Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"Look after the house for me, Gigi, alright? I'll be home soon, I promise. Daddy just has very important work to do."

She still remembered her father's words, clear as day. The hours stretched longer and longer, where he wasn't by her side.

Then a day passed, and then another, and then some more. Her father had yet to return. Daddy... when will you be back?

It all started that one day, that one day when her father left the premises. She'd given him a kiss on the cheek, she'd hugged him, she'd wish him well on his work that she didn't quite understand. He smiled, he told her he loved her, how much he cared for her, how they would be in for some fun activities once he was home, and then he left.

And he never came back. Day after day, she'd wait for him to ring the house's doorbell, and announce in a loud, warm voice: "I'm home, Gigi~"

She tried writing letters. She tried, she really tried, but they never turned out good. But the mailman who would visit the house once a week was kind enough, and he would eventually help her write a proper letter to send to her father, wherever that was. He reassured her that he would make sure it was delivered, and she thanked him for that.

Days gone by, and she waited for a reply. Maybe her father was too busy, but writing a letter shouldn't take too long, right? But no response ever came.

Yet she believed. She believed in her father, because she knew him, and she loved him, and he loved her too.

Ever since her mother and grandfather had left without a word, her father spoiled her plenty and always played with her whenever she wanted to have fun.

He was the best father anyone could ask for, the bestest best of fathers, and she was proud of him. Maybe the world just wanted to hog him a bit, that was probably why he was taking so long!

There was a nagging feeling in the back of her head, though. What if her father never comes back at all? ...no, that wouldn't happen. He was the number one father, and no matter what, she knew that in the end if it weren't for his work, he'd pick her over everyone else. He was her most important person, and likewise, she was his most important person.

So she continued to wait. And she continued to wait. And she kept waiting, as the days continued to pass by, killing time by doing various things alone.

From doodling wherever she could, to trying some pottery, to cleaning the mirrors and the tables and the floors (she stopped after spilling water on the carpet and wondering why the stain didn't disappear, until it did later somehow). She played with her toy soccer ball in the hallways, she tried to jump and reach the chandelier hanging high above her, she licked a crayon and cringed and vowed to never try that again.

Gigi was having the time of her life. She didn't know there were so many things she could do by herself, that were so fun to do!

But her father still wasn't here. And she thinks, no, she knows, it would be much more fun if her father had been here with her.

She missed him telling her not to do dangerous things. She missed him pranking her with lame jokes. She missed his soft, gentle voice, soothing her as he put her to sleep with lullabies.

Somewhere around the third month, she cried in loneliness for the first time. But never again.

After all, only babies cry, and she's a big girl now. Big girls don't cry.

She was going to surprise her father for how much of a big girl she was!

That's why, she hoped he would return soon. I miss you, daddy.

One day, the door to her property opened. A tall lady with beautiful red hair stepped inside, a sword proudly set in front of her.

Gigi came to see who had invaded her house, her and her father's house, and she was frozen in awe. She didn't know this person.

And the lady would smile, she smiled so warmly, it filled her with butterflies and untangled some knots.

"Hello, dear. Would you be Gigi?"

Chapter Text

It happened one day, when the weird lady showed up out of nowhere. She barged into her house, her and her father's house, and began asking questions. Weird questions.

"Hello, dear." Her voice was gentle, the same warmth she felt from her father, from her mother and grandfather who had left. "Would you be Gigi?"

And would she ever be confused, because what kind of question was that? She was obviously Gigi.

But good girls don't take that tone with strangers. They have to be polite. So Gigi nodded and smiled. "Yep! I'm Gigi!" she greeted. "Who are you?"

The lady bends down and bows to her. Oh, she seems like a nice person! And her hair was pretty, a pretty shade of red. "My name is Elizabeth Rose Bloodflame."

Gigi tilted her head. "Eli... Elizabeth... Rose... ooh, roses! Roses are pretty!" the girl cheered. "I like your name, Eliza... Elizabit... Elly!"

To her joy, the lady didn't seem to mind the nickname. "Elly is fine. It's nice to meet you, Gigi. I'm here to... investigate some things around this property."

"Investigate?" Gigi asked. "Do you mean the gate? I think you just passed it before coming here. See, it's opened right there," the girl said and pointed out the door.

Elly seemed to find this funny, chuckling to herself. "The gate, and other things, yes. I'm here to look around this place and... check up on things, yes." The girl glanced around. "I... heard some things about this place, so. Are your parents home?"

That was the cue for a great topic! Gigi jumped and flailed her arms around. "Daddy and mommy used to be here too!" she said, "Daddy is busy a lot and has to work somewhere far, far away! Right now he's not home. He hasn't been home for a really long time now. It's.." The girl paused, and looked down. "It's a bit lonely... but I'll keep waiting for him. Because I'm a big girl! And big girls don't cry. I'm Gigi after all!"

The lady's expressions faltered a bit, but her look of... sadness? Quickly disappeared, replaced by a soft, warm smile. "That's good to hear. You're a good girl, Gigi. What about mommy?"

"Mommy? Well..." Gigi frowned. "Mommy went somewhere a long time ago. That's what daddy told me. She and grandpa went somewhere and haven't had the time to come back. I wonder if they even know how I look right now? I've been growing a lot, you know!"

Elly nodded and petted her head. "I'm sure that wherever they are, they miss you very much, Gigi." Standing up straight, the girl took a few steps forward. "Now, let's see... actually, Gigi, if you wouldn't mind. May I have a tour of your house?"

"Would I!? Sure! I'll show you everywhere!" the girl cheered. "You're going to love this house so much!"

So she took the lady by her hand and led her around her house, the house that belonged to her and her father. She showed her around the first floor, where they ate, and the living room, where they could watch the television or look out the window wistfully and spew some wise-sounding quotes from cartoons and movies. She showed her around the kitchen, the restroom locations. Elly seemed to be having fun and always laughed along with her whenever the girl said something funny.

Gigi liked her. This lady was weird, having suddenly entered her home to do some 'checking' (she didn't have a checkerboard; maybe she meant chess? She didn't have that either) but she seemed to be a nice person.

She also showed Elly around the second floor. Her bedroom, and her father's and mother's bedroom. And the restroom for the floor too. Also the second floor storage room, where nothing much was kept, nothing interesting.

When they went back down to the first floor, she decided to also show Elly a secret. There was a door near the kitchen area, a door her father often told her not to enter.

Obviously, she warned Elly very carefully not to enter as well. But it would be better to know that the door exists, so that they know not to enter, right?

Elly seemed interested in the door. But Gigi quickly warned her again. "No! Only bad girls go into doors they are told not to. I'm a good girl, so I never check down there. Elly shouldn't do bad things too, otherwise Elly would be really bad!" she said.

"I see, I see. Don't worry, Gigi, I won't. I promise you that, alright?" They did a pinky promise, and despite being a weird lady, Gigi began to like her even more.

So Elly was a pretty weird person.

She was calm, she was collected, she didn't take any risks in having fun and always proceeded at a slow pace.

Gigi found her to be really different from herself - unlike the lady, Gigi was fun-loving and loved to run around everywhere.

Her voice was loud and full of energy, she always made sure to put in as much effort as she can! But Elly's voice is soothing, she made her feel relaxed.

And when Gigi felt tired, she liked to sit in her father's lap. But he wasn't here, so Elly offered instead, and Gigi found herself seated on the lady's lap. It felt really nice, really warm, and she almost felt like she was back in her mother's loving embrace. And she would ask Elly to tell her amazing stories, and she would lightly slap the girl's arms or thighs in excitement.

Meanwhile, the strange lady would pet her head, softly, and she'd feel sleepy after a while of that.

Elly was nice. She liked Elly. She was like... she was like her new mother.

But Elly cannot be her mother, of course not. She still had her real mother somewhere out there.

Maybe one day her mother would return, and she can have Elly and her mother become friends.

That was a pretty nice idea, at least Gigi herself thought so.

Elly didn't always visit her. She only invaded the property from time to time. After the first visit, she'd arrived again once in the next week, and once in the following week.

Something inside her began to hurt whenever Elly wasn't there. Something that made her wish Elly would stay, because it was lonely whenever she had to be alone in her house.

Her father still hasn't come back even once, and her mother and her grandfather still haven't come back even once, and none of them replied to her letters.

After a third time, Elly told her she'd grant her wish. Gigi didn't know what this meant, what the strange lady meant, but after that, she was less lonely.

Since, Elly began to visit her more often, after all. Eventually, she saw Elly four times a week.

Gigi was happy. She really, really liked Elly!

One day, the mailman didn't show up to her premises. It was the day of the week where he would usually come check up on her and ask her if she wanted to write another letter to send to her father, or even her mother and grandfather. He would then tell her that her father didn't have the time to write back to her yet, and that they were still looking for her mother and grandfather.

But it was different this week. The mailman didn't show up this week. When Elly entered her property, Gigi vented to her a bit. Was the mailman breaking his promise?

They didn't make any promises, but it was there. It was unspoken! He said he would come and deliver her letters, after all. Where did he go?

So Elly calmed her down and soothed her with headpats. And she stayed with Gigi the whole day, which made her really happy.

And she told Gigi she would look into it. Look into what? She didn't know, but it sounds like Elly wanted to help her.

Gigi would smile, and then she would hug Elly before getting into bed, and letting the beautiful weird lady sing her to sleep.

Maybe the mailman was busy or overslept. Maybe tomorrow he'd come again, or next week.

The mailman never visited her house again. After a few weeks, it became a month since she last saw him, and eventually, it became two months.

Gigi was sad. She didn't have any way to contact her father except for the mailman, and now that was gone. She almost cried, but fought hard to keep the tears in check.

A drop or two may have spilled, but that was just because her eyes had too much water. She didn't actually cry, she just needed better eyes so they can store more water, yeah!

She was a good girl, and she was a grown up girl. Good, grown up girls don't cry. Gigi doesn't cry anymore, she really doesn't!

Sometimes it feels like she wanted to cry though.

Elly asked her, all of a sudden. "Gigi, would you like to come with me?" she asked.

Something inside her lit up, and Gigi almost let herself jump in joy. She could go with Elly on crazy adventures? That sounded amazing!

But she didn't say that. She didn't say anything, she just smiled brightly. She remembered her father.

Her father still hadn't returned. But this was her father's house, and she wanted to keep it safe.

"I promise you, I'll keep you safe, and I won't let anyone hurt you." Elly was a nice person.

But she didn't need protecting! Her house did though. So Gigi shook her head.

"Sorry, Elly, I have to stay here. I want to protect this place, so that when daddy comes back, he'll be so proud of me!"

The lady did not push any further. She smiled, she nodded, and she petted her like she always did. "Alright, I understand."

Gigi would be delighted, that Elly was so easy to understand, that she was so kind, that she was so understanding.

"Hey, Gigi. Do you want to sing something together?"

"Do I!? Yes, yes, yes I do! But, I think I'm bored of all the songs from the TV now."

"Then how about I teach you some new songs from Great Exardia?"

"Ohmygosh, ohmygosh, yes, please! I want to know your country's songs, Elly!"

One time, she felt sleepy during the day, and took a nap.

Gigi woke up later to Elly lying down next to her.

It made her feel safe, so she went back to the world of dreams.

Gigi was bored. She had nothing to do, and Elly hadn't come visit her yet. And, she was running out of things to do while alone.

Her father still hadn't come back, and she noticed that to this day, both her and Elly have yet to even touch the door that her father forbid her from entering.

She stared at the door for a long time. It was as if it was brainwashing her, telling her to open it, even though nothing was actually happening.

What was actually behind that door? Gigi wanted to know, she wanted to know so badly. Her father forbid her from even touching it, and Gigi had been fine with that.

But right now, her father wasn't here. He hadn't been back for a long time now. Maybe if he was still here, or if he came back, she'd be fine with not paying it any attention.

Actually, it was funny, Gigi thought. Why have a door at all if you weren't going to open it?

Gigi believed that was funny, but also, wrong. Doors were made to be opened!

So after telling herself that as she wouldn't be in trouble as long as nobody knew and nobody told her father, the girl strolled to the forbidden door and opened it.

She found a set of stairs leading down, a loooong way down.

It was dark, and the air was a bit weird, there was a strange smell. But Gigi didn't really let any of that bother her.

She skipped down the stairs, humming to herself. "Adventuring the door, adventuring the door, looking at the door Gigi never went in before!"

When she reached the bottom, Gigi found a dusty, stone hallway. The path led her to a medium room, where two wooden caskets lied.

"Oooh, is this treasure?" the girl wondered and excitedly ran to the pieces of furniture. She pried one open, succeeding after a while, and threw the lid away.

Gigi gasped. There was a person lying peacefully in the casket, a person she knew. It was her mother!

"Wow! Mommy! So you were here all this time?" she asked. "What're you doing down here? This place is full of dust, I think it might make you sick. Come on, mommy!"

Her mother didn't stir at all, though. She continued to sleep in her casket, unmoving.

"Hey, mommy! ...mommy?" she called again, over and over. But her mother wouldn't wake up. "Jeez, mommy. How sleepy are you?"

And then would move to the next casket and push it open. There, her grandfather lied with his eyes closed as well.

"Oh, grandpa! I didn't know you were here with mommy. Hello? Grandpa?" she asked. Just like her mother, the elderly did not reply, continuing to sleep.

It was at this point she heard a gasp, and Gigi turned around to see Elly. Oh, she forgot about her!

Elly must've entered her house and not seen Gigi anywhere, and so she saw the door was open, and walked down the steps, just like her.

They were now both bad girls. Gigi laughed and went to hug Elly, who almost looked... she didn't look excited, for some reason. That was strange.

"Elly! Look, Gigi found mommy and grandpa!" So she said that to the weird lady, who then looked to her with that strange expression. Was she not excited for her?

She pouted and then broke away, running to her mother's casket.

"Look, Elly, see? This is mommy, who I was telling you about many times!" the girl introduced. "Right now she's sleeping, and she won't wake up, but I think we just need to let her sleep a bit longer!" She then leaned into the casket and chuckled. Her mother was wearing her favorite dress, a lovely white dress, but there was a huge, dull, dark red stain across many parts of it. "Heehee. I guess she spilled lots of paint on herself before going to sleep. Mommy's being silly and lazy, right Elly? Everyone knows you should wash your clothes before going to bed, and even shower and clean yourself!"

"Gigi... I..." Elly rasped. Oh, maybe she's just so shocked to finally meet her mother! That had to be it.

Grinning, Gigi ran over to Elly and pulled her by the hand, to her slumbering grandfather. "C'mon, and this is grandpa! he's also sleeping, and- oh, look, he also spilled paint! Jeez, what were they doing before they started sleeping here?" she asked, and then gasped. "Oh, maybe they were playing hide and seek with daddy, and daddy just couldn't find them, and they fell asleep! Don't you think so, Elly? Isn't that funny?"

Elly's hands curled into fists, shaking. She was so excited, Gigi felt like teasing the lady.

"Hey, Elly, come on! Why don't you tell mommy and grandpa all about the adventures you told me about?" Gigi asked. "Maybe they'll wake up because your stories are interesting!"

And then they'd spend some time there, Gigi laughing and cheering as Elly quietly spoke to her sleeping family, sometimes even praising Gigi herself.

In the end, they didn't wake up at all, but Gigi was still feeling pretty happy. She was happy that Elly was here with her, to meet with her mother and grandfather.

The next day, her mother and grandfather still hadn't woken up. And the day after that, and the day after that.

Just like with the mailman, it became a week, then two, then a month, and they still didn't wake up.

Gigi was beginning to think they were extremely lazy and are just sleeping each day away to avoid doing work.

At some point, Elly hugged her tightly and started apologizing again. She said that they wouldn't wake up for a long time.

Well, that's no good! So Gigi decided she'd start tidying up her house a bit.

She wanted to wait until the day her mother and grandfather woke up, so she could show them how much growing she did.

How she became a big girl now, and how she became a really good girl!

And her father would also be overjoyed if he came home to see both a clean mansion and her mother and grandfather awake.

Again, Elly asked if Gigi wanted to go with her. Just like every other time, it made Gigi happy.

But she had to turn the strange lady down anyways, because she had responsibilities!

Every time, and even now, Elly would look a bit sad but nodded and smiled.

She always loved the final hugs Elly gave her before leaving for the day.

Heehee, maybe next time, she should turn it around and ask Elly if she wanted to stay with her, instead.

Elly might as well as be her second mother, after all!

Chapter Text

Some strange people in armor came to visit her house. Elly seemed to be leading them, and she reassured Gigi that they weren't bad people.

"We're here to... see if we can wake your mommy and grandpa up, dear," the lady told her. This made her excited, because she was getting tired of constantly trying to wake them up only for them to keep sleeping.

While they were chatting, one of the weird people the lady had brought into her home, walked up to them. "Commander, there's no body down there," he informed.

"...excuse me?" Uh oh, Elly lost her smile. She almost looked a bit... maybe upset. Gigi giggled - the strange armored person was in trouble~!

Who was she kidding? It's time for Gigi to step in and save this person's day! "Of course they're not there anymore," she piped up, getting their attention. "Sleeping in those small bed boxes must be so uncomfortable. So I moved mommy and grandpa to their bedrooms!" she told them, and they just looked at her as if they were shocked. Wow, she must've been more impressive than she thought she herself was. "It was a bit hard, because they're so heavy, and they're so... so... so still! They didn't even feel a thing. Mommy and grandpa are really really deep sleepers, aren't they? I hope they get up to eat at some point, because sleeping all this time must be bad for their health."

"...we'll go check the second floor," the armored person eventually said and scurried away with some others.

Elly, meanwhile, hugged her again. She was doing that a lot. Gigi didn't mind it though, because they were nice. "I'm so sorry, Gigi..."

"That's okay, I carried them myself with no problem! You weren't here, it's not your fault!"

Elly and the strange knights took her mother and grandfather away. It was a long and difficult discussion, but Gigi eventually understood that it was for the best.

Apparently, they were in a very deep sleep and wouldn't awake, because of some kind of illness. Elly didn't tell her what sickness it was, but she said that it was something that a lot of others also suffer from, and so they were going to put her mother and grandfather somewhere that they can check up on to find out more about the disease.

Gigi didn't like that idea at first, but the thought of them never waking up again terrified her. So she asked Elly to do her best and make sure her mother and grandfather wakes up eventually.

So she watched them take her mother and grandfather away, and she watched as several of the weird armored men came to bow in front of her, and said some things she wasn't quite sure what they meant. But they all seemed upset, and they told her great things about Elly.

Then Elly asked her again if she wanted to go with Elly.

This made her happy, just like the last time she was asked that. But Gigi refused again.

She had to stay here and protect her house, because if her father came back to a house that wasn't so clean and wasn't safe, he'd be upset.

So Gigi opted for a hug instead, and she made sure Elly would remember her hug for the rest of her life.

Gigi didn't notice when they showed up, but at some point, two short rock slabs showed up in her garden.

She couldn't quite read everything on them, but she saw her mother's name and her grandfather's name.

Seems like even while they were sleeping, they're still around and came here through magic to protect her and her house!

The girl couldn't help but love her mother and grandfather even more. Hopefully they wake up soon.

One day, while Elly was visiting her again (she loved her presence so much!), she said something really nice.

"You know, I wish I could take you to visit him," Elly had told her. "But he's... um... too busy, yes. We know where he is, absolutely! But he's really busy and so, I can't. I'm sorry, Gigi." Then she quickly hugged her. "But I'm sure he really misses you! Yes, he, he must really miss you. So, keep staying strong, Gigi."

The idea came to her after that. Everyone seemed to know where her father is, but couldn't take her to see him.

What if... what if she went to see him herself? She's sure there were some people around who would help her.

So she smiled and nodded. "I'm a big girl! I'm always strong, so no need to worry, Elly!"

Gigi was sure her father missed her greatly. And the people around would probably help her find her father.

After all, it would be mean to not help a girl find her father, and a father to be reunited with his daughter.

And people who were mean, were bad people.

"Hey, Elly, you won't stop coming here, right? You'll be here next time again, right?"

Elly seemed confused, before she smiled and caressed her. "Where did this come from? Of course I'll be here, Gigi. I promised to keep you safe, after all." Then she put a finger to her chin, looking up. "But, well, after tomorrow, I won't be able to come see you, because... I have something important to do." When Gigi seemed a bit down at this, the girl quickly flailed her arms about. "But, but after after tomorrow, I'll come here as soon as I can! And then, you know, after after after tomorrow, I'll also visit here like I would've done. So, wait three days, and you get me for two days in a row after!"

Gigi giggled at the strange lady and poked her cheeks. "Heehee, you said 'after' so many times."

"I sure did, huh? After all, I'm the Queen of Afters!"

That made her laugh. "That's not a thing, silly Elly!"

But this was also nice, because now she was sure Elly wouldn't be around for two days.

She can carry out her sneaky plan now!

Once Elly had put her to sleep and left for the day, Gigi stopped pretending to fall asleep and kicked her blankets off.

It was scary, she almost failed before her plan began, because Elly's voice was so beautiful. It almost put her to sleep for real!

But Gigi had a job to do, an important mission. It was time to find her father!

So she dressed herself up and quietly left through her door. She looked around and noticed that nighttime was... really dark, now that she was actually outside.

...well, maybe she could start her plan when it was brighter.

Gigi went back into her house, her bedroom, and got under the sheets.

Elly wasn't here anymore, so she can't hear her beautiful singing to put herself to sleep this time.

But Gigi didn't have any trouble anyways. Just remembering Elly's voice was enough for her.

Gigi almost forgot about her plan, but she remembered it after finishing breakfast.

Silly Gigi! That would've been bad, because her father was waiting for her! So she went to get dressed again, and left her house.

This time, she wasn't going to run away! ...no, she didn't run away, it was just that nighttime is dangerous. It was called being a smart girl.

Traveling along the roadside, she started humming to herself, a village in the distant. They lived not too far away from the village, because her father wanted a place of peacefulness to stay, and the view was lovely. Gigi remembered that her mother also loved this place, and her grandfather was really approving of not staying in the village, something about how new and young people were frustrating. So, Gigi always loved being in her house, too.

But now, having to walk down a small hill to get to the village, Gigi realized even more that it wasn't that bad living away from the place. She didn't even feel tired yet!

The girl soon reached the village down below and smiled. She saw people walking around, and few of them looked to her and waved. She waved back.

"Hi! I'm Gigi!" she went to greet one person. "Have you seen daddy?"

"Oh, my. Are you lost?" one kind old woman asked.

Gigi wasn't lost! So she shook her head. "No, Gigi's here to look for daddy! He's working somewhere in this place, I think. He never told me that he was going far away, and usually he always comes home in a day. I'm sure daddy is somewhere here!"

"Is that so? You're a brave one, aren't you?" The old woman petted her head. It didn't feel as good as when Elly does it to her, but she liked it nevertheless. "Where are you from, little missy?"

She grinned and pointed to her property, a distant view outside the village. "Over there! Daddy's house is a bit far away but it's my favorite place!"

Then the old woman's smile would disappear, and she would stare at her like something made her upset. "Oh, oh dear. You must be... oh, no. Dearie... I'm so sorry," she whispered.

"Why are you sorry? You didn't do anything wrong!" Gigi said. "...did you?"

"I'm sorry, I... I have to go. Please stay safe, little girl." The old woman suddenly trotted away, worried.

Gigi looked around, and some people who were near them looked at her with similar expressions, whispering among themselves.

She didn't understand what was going on, but something made her feel sad. She didn't like this feeling.

But, well, she had something important to do right now! She had to find her father, and fast!

Maybe after she found him, Gigi should ask him why people were behaving so weirdly here.

She tried asking this nice person who cooked in a shop on wheels.

He was gentle with her and petted her like the old woman did, but after she answered where she came from, he reacted just like the old woman.

The person who cooks began to apologize, and closed up for the day, and pulled his shop away.

Gigi was feeling a bit sadder now. She wanted to try some of the treats he had on display.

Oh well.

There was a cat dozing off on the sidewalk! When she went to pet it, the cat became alarmed and scurried away.

No help, no snacks, and no cat petting... Gigi didn't really like today that much. But it will soon become better!

She found the mailman. He was sleeping somewhere in an alley, unmoving. Dark splotches of red had spilled from his mouth and a black tattoo across his neck, having dried, just like the paint and tattoo across her mother's and grandfather's necks and bodies. "Mr. Mailman! Where did you go? I haven't seen you for so long!" Gigi greeted.

But the mailman did not wake up.

Gigi tiled her head, then picked up a scent. "Ew, you smell weird. Did you throw up? Did you try to eat paint? You know that's not something you should eat, right?" she said, and took out a water bottle to place next to the mailman.

He still did not move.

The girl rolled her eyes, but giggled. "Here you go. You should drink water when you're feeling sick, I'm sure it will wash the paint inside your stomach away. Stomach ache should go away too!"

So she went about her way, hoping the mailman wakes up to drink the water bottle she gave him.

Oops. She accidentally stepped on a ladybug.

Gigi saw someone she recognized. Her face lit up with the biggest excitement she had ever felt. "Daddy!" she yelled and ran over to a man she saw heading towards a house.

The man turned to her and jumped back. "G, Gigi!?" her father called. So it really was her father! Gigi ran to him and hugged him tightly. "Ack...!"

"Daddy, I missed you so much!" the girl whined. "I'm so glad I get to see you again. Why didn't you answer any of my letters? It gets so lonely, you know!"

"E, excuse me, who is this?" someone else asked. Gigi broke off to see a woman she didn't know, next to her father.

Gigi was Gigi, obviously! But she didn't know who this woman was. "Who are you? I'm Gigi! This is my daddy!"

"Um, yes, this is, my daughter, Gigi!" her father said. As expected, he was still as kind as ever, helping her out!

He leaned to the strange woman and whispered something, but Gigi didn't really mind that. She was probably his new friend, and, friends sometimes have secrets. Or maybe it was something only adults understood and not kids.

But wait, she was a grown up girl now! She was a big girl! But if she made a fuss about it, she'd just be a kid.

Gigi decided to not think about it. "So, daddy, how're you doing with work? It must be really tough that you can't come home at all. Do you even remember how long it's been?"

Her father laughed. "Hahaha... m, maybe not. I might be forgetting a bit..." he said. For some reason, his laugh sounded fake.

"Would... would you like to come in?" the woman suddenly offered.

She felt like jumping for joy right now. "Daddy's new office? Of course I want to see!"

So they let her into the house her father had been about to enter, seeming rather shy and looking at each other nervously. How cute!

Gigi got a glimpse of it all. But for some reason, it felt less like a workplace, and more like... well, an actual house.

This is a pretty weird place to be doing important work at. She began to wonder what her father did, anyways.

"Y... you must be pretty hungry," the strange woman suddenly said, clapping her hands together.

She didn't know her name! So Gigi smiled. "My name is Gigi! Gigi is a bit hungry, but it's nothing. I'm just glad to see daddy again!"

"Oh, Gigi, yes! I've, uh, I've heard!" The woman petted the girl. It was as gentle as Elly, but something about it just didn't sit right with her. She didn't mind it that much though. "Would you like something light to eat, then? I don't mind preparing something for you!"

"Would I!? Gigi would love that, I do!" Flailing her arms about, Gigi jumped up and down, and watched the strange woman head to the kitchen. Meanwhile, she went to her father and hopped onto his lap. "Daddy!"

"Gi, Gigi, I've, missed you!" he replied. Why did he sound like he was unsure? That's such a weird thing to do with his voice, her father was silly. "It's, uh, you shouldn't do this anymore. Sorry," he said, and picked her up, and put her down on her feet.

She pouted. "Aww. But you used to let me do this every time... is daddy tired? If so then Gigi will stand then!"

"Um... yes, yes, daddy is tired!" her father said. "So, you shouldn't be bothering daddy too much, alright? I am hard at work, after all."

"Oh, okay then! Gigi won't bother daddy then." She then looked around her father's room and noticed a baby crib. There was someone small sleeping inside, a little baby. "Wow! Daddy! It's a baby!"

"Huh? Um... yes, that's a baby!" Standing up, he walked over to her and pulled her away slightly. "That's... the child of my new... my coworker, yes, the one who's making food for you right now!" He turned Gigi towards him and patted her. "You don't want to wake the baby up by being too loud, would you?"

Gigi tilted her head, confused. "Why is that person's baby here though?" she asked.

He jolted. That was a weird hiccup, she thought. "She's, uh... I'm letting her bring the child here because, she, couldn't hire any babysitter, that's right. It's so that the baby will be safe," he explained.

"Oh, okay! That makes sense!" She looked back to the baby and smiled. "Maybe one day I can play with her! I'll be, like, her big sister! But not her real big sister."

"That's... um, maybe, yes, you could one day," he reassured her. Oh, he was such a kind father, Gigi loved him so much!

Then she stopped and fidgeted uncomfortably. "A-also, daddy... do, do you know where the toilet is?"

He stared at her, then chuckled. "Oh, Gigi. It's just past the kitchen, you can ask my... coworker, yes."

"Okie dokie!" Gigi ran out the room and went past the kitchen, where the strange woman was standing and brewing something in a pot. She skidded to a stop in front of a turn, and looked into a short hall, where she saw two doors. The girl looked back at the woman she didn't quite know. "Miss, where's the toilet?" she asked.

She jumped, as if she had been scared by Gigi. But that was weird, but that was also funny. Gigi wasn't trying to be scary!

"Oh, um, hello Gigi!" the woman greeted. For some reason.

As the big girl she is, Gigi mustn't let that greeting slide off though. "Hi! Hello again! Did you forget me already? I'm Gigi!"

"Nnnnno, no, I didn't! That's okay. What were you asking, sweetie?"

Gigi looked back at the two doors she saw. "Which one's the toilet?"

The woman stopped and came to look as well. "Why, it's the left one, dearie. Take your time now!"

"Alrighty!" Bowing her thanks, Gigi ran into the left door and did her business. She took a bit of time, because she didn't need to use the toilet that badly, but it still felt nice. And, she didn't want to wet herself in front of her father's friend, that would be embarrassing especially on their first meeting! Once she was done, Gigi flushed the toilet and politely walked out the room.

She made her way back to the kitchen, only to notice that the woman was gone, and the door to her father's office was closed.

"Jeez, that is dangerous!" she said with a pout, figuring the woman had to quickly talk with her father or something. But that wasn't an excuse to just leaver the food-watching unwatched! So Gigi lifted a chair and put it in front of the stove, then hopped on top. She peered into the pot that the woman had been stirring. "Ooooh, curry! Gigi likes curry. ...I hope it doesn't have tomatoes. Or that it's not too spicy. Gigi doesn't like that."

The girl stirred the pot a bit, just to check what was inside. It didn't look too bad, and she didn't see any tomato bits within.

"Good, good. ...mm?" Gigi saw a strange container nearby, within reach. She picked it up and stared. "Hmm. Sleeping... medicine. Why is this here?" she asked herself. Looking back to the door, the girl immediately reached a conclusion. "I see. They must not be getting much sleep because of work. So they want to eat curry and sleep after? That's so funny!" she giggled to herself. "But not healthy. Buuuut, Gigi's a grown woman now. I think it's fine as long as they don't sleep too long! I'll help them out." The girl screwed open the container and sprinkled a bit of the sleeping powder into the curry broth. "Hm... a bit more?" A little more sprinkling.

After she was finished, the girl smiled and put the container back where it was, and stirred a bit more. Then she hopped off the chair and also put that back where it was. Then she went to the door and knocked it a few times.

"Daddy! Friend of daddy! I'm done!" she called.

She heard the noises within come to a stop, as if they had been whispering something serious, maybe work. Then she heard them approach the door.

It opened gently, and the woman stepped out. "O-oh, Gigi, dear, sorry about that. I had to talk to your father about... uh, something."

"Don't worry, Gigi knows!" the girl said, which, for some reason, made them look really upset, but she didn't notice yet. "Work must be really busy, so daddy and you must be really tired. It's alright though, Gigi understands!"

They sighed, happy. Wow, they were really excited! So Gigi grabbed the woman by the hand and pulled her over. "Um, Gi, Gigi?"

"C'mon, the curry smells really good! Gigi can't wait to eat with everyone!" the girl said.

Unable to stop herself from smiling, the woman nodded and ushered her to a seat. "Alright, alright, take a seat, honey. I'll prepare the plates, okay?"

"I, I can help too!" Gigi said.

"No, that's fine, you should relax. You're our guest here after all!"

She didn't like that, but she couldn't disagree either, sort of. So Gigi pouted and nodded.

Soon, her father came out and took a seat as well. The woman prepared everything for them, poured the curry into each of their dish, and took a seat as well. She also grabbed and hid the bottle of sleeping medicine somewhere, secretly, which Gigi noticed and giggled at. They wanted to keep it a secret? They're so funny!

Then, they prepared to eat. But her father cleared his throat. "Gigi, did you remember to wash your hands after using the restroom?"

Gigi blinked. Then she gasped. "Oh no! Gigi forgot! I will do that right now!" she said and hopped off her chair, running to the toilet again.

She struggled a bit to reach the sink, so then she found a miniature stool and put it in front of the sink, and she got on top of it to wash her hands properly.

The girl then glanced at a bar of soap sitting in a container. "Hmm... I want to hurry and eat, but I shouldn't skip using soap... oh well! Gigi is a good girl, so Gigi will use soap!"

So she started singing loudly to herself, using the bar of soap. It made her hand slippery, but it smelled nice, and soon, her hands were clean as a mirror. A clean mirror, of course!

Gigi then went out and ran back to her seat. "I'm back! I washed my hands properly, daddy!" she said.

But for some reason, her father and the woman were lying with their heads on the table, snoring away. It seems they already started eating, and they fell asleep immediately, with... maybe one or two bite.

The girl was shocked. "Wow, that medicine is strong! Gigi is amazed, yes." She also noticed the bottle of sleeping medicine, sitting next to the woman's hands on the table, for some reason. Oh, she wasn't hiding it anymore? That was weird, but it was nothing, probably. Gigi shrugged, then looked to her plate of curry, ready to dig in.

Her eyes narrowed when she noticed bits of red she didn't like.

"...wait! There are tomatoes in this!" she yelled. Gigi groaned - she didn't want tomatoes! Ugh, now the whole plate was ruined.

But, she shouldn't waste food. Her father would get angry at her. Gigi glanced at her father, who was deep in slumber.

She also looked to the woman, who showed no signs of waking up.

Grinning, Gigi took her plate and went to the trash can, and dumped all of her plate into it. She then reached up to put her plate on the edge of the sink counter, and clapped her hands together.

"There, all done! Gigi totally finished her curry!" she said proudly. The girl then looked to her father again and smiled. "Oh, daddy. You must be really tired. Gigi only used a little bit of that medicine, after all." The girl giggled to herself, then wondered what to do. She wanted to clean the house for her father, to make things easier for him, but that would take time. And, she still hadn't really heard anything about why her father didn't reply to her at all, or why he wasn't even asking to be able to visit her back at home.

After a bit of thinking, the girl decided. She must make her father talk and be honest! So she started dragging her father off the chair. It looked like it hurt when the chair fell and he almost knocked his head on the floor, but luckily, nothing bad happened, and he didn't wake up. So she put him down and looked around the house, finding a set of stairs leading up.

The second floor was like Gigi's house, like her father's real house. The bedrooms were there.

So Gigi smiled and ran back downstairs to drag her father up the stairs, and into a bedroom that was probably his.

Then she came down and was about to drag the woman off the chair as well, but paused. "...nah, Gigi doesn't really need to ask her questions. Only daddy is enough." So she left the woman alone and went into her father's office. Since everyone was asleep, someone needed to take care of the baby if it woke up, so Gigi decided to pull the carriage and get it upstairs too.

But she did it gently! She didn't want to wake the baby up, and she didn't want to accidentally let go of it and hurt the baby.

Minutes later, the job was done. Her father was on a bed upstairs, the baby was in the same room, and the woman was... well, she was still sleeping at the dining table downstairs.

Gigi then went back into her father's office and wondered if there was anything else she could find. Maybe there would be something on his desk that she can help with, and then she could show him how helpful she was, and he would be less busy!

Something strange was on his desk, though. It wasn't any work, or any sheet of paper. It was a roll of tape, a roll of dark, strong tape.

The girl stared, wondering what this could be for. This roll of tape hadn't been there previously, did it? She didn't remember so.

A brilliant idea flashed in her mind though. Her daddy seemed to have picked up on a habit of trying to change subjects. When she interrogates him, maybe he will try to make her forget everything and not answer her!

Gigi snickered. That was no good! Her father might just have become a prankster while he was gone. She couldn't allow that to happen! So she took the roll of tape and a pair of scissors, and went up the stairs once more.

Soon, her father had his arms taped to the bed frames, and his legs tied together.

Satisfied, Gigi ran down to put the tape back on his desk. Now, she can make sure to ask him the important questions while he won't be able to distract her.

Wow, her own talent scared her sometimes. Gigi might just have to start helping her father with his work some day! Maybe. Whatever it is he did.

But first... well, she was a bit sleepy. She had left her house in the morning, and didn't spend too long searching for her father. Now, it was some time in the afternoon, but it's not like she couldn't take a nap.

She'd just have to question her father in the evening after she finishes her short nap. So the girl decided that she should go up and sleep in the other bedroom she found upstairs.

Gigi ran back into the dining room and bowed to the strange woman.

Oh, wait, there was a knife in the strange woman's belt. That was dangerous, so Gigi decided to take it from her.

She'll give it back later, because she didn't really know where to put it away in the kitchen.

So Gigi slipped the knife into her own belt instead. Then she went up to get her short rest.

"Hey, daddy. Wake up!" Gigi was straddled atop her father, his arms and legs still tied together. "Daddy! Come on, how long are you going to sleep? I only used a little bit of that sleeping medicine you had!"

But the, he stirred. His eyes began to open, and once he seemed to realize his situation, her father let out a scream and began struggling. "S-stop! What's going on!? What are you doing!?"

"Whoa! Daddy, stop shaking around so much!" the girl replied. "I just wanted to make sure you can't run away! Gigi's a good girl, but sometimes she wants to know things, and if I asked you why you were gone for so long, you'd probably try to change the subject and make me forget about it. I'm tired of that!" she said.

"Gigi, let me go! You are, you are making me really angry right now!" her father yelled.

"Well, Gigi's been really angry too!" the girl retorted. "I told you to come back home! I sent you so many letters and you never even replied! I missed you, but you never even tried to come back! It's lonely being there all the time!"

"I, I had important work, Gigi! Very important work, I can't afford to waste time on you. I was going to go back, I promise!"

She shook her head with a pout. "Nuh uh! Gigi doesn't believe you. That's why I will keep asking you questions until you answer everything without lying, Lying is bad, daddy. Gigi doesn't like liars."

"Get off me, get off me!" her father kept yelling, but to no avail.

She heard footsteps outside the room. Oh, the strange woman must've woke up! The woman soon showed up, running into the room, and froze as she saw Gigi, notably the knife in her belt.

"Hello! Please wait a bit, Gigi just wants to talk with daddy!"

The woman nodded without a word. So polite!

She turned back to her father, who looked more and more upset than ever. "Daddy, stop moving around! Just answer Gigi honestly, and I will get off!"

"Gigi, listen to daddy, yeah? Daddy's had a long and hard day, he needs to sleep properly... so please get rid of these tape and let me go, and I will do whatever to make you happy!"

The girl smiled. "That would be awesome, daddy! This is why I love you best!" she cheered. "But Gigi wants to know why you're taking so long to come home. What work are you doing? Maybe Gigi can help!"

Whatever happened, it seemed to make her father angry. "You are such a pain in the ass, I swear to fuck!" he yelled at her.

Gigi gasped. "Daddy, you're not supposed to say bad words!" she chastised him. "You always told me that I shouldn't-"

"Shut up, shut up! Shut the fuck up! I've had it with you, this is why I left you there alone!"

She paused. Her father... left her alone? Well, he did, but... it almost seemed like he was saying he did it on purpose.

That wasn't possible though. Her father loved her, she knew he did. Perhaps he's just feeling really moody?

"Daddy, calm down... you just woke up, so I guess you'd be a bit tired and moody, but..."

"You, you were never supposed to come back to me... you were supposed to stay in that house!" her father yelled at her. "You should've stayed there forever!"

"Wh... what do you mean, daddy? If I stayed there forever, I'd never get to see you again!" Gigi said. "You never come back home, so that's why I had to come here! Why are you being so mean?"

Her father scowled at her, and the strange woman continued to watch, speechless. "I left! I left, you brat! I can't keep living like that, suffering day by day, having to take care of you alone! I needed a new life, so I left!"

"Daddy, you're going to make mommy and grandpa said if you keep lying and yelling!" Gigi said. "Did you know they were sleeping in that room downstairs all this time? You told me to never go there, and there they were, sleeping and playing hide and seek! Why didn't you tell me? Why didn't you let me play too?"

She pulled the knife from her belt. Her father went quiet at that.

"Maybe that's why they went and got a hole tattoo on their body before hiding. Because you were being mean, and so they left you out!" Gigi said. "Or, is that why you're so angry, daddy? I can help you get the tattoo as well though! Both the one on their chest and the one on their neck!"

"S, stop that! I don't want to die yet!" Her father began to squirm, but the tape trapping his arms to the bed frames wouldn't give away.

And Gigi was getting a bit annoyed now, that her father wouldn't listen to her. "Daddy, stop shaking so much! If you don't want a tattoo, then I won't give you a tattoo. You never even taught me how to do that anyways. I think we'll have to ask mommy and grandpa, but you'll have to say sorry to them first."

"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up, shut up, shut up!" her father then yelled at her, over and over. "You're a curse! You're garbage! I should've never given birth to you!"

"Daddy, that's not nice! I'm going to tell mommy about this when she..."

Gigi paused. Her father was being really strange. He never behaved like this before. It was as if...

...oh! Wait! She figured it out just now!

This wasn't her father! This was someone else, who was pretending to be her father, to trick her!

Why didn't she figure this out before? Of course this was a fake trying to take advantage of her!

Her father would never say such things. He loved her dearly, and she loved him dearly.

Gigi understood now, that she had been mistaken. She had betrayed her father by mistaking someone else as him.

That was bad. She was a bad person. She should be punished. But just lightly, because Gigi didn't mean to be bad.

But this person, he was a bad person. He tried to take advantage of her, lied about being her father, and now he tried to hurt her.

"...you're not daddy," she whispered. The man underneath her went rigid, his expressions confused.

"H... huh?"

"You're not daddy. Gigi gets it now! Because, daddy would never be mean to Gigi!"

So she plunged the blade into the bad man, the bad man who pretended to be her father, who wasn't her father.

He let out a howl of pain, and the mean woman who stood near them and had been keeping her mouth shut, let out a scream.

That wasn't enough! This bad man had to be punished some more, for pretending to be her father.

Gigi was now a hero of justice! She was going to make sure he regrets doing something like this!

So she pulled the knife out and plunged it in another spot. The man let out another scream.

"Gigi won't stop until you say sorry! Because you're a bad person, you lied to Gigi! You're not daddy, so stop pretending to be him!"

Another stab, and another stab, and another stab, and another stab, and another stab, and another stab, and-

"S-stop hurting him!" the woman nearby eventually yelled at her.

"Gigi is not done punishing him yet. Are you working with him?" she asked, but her arms continued moving.

Stab, after stab, after stab, after stab, after stab, after stab, after-

CRACK

Gigi felt her head hurt. She fell to the floor, the woman holding a chair in her hands.

"Ow... that hurts!" the girl said, rubbing the spot that was radiating with pain. She looked at her hands and frowned. "Look what you did. Gigi is spilling paint!" she said.

So she got up and picked up the knife she dropped, and threw it right at the woman.

The mean woman didn't even have the opportunity to turn around, she immediately fell to the floor, her body unmoving, but otherwise just asleep.

"Oops. Gigi threw a bit too hard... she fell asleep right away." She scratched her head, and winced, before getting back on top of the bad man and lifting her knife again. "Now, let's continue your punishment, bad man!"

And she would stab him a few more times, ignoring his screams, until he stopped moving too. Did he fall asleep?

At that point, the girl felt it useless to keep going, and she got off the body. "Aw, he fell asleep too. All this paint he spilled... and he hasn't said sorry yet." Shaking her head, the girl tossed the knife away and walked over to a nearby cradle. "Such a bad man should never be allowed to hurt others. That's why Gigi had to do that. But next time, you should say sorry and apologize to everyone. Especially Gigi's daddy!" she said, as if the man had still been alive and listening. And she then peered into the cradle and saw a baby crying.

Oh, now she was hearing the baby's cries. She looked around.

"Uh oh, Gigi doesn't know how to stop babies from crying," she said. Wondering what she can do, the girl looked back at the knife she dropped, and then at the baby.

...no, the baby wasn't a bad baby. It was just being a baby, crying just like what babies normally do.

Gigi chuckled, and then petted the baby. Then, she decided she was tired, after a long time. So Gigi decided to go home.

But not before kissing the bad man's baby a kiss on the forehead.

After all, it wasn't their fault that they were the bad man's child.

Hopefully someone comes to help the child, eventually.

As she was preparing to head home, someone tapped her shoulder. "Little girl, are... are you alright?"

Gigi looked behind her to see some man she didn't know, who looked upset with her. "Who are you? Gigi doesn't know you."

The man shook his head. "I wanted to ask if... if you're okay. You look... hurt," he replied.

"Oh, this?" Gigi said and looked down. "It's just red paint, don't worry! I went to meet daddy, but he was actually a bad man pretending to be daddy! So I punished him a bit, and he spilled all this because he didn't want to be punished!"

Her bright smile must've done something to the man, it must've been convincing, because soon the man nodded and stepped back.

"Um... alright, then. Stay safe, kid."

"Gigi will!"

Elly visited her house again. It had been a while since she lasted saw her. Two days ago?

When Elly entered her house, this time her expression didn't carry as much care. It was more of worry, of concern. Was she worried for her? Why?

"Gigi...?" the strange lady whispered, and Gigi sat opposite to her, back facing the door. Gigi had just been playing in the entrance room, after all.

"Oh, hi, Elly! I'm drawing!" she said, continuing to doodle on the sheet in front of her.

Elly drew in a sharp breath. She shook a bit, and then exhaled. "I... I have bad news, Gigi," she whispered. "It's... it's about your father. He's... we've found him, but he's..."

"Is it the bad man with the big house in town?"

The lady stayed silent. Neither of them said anything, but Gigi didn't think anything was wrong.

So she turned around and smiled brightly. "That's okay, Elly, you don't need to worry!" she reassured the beautiful lady.

But Elly froze, and she stared at her with surprise. "Gi... Gigi...?"

"Because that wasn't Gigi's daddy!" Gigi continued to speak. "That's just a really bad man, and a really bad woman, and they were pretending to be daddy!"

Her face was stained with a horrifying splatter of dulled red, and her clothes, and her limbs. Yet, her smile was as bright as the sun.

"So I went to punish the bad man! I gave him tattoos just like mommy and grandpa had, but a lot of paint also spilled on him. I did my best though!"

The lady seemed to be so shocked by this twist. Gigi agreed - who would've thought someone would try to imitate her father? What a bad man!

"Gigi... that's... I... you...!"

Gigi ran up to her. "It's okay, Eli! Gigi made sure the bad man would never pretend to be Gigi's daddy!" She hugged Elly, because clearly Elly needed this right now.

Elly could not muster the energy to say anything. She was overfilled with joy, she had to be! Gigi must've impressed her so much, she knocked her socks right off!

"That's why, Gigi wants you to help Gigi again!" the girl said. "Gigi wants to know where her real daddy is!"

For some reason, Elly began crying, and Gigi wasn't sure how to comfort her. So she stopped talking about her father for a bit.

Something bad must've happened recently, and even Gigi knew she shouldn't be gloating about happy things when someone was down.

So she waited, she waited until the strange, beautiful lady would stop crying.

Gigi didn't know why Elly kept apologizing to her, though.

Chapter Text

Gigi wanted to change. She wanted to improve herself. She had to make herself better.

Then maybe her father would finally come home. And her mother would wake up. And her grandfather. Wherever the strange men took the latter two.

Whoever that was that she went to meet the other day, it wasn't her father. Just some bad person, someone pretending to be her father.

But it made her realize that maybe Gigi was not interesting enough. Maybe she was boring.

And maybe her father started to forget about her because he was too busy, and she wasn't unique enough to stick in his mind.

That was no good, that was a big no-no! Gigi can't be boring, she had to be fun and remembered for the rest of his life!

So she decided she should begin changing herself. And she started doing whatever she could that she usually didn't.

She worked even harder to take care of the house. She cleaned anything that she could, even the toilets and storage rooms.

And, the girl began rearranging the furniture and organized some random sheets in her father's old desk.

Elly had been visiting her less frequently. Getting busier with work. But every time she came, she would ask that same question.

"Would you like to come with me, Gigi?" And it always tempted her real bad, but Gigi would politely say no and return the hug she gets, every time.

Because, Gigi wasn't planning on leaving her house just yet. She was going to keep waiting, for the day her father came back, to surprise him.

"So, Gigi... do you ever..." Elly asked. "Do you ever... wish to... um. Have a new mom?" she asked her. Her face was dyed a slight pink.

The girl stopped doodling on a book and sat up, looking over to her friend. "New mommy? ...no, why?"

"O-oh, um. It's, nothing," Elly replied. "Just... wondering."

But Gigi was pretty sure she knew what Elly really wanted to say. "Elly wants to become Gigi's second mommy!?"

The strange lady choked on air, then flailed her arms about. "N-no, that's not it, Gigi, I just... I want to take care of you, and you want to stay here, so..."

Gigi smiled. "It's okay! Gigi doesn't mind, Elly is really nice and pretty! Just like mommy!" she said. "But Gigi doesn't know if Elly can do that. Gigi would need to find a second daddy too, and daddy probably wouldn't like that."

"That's, uh, that's okay, really! I don't need to find a second daddy for you, Gigi," Elly quickly reassured. "Some, um. Some families only have one daddy, and some only have one mommy!"

"Oh, really? That's weird," the girl replied. "But Gigi doesn't mind that either! Elly would make a great mommy!"

The hugs she got that day were a lot warmer, felt much better than usual.

She tried something new. She tried crafting her own big sword, like the one Elly had.

Ripping from a bunch of old cardboard boxes her father had kept in the forbidden door, where she previously found her mother and grandfather sleeping, Gigi started making her own giant sword and added color to it with her crayons.

Within an hour, she had a mess of a sword, but a really cool one. She also made some armor pieces that just wouldn't stick unless she taped them tot her shoulders properly. And some parts drawn to look like the fluffy wavy ends of Elly's dress.

The next time Elly visited, Gigi excitedly showed the pretty lady her imitation costume.

Elly looked extremely happy, which made Gigi really happy as well, and they played around the entire day.

One day, she was exploring a storage room separate from the main mansion, a side unit a very short distance away. She had told Elly about it, and decided to come explore the inside with her. Gigi wanted to see if there was anything fun she could find there, to play with, and maybe get the pretty lady to play with her too, but there wasn't that many interesting things in there. So while Elly was looking around in some other parts of the separate building, Gigi brought out a sheet of paper and a box of crayons.

And she began to doodle randomly, humming to herself. After a while, she got bored, and went to a nearby desk. She dusted it clean and rummaged through it for some random sheets of paper.

Bringing it back, she decided she'd try doodling on something that wasn't a blank paper, to see if she could do something funny. Characters standing on a block of text, maybe?

So she went back to doodling, and she doodled, and she doodled.

Then she paused and looked away, and saw something on a shelf next to her.

It was strange, it was some sort of black cat ornament, something that made her feel... out of it.

She recognized it, somewhat. The more she looked at it, the more she remembered. It was something she made for her father, a long time ago.

So this is where it was! Why was it here, in the storage unit, away from the house? That was weird.

Her father had said it was one of the greatest presents she'd ever given him, and that it made him so happy.

Oh, that silly father of hers. Gigi didn't think he had to hide this from her - he lost it and was getting forgetful!

Or maybe he broke it by accident and fixed it, and hid it because he didn't want her to know.

Gigi shook her head, amused. "Silly daddy." So she reached up to try and get it down.

There was a box in the way that she accidentally knocked over. Some rubber pieces of the alphabet spilled onto the ground, but that wasn't important right now.

She was almost there, she almost reached it. And it felt so strange, for some reason.

The artifact beckoned to her, drew her closer, it asked for her to take it. And Gigi took the ornament.

But nothing happened. Because it wasn't anything special, it was just that, a fancy sculpture ornament.

And Gigi dropped it. She dropped it by accident, and shards of it scattered everywhere. "Oh no!" the girl squeaked. "Gigi did an oopsie!"

"Gigi? Did something happen!?" Elly's footsteps came to a stop and approached her in a hurry.

The girl panicked, looking around for something to hide the broken piece of craft, but couldn't think of anything. "Oh, oh no, Gigi doesn't..." she muttered. It wasn't like Elly owned anything in this house - it wasn't even her place, it was Gigi's and her father's - but unable to think properly, the girl thought that maybe this would make Elly think she was a bad girl. She didn't want that! She was a good girl, a big girl, she really liked Elly! So the girl finally decided to run out the building, back to her house. "Gigi didn't do it!" she yelled.

She only heard a brief "Oh..." from Elly, behind her, before the girl went into hiding.

Well, really, her 'hiding' was a failure from the start. It took a few minutes, but eventually, Elly came to her and patted her through the blanket she hid under.

"Gigi, it's okay," the beautiful lady had whispered. "I'm not angry at you, Gigi. I don't even know what you broke, it's not my place after all."

"R... really?" Gigi asked. "You don't think... Elly doesn't think Gigi's a bad girl?"

A chuckle scaped the lady's lips. "Of course not. It was an accident, it's not like you broke it on purpose, Gigi." She then uncurled the blanket and pushed it aside, caressing the little girl's head. "I'm more worried about you, Gigi. Did any shard hit you? Broken things can be really sharp, you know."

The girl shook her head and smiled, she felt much better now. "Nope! Gigi was wearing shoes properly, like you told her to!"

"That's good, that's good." Elly hugged her again. "I'm glad you're safe and sound, Gigi."

Gigi returned the hug. "Gigi's glad you don't think Gigi's a bad girl!" she cheered.

"I'd never, Gigi. I'd never."

Elly sat her down, out of nowhere. "Gigi... I know I ask this a lot," she whispered. "But... are you sure you still don't want to come with me?"

She loved it every time the lady asked her this. Gigi really wanted to go with her. But she shook her head regardless, because she would never give up on her responsibilities. "Gigi has to stay," she said. "Daddy might come home one day, Gigi's real daddy. She has to make sure daddy comes home safely and has a good time!"

Sighing, as she always did, Elly hugged her, petting her hair, her fingers smoothly combing through her hair. "I understand, Gigi. I understand." Then she broke away and frowned. "I just wanted to tell you, I'm... I'm going on an important mission for a while. Two weeks, actually."

"Two... weeks..." Gigi repeated.

The lady nodded. "That means... it means that I won't be able to come here for at least two weeks. You'll... be here, alone, if you stay."

She looked down. Two weeks of being alone... it didn't sound nice. Gigi didn't want that. But she still didn't want to leave her house, where she belonged. And still, she wanted to go with Elly, now she really really wanted to go.

But Gigi's a good girl. She can endure it. So she smiled sadly. "Gigi will be okay. Gigi can be alone for two weeks. She's a big girl!" she chimed.

Elly choked on something, and her eyes glistened. She looked like she was about to cry. "Oh, Gigi... I'm, I'm so sorry..."

"Stop apologizing! Elly likes to say sorry a lot," Gigi laughed, and accepts yet another hug. "Gigi really enjoys being with Elly. So Gigi will wait here. Not just for daddy, but also for Elly. Okay?"

The lady nodded. She shook from time to time - the strange hiccups were back again. In a reversal, Gigi started petting Elly.

"...I love you, Gigi."

Gigi smiled brightly.

"Gigi loves you too!"

The first few days of No-Elly Week #1, Gigi felt sad. She didn't feel like doing anything, doing the bare minimum to eat, shower, and clean. She spent a lot of her time doodling with her crayons, but the ideas just weren't coming to her. What was the point of drawing, anymore, if she didn't have someone to come check on her, for her to show them?

So Gigi stopped drawing for a while. She tried playing with an old soccer ball she found, kicking it around in her garden.

But without anyone to praise her or kick it back, it got boring really fast as well.

Cooking! Cooking could be a hobby. Gigi remembered her mother loved to cook and talked about her recipes like she was her profession or something. Maybe Gigi could try that!

So she threw some ingredients she found into a pot, turned the stove on, and began stirring. Just so that they melt, she added water in too, because hot water is so hot that it can melt the ingredients! At least, that's what Gigi believed. Her mother made it look so easy, honestly.

In the end, the pot ended up the carrier of a dull purple sludge, so Gigi gave up cooking and dug a hole somewhere in her garden to burry the waste.

Next, she tried folding paper into funny shapes. Elly had taught her this before - it was something called ori... origi... no, it was origa...ga... origano?

Or origami. Either origano, or origami. It was apparently some kind of culture where you fold a small square paper into beautiful shapes, and some have done many and put them together to make dragons. It sounded amazing!

So Gigi gave that a shot. But she didn't really know how to turn these sheets into anything, so after folding them randomly for a bit, the girl got fed up and tore the pieces of paper to smaller pieces, and trashed them all.

Hours passed, days passed, and soon, she just wasn't in the mood to do anything aides from living necessities.

The girl plopped herself face first onto her bed so often, she was starting to feel like her bed was her new mother.

Gigi now had a third mother, and it was her bed. The thought of it was kinda funny, but not enough to make her feel better.

She missed Elly. She wanted to see Elly again. But she won't do anything like go out to find her on her own this time.

Because, she promised Elly she'd be fine here.

There was a red bird sitting on the porch in her garden. It reminded her of Elly's hair.

When Gigi took a step outside, it flew away. Gigi felt even sadder.

Gigi felt terrified. She had a horrible thought.

Was Elly getting bored of her? Was the pretty lady visiting her less often, and finally, going away for two weeks, because she didn't want to be with Gigi anymore? Her words just flimsy lies?

When she compared the situation with her father, Gigi found herself feeling worse and worse. Her father was somewhere, she didn't know where, and he was so busy that he couldn't visit her nor even reply to her. And now, Elly was gone because she was busy, and she didn't know where she was, and Elly can't come back. And she can't reply to her mails, because Gigi didn't know how to send mails to Elly, and the mailman still never came back to her house.

She didn't want that, she didn't want Elly to be bored of her.

Evidently, just keeping her house clean and being a good girl wasn't enough. So Gigi decided she should do even more!

The girl went to the separate storage unit and began cleaning it too. she rearranged the books there, she got rid of the spiderwebs around, she washed every nook and cranny, every crook and nanny.

When she saw a strange piece of cloth wrapping something up, the girl decided to untie it and gasped. They were the broken pieces of the ornament she had broken!

"Gigi remembers this!" she said to herself. Elly must've collected the pieces and wrapped them up for her. She was so nice!

Gigi missed Elly even more now. But for the moment, she knew what she had to do! Taking the wrapped pieces, Gigi ran back to her main house and into her room.

She set it down on the floor and took a good look at each broken shard. The girl had to fix this! So she then ran to her father's bedroom and rummaged through his drawers. Finding a tube of glue, the girl nodded and scurried back to her room and begin aligning the pieces together. It took quite a long time, and Gigi took a lot of breaks to get water to drink and snacks to munch on.

Eventually, she finished, and smiled. The cat ornament had been fixed!

Mimicking the action of wiping sweat away, Gigi proudly crossed her arms.

"Nothing can stop Gigi from fixing everything!" she declared. But with no one to clap for her, or to praise her, it felt stupid. So, she stopped.

Then Gigi took a good look at the ornament. Something about it began to feel off again.

This was a normal, black cat ornament, wasn't it? Why did it feel so weird?

Gigi put her hands together. It looked too normal, that's why! She grinned and went to her own mini drawer, pulling out some painting tools. This is how she was going to fix the problem - she was going to turn the black cat into a colorful cat!

She started scribbling out ideas on a sheet of paper. Then she applied them to the ornament. At first, it was simple things, simple things that she later scrubbed off because she didn't feel quite satisfied.

Gradually, the cat became an amalgamation of different color patterns. She stuck a small handmade ball of fuzz onto its tail end as well, and because she didn't know how to make the fuzz solid, she crumbled a black sheet of paper and glued it around the fuzz. That worked well, probably.

It didn't take her as long as it did to fix the ornament, but soon, Mr. Cat was looking so much cooler now. Gigi grinned and jumped for joy, yelling happily to herself. She did it!

Gigi was a genius! She could do anything, she can fix anything! This was Gigi's time to shine!

And still, no one was around for her. Apparently, it wasn't enough.

She began to go further. She started painting over the furniture in her property. She made the dull residence colorful again. She breathed life into it, she brought joy into her home. She turned it from a place of boredom into a place of fun. Gigi was revolutionizing the world, she was changing her home into a paradise.

When her father hears wind of this, he would have no choice but to return. Or the people at his job would have no choice but to let him return.

And Elly, Elly would absolutely go crazy and hug her so much, she bet! Elly would definitely tell her what a great girl she'd been, that she was an amazing painter!

They had to see how lonely she had been, and how much better she had become. After all, that's what she wanted them to see.

But that still wasn't enough. All she did was change her house, the looks of her house. She hadn't changed everything she could yet.

What else could she change, though? Gigi took a few minutes to think, and then she realized.

It was her! She hadn't changed herself yet.

So Gigi began changing herself. She modeled after the ornament she fixed, and began to weave herself a coat. She painted the coat in bright colors, in fun energetic shades.

Then she found herself some ribbons and wrapped them around her ponytails. She used beautiful colors that made her shine.

No, it still wasn't enough. She still didn't look perfect. She had to do better.

Gigi rummaged through her mother's room, and found a sewing kit. She found some buttons.

So she scribbled what she wanted to do with them. She thought about adding them to the ornament, but she couldn't quite get the sewing needle to poke through the artifact. Instead, she opted to paint some more things onto the colorful Mr. Cat, some flowers, some buttons, some ribbon illustrations.

Then she started sewing them into her. She got some flowers and sewed them into her, and then she sewed the buttons into her, and then she wrapped some more ribbons loosely around her pigtails.

It hurt a bit, but Gigi ignored the pain and kept going on. Spilling paint wasn't that bad, she just has to clean them up afterwards.

Soon, her arms, her legs, her neck, they were full of cute buttons and flowers and candy-themed rubber badges.

Yet. It still wasn't enough. It was never enough. She still hasn't done the best she could yet.

The girl has not impressed herself enough, and she has not impressed Mr. Cat enough yet.

She found some clay and began sculpting a small round ball. She painted a cross onto it, a very cool and colorful cross.

Within a few minutes, it was done! It was a fake eye, one that would prove to the world just how much she's grown. It looked so cool!

Gigi promptly painted a large cross onto Mr. Cat, where its left eye would've been, to her right.

The girl would afterwards try to replace one of her eyes with her new craft. It was just another step towards becoming an adult. And so she did just that.

Oops! She squeezed the old eye a bit too hard. Now her hand was dirty, all the red paint dripping onto the floor. Silly Gigi!

...it wasn't enough. Why wasn't it enough? She still needed to change herself more. Why hasn't she become the bestest of best girls yet?

The beating in her heart, it was annoying. It was making her entire body hurt, and it felt like it was trying to stop her.

That. That! That was it, that was the answer!

The heart, she had to change her heart. If she didn't, she wouldn't have changed at all.

So Gigi crafted parts for her new heart. She crafted different parts, painted them differently, and put them together. Then she added bits of those patterns onto Mr. Cat again.

It hurt a bit to rip her own heart out, but she didn't need it. If it wasn't going to change with her, then it should just go away.

The girl tossed her old heart aside, not even caring as it splattered against the walls of her room.

She shoved her own creations into her. She roughly implemented her new heart into her own body.

And after an eternity, it began to beat. It began to pulse with joy, with marvel, and Gigi herself felt happy too.

With her job finished, Gigi cheered. Oh, wait, Gigi! She wasn't done! She still had to clean up.

She'd spilled a lot of red paint. Her father would be so upset at her.

So Gigi did just that, she cleaned everything up.

The ornament seemed unhappy. It seemed to want more. More of what? Gigi didn't know.

But that didn't matter. Gigi had something to do. The house was now full of colors and wonders, and Gigi herself was a bundle of fun.

Problem was, there was no one else in the house. And that wasn't good, because fun is meant to be shared.

So Gigi began digging dirt out from her garden. In accordance with her colorful Mr. Cat, she dug out enough to maybe make a mountain, or so she thought.

She left the stone slabs alone though. They had her mother's and grandfather's name, and she didn't want to accidentally destroy whatever it is they did to keep her safe.

It was, like, probably some sort of magic barrier or something, that her mother and grandfather created in their sleep. Probably.

Gigi eventually had enough dirt. She started shaping them into her new friends.

She made dirt dolls, and she made more dirt dolls. And they began moving, and she had never felt happier than now.

The girl spent the remainder of her day designing more of her fancy cloak, and colleting flowers and ribbons and buttons, and sewing them onto her new friends.

Gigi had made Gigi, and Gigi had made many Gigi. Now, Gigi didn't have to be lonely anymore - because Gigi was surrounded by Gigi's!

With another proud cheer, she began dancing around the house with her many Gigi's.

Her house was now a paradise, a paradise of Gigi's!

A Gigi Paradise!

Daddy, when will you come home? Gigi can't wait to show you all her new friends!

Elly, come back soon! Gigi wants to show you all the new Gigi's, they want hugs!

Someone pushed the door open.

Her house has been invaded. Who barged into her house?

Elly? ...had it been two weeks already? Gigi felt her heart fill with warmth, a weird, unsatisfying warmth.

The strange lady had returned. That means she didn't have to do her job anymore? She was back to see Gigi!

Ecstatic, Gigi navigated her chessboard labyrinth and made her way to the entrance, arms spread open. "Elly!" she greeted. "Elly, you're back! Gigi missed you so much!"

Elly didn't look happy. She looked surprised, she looked around, and then she looked at her. "G... Gigi...?" the pretty lady whispered. "You're... you... Gigi?"

"That's right! It's Gigi!" the girl chimed, as happy as Elly probably was. "Gigi has changed a lot and grown even more! Are you surprised?"

"...y... yeah..." Elly said. She didn't say anything else, and just continued to look at her, her body shaking very slightly.

Gigi noticed, this time. Something was weird about Elly. "Is... are you okay? Elly?"

As if she didn't hear her, Elly stood there watching her, and her eyes began to leak.

"Wah! Elly! Are you crying!?" Gigi shrieked. "Don't cry! Did, did you miss Gigi too? Don't cry, Gigi is here now!" the girl said and jumped around the lady, her scarlet hair as stiff as the lady herself.

"I'm... I'm so sorry, Gigi, I didn't... I should've..."

The girl shook her head and hugged her. She missed this, she missed Elly, she missed her so much, she wanted to feel her arms around her so much.

...something wasn't right. Gigi continued hugging Elly, as the pretty lady sobbed. Something wasn't right, something was wrong, something felt wrong.

She could feel the lady, she could feel the hug she was giving the lady. She could feel the warmth. But something was just... off. Something wasn't right.

Gigi blinked. Why did it feel so weird? Elly's hugs were always nice, had always been nice, to feel. Why did it feel wrong now?

Oh, wait. Silly Gigi! Elly was crying. She was feeling really sad. Elly always had a smile of sorts whenever she hugged her, but now, she didn't.

That had to be fixed! And who else to fix that than Gigi the miracle worker!

So Gigi broke off and grinned. "Elly, Elly! Gigi wants to introduce you to her new friends!"

Subduing her tears, Elly looked at her weakly. "Your... friends...?" she whispered.

"Yeah, that's right! Meet Gigi's new friends!" Gigi said and turned around, waving her arms.

It was at this moment, while she didn't see it herself, Elly had become completely wordless, finally taking in the new interior of the mansion. From the depths of darkness that spread everywhere, no walls in sight, no stairs in sight, just chessboard floors and giant colorful trees, and beautiful excavation machines... silhouettes approached. Figure, after figure, after figure, after figure, began to walk out from nothingness towards them.

Gigi glanced at Elly - she seemed super surprised! She turned back to her friends. "These are Gigi's new friends! They're all Gigi!" she explained.

"Hi Elly!" one Gigi said.

"Elly! Hello!" another Gigi said.

"It's Elly! Yeah!" a third Gigi said.

"Elly, hi!" And another.

And another one, and another one, and another one, and another one, and it just kept going on and on.

Elly seemed so happy, so surprised, her skin began to lose color. She paled.

Gigi saw this giggled, and the other Gigi's giggled along. "Elly, you're becoming white! That's so cool! Did you like the surprise that much?"

Another Gigi suddenly said something about how they were the best at giving surprise presents, and all the Gigi's erupted into cheers and discussion about how Gigi was the greatest.

Proud of herself, Gigi was about to join in, until she felt Elly lightly grab her by her jacket sleeve. "Elly?" she whispered.

"Gigi... what..." Elly's voice was shaky. "How did you... what... what did you do?"

Was she happy? Was she excited? For once, Gigi didn't feel like she could tell. But then it had to be curiosity, right? It couldn't be anything else.

Gigi smiled. "Gigi dug a lot of dirt!" she said.

"Dirt...?"

She nodded. "Yup! Mr. Cat said Gigi should do that. He wanted to help Gigi make more friends, so Gigi did!"

"M... Mister... Cat...?" Elly somehow became even whiter. That was so cool, she'd have to get her to teach Gigi later! "Gigi... did, did you..."

Gigi grinned and took out her colorful Mr. Cat ornament. "This is Mr. Cat! He's been with Gigi for a long time now, he makes sure Gigi isn't lonely!"

Elly stared at the ornament. It must be all the decorations she did, there were lots.

Oh, that reminded her! Gigi smiled brightly and set the artifact down. "Mr. Cat also helped Gigi with changing herself!" She pulled her sleeve back and pointed to each flower and button and rubber badges she had sown onto her arms. "Look! Mr. Cat helped me with these. I became pretty, Elly, just like you! See?"

She couldn't tell what face Elly was making. It looked like shock, and to be shocked at that, it had to be a good kind of surprise. Something kept telling her she was wrong, but Mr. Cat said it was fine, so Gigi ignored the weird feeling.

And, Elly was still crying. But she thinks it's getting better, because Elly wasn't letting out wails, she was just staring, quietly, tears dropping, shocked.

"Gigi... you... you need to..."

"And that's not all!" Gigi interrupted. She stepped closer and pointed to her eye, her fake eye. "Look at this! Isn't this cool!? Gigi now has the coolest eye ever, thanks to Mr. Cat! He helped Gigi with this too!"

It almost felt like Elly wasn't even breathing, and she would've thought that was another new magic she had learnt, if it weren't for the fact that she could hear her shuddering.

"And, and, take a look at the best thing ever that Mr. Cat taught!" Gigi lifted her jacket, her shirt, and proudly showed the new heart she had embedded into herself. She heard a gasp from Elly and knew she had completely took her by surprise. This must be the best surprise anyone had ever received in this world, Gigi was so glad that she was such a genius! It was thanks to Mr. Cat too! "Isn't this amazing? Gigi now has a pretty heart!"

Then she bent back down to pick up Mr. Cat and put him away in her jacket pouch.

"Come on, Elly, let's go play! I missed you so much, we need to play lots and lots!" she said.

The other Gigi's came over to them and laughed. "Yeah! Let's play, Elly!" they all chimed.

Elly did not let go of her sleeve. She quietly pulled Gigi over to herself, and gently caressed her cheek.

"...Elly?" Gigi whispered. Again, it felt like something was wrong. Elly was still shaking, and...

Huh. That was weird. Somehow, she felt like she knew what Elly was feeling.

"...Elly? Are you... scared? And... angry?" she whispered.

The pretty lady jolted. Just as, Mr. Cat's voice echoed in her head. The woman was not feeling any of that. The woman was excited.

Gigi felt weird. She felt like that wasn't right, though. "...Elly?"

Elly stared at her, then smiled weakly. "...Gigi... may I... may I have... Mr. Cat?" she whispered.

Oh, so that's what she wanted! Gigi smiled and prepared to nod, and took Mr. Cat out in her hands, but something stopped her.

Mr. Cat was telling her not to do that. He was telling her that Elly was dangerous.

"Please, Gigi... I want to take a look at Mr. Cat," Elly whispered.

She was going to destroy Mr. Cat, or so he said. Gigi didn't think she would do that, but it sounded like Mr. Cat really didn't want to be given to her best friend.

So she stared at the pretty lady. "...w... what for?" she asked.

Elly paused. Seems like she didn't expect her to just not do as she said. That's what Mr. Cat described it, at least, that Elly had only thought of Gigi as someone who would do everything she told her to do.

But that couldn't be it, right? Elly wasn't mean like that. Elly was always gentle with her and helped her stay clean, helped her stay a nice girl.

"...Gigi. Mr. Cat is... no, I have to tell you the truth," Elly whispered. The truth? What truth? "Gigi. That artifact... is... is cursed. That artifact is cursed, and it is taking over you. I... I have to destroy it, otherwise, you'll be in danger."

The girl stared at the lady. What was she saying? "...why do you need to destroy Mr. Cat?"

Elly frowned. "Gigi... your body... look at what it's done to you. You're not supposed to... the artifact is gradually eroding at your mind. You're in danger!" Her voice was getting more frantic. "Please, listen to me, Gigi. I want to save you, I'm here to protect you. I promised you, that I would keep you safe." She reached for her again. "Please. Let me save you, Gigi..."

But Mr. Cat was getting angry. Mr. Cat was not liking Elly at all, and Gigi wondered if it was a mistake to try and introduce the two to each other.

She told Mr. Cat that it was okay, though. Elly was a nice lady, she wasn't mean like Mr. Cat was saying!

Still, Mr. Cat didn't believe her. He said all sorts of things, he said Elly was using her all along. He said that Elly had only came to the mansion at first because she wanted to find him and destroy him. Mr. Cat said, that Elly didn't actually have anything important before she left Gigi for two weeks. Mr. Cat said that Elly just wanted to get away from her so she could plan how to destroy him.

In fact... Mr. Cat said that Elly was a liar. A bad person.

Just like the man who pretended to be her father.

Just like... the man who pretended to be... her father.

Gigi took a step back. Elly stiffened, shocked, hurt.

Elly took a step forward, and Gigi took another step back.

"...Elly, are you... lying?" Gigi asked, a quiet whisper. She had to confirm, this, she had to hear it from the lady she admired.

"...Gigi...?" Elly rasped. "...I'm... I'm not lying, Gigi. I, everything I said... it, it's true, Gigi. I'm not lying." Her expression became that of... horror? That was what it was. "Gigi. Are you... talking to Mr. Cat?"

Another step back. "Mr. Cat says you're a liar... Elly, you're not a liar... right?" she asked, hopeful.

Hopeful, but still stepping away from the lady, who seemed as if her heart kept breaking further and further.

"Gigi... I'm not lying. I'm not lying, I promise." Elly took another step forward. "Don't... don't listen to the artifact, Gigi. Don't listen to-"

Mr. Cat suddenly vibrated in her hands, and her head began ringing. Gigi turned around and ran behind the crowd of other Gigi's.

"Gigi! Play with Elly!" she yelled, and all the Gigi cheered and began dancing around, obstructing the nice lady.

"G-Gigi! Wait!" Elly cried, but was pushed around here and there. She panicked, losing sight of Gigi, and soon, was surrounded by nothing but Gigi's causing a fuss everywhere.

It was impossible to tell which Gigi was real and which was fake, even though there should only be one. And Elly didn't seem to want too hurt any of the Gigi's.

Gigi felt her heart warm for a split second, watching from afar, but immediately wiped it off and glared at the lady she admired.

Eventually Elly spotted her and tried to make way towards her, but with all the Gigi's around, it seemed impossible for the pretty lady to go through her Gigi's.

"Gigi! Please! Listen to me!" Elly called. "You have to get rid of the artifact!"

"Elly... why are you lying!?" Gigi cried back. "Mr. Cat says you're lying! Why are you lying to Gigi!?"

She shook her head. "I'm not lying! I'm not lying, Gigi, I'm here to help you! Please!"

"Then why did you go away for so long!?" Gigi yelled. "Gigi wanted to see you again! Gigi waited on and on, Gigi waited for so long, Gigi had no one to be with her!"

Elly choked. "Gigi, please! I don't want you to get hurt by-"

"Gigi tried cooking!" she continued. "Gigi tried origami! Gigi tried painting! Gigi tried washing clothes! Gigi tried everything and everything! And you weren't here for her!"

"Please, Gigi, listen to me! I just want to help you-"

"Mr. Cat tells Gigi everything!" Gigi said and scowled. "You never cared for Gigi! You were only here to use Gigi! To find Mr. Cat and hurt Mr. Cat! Gigi was never in your eyes!"

"That's wrong! Gigi! Please!" Elly was crying, she was crying hard.

It hurt her heart so much, to see Elly cry, but she was angry. Mr. Cat told her everything, so she knew Elly was lying to her. She opened her mouth again-

"I love you, Gigi! I really do!" Elly said, causing her to freeze up. "I really do love you, Gigi! I want to protect you and keep you safe, I promise you! I made a promise to you, and I'm back to be with you again! I never meant to make you feel so lonely, I'm so sorry! But please! I care for you! Please let me save you, Gigi! Please forgive me!" she said. "You're like a daughter to me, so please, Gigi... please let me be with you again!"

Elly cared for her. There was no doubt anymore, Elly wasn't a liar! Mr. Cat was wrong!

Gigi, hot tears streaming down her cheeks, broke into a smile. "Elly... Elly!" she called.

The other Gigi's didn't stop, but they weren't quite as rough anymore. Her heart about to shatter, Elly quickly ran over towards her.

That was when something weird happened.

Gigi could've sworn, she saw something grow from the floor. Was that Mr. Cat?

That couldn't be. Mr. Cat was in her hands. Elly was still running, and she did not see the weird lump. That couldn't be Mr. Cat.

She was still holding onto Mr. Cat. She could easily prove that just by looking do-

Elly's hand smacked into her face as she tripped. The pretty lady landed on her face and quickly pushed herself up on arms, while Gigi felt herself get knocked back violently. She found herself sprawling across the floor, and all the Gigi's came to a stop to stare at them.

Gigi felt her head bang against the floor, she felt like her head was going to break.

A gasp came from Elly's direction. Elly, who had just hit her. Whatever Gigi had been thinking of just now, it didn't matter anymore.

Elly had just hit her. Gigi weakly got up, unsure of what to even say.

Why did Elly do that? She had just... she thought they were about to become friends again. She was going to say sorry to Elly and hug her, and she was going to make up her mind and leave the mansion with her.

She was going to ask Elly to be her new mother, and she was going to have Elly teach her how to use a real sword. She wanted to be with Elly again, she wanted to be a family with Elly again.

No one had made her feel as loved as she did when she was with Elly. So why did Elly just hit her?

...Mr. Cat was right. Mr. Cat was right, Elly was a liar. She tricked her just now, she tricked her into thinking she cared, and then she took the chance to try to attack her and Mr. Cat.

Gigi's heart was still intact. She could feel it beating, really fast. But it also felt like her heart had shattered into a million pieces.

Elli had her mouth hung open, in shock, in horror. "I'm... I'm. I'm so sorry, Gigi, I didn't, that was, I didn't mean to-"

"You hit Gigi," she interrupted with a whisper. Gigi held her cheek, which felt so dry, it felt like she was cracking, which was a weird feeling.

She could still feel Elly's hand smacking into her. It was warm, it was hot, but it wasn't the loving kind of heat, it was... painful. Hurtful.

The lady shook her head. "No, no, Gigi, I didn't mean to, I swear! That was... I, that was an accident! Please listen to me!"

But Gigi did not respond. And Elly did not say anything, hoping she believed her. But Gigi didn't know anymore. How could she trust her now?

After a few seconds, Elly extended her hand shakily. "Gi... Gigi... come with me." The lady looked so sad. "Come with me, Gigi. I promise, I will take care of you. I won't let anyone hurt you."

And, her voice, while wavering, was just as it had always been. It was warm, full of love, of care. But Gigi didn't like the expression on her face.

Elly was smiling so sadly, and she could tell. Elly was not having fun. She was not enjoying the paradise she had built, she was not enjoying the new friends she made.

Her precious Elly, the kind, beautiful lady Elly, was no more. She was no longer a nice lady. She was a bad lady, a bad person.

Mr. Cat told her that Elly had never cared for her, and somehow, that made sense. Elly was just like the bad man pretending to be her father.

Elly was a liar who didn't deserve Gigi. And Gigi didn't want to go with such a bad person.

Thus the girl turned around and began running. She ran away, far away, tossing object after object behind her, as Elly faltered only for a split second, and began to run after her

"Gigi, please! Listen to me!" she yelled. And she reached for Gigi, to capture her, to take advantage of her.

But she wouldn't let that happen. "Gigi won't listen!" she yelled back. The hallways shrunk, and the lights blared with bright colors. "You're a liar!"

Her dolls stopped for a short moment and began to run towards the lady. The invader. The one who barged into her mansion, uninvited.

"I am not here to hurt you! Please, I care about you!" Elizabeth kept saying. But she was a liar, she was a bad person.

"Gigi will not listen!" she replied. Because she had to, because the lady should start listening to her.

She had no plan to go anywhere, she was going to stay here, forever. She was going to keep waiting.

Her father, her real father, will return one day. And her real mother, and her real grandfather.

Elly pushed past the dolls, and it made her angry, it made her angry seeing some of them fall apart.

She turned corners, she jumped over fallen pillars, she threw toys after toys behind her.

And yet, Elly kept running, she kept drawing closer. She wasn't slowing down.

"Gigi does not like you! Gigi wants you to go away!" the girl hissed.

She came to a split path. The shock was enough for her to lose her momentum, and upon realizing she had no time for this, the girl began running to her right, but it was too late.

The lady grabbed her by her tail and pulled her close. Then she grabbed her arm, but she was not going to give up.

Gigi pushed forward, taking a step ahead. And another. "Nggghhhh! Let go of Gigi!"

"Gigi, listen to me, please! Give me a chance," the lady pleaded. "I can help you, I can-"

"You're a liar!" she hissed. "You're a bad lady, you're a bad person! Gigi does not trust you!"

crack

"I didn't mean to hit you, Gigi, but you have to listen to me! Right now it's dangerous to-"

"This is Gigi's house! You're nothing but a bad lady trying to steal everything from Gigi! To take Gigi away from everything!"

CRACK

Elly looked so hurt, so worried. It almost made Gigi want to stop.

But Mr. Cat said she shouldn't. Mr. Cat said the lady was spilling fake tears.

She is a bad person. And bad people don't cry, they only pretend.

"Please, Gigi, I want to help you! I care about-"

"Gigi would rather die! Let go of Gigi right now or Gigi will make you wish you did!"

C R A C K

"Gigi! Please! I'm begging you, please... I love you, Gigi, don't do this!"

"Shut up! Shut up! Shut! Up! Gigi doesn't care! Gigi wants you gone! Gigi hates you and-"

!!!

She froze. Everything disappeared. Her magical hallways, her dancing Gigi's, her miniature house sets and toy tanks, they all evaporated into nothing.

Gigi felt it all. Her body split into half, a disgusting tear shooting along her torso. She felt something, but, she didn't feel anything. In fact, she wasn't even... there.

The pained howls from Mr. Cat as he shattered against the floor, it faded into nothingness, because Mr. Cat had always just been a normal piece of crafts.

Where was she? Actually, who was she? What was she? Gigi is Gigi. Wasn't that obvious?

But... who was Gigi? Who... is Gigi? I mean, Gigi wasn't real.

Gigi was just that, just a Gigi.

Huh? That's weird. Gigi was Gigi, wasn't she?

She had her father, the best father in the world.

She had her mother, the best mother in the world.

She had her grandfather, the best grandfather in the world.

Gigi was Gigi, that was obvious, wasn't it? She was Gigi.

But Gigi didn't have a father. Her father never came back, her father didn't want her.

No, that wasn't her father. That wasn't Gigi's father. Gigi's father would never do that.

And her mother was still sleeping, never waking up, in the basement, wasn't she?

Her grandfather too, he just wouldn't wake up. Were they even real?

Of course they were. They were Gigi's family, and Gigi's family is real!

What even was a Gigi?

Elizabeth stared, her eyes wide with disbelief, with horror.

The soft arm that she had still been holding on, the arm that had torn away from a girl's body, became nothing more than skin-colored pottery.

She let go of it unconsciously, and the fell to the ground, shattering into smaller pieces.

Her breath hitched.

"Gi... Gigi...?"

Chapter Text

Fun trees withered away and fell on its side, house decorations shredded into the air.

A large mirror stood tall, next to the lady, embedding a corner straight into the ground.

Ah. There she goes. Her body crumbled into pieces, staining the checker-patterned floors with dust. All the tears and joy she'd put into changing herself, spilled away like water.

Gigi watched from within the mirror, as Elizabeth slowly stepped to her remains, her hands shaking. She watched as the scarlet haired lady fell to her knees and quietly picked up the pieces of her shattered body.

The angry scowl she had worn before her fall, became a bright eerie smile, permanently split in multiple fragments by the impact.

She couldn't hear anything. Gigi couldn't hear anything, she could only watch as Elizabeth cried.

Her mouth hung open, tears flooding the floor, but Gigi couldn't tell whether the strange lady was actually grieving or just putting up a silent facade.

But it made her feel so sad, it made her heart hurt inside, to simply even see Elizabeth hold onto the pieces of her body like that.

Mr. Cat didn't even say anything anymore. It was as if he had completely disappeared, leaving just a girl, a girl who had been a fool.

A girl who didn't deserve anything.

Gigi shut her eyes and looked away. She didn't want to see her Elly like this, she wanted it all to stop.

But there was nothing else she could do anyways. So the girl watched again, she watched the lady who cared for her, even in spite of what she did to her.

She watched as Elizabeth desperately held onto her fractured body, crying along, no one to comfort her.

In the end, the real bad girl was Gigi. She didn't believe in her father, and she didn't believe in Elly.

Gigi knew, no, Gigi now understood, that there was no one more in the wrong than her right now.

She already knew, that the only one to blame here was her. Elizabeth didn't deserve being hurt like this.

And her father didn't deserve to be hurt the way she hurt him. And that other woman that was with him.

The girl felt bad. She felt so bad, and there was nothing she could do.

She wished, she wished so badly, that she'd be able to go help her favorite lady.

But there was nothing to do. Elizabeth was left alone to cry until the end of time.

A presence made itself known next to her. Gigi turned to her right to see a hand stretch out.

The entity looked her in the eye, its blank sockets waiting with curiosity, its face a never-ending scribble of black crayon.

She stared at its outstretched arm, wrapped in a shred of white clothe - like that of her father's shirt - and adorning what seemed like actual human skin.

Yet, that was the only human-like trait the creature possessed. The rest of it continued to wait for her to take its hand, like a devil awaiting its soon-to-be victim.

Gigi smiled and shook her head. "No. Gigi will stay here and watch over Elly."

It tilted its head in confusion, then retracted its arm. And then, two more entities formed behind it.

The three collectively took on the appearance of those she recognized. It was her father, her mother, and her grandfather.

Yet, they still had the same scribbles of black across their face, constantly shifting. Their sockets refused to manifest fake eyes to fool her.

It was as if these specters of her sins didn't even want to trick her into anything.

"Lsa jewgmrexmrk. Csy evi e gyvmsyw sri..." her father spoke. She didn't know what it was saying, but it seemed to be observing her with interest.

Gigi turned to the entity and bowed. "I'm sorry. Gigi isn't interested in going with you," she repeated.

The specters laughed among each other. "Vijywep mw rsx er stxmsr. Csyv xmqi mw yt."

She shook her head again. "Gigi wants to stay here, with Elly," she said.

Their limbs stretched towards her once more, and she felt sick. It felt like she was going to be taken away, to never see the light again.

Yet, she stood her ground. Gigi smiled sadly. "Gigi will stay here. Gigi will stay with Elly."

Slender shadowy limbs coiled around her arms, and then her waist, and then her neck.

She felt her energy drain away, her vision weakening. But Gigi continued to stand strong, smiling all the way.

"Gigi... will stay..." she whispered.

It hurt. It began to hurt. Her heart was screaming, it was pulsing with rhythmic pain, her head was threatening to just burst into nothing.

The girl felt tears trickle down her cheeks, but she still refused to yield her soul.

"Wssriv sv pexiv, csy ampp jepp," her not-mother hissed.

"Bknbaep jks wjz ukq sehh xa wp lawya," her not-grandfather demanded.

But Gigi refused. She was not going to give up anymore.

"Gigi... will watch... Elly..."

Everything started hurting. It felt like she was going to explode, or melt, or that she was being frozen.

The girl refused, the girl refused to give up, she stood her ground.

Her nightmares were scowling, laughing in her face, but Gigi knew that if she gave up now, she'd never see Elly ever again.

It hurt. It hurt. It hurt. It hurt, it hurt, it hurt, it hurt, ithurt ithurt ithurt ithurt

ithurt ithurt ithurt ithurt ithurt ithurt ithurt ithurt ithurt ithurt ithurt ithurt ithurt

ithurt ithurt ithurt ithurtithurt ithurtithurt ithurtithurt ithurt ithurt ithurt ithurts-

"Begone."

The specters were gone.

Gigi was still here, somehow.

She looked up and saw a behemoth of darkness stare down at her.

"Your soul shall not be taken," it spoke, a calm and collected voice of amalgamated corruption.

"...who... who are you?" she asked the entity that had saved her.

"Who I am is irrelevant. You are not to be taken today."

With a courteous bow, Gigi smiled. "Thank you. For saving Gigi." She looked around, just to make sure the specters weren't hiding anywhere. "Can you tell Gigi what those ghosts were?"

It didn't seem like it was up for conversation, but the behemoth nodded very slightly, nevertheless.

"Those are beings of anomalous nature. They seek out true anomalies, in order to devour them and absorb the only compatible power of strengthening them."

Gigi blinked a few times. "Why did they want Gigi?"

The behemoth stared at her, and then pointed directly at her. "Because you are a true anomaly."

"Is Gigi the same as those scary ghosts?"

It shook its head. "You are a more powerful lifeform than them. You are a true anomaly, in the purest sense."

Looking over to the mirror's surface, Gigi followed its gaze and was reshown Elizabeth's distraught but muted cries.

"The artifact that had possessed you was born of your father's hatred and a dangerous mixture of various elements. The desire to commit immorality, the willingness to abandon one's own blood, the contingency plan to subdue your mortality should you discover them, the lingering hatred and desire for revenge from your mother's and grandfather's souls, the sin of superbiam your father exhibited in all his acts and planning... the accumulation of these combined into a cursed artifact, taking shelter in the ornament crafted by your hands."

Gigi immediately knew that the creature was referring to Mr. Cat. It was the object that led her to many decisions she made, after all, and Elly said it had been dangerous.

"Before you fixed its vessel, the manifestation of its newborn soul took the opportunity to consume the lingering essence of your mother and your grandfather. It also consumed the soul of your father, who had been haunting you since your dispatch of his mortality. As the source of the hatred, which is one of the elements that makes up the curse's existence, it obtained great power and changed its target to you, and you gradually fell under its control as you added to its vessel."

It must be talking about the things she did to her own body. Gigi thought it was pretty cute, but thinking back to it, the girl knew she probably wouldn't have ever wanted to do something that hurt herself like that. The feeling of pushing sewing needles into herself to stick flowers and buttons onto her was... still fresh on her senses, and it made her feel sick.

"The reason you have become an anomaly is because you are not meant to exist anymore." The behemoth looked to the mirror. "Once the artifact's vessel broke, it had nowhere to go. By that point, your vessel was their vessel. The ornament itself had long become no more than a mere piece of art, because it sought to take over your body as its main core." With a shake of its head, it turned back to Gigi. "With your vessel gone, your soul has nowhere to return to. But you did not die, and you cannot go back to being alive without a proper vessel. Therefore, you are an anomaly that should not exist."

"...can Gigi make a new body?" she asked, after a while. "Can Gigi... make a new body, and go back into it?" She wanted to go to Elizabeth.

"Your current state can be reversed. Following the removal of your anomalous state, you can then return to the realm of the living through this mirror." The behemoth leaned down, bringing its gigantic face of dark energy near the girl's, who remained unfazed. "However, you will need to offer compensation if you wish for my assistance to do so. Otherwise, the connection will refuse your entry."

She didn't understand the exacts of what it was saying, but essentially, she had to sacrifice something for the massive creature to help her get through?

Gigi looked at Elizabeth through the mirror again. She was lying on her side, hugging the girl's clay remains, sobbing, unmoving, completely having lost her will to go on.

She didn't like seeing that at all. So Gigi nodded. "What should Gigi give you?"

The entity reeled back. "The only logical option is the confiscation of your memories," it said, and her breath hitched. "By your anomalous state, you are meant to be deceased. However, you are not, simply because you are no longer you, but a mere vessel for a cursed artifact that is long gone." It pointed to her. "Should you offer your soul to me, you will properly become dead. However, I believe that is not to your desired outcome."

Gigi shook her head. "Gigi wants to go back to Elly," she said. "Gigi wants to help Elly."

"Then, you shall offer all of your memories. In forfeiting all that you have built up, you are essentially offering the entirety of what your life has experienced - by the technicality that you have given up your entire lifetime's worth, you become properly deceased only in aspect, which is enough to satisfy the nature of your anomalous status and undo it. However..."

She smiled. "All my memories... Gigi will forget everything?" the girl asked. "Elly... will Gigi forget Elly too?"

The creature did not move.

"...Gigi isn't so sure she's ready for that," she said. "But... if that is the best way for Gigi to go to Elly again, she will do it."

Observing her quietly, the behemoth of shadows leaned towards her again. "Most fascinating. Do you not wish to properly reunite with the one you hold dear?"

Gigi stared. "Gigi does. I want to be with Elly again, and help her."

"Yet you are willing to throw away your memories. You will only view her as a stranger," the entity pointed out.

She chuckled. "That's alright. Gigi knows that Elly is the kindest and most beautiful lady around." She looked to Elizabeth and felt her heart warm up. "She knows, that Elly will be able to become friends with Gigi again. I don't need to remember anything. Gigi is sure that she will see Elly for who she is, for being the best mother she could ever ask for, and she will go with Elly. After all," she paused and grinned, flashing a peace sign to the creature that most likely didn't care for such trivial actions, "Gigi is Elly's daughter, and Gigi is her very good girl!"

It was fascinated by her, it felt like the entity took interest in her briefly.

After a few seconds, it put a finger to her forehead. "Very well. Your memories shall be taken in its entirety. I shall construct a new vessel for you."

"Alright. Thanks, ghost that I don't know." A strange sensation charged up in the wispy finger on her head.

Gigi braced herself for whatever was going to happen. She heard the behemoth chuckle.

"We shall meet again once your destiny properly reaches its end."

Grateful, the girl nodded as her vision began to go white. "Can Gigi know your name?"

The entity seemed to smile, even though she couldn't even tell.

"You may call me Death."

Her eyes opened slowly. The girl found herself lying down on her back, head rested atop soft knees.

She saw the face of a pretty lady, with long scarlet hair, and eyes overflowing with tears.

"Gigi!" the strange lady cried. "Gigi! You're awake... oh, I'm so glad... I'm so sorry, Gigi... I'm so sorry..."

Without a word, she was hugged tightly by the lady, who was shaking, who seemed to be hurt.

So her own name was Gigi. That was a weird name, she thought, but she supposed this person would know who she was, since the girl herself didn't have any clue.

"...pretty lady, why are you crying?" the girl asked, curious. "Are you hurt?"

"I'm so sorry, Gigi... I... I never meant to hurt you..." the pretty lady sobbed. "I'm the one who hurt you... and then you broke... and then I didn't know what to do... I'm so sorry... I'm so sorry, Gigi..."

Gigi didn't have enough context to understand what she was talking about, but supposedly, something happened. By accident, it seemed like. That solved itself pretty nicely, so the girl returned the hug and caressed the crying lady's hair.

"It's okay. Gigi forgives you," she said, even if she didn't know what for, just that it was probably the only sentence capable of soothing her mysterious acquaintance.

And that was probably important, she thought. She quite liked the warm feeling she felt from the lady's embrace. It wasn't exactly clear what their relationship was, to her.

But she felt like the lady was important to her, like she was someone she should know, someone she loved dearly.

So they sat their in silence, the lady's sobs and hiccups lightly piercing the quiet they had.

Perhaps they hugged each other for minutes, perhaps they stayed there for hours.

Gigi didn't know. And, she didn't really care. She liked this. She liked the lady's embrace.

Eventually, she thought it was long enough. They should probably get up and get things sorted out.

She smiled. "Hey. Can you... tell Gigi your full name again?" she asked - she must've known before she lost her memories, so.

And the lady continued to hug her, unmoving. But she could feel her relax more. "...Elizabeth. My name is... Elizabeth Rose Bloodflame," the lady whispered. "But... you can keep calling Elly like always, Gigi. I..."

"Elly. Elly..." she smiled more. "You have a really nice name, Elly. Have I told you that before?" Not that she would know.

But she heard Elizabeth chuckle, even while she still hadn't fully stopped crying yet, and it filled her with so much warmth. "Yes... yes, you have..."

Gigi stirred a bit, and Elizabeth pulled back hesitantly. "We should get up, Elly! Sitting here and hugging all day sounds a bit boring, but Gigi does like hugging you!"

Her friendly lady's face flushed a bit, but she nodded. "O, okay... I'm sorry again, Gigi."

She grinned. "It's okay! Gigi forgives you!"

Gigi doesn't know whether Elizabeth had been aware, that she didn't remember anything. All the girl knew was that the pretty lady was someone who was really important to her, and she accidentally hurt her while trying to save her, and then something bad happened. Perhaps she had gotten injured a bit badly, and that was why Elizabeth was so distraught.

She had no idea. She had no idea, but if she said that, something told her Elizabeth would cry again, and would continue to blame herself.

So Gigi made sure to do her best and pretend she was still the same Gigi that the pretty lady had always known.

(It surprisingly wasn't as hard as she thought it'd be, evidently.)

When she had woken up, it was a weird place full of black and white squares and weird colorful objects. But at some point, it became a normal house.

Gigi didn't understand it, but she started wanting to clean the place up. Elizabeth gladly helped her, and the two spent some breaks just playing around.

Elizabeth also told her stories, stories that felt familiar to her, but she didn't remember ever hearing. They were really fascinating.

There was some sort of toy sword made out of cardboard that she eventually found.

Gigi immediately went for it and started pretending to be a miniature Elizabeth, which made the pretty lady really happy.

She couldn't tell why, but her heart warmed even more every time she saw the pretty lady smile.

The lady also taught her some recipes for cooking. And she lied down next to Gigi to doodle on some papers with her.

It was so much fun spending time with Elly! Gigi loved every moment of her new life with her friend.

But then... why does Elizabeth's smile always have a layer of sorrow behind them?

One day, Elizabeth sat her down. "...Gigi. I... I have to go," she whispered, her voice shaking.

Gigi tilted her head. "Where is Elly going?"

The scarlet-haired lady shut her eyes and looked down. "...I've been called back. I... I've been staying here for too long. I have duties that I must see to."

Oh, so even though Elizabeth had always told her that it was okay to be here, she actually had to go back to her work and do things. Gigi felt a bit bad.

So she smiled. "That's alright! Gigi will be okay here, Gigi will wait for you!"

"T-that's not it, Gigi," Elizabeth said. It seemed like she was becoming even more scared now, but of what?

"What is it, Elly?" the girl whispered and went to sit next to the pretty lady. "Gigi's here for you, don't worry!"

The pretty lady breathed in. Her breath hitched. Then she sighed. "...I... I don't want to leave you here, Gigi," she whispered. "I did that so many times... and I did it once for too long... and that was something I shouldn't have done." The girl buried her face into her hands. Her voice was on the verge of breaking into sobs. "Gigi... I don't know what to do... I want to stay with you, Gigi, I really do. But I can't..."

"...Elly can't say no and stay here?" Gigi asked.

She shook her head. "I can't, Gigi... and I just... I can't. I can't. I... I'm really sorry, Gigi. I don't know what to do anymore..."

The pretty lady cried. She didn't like seeing her friend cry. It hurt. It hurt. Why did it hurt?

Gigi watched, unsure of what to do. She looked around to see if there was anything she could go get for Elizabeth to cheer her up, but nothing seemed like it would help.

What was she to do? Elly was hurting, she was crying, she was suffering. What could Gigi do?

So she looked back to the pretty lady and smiled. "...Gigi will go with Elly," she said.

Elizabeth's body froze.

"Then Gigi can stay with Elly, and Elly can still do her job!"

The pretty lady looked slowly to her. "You'd... you want to come with me?" she asked.

Gigi nodded. "Yep! Gigi wants to stay with Elly. If Gigi goes with Elly, Gigi gets to stay with Elly!" She flashed a peace sign, grinning. "That's genius, right? Gigi's a good girl, and a smart girl!"

Elizabeth trembled. Why was she shaking? "But... Gigi... you wanted to stay here and... and wait for your father, didn't you...?" she asked weakly. It felt like she wasn't mentioning everything, like she knew something else and was hiding it to avoid hurting her.

But again, Gigi was lost. Her father... she didn't know who her father was. She couldn't remember, and for as long as she was aware of - which had only been around a week or two since she woke up - she only knew her precious Elly.

He must've been gone, though, as there hadn't even been any phone calls from her father, wherever he was. So she shook her head gently.

"No. Daddy is... daddy probably won't be coming home, Gigi thinks," she said.

Elizabeth choked on her tears. "What... about your mother... and... and your grandfather...?" she struggled to ask, for some reason.

Gigi's stance didn't change though. She didn't know who her mother was, nor who her grandfather was. Where they were, what they were doing, she had no clue.

And, well, when she talks about a mother... Gigi grinned.

"Gigi is sure it will be fine! After all," she said and hugged Elizabeth tightly. "Gigi thinks Elly should be her new mommy!"

The pretty lady seemed so lost at words, unable to even muster up the courage to say anything.

And then she broke into sobs, and returned the hug. Again, she loved the warmth that spread throughout her body. "Gigi... Gigi... I love you, Gigi, thank you..."

"Gigi loves you too, Elly!" the girl replied proudly. "Gigi loves you, because you're her true mommy! No matter what anyone says, Elly is Gigi's bestest of best mommy!"

The crying got louder, but at the very least, Elizabeth seemed okay with taking Gigi with her now.

...huh? That was strange. For some reason, Gigi herself was also leaking tears from her eyes.

Why did that happen? She didn't know. She couldn't understand.

But... well. She felt like a huge burden had been lifted off of her.

This was nice, Gigi thought. This really was nice.

In the end, Gigi decided to take her hand. After all, Elizabeth needed her, she cared for her.

And that was enough to make Gigi happy, and she wanted to make sure her Elly stayed happy too.

She didn't want to see Elizabeth cry again. She didn't want to see her be so hurt again.

So as they finished cleaning the place, and Elizabeth helped her pack her bags, Gigi stopped short in front of the front door and turned around.

Her mansion... her mansion, of which only held her new memories of being a family with Elizabeth.

While she wasn't sure what other things had transpired in this place, the girl was sure it was one of the best places in her life.

But she wanted to move on, and she wanted to go with Elizabeth, to be with her.

Gigi smiled and bowed courteously, thanking her house for all that it's done for her.

"Gigi may or may not come back. But still... Gigi will always love this place," she whispered.

She felt a presence walk back to her from behind, from outside.

"Are you ready to head off, Gigi?" Elizabeth asked.

Turning around to grab the pretty lady's hand, Gigi smiled brightly.

"Yep! Gigi's ready, so let's go!" the girl cheered.

As they departed from the house and walked alongside the road, Gigi began jumping excitedly.

"Hey, Elly! Where are we going? Gigi can't wait to find out!"

Elizabeth chuckled warmly to herself. "First, we'll go back to Great Exardia. I need to talk to the higher-ups, and see if they want me to do anything else."

Gigi pouted. "Better not take up our playtime!" she said, earning another round of sweet chuckles.

"Perhaps, perhaps not. But afterwards... there's this nice place I've been waiting to visit again, called Immerheim."

"Oooh, Immerheim! That sounds so cool! What does it mean?"

"Who knows? But we can go there together and ask around. What do you think?"

She'd never felt happier before. "Gigi will go! Gigi will go wherever Elly goes!"

"Of course! I'd love to go sightseeing with you, Gigi. Thank you."