelle’s blessing.”

Hearing that she comes over and you show it to her too. “What is that?”

“I’m not sure, it’s some kind of star and anytime I put it on the ground the curse starts receding from it. The sadness was holding it and once it saw me it hid the star behind itself and attacked me.”

“Is that what you were doing? Were you trying to see what it was looking at?”

“I’m not sure what I was doing. I just thought… never mind we should get going. With this we might be able to do something about that hallway we found.”

Odile looks up from her book after writing something down. “You think it will work on that line of tears?” 

“Maybe, we don’t really have any other choice but to try it.”

“Alright then, lead the way.”

You walk back out of the room and lead the party back to the hallway with tears. None of the other rooms had the right key to the main door blocking your way up so it has to be behind this. You just hope the star works on the tears or you’ll be trapped here.

You don’t want to get close so you lob the star at the tears.

With a flash of light the tears disappear. “It worked!”

“THAT WAS SO BRIGHT” Bonnie yells rubbing their eyes

Isa is doing the same. “Yeah I wasn't ready for that. But we can go now right?” actually. Everyone but you are rubbing their eyes.

Seeing the aftermath Odile quickly writes something in her book. “Facinating, so if we come across something similar on the upper floors then we will need to find one of those, you called them stars, yes? In order to get rid of them?”

“Yeah I guess so. The key should be in the room this hall leads to.”

Once you get inside the room you find the key you were looking for. You take the key and go back to the door it belongs to, opening it. “Second floor here we come.”

“At this pace we should make it before the King freezes everything.”

“Right, we have to beat him if we want to save everyone.”

“This will be easy! We got this right Bon Bon?”

“YEAH! LETS KICK THE KINGS BUTT”

“Hold on. There's a sadness blocking our way forward.”

“Boss fight time!”

It takes a few minutes but once everyone realises that it’s cycling through all three types of craft you all coordinate to hit a jackpot skill once it switches, taking it out quickly.

“That big ball head was tough.”

“It was only strong because we’ve never seen a sadness do something like that.”

“But we did it! We can go up now!”

You continue leading the party into the next room.

“This room feels different… less threatening than the others.”

“Should we take a break then?”

“No we should–” you hear the sound rumbling. 

“What was that?”

“I think I'm hungry.”

“!!!!! It’s time. My time to be the leader!”

“Why’s that?”

“BECAUSE IT’S SNACK TIME BABY!!!! Snack time is important because it keeps energy and moral up, I know this because I am a growing kid. Now sit and wait while I prepare the snacks.”

You all sit around waiting for some delicious treats.

“Oh before i forget” Odile takes a coin out of her pocket. “Isabeau… heads or tails?”

“Oh… um… Tails.”

She flips the coin several times in the air catching it before it could hit the ground. “Huh… I lost…”

“I won? Yay, what did I win?”

“Satifaction and nothing else.”

“Not even congrats? Wow m’dame I thought we were friends…”

“We’re not friends… we’re associates.”

“Not companions?”

“Colleagues. Allies, at best.”

“Not even soulmates?!?”

“Can’t believe you've gone down to being an acquaintance now.”

“NO!!!”

“What was the coin flip about madame?”

“Ah, well… I wanted to test something Siffrin told me about a month ago.”

“What did I tell you?”

“It had to do with the favor tree.”

“Ah. Did you try wishing to win that coin flip?”

“Yes but it would seem I did something wrong, unless you were lying about that too.”

Too? “Well what kind of ritual did you try?”

“The one I was taught by Vaugardians.”

“Vaugarde has its own ritual?”

“What’s this about rituals?”

“To get a wish from the favor tree you need to do a ritual, if what I inferred from Siffrin is correct.”

“Wait! The Favor tree really can grant wishes!?” Bonnie runs over to you quickly

“Yes but you need to do the proper ritual. Just like any other wish.”

“And that ritual is?”

“You choose a leaf, to represent yourself. You breathe your wish into it to make a link between you and whatever you’re wishing to. You repeat your wish three times… Six could work, or seven, or thirteen. It’s about which number feels right to whoever is making it. Once you're done you fold the wish into the leaf, to tether the link between you and the wish. Touching it. Then you blow the leaf away to carry your wish away.”

“No wonder it didn’t come true, I did the wrong ritual.”

“Wait. Wait! I’m confused, if that's the ritual to grant a wish from the favor tree then is everyone doing it wrong!?”

“I guess, how do you guys do it?”

“Well you look at the tree, and clap your hands once, and say aloud whatever you ask for.”

“That makes no sense! How would your wish know where to go if you just clap your hands and yell what you want?”

“Well it was more superstition than anything real in our country.”

“HAH.”

“Madam?”

“Sorry, it’s just. Haha, Vaugarde could have been saved faster if everyone knew the right ritual but since they didn’t it’s up to us. sorry I just find it funny, that's all.”

“So… we all did it wrong….” oh. Bonnie probably asked for her sister to be safe… quick fix it

“Don’t worry Bon, once we kick the King's butt everyone will be fine.”

“Right… I know.” they go back to making the snacks, soon after they come back with them splitting them amongst the group. Once you're done you decide to talk to everyone before leaving the room.

“Hey Mira”

“Hey Siffrin. Is what you said about the favor tree real?”

“Yeah. Why?"

“Well… I was thinking that if we make it out of this, that a wish would really help me on my pilgrimage.”

“Oh? But didn’t you already go on one? This whole journey could count as one.”

“Hmm… I don't think it counts.”

“Okay. well if you need help with it then i could lend a hand.”

“Really? Thanks Siffrin.”

“Anytime.” you get back up and walk over to Bonnie who seems a little down.

“Don’t worry, your sister will be fine.”

“...... I don’t want to talk about it……”

“We don’t have to. Because we’ll make sure she is.”

“okay…”

You… get up and walk over to Isa. they seem lost in thought.

“What’cha thinking about?”

“Just about how all of this could have been avoided…”

“Yeah it could have.” but then none of you would have met. You guess he would rather be home in Jovente.

You get up and start talking to Odile.

“Hey Odile.”

“Siffrin.”

You want to ask what she meant when she said that you lied to her before but you decide to let it go. “I was just going to ask if you really tried to wish to win a coin flip.”

“Purely scientific. If it worked then I would have asked for something bigger later on.”

“Oh? And what would that be?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know.”

“Yes.”

“Ah–... I'm not telling you. Go away.”

“Okay I'll ask after we beat the King then.”

“Heh. sure.”

Well that was everyone. You gave them plenty of time to eat their food and get ready for the next floor. You do one final check on your legs to see if they’re good enough to continue and leave the room.