Chapter Text
“You lost your voice.” Audrey repeats, panic seeping into her bones. She’s not scared, she’s never scared. The only reason she would be scared is that this dope lost their memories and their voice , so now they can’t stop the end of the world.
The Bard laughs, “Well, it’s not like I had one to begin with.” Audrey stares blankly at the floor. The Bard just stands there awkwardly, “Um…” They look around, clearly uncomfortable with the stranger in their home, “Are you okay?”
Audrey gives them a strained chuckle, “Oh, we’re so fucked.”
“Huh?”
“We’re FUCKED!” She yells. She grabs a pillow and screams into it. The Bard sits down next to her and gently pats her shoulder.
“Okay!” She yells, slamming the pillow into her lap. The Bard jumps next to her, “Okay, Okay, Okay! The Earth song! We need–I need to– we–!” She’s panicking. She’s absolutely panicking. The world is going to end, and it’s all that stupid Bard’s fault for losing their voice and their memories and Audrey has no idea what’s going oN–!
“Hey!” The Bard chirps during her attack, “It’ll be okay. Follow my breathing.” They make big, exaggerated breaths. Audrey mimics them, eventually evening out her breaths, “Feeling better now?” They ask in their raspy voice.
“The world is ending.” She answers. The Bard’s smile falls. She should probably explain better, “So, you probably had a weird dream last night, right? Right. That means the end of the world.”
The Bard stares at her, “What?”
“Look,” She stands up, “I came here looking for The Bard who was going to save the world.”
They look up at her, “World saving Bard? Is there a prophecy?”
“Uhh, kinda? It’s something like that. Point is, I came here to find them, but you…” Audrey trails off. What the fuck is she going to do.
The Bard looks down, almost ashamed, “Does it have to be here?” Audrey nods at them, completely lost, “Oh,” She doesn’t know what to do. This Bard, this stupid, loser Bard, who never stopped, never quit, never let the end just be, is curled up into themself. It’s just like the cave, except it shouldn’t be. They’re not stuck, they haven’t tried everything. They haven’t tried anything! Why does it look like they’ve already given up?
Audrey has to fix this, doesn’t she? Fuck. How does she do that?
“I’m sorry.” They rasp. Their voice cracks at the overuse, and Audrey realizes that there is nothing in this house. No photos of family, no trinkets from friends, not even bird seed or food. The only thing that has any life are the drawings on the walls, and even then they’re only of landscapes, or birds. There are no people here. No one comes here and no one leaves, besides maybe the mayor. This isn’t a happy home, this is a locked tomb.
Audrey swallows her unease; something is wrong here, “Sorry about what?” She whispers in fear. She hates it, she hates admitting it even more, but she’s terrified. These mysteries swell around her and nothing makes sense! She thought it was the Bard, but it’s not the Bard, and she’s run out of leads. Nothing connects, and the world is ending. She has to do something. She… she doesn’t want it to end.
The cold black and white hugs her as she falls. There are no sounds in the end, no birds, no wind. It’s a lack of stimuli, and soon she won’t even be able to feel.
She did it, she ended the world. She was the hero. What must her parents think? What about the town, or the mayor? Were they happy?
She doesn’t know if she wants them to be happy or not. She doesn’t know what she wants at all.
Wasn’t the end supposed to be restful? She did it, she worked hard and did what Eya told her to, shouldn’t that be rewarding? Why is she still cold?
The cold brings pain, and nothing seems to ease her exhaustion. Her work is over, and now she rests. Why is her comfort so cold? Why isn’t Eya rewarding her?
She closes her eyes and lets her fall into nothing. There is nothing, and nothing, and nothing. She falls deep down into nothing.
And then the bell rings.
“I’m sorry I’m not who you’re looking for.” The Bard nearly sobs.
“... I don’t believe that.” She whispers, turning her fear into anger and determination. The Bard looks at her in shock, “This is where the Bard lives. This is where they’re supposed to be.” The Bard tries to get a word in, but Audrey cuts them off, “I am a hero, chosen by Eya herself!” Close enough, “I’ve traveled halfway across the world to find the Bard that sings the Earthsong, so the world doesn’t end! And I know for a fact that they are supposed to be here, in this room, right now!”
The Bard just looks at her, wondering. At least they don’t look like they’re about to cry anymore, “... Maybe it’s you.” They squeak.
Audrey raises an eyebrow, “What?”
“Maybe you’re the Bard!” They smile.
Audrey rolls her eyes, “No way, bud. I can’t sing.”
“You can learn!” They’re kicking their legs now, and that stupid smile is back at full force, “I could teach you!”
Audrey scoffs, “I thought you said you couldn’t sing?”
“I can’t!” They smile, “But I can teach you! I know a lot about music!”
Wonder why that is, She thinks sarcastically, “Still, I’m not–”
“The world's about to end!” They yell, standing up, “We can at least try!” There’s that stupid, constant attitude that grinds her gears. Eya, it’s going to be worse than the cave.
She glares at them. The one reason, the only reason she’s going along with this, is because the world is ending, and she can’t think of a better idea, “... Fine.”
The Bard squeals and drags her outside, “Yay! Alright, first off,” The two burst out of the door, into the bright, colorful world. The Bard’s doing better already, nearly skipping out the door, “Let’s see where you’re at. Once I get a groundwork of your skill, we can work on improvement.”
“Um,” Audrey stands uncomfortably. Her voice is… fine. It’s nothing special, but she can sing the overseer songs, so it’s serviceable enough. Still, she’s never performed before. Every song had a purpose. It was something she had to do, “I… I can’t just…”
The Bard is annoyingly understanding, “You can copy me! La– Hurk! Koff, Kaff!” The Bard falls into a bad coughing fit, doubling over. They pound their chest until the fit ends.
“Yeah, I didn’t catch that.”
They pull themself together with a frown, wheezing and huffing, “Okay, maybe you can…” They trail off, looking around.
Audrey rolls her eyes, “I’ll just… sing something, okay?” She puffs up her chest and stares at the ground, her cheeks bright red, “... la, falalalulala. Lu le la, fu fe fa, tulu ta mi ra so faa. ”
The Bard listens to her quiet singing with a happy smile and claps when she finishes, “Woo! Good job Audrey!”
She glares at him, “Shut up." She whispers with venom that even surprises her.
The Bard didn’t hear her, “You have a lovely voice! Maybe a little off tune, but it doesn’t sound bad at all! Besides, that’s just something to work on! We can work on projection, and harmonization, and–”
“It’s not that serious!” She yells, “I’m trying to sing a song, not start a band!”
“Right! Sorry, sorry! Let’s work on harmonizing!”
Audrey groans, “Why?”
“Because it’s fun!” The Bard cheers, “Plus, it helps with learning songs! Let’s find someone to harmonize with!” They circle around their small valley surrounded by cliffs. Audrey rolls her eyes and leans back against the house,“There!” The Bard runs over to the edge of the cliff, where a bird is twitting a song, “You can listen to them, then repeat their note!”
“Repeat their note?” Audrey squints, “The bird’s?”
“Yeah!” They cheer, “Listen!” The bird chirps again, “Did you hear that?”
“The chirp?”
“The note!” The Bard corrects, “Try repeating it! Listening is the first step to harmonizing!”
The bird chirps again, “It’s just a bird. It chirps.”
“They’re singing, Audrey! And you gotta match their tune!”
She seethes at the Bard’s encouragement, “Fine!” She clears her throat, “ laa,”
The bird does nothing. The Bard smiles next to her, “It was a little flat. Take some deep breaths with me.” She rolls her eyes and follows directions, “Put some breath into this note. Engage your core and really focus on your diaphragm.”
She takes another breath, “Is this all necessary?”
“ Yes! ” The Bard insists, “It’s good for listening!”
She groans again and sings, “La,” The bird chirps back and flies around Audrey, “Hey!” She yells, shooing it off, “Get away from me!”
“You did it!” The Bard cheers, “and look, it likes you!”
Audrey flails her arm, “I don’t care, get it away from me!”
They frown, “They're not bothering you. They just like your singing.” They nudge her and walk towards the wall, “Just give them a chance, maybe you’ll warm up to them.”
Audrey grits her teeth, “... Fine,” She lets the chitter dolt hover around her… and the bird is there too.
They make it to one of the many ledges that marks the end of the Bard’s yard, “Um, I guess we’ll wait for the mayor to come back.”
Audrey waits for a whole five seconds, “How long does that usually take?”
The Bard lights up, “Someone usually comes a few times a day, but they've been sparce recently. I guess they all busy. Don't worry, she'll come back with a week, tops! She brings a bunch of food with her, but I always share it with the animals and run out by the next visit.” They stick out their tongue and rubs the back of their head, like what they said was a silly quirk and not deeply upsetting to anyone who cared, “Don’t tell her I said that! She might get mad at me.”
Audrey just decides that’s none of her business, “Well, I’m not waiting who know how long for that old crow to remember us. Come on,”
The Bard looks confused, “What are you doing?”
“I’m gonna jump it, obviously.”
The Bard looks amazed, “You can do that?”
Audrey smirks, stretches out her arms, and cracks her knuckles, “Watch me.”
She steps back and leaps straight over the cliff. She sails past the ledge up to the trees, the bird swirling around her. The Bard is staring at her in wonder and amazement. Audrey is terrified.
She’s never jumped this high before. She’s never been close to jumping this high. Her past record was 6, maybe 7 feet up. This was double that. She’s flying in the air, soaring up to the trees. She wanted to land flat feet on the edge of the cliff. Instead, she’s about 6 feet from the edge, and way too far from the ground.
The bird flies off, leaving Audrey to fall by herself. She screams, flailing her arms and legs. She grabs the ledge, immediately slips off, and keeps falling.
Audrey lands on top of the Bard. Whether that was because they were trying to catch her or she just drifted over them, and they didn’t move, she’ll never know. Point is it hurt and was very stupid.
She groans and rolls off of them, “Well, that’s never happened before.” She pushes herself up and rolls out the aches in her shoulder.
“Are you okay?” The Bard groans from the ground. Audrey shrugs and stretches out her limbs. They plant their face in the dirt while she brushes herself off.
She looks back up at the cliff. “Well,” She says, mainly to herself, “What was that about?”
Does she have superpowers? Is it part of time travel? She runs and jumps again. She jumps the normal amount, clearing the cliff, “Huh,” What is going on?
The Bard finally pushes themself out of the dirt, “Woah!” They gasps, “How did you get up there?”
“I jumped,” Audrey answers, not looking at them. She paces around, “Now what in the world caused that?”
“Wow!” They smile, “I wish I could jump like that.” Audrey hums some acknowledgement, not paying attention. They look up at the trees, “So… did you not mean to jump my entire height three times?”
“No!” Audrey insist, “I don’t know what happened!”
“Hmm,” The Bard looks around, “Maybe the bird helped you out!”
Audrey stares at them, “The bird?” she asks, unimpressed, “Really?”
“Yeah!” The Bard nods, “Think about it! You didn’t do it before you sang to them, and you can’t do it now, but you could do it when the bird was with you!”
To her absolute dismay, the logic checks out, “Fine,” She tuts, “Let’s try it.” She drops back to the Bard and sings the not again, “La.”
Nothing happens, the Bard looks at her, at little peeved, “That… wasn’t quite it. Maybe put some more air into it?”
She groans, “Fine! La! ”, The bird flies over to her, chirping happily, “Okay,” She whispers, preparing herself, “Let’s see if this works.” She takes a deep breath and jumps.
Sure enough, she jumps twice as high as she normally would. She grabs onto a tree branch and swings onto the ledge, “Okay…” She thinks, “Let’s try one more thing.” She hops back down and sings again, “ La, ” The bird swirls around her, “Okay feathers,” She points to the Bard, “Go over there!”
Both the bird and the Bard tilt their heads, “Um… what are you trying to do?”
Audrey grunts at the bird, “I’m trying to–” She tries to wave the bird to the Bard, “Go over there!” She commands the bird. The bird continues to not listen to her. She tries to grab it out of the sky.
“Hey!” The Bard cries, “You’re scaring them!” They hold out their hands. The bird flies into them, nudging their chest, “Are you okay?” The bard whispers. The bird coos in their hands.
Audrey smiles, “Cool,” She jumps back up to the cliff, “Let’s go.”
The Bard awkwardly walks up to the ledge, “I can’t jump that high.”
Audrey smirks, “Sure you can. You have the bird, right?”
“Yeah, but…” They look down at the bird, “You scared them. I don’t think they want to do anything right now.”
“Fine,” Audrey shrugs, a knowing smirk on her face, “Guess the world will just end.”
The Bard panics, “What?!”
“Yeah,” She walks along the edge of the ledge. Maybe this will finally get some rationality into their stupid head. Not stepping on a single bug in a cave full of them, who do they think they are? “I can’t sing the Earthsong if I don’t have someone to teach me,” That’s a lie, she could sing it just fine, “Oh well, guess that’s it.” She plops down and sits crisscross.
“You can’t just give up!” The Bard pleas.
“I wish I didn’t have to,” She says, keeping her aloof tone, “But alas, my teacher deems one bird’s comfort more important than the entire world.”
The Bard frowns at her, and for a moment she thinks she finally got them. Sometimes you have to hurt people for the greater good. That’s just how life is. You can’t stick to stupid ideals forever. It’s about time they finally see that.
But then they turn around and go back inside their house, and Audrey is alone.
Well shit, she wasn’t expecting that. It’s the end of the world! One bird’s feelings isn’t going to matter! Don’t they get that? They got it when they were fighting the King of Hearts, why aren’t they getting it now?
Whatever, she stands up and wipes herself off, she doesn’t need them!
Except she does, because they saved the world. She crouches on the ground, picking up a pine cone. She didn’t save the world, she couldn’t. It was them. She ended it, and they put it back together. She doesn’t know how to do that.
“ DAMMIT!” She screams, throwing the pine cone on the ground. She jumps on it in frustration, scaring the local animal, “WHAT SO BAD ABOUT ME!? ” Why was it them !? Why didn’t Eyala tell her about the Earthsong?! Why were they the fucking hero?! They gave up because of a STUPID BIRD!!
Something crashes behind her. It sounds like an old piano with no strings. She drops to the ground, ready to book it. Another crash, this time she can identify from where. It’s below the cliff. She hugs the ground and carefully looks over the ledge.
Another crash tells her they come from the Bard dragging their old wardrobe out into the yard. Audrey watches from her hiding position as they push this giant wooden thing with all their might. The bird is safely watching from a patch of flowers. She doesn’t do anything, not when they nearly double over from effort, not when they push themself back up, and not when they finally get the dresser against the cliff side. The Bard jumps on the wobbly dresser, almost falls off, and jumps onto the ledge. They still can’t quite make it all the way, but they can reach the top and pull themself up.
Audrey sits herself up and waits for the Bard to finish pulling themself up. They make it to the ledge and rolls over, panting heavily, “Wow,” Audrey smirks with a twitch to her eyebrow, “Did all that just to spite me, huh?”
“No,” They frown, “I just didn’t want anyone to get hurt.”
“Anyone but yourself, apparently,” She grumbles under her breath, “Let’s go.” She pushes herself up with a scowl and walks off. The Bard scurries behind her, having the audacity to look worried.
They come across another cliff, this one a little taller than the last. The scowl turns into a smirk, “What now?”
The Bard looks at her, “Why are you being so mean?” She blinks at them, “I don’t want to hurt anyone. Is that so bad?”
Her anger seethes, her smile flipping into a scowl, “You just don’t get it.” She looks up at the cliff and leaps to the edge. Her highest leap barely doesn’t make it. She grips the ledge, but the dirt’s too loose, and she slides off, “Oh, come on!” She steps back and jumps again, running up the cliff. She grabs the side and slides off again, “What the FUCK?!” She grabs a piece of dirt and throws it on the ground.
The Bard watches as she huffs and collects herself, “Fine! I’ll just use the stupid bird again!” She clears her throat and sings the best note of her life, “ La ,”
Nothing happens, “La,” She tries again, waiting for the bird to fly over.
The Bard purses their lips, “I don’t think they want to help you anymore.”
Audrey’s going to snap, “Are you KIDDING ME?! SERIOUSLY?!” She yells, “THE END OF THE WORLD IS HAPPENING! WHY IS THIS DUMB BIRD BEING SO PETTY!” She crouches down and screams into her knees.
The Bard hesitantly reaches out, “Are you okay?” They wince, “You seem… upset.”
“OF COURSE I’M UPSET!” She snaps, “THE WORLD IS ENDING AND I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT’S GOING ON! I’M THE ONLY ONE WHO KNOWS ANYTHING ABOUT WHAT’S HAPPENING AND NO ONE WILL LISTEN TO ME! WHY WON’T THEY JUST LISTEN TO ME?” She turns to the Bard for an answer.
They look unprepared to answer, “... Maybe they’re just scared.”
“YOU THINK I’M NOT SCARED?!” She hates this, she hates her stupid emotions, “EVERYONE IS SCARED! AT LEAST I’M TRYING TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!” She collapses to the ground, curling herself into a tight ball.
The Bard panics, “Audrey!”
“I HATE YOU!” She yells, muffled by her pants, “I HATE YOU, AND I HATE EYA, AND I HATE YOUR STUPID FRIEND WHO ISN’T EVEN HERE, AND I HATE EVERYTHING!” Hot tears stain her shirt. Eya, this is so embarrassing! Why is this happening?! Why is she the only one who remembers? She destroyed the world, dammit, how is she supposed to fix it!?
She just sobs and screams into herself. Everything is so frustrating, and she doesn’t know what’s happening. There’s no quest to guide her, no mythic messenger to see her on her quest. There isn’t even an annoying bard to stop her.
Her sobs eventually even out, and she wipes away the rest of her tears. Stupid bard, constantly bringing out these stupid emotions, “I’m sorry,” She says, uncurling herself, “That was… uncalled-for.”
The Bard’s sitting next to her in the same way they sat in the cave, “It’s okay,” They murmur, “You’re allowed to be upset.”
“Yeah, well,” She pushes herself off the ground, “Crying isn’t going to solve anything.” She sighs, “I never should have come here.”
“Don’t say that!” The Bard jumps up, “We can still do something!”
Audrey thinks, “I’m going to visit the overseers, see if they have any ideas.”
The Bard nods, “Alright! Sounds like a good plan! Where do we start?”
Audrey doesn’t look at them, “I’m going to the dreamscape. You’re staying here.”
The Bard startles, “What? But I want to help!”
“You’re too soft!” Audrey insists, “This is a dangerous journey, and you can’t do anything.” Sure, maybe she can’t figure out how to save the world, but neither can they. They can’t even sing right now, it would just be carrying around dead weight.
Plus, she really doesn’t want to deal with any more yucky emotions.
“I can help!” They insist, “Just give me a chance!”
She doesn’t want them with her. Not right now, “Sorry bud, there’s no way I’m bringing you.” She runs and jumps up to the cliff before they can say a word, pulling herself up effortlessly.
“Audrey!” They yell as she walks away. She ignores them.
“You’re just going to leave your friend?”
She whips around to find some kid in a mask, a poncho, and way-too-colorful pants, “Who are you?!” She yells, ready for a fight.
“Hey now,” They raise their hands, “I’m just a person drifting along with the wind.” Audrey scoffs and rolls her eyes. The masked person doesn’t respond, “So, are you helping your friend, or…”
“They’re not my friend!” She bites, then sighs. She’s so tired, and she hasn’t even seen an overseer “I don’t need to drag them into this.”
The masked person looks at her, “There’s something wrong with the world.”
She jolts and turns to them with hope, “You know what’s going on?!”
“I don’t know anything,” They answer. Audrey scowls at them, “I can just… feel it. The entire world’s having deja vu.”
She sighs, “So you’re also useless, great. Feel free to call me when you find out what’s wrong.”
They laugh, “I don’t think even Eya knows what’s happening.” They look back to where she left the Bard, “But I don’t think you can fix it alone.”
She snarls at him, “I think I’ll be just fine.”
They shrug, “Suit yourself, just don’t be surprised if Wanderer finds some way to catch up to you.”
“Wanderer?”
“That’s what I call them.” They nod to the cliff.
Audrey brushes them off, “They can try. I don’t plan on being here for more than an hour.” She marches off. She can still feel the mask stare, even when she’s almost into town, “What is it?” She turns curtly.
The Masked Person stares at her, “The entire world is confused, and it might…” They trail off. Audrey already knows the stakes, she doesn’t need the extra pressure, “I hope you learn to see past yourself, Hero,” How dare they! As if that’s not what she’s doing right now! Audrey turns around, ready for a fight.
But they’re gone.