Chapter Text
The wind was whistling softly across the meadow, making the grass needles dance.
The birds sang sweet melodies from the tree line, and the clouds above swirl unbothered to the breeze that made the branches rustle. The sun also shone brightly, warming up his cold, pale skin.
With a gasp, Siffrin opened their single eye, shortly making a grunting pained noise when the action made their injury throb debilitating. Stars, it has been quite a while since they lost their eye, it should be fully recovered by now, but it would often hurt as in an awful reminder that he was, now, half blind.
Well, he couldn’t care less about that eye thought, it has been for a good cause. Bonnie was alive and thriving, and that was all that mattered in the end… Even though Siffrin knew very well that he was hated by them. For so many loops they talked, heart to heart, Siffrin even hugged tightly them back! But it was always a bittersweet feeling when looping to Dormont and facing a version that Bonnie once were; a feisty preteen who didn’t know if their sister would wake up from her frozen slumber, along with the rest of the world.
Fortunely, just like the silver coin in his pocket, he knew he wouldn’t forget about what had happened. He profusely refuses to do so.
Speaking of forgetting… What happened actually?
They were in the House of Change with his family, right? They were about to fight the King for… Ugh… He’s lost count of how many times they have faced the fake monarch.
But something happened there. They were in the meadow again, so that means he looped back. Did the King strike them before Belle could cast her adorable moving shield? Nah, that was not possible, he always made sure that she was gonna cast it in the first round, anyway.
They repressed a distressed scream, their throat ached.
Siffrin couldn’t bring their brain to work. Their mind felt like a warm and soaked bag of flour, heavy and useless.
Yup, he’d a headache too. Ouch!
He ran his gloved hand over his face, touching the bridge of his nose with a whimper.
“Are you alright, Sif?”. Someone said abruptly, making them jump. Siffrin took a sitting position, startled, and almost headbutted his interlocutor. “Ops, sorry! Didn’t mean to scare you!”.
Siffrin turned around expecting to see Mirabelle hovering above him, but when did Belle stop wearing her bow and become a huge and strong man?
“Isabeau?!”, they exasperated.
What was he doing there??
“Are you still asleep, Sif?”, questioned Isa, opening a big smile.
Siffrin couldn’t find words, so they just stared confusedly at him. Isabeau’s smile faded to a concerned expression.
“Are you okay? You look a bit pale.”.
The cloaked one managed to nod, struggling to get onto their feet. Their legs were shaking heavily. Siffrin just realized that their whole body hurt exactly how when they got crushed by that big rock. Was that what happened? They forgot to check that pilar with the switch again?
Also, what the crab was happening?! Isn’t it always Belle who shows up at the meadow and wakes them up?
But wait… She hasn’t done that since they started to loop a lot, they would, instead, meet her at the entrance of the village and talk.
Maybe Siffrin should not have gotten up so quickly, because their vision tunneled in black, and they stumbled. Out of reflex, Isabeau rapidly grabbed them, forcing Sif to sit down again.
“Siffrin! Are you well?”, shouted Isa, worried sick. The tall man realized he was still touching them, so promptly removed his hands with a slight coloration in his checks. “Please, answer me.”.
“I’m fine, Isa.”, the cloaked one replied, shakily. “I just got up too quickly.”, they added with an emotionless smile.
“Are you sure?”
Siffrin did not respond. Their stomach decided to take the reigns of that conversation and rumbled loudly. Their eye widened in surprise. They didn’t notice they were hungry. Slightly ashamed, they hid his face with their hat, while Isabeau was having a good laugh out of their reaction.
“Oh, you’re hungry!”, he said, his voice sounding a bit relieved. “I started to worry you might’ve been sick.”.
The cloaked one got up, and this time they didn’t feel dizzy. Hungry. Yeah, they could use that as an explanation for earlier.
“I wonder what BonBon is gonna cook for dinner.”, confided Isabeau, dreamily.
“Samosas.”
The tall man looked at them, curious.
Oh, crab! Did they say that at loud?
“I hope it’s samosas.”, Siffrin quickly corrected themselves. The mere thought of eating that once again made his stomach turn, and he fought the urge to grimace. It was not that Bonnie’s cooking was bad, not at all, he was just sick of eating samosas every single night since the loops started. They caught themselves wishing that if the meadow happenings changed, then that might too.
“I hope so!”, smiled Isabeau.
They felt guilty of wishing such a thing. He probably did something different last loop to explain why this one was slightly different. They probably stepped into an ant or didn’t wake up sooner. Yes! That’s what happened, they did something wrong. That’s the sole reason why it was Isa who showed up and not Belle. Maybe the cloaked one should ask his companion about it.
“Why are you here, Isa?”, asked Sif, “Did you want something from me?”
Isabeau seemed flustered.
“Well, you promised to help me too, but you said you’re a bit busy at the moment and were gonna help me in a second, you just needed to do one thingy. So, when you didn’t show up, I asked around, but no one knew where you were.”.
Their heart sank. They have already helped everyone around? Odile with her family tale? Belle with her bonding proposals? Bonnie with their fighting lessons? Why could they not recall all of that?
Isa must have noticed the expression on his face.
“Don’t tell me you forgot, Siffrin!”, he joked.
But Siffrin didn’t smile. He didn’t even listen to what Isabeau was saying. He grabbed the silver coin in his pocket and squished, hard.
“Sif?”.
“Sorry.”, they mumbled, dreadful.
“About what?”, Isa was confused.
“I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to forget.”, their voice was fragile.
“It’s okay, Sif.”, he reassured, "I saw how you’re running up and down helping our friends out. You must have been exhausted and couldn’t help by taking a nap.”.
“Yeah… That’s exactly what happened.”, their words seemed fake even to themselves, but Isa didn’t pay much attention to it. After all, that’s your average Isabeau, always so friendly and happy-go-lucky. “Let’s go then. What do you need help with?”.
Their stargazing date.
He knew very well; that they always went together to admire the stars at the end of the day. Then the girls and Bonnie would show up and interrupt them. They all would feast under the stars and laugh before the big day.
“I… You know what? Nevermind.”, said Isabeau, “It can wait.”.
It took half a second for Siffrin to comprehend his words.
“WHAT?!”, they shouted, “No! Tell me what you need.”
“I’m gonna tell you tomorrow after we beat the King, okay?”, his smile was huge. “I promise.”.
He started to leave.
No…
No!
NO!
That’s not how the script goes!
Isabeau must invite them to watch the stars! Isabeau must talk about his past! They must get interrupted by their family and dine outside! He can’t change that! Not now!
Siffrin breathed in and out, trying to recompose themselves.
They still could fix it.
So, they grabbed his arm. The tall man emitted an undignified sound due to the unexpected physical advance and shot a puzzled look at them.
“Sif, wh- ?!”, his face was so dark, like he was about to explode.
“Tell me!”, they insisted, “Tell me what you need!”.
“Sif, what’s wrong? Are you feeling ok?”
No, no, no, no... He’d that worried look again. They just wanted to go stargazing. Was it too much to ask for them all to stick to the crabbing script??!
What was that odd loop?
“Isabeau! Tell me! C’mon!”
Oh crab, they were shaking, crying, even.
“Tell m- !”.
Siffrin felt a tug in his stomach that wasn’t hunger, the ground vanished from beneath his boots and every nerve in his body screamed. He probably did, too.
And just like that, he was lying all alone in the meadow again.