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…
. . .
. . .
You… you don’t actually know what you’re supposed to do here. You mainly did it to appease the others, as you felt it’d seem odd to be the only one who didn’t make a wish, but you hadn’t the slightest clue what to actually wish for. It’s not as if it’d matter, anyway.
Still.
You sigh, closing your eye as you kneel before the Favor Tree, the grass still a little wet, it feels nice.
There’s... so much you could wish for. Though you truly haven’t known them for that long, it’s hard to think about a life without traveling with them. Bonnie’s fierce attitude and delicious meals, Isabeau’s jokes and his bright smile, Odile’s sharp wit and ~mysterious~ research, and…
…
You stop thinking about it before you let yourself get caught up in thought.
Tracing your gloved fingers through the grass, you pluck a leaf between your fingers as you open your eye. It’s a nice shade and has a sharp point at its end.
‘This one will do’ You think to yourself, now to actually choose your wish.
You want to stay with them, painfully. These past few months, your life has been exciting, fulfilling!.. Fun, how are you supposed to go on without them?
You… You don’t want to do this.
Clasping your hands together almost at the risk of crushing the leaf, you breathe your wish into it, repeat it three times, and then fold the leaf closed to keep it safe.
You gently let the leaf go, and wish as it twirls and dances on the wind before catching a gust as it blows into the canopy above, staring at the spot where you saw it disappear…
You look higher, seeing dark clouds in the distance.
You wonder if it will rain soon. You hope it does, it’d look nice, you think.
Standing up, you wipe the dew from the bottom of your cloak. You have other things to do than to entertain meaningless wishes.
Turning, you make your way back to Dormont, you have a sleepover to attend, after all, and you spent far longer than you had meant just sitting around here.
It was already dark by the time you reached the Clocktower, and only Isa was waiting for you at the door.
“Hey! Sif! Took ya long enough, I was about to come look for you if you didn’t get back soon…”
Right. You spent far longer in silent contemplation back at the tree than you had meant to, long enough that the others decided to start making dinner without you.
“Ah- Sorry, I just got caught up and lost track of time.”
Isa chuckled slightly as he folded his arms, looking at you presumably in search of an answer of which you did not have a good one. You have to think of something quick, and blurt out;
“I was just- Y’know… making a hundred wishes.”
“S-Sif! That’s not how it works! It has to be meaningful, special!”
You wink, only confusing him more.
“A-Anyway… Come in! Bonbon is making samosas and-”
You stopped listening at ‘samosas’ and began making your way into the Clocktower.
The wait for the samosas feels like an eternity, your mouth watering from the smell before the food is all passed out, and you munch down on yours as you watch the others from a distance. You prefer it this way, to be able to sit to the side and watch the others interact, it’s… easier. You glance over at Odile, who appears to have been looking at you at the same time. She keeps your gaze, and then just… smiles? and looks away.
You don’t know what to think about that, and luckily, you don’t have to as Mira speaks up;
“U-Um… everyone?”
Everyone looked to her as she stood, suddenly looking despondent.
“Um… We… We’ve all been traveling together for a while now. It hasn’t always been easy, but meeting you all… Traveling through Vaugarde to get the orbs needed to open the House’s gate again… There’s no way I could’ve done this alone.”
Clasping her hands together, she nervously fidgeted with her fingers as she continued.
“I… I want to say thank you… For coming with me this far! But tomorrow, we’ll go and fight the king… Someone who has thrown Vaugarde into stillness and silence- Someone who has now frozen almost all of Vaugarde in time.”
She looked down, unable to meet everyone’s gaze. You really wish she hadn’t brought this up…
“I-I’ll do my best to make sure this doesn’t happen to any of you, b-but if you don’t want to come, if you want to go back home, I would--”
“Ha, a bit late for that now, isn’t it?” Odile suddenly says, interrupting her little spiel.
“I-I know, I just--”
“M'Dames right, Mira, we’re with you all the way.” Isabeau interjects before she can get any further dismayed.
“Indeed. Do you really think we’d come with you all this way just to leave at the very end?”
“Yeah!!! We’re gonna kick the King's crabbing face!!! All of us!!!” Bonnie shouts, pumping their fists into the air.
There was a momentary pause, and you realized you should probably say something.
“We’ll be with you to the very end, Mira.” You say, faking a smile.
Tears well in her eyes and she can’t help but smile as she looks to all of you, placing a hand over her chest.
“O-Oh, thank you…!”
Bonnie and Isa quickly embraced her in a group hug, with only you and Odile sitting out of it as usual. Eventually, the hug broke up and Mira brushed away a tear, sniffling for a moment before she said;
“...a-alright, let’s go to bed!”
Isabeau nodded, stepping back as he beamed.
“Yeah! We have a big day tomorrow, saving Vaugarde and all.”
Odile pushed her glasses up slightly, smirking.
“Yes yes, we all need plenty of beauty sleep if we’re to face the King tomorrow.”
“G’night!” Bonnie snickered, presumably at Odile’s comment.
Everyone began making their way upstairs, with only you staying down here as you volunteered to sleep in a ‘comfortable’ looking armchair that’d been sitting around the Clocktower, purely to avoid any inconveniences with the bedding situation upstairs.
Sitting in it, it was significantly less comfortable than you’d thought. Part of you almost regretted choosing against sharing a bed with Isa, but you just couldn’t, not tonight.
You wait.
…
The others talk for some time upstairs, their voices muffled and unintelligible. You wait for them all to stop talking and get quiet, and wait for some time after that.
After what was at least several hours, you stand from the chair, carefully slipping off your boots before gently setting them to the side before beginning to make your way to the door. Without them, your socked footsteps are silent, none of the steps letting out so much as a creak before you make it to the top.
The door to the room is cracked ajar, letting you peek inside. Everyone is fast asleep, just as you thought. You reached for the doorknob, your hand shaking before you grasped it firmly, slowly pulling it open, pausing for a second as a creak began to sound out…
Nothing. You continued, opening the door even slower before it was fully open and you walked into the room. Isabeau is lying in the bed closest to the door, face buried in the pillow; Odile is in the furthest bed, facing the ceiling as her eyeglasses glinted in the moonlight.
And then, there is Mira and Bonnie. You’d assumed they’d share a bed, and you were right, though it would make things slightly more complicated. You had to make sure they’d be gone.
Making your way up to the side of it, you reach out before gently shaking Bonnie’s shoulder for a few seconds before they began to stir;
“Mmm… whu-”
You gently place a hand over their mouth, placing a finger over your own to shush them. Their eyes were wide, blinking a few times before you brought back your hand.
“ Shh… c’mon”
You step away, and Bonnie hesitated for a moment before slowly getting out of bed, following after you as you head back downstairs.
“Frin? Whaddya want…” They say groggily, rubbing the sleepiness from their eyes.
“Shh… I didn’t want to wake the others, but… I need your help with something.” You say, stopping when you get to the bottom of the stairs, your tone still soft.
“...whatfor?”
“While we were hanging around Dormont, I heard they were all planning on throwing a big party. I think it’d be nice to have something nice and sweet before we head out for the House tomorrow, so maybe you could head and see if they’d spare you any ingredients?”
You watch as Bonnie gradually processes the plan in their head, their tired brain making it take much longer than it would otherwise before they cross their arms, looking away.
“And you needed to wake me up now to do it?”
“I- I just wanted it to be a surprise for everyone, y’know?”
“...”
Bonnie was silent for a while, their expression slowly shifting before they groaned silently.
“Fine , but only because the others will like it, not for you .”
Of course…
You smile and nod.
“Sure. I’ll cover for you if the others wake, ok?”
Eventually, a mischievous grin spreads across their face.
“Yeah… yeah! Imma go see what they have.”
And just like that, they left, only making sure to be quiet when leaving after a quiet reminder from you.
Well! That was pretty much half of the hard part anyway! And you’re still doing ~great~ . Now… now for the actual hard part.
You draw your blade, it’s metal shining in the moonlight. It feels… heavy, heavier than usual, as if it knew what it was going to be used for.
Once again, you began to make your way upstairs. You don’t want to do this, you tell yourself, but you have to.
When you think about it, all of this is your fault anyway! You took so blinding long to do your job you only made it harder on yourself now!
Making your way to the door, you begin shuffling across the floor, your moves as silent as the night save for the occasional whisper of revelry coming from Dormont.
You don’t want to do this.
Standing over Mira’s bed, your shadow looming across the floor, you watch as she breathes softly; in and out, in and out.
You don’t want to do this.
You raise the knife, gripping it tighter and tighter to stop your hands from shaking.
You don’t want to do this.
It will be quick, you owe her that at least , ideally she won’t even stir, she’ll just go still and the others won’t even know until they wake up the next morning. Even if they do, the window is cracked open slightly, an easy escape route.
YOU DON’T WANT TO DO THIS.
But you have to.
Timing it with her breathing, you bring the knife up…
And then drive it down, steel slicing through flesh with surgical ease as your blade pierced her heart. You stumble back, catching yourself from falling. You did it. She just laid there, completely still as a dark stain began to pool around the wound.
It’s done.
You did it.
You… did it.
You killed her.
Mira, who was sweet and kind to a fault, who trusted you.
And you killed her.
You suddenly feel sick, your head spinning before you clasp a hand over your mouth as you fight the intense urge to vomit as yOU
FEEL
A
BURNING
P AIN
BEHIND YOUR
EYE
You awake with a jolt, laying in a small clearing outside of Dormont.
…
What
“--frin!”
What?
“Siffrin!”
How are you- How is she-
“...Siffrin?”
Mirabelle stands over you, blocking the sun as she looks at you with a concerned gaze.
“...Siffrin, are you ok? You’re shaking…”
You don’t know what to say.
“I-I uh…”
You trail off for far too long.
“Had a pretty messed up dream, haha! ”
Mira only seemed to get more concerned, and she sat down next to where you were lying before asking;
“Oh… Do you want… to talk about it?”
“...not really, I… don’t remember much anyway.”
You can tell she doesn’t believe you. Even still, she nodded before lying down in the grass beside you, staring up at the sky quietly.
You both lay there in silence for a couple of minutes and… you feel better? You… you really don’t know how to feel right now.
Eventually, you sit up and she does the same, giving you a gentle smile.
“Feeling better?”
“Yeah… I think… I think I needed that.”
She stood up, brushing the bottom of her dress flat.
“Good! I’m… I’m going to head back into town, you can stay out here a bit longer if you need to decompress, but… could you come talk to me when you do?”
…?
“Uh… sure, I-I won’t be long.”
Mira smiled before walking away, leaving you alone in the meadow once again. After about a minute, you lay back down and place your hands over your face, allowing yourself to process all of that now that you are alone.
You killed Mira, and now she’s alive.
And now you’re here. Was it just… a dream? A very realistic dream? You can almost smell the blood…
She’s probably far enough away now…
You place your hands over your mouth and scream.
Okay, you’ve got it out of your system now.
So, you killed Mira in what may or may not have been a dream. That’s fine, this is fine. You just have to do all of that again without breaking down, which is ~totally~ possible.
Alright, back to the stage Siffrin, you’ve got a job to do.
Beginning to shamble back to Dormont, you freeze as your hear a voice in the back of your head.
[...So. You should probably come to the Favor Tree when you have a second, Stardust~]
What...???