Chapter Text
Monarch remembered the resets. He remembered all the resets. All 72 of them.
Well… 73 now.
He felt the familiar tug at his heart of him going back to the beginning— where it would all repeat until he reached that sweet, sweet point of bliss after killing Crimson 1 where the Dust Mother taunted him with thinking it was finally over before dragging him back to the start.
He didn't fight it anymore. He gave up trying a while ago. Near the start he’d tried to escape from this hell and crash his jet into the ground.
He looped back to the start of the mission. Since then he hadn’t done it again. It wasn’t worth having to burn up in a ball of flames just to go back a few minutes.
He was ready to wake up in his bed on the first day of the war and do it all again—
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Attempting Reset
...
Reset Failed
this is not the end
thE EnD iS nEveR ThE eNd tHe ENd iS NeVEr thE ENd thE eND is NEvEr tHe enD tHe eND Is NeVER thE enD tHE eND IS NEver tHe eNd
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He woke up. He was not in his bed.
The bottom of the bunk above him was unfamiliar, and so were the feel of the blankets around him. Comic stood on the side of the bed, pulling the offending blankets off him.
“Wake up sleepyhead! You’re gonna completely miss breakfast!” She said, yanking him upright.
He nearly hit his head on the bunk above, but followed her out the unfamiliar room. He had to get to know this new place. He’d never been here before, he was certain of it now. The hallways were unfamiliar and surprisingly clean.
Then he saw the patch on her jacket. On his own jacket. The Federation.
They were not in Cascadia. What the hell was going on? This had never happened! It always reset to the same thing. Not… the Federation. He fought for Cascadia!
They made it to the food line, and he just took a granola bar and sat in the corner on an upside-down bucket. Federation. Him and his squad were hired by the damn Federation.
Someone sat down across from him, chewing an apple. He didn’t look up at them. The loud and consistent crunching of the apple annoyed him.
“So, you’re the lead of that mercenary squadron they hired? Monarch, right?” The man asked.
He recognised the voice. Crimson 1. His rival. His sworn enemy, now sitting next to him and eating an apple.
Was he his rival? Or not yet? Would he be?
He nodded, finally looking up at him. His eyes were dull and hollow, same has his. He had seen a reset. But his eyes were stunningly blue, and he had handsome black hair that was faintly blond at the bases—
Woah. Why did he just… Crimson 1 was not pretty. He was not stunning. And he was certainty not handsome.
And he was still eating that damn apple with his perfectly straight and white teeth— no Monarch no. We’re not doing this.
Crimson 1 cocked an eyebrow. “You don’t talk much, do you? Shame, I wanted to know if there was an equally nice voice to those looks.”
With that he started to stand up, throwing his apple core at the trash can and making it in perfectly. Show off. Monarch panicked, wanting to say something and make him stay with him.
“Uh—”
Crimson 1 turned around and looked at him, surprised. Then he sat back on that other bucket, their thighs so close together. They could ‘accidentally’ bump into each other if he wanted… but he wouldn't be able to pull himself away, and he knew it.
“Well. You were saying?” Crimson 1 asked, turning towards him.
Their knees bumped together. Monarch tried to ignore it and the way Crimson 1 gave him that cocky smirk. That man knew what he was doing to him.
“…” He couldn’t think of anything to say.
Crimson 1 leaned in closer, fixing the collar of his shirt for him. “Aw, will you not speak? I wanted to ask you something.”
He tried his hardest not to blush at the hand brushing his neck. “I can talk fine.”
“Well then Monarch,” He leaned in closer to him, one arm against the wall, lips nearly grazing his ear as he whispered to him. “Have you ever heard of resets? A time loop? Where you reach a specific point and then get sent back somewhere?”
Oh. Okay. Alright then. So he had seen a reset.
He didn’t know what to say again, so all he did was stand up and walk out away from the tense body carefully trying not to touch him but whisper in his ear and out into the hallway. Nobody could hear them talk about this. He’d tried to tell someone in those first few loops and… let’s just say going to the mental hospital wasn't a very enjoyable experience.
Crimson 1 followed him out into the hall, face guarded and unreadable. Monarch turned to look at him.
“You finally remember the resets?” He whispered.
He’d asked Crimson 1 before, and he hadn’t remembered them then… so what changed?
Crimson 1 shoved him up against the wall, eyes wild. “Monarch. What the fuck do you mean finally? And you mean to say that resets are real?! Those memories— those weird bits of déjà vu I got yesterday— last loop… were real?”
Oh. So he did remember the loops before that last one. At least in part.
He leaned forward and gripped his shoulders. “How much do you remember? Tell me.”
“I don’t distinctly remember things. I randomly— I would randomly? This is confusing…” Crimson 1 mumbled, backing away from him and leaning against the wall next to him. “I would get these things like flashbacks and I would feel like I’d been there before. And it was only when I was fighting you.”
Hm. So he only got flashes of remembrance… and only when he was around himself for some reason. Strange.
A few other members of Crimson team dragged Crimson 1 off while he was lost in thought. He didn’t mind. He watched out the little window at the top of the hall at the trees swaying in the wind. He always loved the beginning of these resets, before the cordium hit and messed up everything.
He knew it would happen like it was prophesied. It basically was, wasn’t it? He knew it would happen. It always did, every loop.
Again.
And again.
and again
again
again
again