Chapter Text
You feel. ... horrible.
You feel like you-
Wait. You feel? You feel?
What- how-
you shouldnt be here.
You left- you died
you- you faded away in your stardusts arms-
Why are you still here.
Okay. Take stock of your surroundings. Hands? Still lightless. Of course. You were Changed after all. Looking down, the star on your chest shines brightly. You are sitting in the middle of a field.
You clench the grass in your fists so hard it rips.
Amazing! Wonderful! Your back! Back here! In this blinding meadow! You could almost laugh.
Minutes pass.
A bird lands, chirping, before it flies away at your glare.
Nothing changes.
What now.
Well! Sitting here is getting boring, so you get up and- thats odd. Your head is spinning. You feel like your organs- do you still have those?- are being blended toghther like a- a. ... whats the word? Who cares. You feel like shit.
What else is new.
You make your way towards the favor tree, and realize you still have your- no, your stardusts coin in your hand.
When you catch your own eye in your reflection, it blinds you. Stars. You dont feel like one. You barely realize the coin leaves your hand until it pelts so hard into the tree that it sticks in the bark with a deep twack.
Hah. You watch as sap leaks out from the trees stump. You hope the tree scars.
Its quite. You're tired. You kneel, and pick a leaf.
Its an ugly one. Jagged, half ripped, completely drained of life.
Its like you, you suppose.
You wish.... you.... you sigh.
The leaf crumples in your hand.
You get up and make your way to dormont.
---------
Its been 2 weeks. Thats what the towns folk tell you. Your stardust and his party have already left for bambouche. That makes sense, you suppose. You try to ignore the townsfolks stares. You fail. Once darkness hits, you steal a hat and a cloak from a shop. You dont think they will miss it, and you dont have money to pay with, anyways. You leave dormont. Stars, you never thought you would get to say that. Youve been in dormont for- actually, dont think about it. You dont think about it.
You realize you really have nothing to do. Nowhere to go.
You miss your party. Your world. Your life.
You cant remember it.
Maybe you can go back to that whole "kill and replace your stardust" thing. That would be novel. New.
You set out towards bambouche.
-------
Without sleeping, and traveling alone, you are able to move at a very fast pace. The few roaming sadnesses you pass dont even notice you. You leave them be.
Maybe they think you are one of them. You might as well be.
You feel your nails sharpen. What? You raise your hands to your view. Normal. Well. As normal as ugly lightless- You thoughts stop as you see your fingers sharpen into claws. Thats new. You try to shake it out- shake it off- but whatever it is- this feeling- its starts to spread- up your arms- up your legs- you scratch and claw at your own limbs but it only gets sharper and sharper and- you feel a sharp pain from your back. You pause. Twist around. You have-
There is a tail attached to you.
A spiky, ugly little thing. It seems to be getting longer. How fun. As if you couldn't get any less human. You force yourself up. You keep walking. You keep walking.
You are so, so hungry.
You stop in your tracks when you catch your reflection in a pond. You look.
You look.
You look like a monster.
Pain rips through you as spines tear through your hide
You look like a monster.
You tail thrashes agains the bramble around you, growing longer, spikier.
You looked like a monster.
You forget to breathe.
Of course. Of course. You are a monster. You always have been.
You cry. A horrible, horrible gutteral sound. It tears throught you. You are hungry. You dont think you deserve to eat. You march onwards.
You are hungry.
You are tired.
You crawl forward.
You see light in the distance.
---------
Sif-.
You wake up to a rustle in the trees.
Isabeau is still asleep next to you.
You sneak out of the tent.
The embers of the fire still produce warms when you sit next to them.
One month. Thats how long its been. One month. You have to remind yourself that this is real. You and your- your family are a weeks travel away from bambouche. Bonnie cant wait to see their sister. Mira and odile had to convince them that you all should t travel faster- you had agreed to, but they had firmly told you that you would all resume at a slow pace because you are still recovering. A glare quickly shut down the protest on your tounge.
So now you and your party have set up camp in the woods. You look up at the stars. You-
You are torn out of your thoughts by a wail.
And the smell. Of. burning. Sugar.
You scream.
With in moments your party rush out- startled out of of sleep to you- but before they reach you they all turn and freeze- staring past you. Behind you. You turn.
A sadness. A sadness unlike any of you have seen before. Its huge. Entirely lightless, aside from its head, chest, and eyes, which shone brilliantly through the night.
Your party ready for battle. You do as well.
Its a scissors type.
Odile strikes first- paper craft slashing across its arms. It cries out in pain. It digs its claws into the ground. Isa strikes it in the head with a rock craft, and it reals back before-
It- it blinds you. You have to look away. You can hear it rip into- into something.
You look back. Its attacking itself. Your party is frozen. You lock into its eyes. It stares back- and as it lunges at you- you see- you see in its eyes- a headache inducing shade- and you realize all at once, before it hits you-
"Loop?"
---------
You brace for the impact that never comes- you hear it hold its breath.
It stopped infront of you. Face to your face.
You reach a hand out and-
Isa strikes them from the side that they go flying away. You shout.
When you come to- running towards loop- the dust clears and- there lies. You. Well. No, not you. Loop. They look older than you. Their hair completely darkless. They are unconscious.
"...Sif.?"
"Frin..?"
"Siffrin?"
Stars. You have explaining to do.
----------
They. They know. You didnt want to tell them but- odile is observant. She connected the dots. She doesnt know the entirety of what loop went through, but... neither do you, really.
You hope theyre okay.