Chapter Text
(Frin is not okay.)
(You would argue they’re doing terrible, even.)
(You thought that after talking to everyone about forever school, he would get better.)
(But… They’re not talking at all.)
(It’s already been over a week since it happened and we still don’t even know CRABBING ANYTHING!!!!!)
Lost in thought, you continue your descent from the clocktower, to Dormont.
(Why are adults so awful at talking, just say what you mean! You can’t help if you don’t know what to help with!!! And it doesn’t help when Frin still lies about how they’re feeling.)
You walk past the village while mumbling to yourself, entering a clearing.
(...Frin keeps waking up with these terrible nightmares. He’ll sometimes claw at his throat, gasping. You can hear him call out your name oh-kay-shun-lee.)
You walk up to the favor tree, determined to set things right.
(You know it’s danger-us, but you need to help Frin. He talked about the Wish Craft thing in their sleep; something about picking a cool leaf and whispering what you want a bunch of times? It’s scary to think about what could happen, but what’s more scary is seeing Frin like this… Like they have nothing left to give.)
You glance around to the scattering leaves, and find the BIGGEST one you can find. The bigger the leaf, the more you want your wish to come true, right? You kneel down in the shadow of the canopy of leaves, and whisper. “I wish we could see what Frin went through.”
Hunched over your chosen leaf, plan in mind, you repeat it over and over until you’re out of breath.
(...Did you help? Nothing is happening. This isn’t fair! You’re tired of being unhelp–)
(...What is that burnt smell? It smells like sugar–)
You promptly pass out.
Things have been great! Well… Great might be a strong word. Things have been going okay. If you were asked about most people in your little family, you would say they’ve been in high spirits since the King has been vanquished.
With that being said… Sif is not okay.
Everyday has had new challenges for them. It’s been torture, watching someone you love so dearly suffer in ways you don’t think any of you could ever comprehend.
Every night is woken by night terrors. You wouldn’t dare consider them as nightmares, with the way Sif reacts once awoken. They sometimes look at you in fear. It’s not a great feeling.
Their Craft exhaustion seemed to really catch up with them after you held hands at the rooftop. It certainly didn’t help when they woke up one night in unbridled despair, releasing the most powerful Craft you’ve ever seen. Let’s just say it’s been very lucky to not have rained since then.
You’ve been at their bedside constantly, for the week they’ve been in and out of consciousness. You’ve all tried to get him to say anything about what they need help with, or anything that is troubling them, but they hide it behind that horrifying fake smile of theirs. It’s impossible to not recognize it after that dreadful day, since you’ve never seen them look so unhinged. Just thinking about that face makes you shudder.
You’ve felt so useless ever since then. You can’t really do anything besides staying with them during this whole ordeal. But, you have thought of something to do for them, while they're resting! You asked around at the House for some sewing supplies, and are in the middle of working on a new hat for Sif. Their last one flew off their head during their breakdown on the rooftop, so you want to make a similar one.
That’s pretty much everything that’s happened since then. You can only hope that Sif will be able to recover… From…
(Is that burnt sugar..?)
You slump onto Sif’s bedside.
You slowly gain awareness, wincing from the pain throbbing in your skull.
(argh! Your head is killing you. Where are you even? You remember being at Sif’s bedside, sewing a new hat for him, when you were hit with the craziest bout of fatigue. It came down hard, knocking you out immediately.)
You try to stand up, when you realize you can’t.
(What? Why can’t you move?)
You begin to panic, flailing, before you slap your hands on the sides of your face.
(FOCUS, ISABEAU! You need to look around and assess the situation!)
You look down, and see yourself sitting in what appears to be a cushioned… Auditorium seat? That’s not right. You turn your head and see the rest of your family passed out in seats that are identical to yours, m'dame to your left, and Mira to your right. Sif is distinctly missing; that’s not good.
(Thank goodness almost all of you were brought to wherever this is, which appears to be a theater? But back to the problem, your legs are incapable of moving!!! Try as you might, you can only move your upper body.)
You try to pull yourself up with your arms, but you’re glued stuck to your seat.
(Okay, you’re the first one awake. You need to be there for everyone when they wake up, so let’s look around some more. This is a theater, so there must be a stage, right?)
You look forward, and see a grandiose platform covered in fluttering, lavish curtains. You can see flickers of what’s past the cloth. It appears to be… A pane of glass?
(There’s no door to leave this room; in fact, this room is rather small. It only has four seats, and is predominately occupied by the stage. Were you kidnapped? But this doesn’t seem like it was done by a person, it feels too supernatural. Wish Craft, perhaps?)
(That would explain a lot, but there’s no proof of that. What are signs of Wish Craft? Burnt sugar? You did get a whiff of burnt sugar as you were passing out, so… Okay, this really is Wish Craft. Not very comforting, but at least it’s something.)
(...)
(Who could have made a wish? Sif talked about how to wish in their sleep two days ago, and the only person besides you that could have overheard was Bonbon. So did they wish for something? What did they wish for?)
(...)
(Oh! You have an idea.)
(Maybe the location we were sent to could be used as a hint! We’re in a theater, so we’re most likely here to watch something? But what?)
(Remember, the one who made this wish is Bonbon. If you want to deduce the wish, you should think in the mindset of them. They’ve been extremely worried about Sif this past week, barely leaving their side at the clocktower. So they probably wanted us to see something concerning Sif? What could they have–)
(...)
(oh.)
(oh no.)
(The time loop? This is bad, really, REALLY bad! We have NO idea how long that could be, and this is a huge breach in privacy!)
(...Shamefully, you do feel a hint of relief to know that you will find out about the time loops, but you don’t want to find out like this! Sif just started opening up! This will not be good for them at all, what should you–)
“ISABEAU.”
You jump, embarrassing yelp interrupted when you bang your head on the back of your seat. You are extra grateful for the cushioning. “M-m'dame!!! You startled me!” You take a moment to calm your heart.
M'dame looks panicked, trying to get up. “Isabeau, where are we? What is happening? Why the gems can’t I get out of this chair? Wait, is this a theater? Why–”
You interrupt m'dame before she can spiral further. “M'dame! Calm down. I think I figured out why we’re here, but it’ll take a bit to explain," You lift both hands above your head.
M'dame stops, and looks at you exasperatedly. “ELABORATE.”
(Okay, you haven’t even processed what you figured out yet, but here we go!)
You explain your line of reasoning with m'dame, trying to explain it quickly before either Bonbon or Mira wake up. She furrows her brow and moves her hand to pull her glasses down. “Gems alive. While I’m grateful that we haven’t been kidnapped by King supporters, I can’t imagine this being good.”
You scratch the back of your head. “Hehe, yeah.”
You don’t really know what else to do, so you try to guide the conversation back to the rest of your family. “Uh, I guess we just wait for the others to wake up?”
After wiping off the grime from the rectangular lenses of her glasses, she sighs. “I suppose. I’ll explain it to Boniface for you, since you explained it to me.”
You clasp your hands together. “Thank you, m'dame!”
You and m'dame talk about various random topics, from fashion, books, and travelling, until your other two family members begin to stir awake.
Mira wakes up in a jolt. “AGH??? What just–” She sees the rest of you, calmly turned to look at her. “...Isabeau, what just happened???”
Before you can respond, Bonbon jumps up with a strained gasp. “Ow, CRAB, did that…” M'dame grabs Bonbon’s hand. “Boniface, what did you do?”
Bonbon blinks in temporary confusion, before asking for clarification. “What, wishing?”
In an impressive display of restraint, m’dame sighs and responds. “Yes. After the fiasco from last week, I don’t know how you could have possibly thought it acceptable to use the same Craft after seeing what it has done to Siffrin.”
Bonbon clenches their fists tightly. “I don’t care about the risks! I needed to help Frin! I’m tired of the stupid crabbing lying! None of us can help them if they don’t say anything, so I thought we could help if we knew everything…”
M'dame pinches the space between her eyes. “Nothing we can do about it now, seeing as whatever ritual you did was permitted to send us here.”
Mira coughs exaggeratedly, drawing your and m’dame’s attention away from Bonbon, and back to her. “Can someone please explain what’s happening???”
You and m'dame explain what happened to Mira, hopefully calming her down from freaking out. This seems to calm her down noticeably. In fact, it completely flipped her thoughts.
She seems particularly excited. “OH! I’ve read books on groups of people being transported to weird environments! I never thought I’d get to be in one!!!” She waves her arms excitedly.
(Cute…)
Before she can continue, Bonbon addresses the rest of you. “Um, what are these things under our seats?”
You tilt your head. “Is there something down there? Hold on–”
You strain your arm to reach under your seat before you feel what seems to be… A booklet? You pull it out from under you and try to read it.
SCENES
Act 1
Scene 1: Dormont
Scene 2: Death Corridor
Act 2
Scene 1: Meeting Loop
Scene 2: Adorable Moving Shield
Act 3
Scene 1: Friendquest
Scene 2: Kingquest
Act 4
Scene 1: Loopquest
Act 5
Scene 1: “Friendquest”
Scene 2: King Fight
Scene 3: Mal Du Pays
Scene 4: Wish
Act 6
Scene 1: Friend Talks
Scene 2: Loop Talk
Scene 3: End
(Oh, this is a playbill. It says… That there are 6 Acts?)
You turn the playbill to the rest of your family. M'dame reads the playbill and contemplates on some of the scenes. “Forgive me if I’m wrong, but Mal Du Pays means homesickness, doesn’t it? Siffrin doesn’t talk about his home very often. He said they didn’t remember their childhood, though I don’t know the specifics.”
(You… Never really thought about it too much. Sif always deflected whenever someone asked him about their home, so you stopped inquiring about it because it seemed personal to them. You assume ‘Act 5’ is the loop that you all remember, so it must be pretty important… Oh, Sif. Just how much have you gone through with none of us noticing?)
You almost forgot to respond to m'dame for a second there! “U-uh yeah, they were always avoidant about it. I didn’t want to bother them if it was a sore subject.”
Mira is still squinting at the playbill. “Um, I have a very bad feeling about Act 1 ending with the death corridor. I remember us seeing a boulder in the middle of that hallway. I just assumed that it was there before we all entered, but… But what if..?”
(Oh change.)
You struggle to catch your breath. You can’t breathe.)
(no…)
(NO NO NO!!!)
(Sif has DIED in these loops, hasn’t he? You never even considered that as a possibility. How many times have you let them die!? You’re meant to protect your family, but you’ve failed to protect them!)
(That corridor was at the very beginning of the house. You failed Sif immediately! Did you even try anything? Did you just stand there, stupid and naive, and watch your best friend die, over and over and OVER!?)
(Don’t think about it don’t think about it don’t think about it–)
While you continue in your dismay, Bonbon leans over all the seats and asks Mira something. “Are you saying Frin… Died to that boulder?” Bonbon starts to shake.
(Wuh oh! You’re doing about as well as Bonbon right now, but they’re just a child. They need your reassurance.)
You look over m'dame’s shoulder and call out to Bonbon. “Bonbon! Sif is okay. He’s still in their bed at the clocktower, resting. They’re okay," You don’t know if you’re saying that to Bonbon or yourself at this point.
Bonbon abruptly turns toward you in tears. “Frin’s okay?” They have a haunted look in their eyes.
(They have to be. They have to.) “Yeah, Bonbon. They’re okay.”
Before any of you can continue theorizing about the foreshadowing from the playbill, you hear a mechanical stutter before the curtains whir open.
Behind the curtain, as you observed, is a huge pane of lightless glass. It’s shrouding whatever’s behind it.
You voice your thoughts aloud. “Guess it’s time then.”
Mira, while folding her arms together, sways ever so slightly. “Um… I-I’m very nervous about all of this… I still haven’t sorted everything out in the House after the King’s attack!”
M'dame waves her hand up in a casual gesture. “You’ll be okay Mirabelle. I’m more worried how Boniface will deal with it all.”
Bonbon protests fiercely. “I’m not a kid! Plus, I’m the one who wished for this!”
(That’s the problem, Bonbon. You don’t think they realize the full scope of their wish.)
The pane of glass flickers, before a dim light hums to life, showing Sif crying out to the sky.