Chapter Text
Odile was the first to notice, calling out to Siffrin in concern. The rest of the group turned to him, and noticed the traveler looking shocked. He wasn't moving, completely frozen with his mouth slightly ajar.
No one knew what to do, especially when they heard the Head Housemaiden start saying weird things, ignoring Siffrin and Mirabelle. Her words began washing over Isabeau though, his head throbbing with pain. The air around everyone felt heavy, like a weight pressing down on them, and smelled of burning sugar. All of it made it harder to focus on her words.
And the sight of Siffrin just standing there in complete shock was even more worrying. Something was wrong. He began running to try to pull him away from the Head Housemaiden, Odile, Mirabelle and Bonnie calling out to Siffrin behind him. He needed to do something, anything, to save him.
He saw Siffrin take a step towards them, a hand held out towards his own. It only caused Isabeau to try to run faster.
“I just hope that one day, you will learn to forgive-” The Head Housemaiden cried out.
He just managed to grab Siffrin’s hand when all at once, things shifted. He felt like he was being tugged harshly. The smell of burning sugar was overpowering, almost choking him. For a split second, there was silence, and then—
⏪
Isabeau stumbled, trying not to fall over from the sudden scene change and failing to do so. His arms flailed as he fought to keep his balance, before falling flat on his stomach. “Ow.” He muttered aloud.
Ignoring the violent whiplash he was feeling, he quickly pushed himself up from the ground and looked around. He was back in front of the favor tree, no Siffrin to be found, and…
Looking a little over the trees, he could see the sky darkening into a starry night against the daytime sky which meant that… but didn't they beat The King? Unless… well no, there’s no way he could have dreamed all of that up. All the pain, relief, happiness and the fear as he saw something was wrong at the end of their journey, it felt all too real. The headache he had before was fading and the scent of burning sugar was still fresh in his mind.
He felt so confused, before a thought returned to his mind. Siffrin was nowhere to be seen. He was right in front of him before. What if something happened to him? What if-
He took off running, leaving the favor tree behind. It didn't take long for him to find Siffrin though, as he was heading his way. Siffrin looked up in surprise.
“Isa-”
“SIF!” Isabeau shouted. Without thinking, he hugged him, the thought of some force taking his friend away or harming him striking fear in his heart.
It was only a few seconds later, after realizing that Siffrin had gone rigid, that Isabeau quickly let go of him and stepped back. “Oh crab! Sorry, Sif, sorry, I just… I thought you were… something was wrong, I thought you were being hurt by…”
Isabeau trailed off, realizing that Siffrin hadn't moved since he let go of him. He looked up at him, his face frozen in shock. He forgot about him not liking touch in the moment, but still…
“Sif…?”
“Huh?” They finally snapped out of their shock, looking up at Isabeau.
“Are you okay? I'm sorry about the sudden hug.”
“I’m fine.” He responded unconvincingly, a small shake to their voice. Tilting his head, he asked, “Hurt by what?” His pupil jittered around, a sign of nervousness that accompanied the tone in his friend’s voice.
“I…” What was going on back there? “I don't know, something…” He needed to make sure he wasn't going crazy, and asked, “Sif, what’s the last thing you remember?”
Siffrin paused for a while… a little too long for Isabeau’s liking. He can’t have forgotten already, right? He’s not THAT forgetful. That whole thing wasn't just something you'd forget that fast.
His eye darted around as if he was thinking of what to say, before finally answering with, “Uh… taking a nap? Why?”
Isabeau isn’t sure he’s convinced. Maybe he could pass off what happened earlier as just a dream, but it felt all too vivid to be one, not to mention he doesn’t think he’d ever fall asleep on his feet, or fall like he did earlier. He could still smell the scent of burning sugar, even if the scent was all in his head at this point.
“I just… need to make sure I’m not imagining things.” Watching carefully for Siffrin’s reaction, Isabeau explained what he remembered. “I remember, we defeated The King. We met with the Head Housemaiden. We were about to leave, but then Odile noticed you were acting strange and laughing to yourself, and the head housemaiden was acting strange, and then my- all of our heads started hurting, and… everything felt… wrong. I reached out to you, managed to grab your hand and then… I don’t know what happened after that, but suddenly I’m back here. It felt like something was pulling me, almost.”
Once again, Siffrin took too long to react. He seemed to go pale, then with a shaky voice said, “Huh. That uh… sounds really specific…” He beamed, an obvious forced smile on his face as he continued, “But we haven't even gone into the house yet, so maybe it was just a weird dre-”
Their fake smile was enough to get him to act. “Sif…”
“Yeah?”
“Are you alright? You’re acting weird.” He felt like everything was wrong. His head, how Siffrin was acting, everything.
“What do you mean?” Siffrin's voice still sounded shaky as he tried to look clueless.
“You just seem really out of it, and…” Isabeau trailed off, noticing Siffrin was actually shaking a bit. Their breathing also seemed to be quickening as well. Their gaze was looking anywhere but at Isabeau.
“... you're shaking.” Isabeau reached a hand out to him, but remembering his aversion to touch, brought it back closer to himself. Gently, he asked, “Try breathing with me?” That’s what Siffrin always did to calm himself.
Unfortunately, it didn’t seem like Siffrin was listening. Their shaking and breathing only got worse.
“Sif?” His heart was louder than his brain this time, and reaching out, almost managed to touch Siffrin’s shoulder. Siffrin slapped his hand away, full on fear in his eye.
“DON’T TOUCH ME!” They yelled. “D-don’t... don’t…” They trailed off, the look of shock on Isabeau’s face making them immediately regret what they did. “I…”
⏪
Isabeau felt some sort of jolt, his hand back at his side, not in the air like he remembered it being a few seconds ago. The sensation of Siffrin slapping it was still there. He held it in his other hand as he looked at Siffrin. He can't entirely blame him for his reaction when he was panicking, but he couldn't help but mutter, “Sif…?” with concern.
“Yeah?” Siffrin asked, back to giving an obvious fake smile like nothing was wrong.
“What was that for?” He knew what that was for, but it was the only thing he could think of saying.
“What was what for?” Siffrin feigned confusion.
Giving him a stern look, he pointed at his hand. “You just slapped my hand.”
“Oh.” Siffrin finally seemed to drop the act, although that meant he was back to panicking. “So… you remember then? For real?”
Isabeau, confused, slowly nodded.
“Stars…” They cursed. “Oh stars no.”
“Uh… Sif, it's oka-”
“No it's NOT!” They yelled. “You don't even realize what's going on, do you?!”
“I know you're freaking out again.” Isabeau pointed out matter-of-factly. “You seem to know though, so why don't you tell me? If something is wrong, I'm sure we can figure it out.”
“No- you can't help me! No one can help me!” Siffrin shouted. “It doesn't matter if you're the only one who remembers, you can't help me!”
“Why? Couldn’t you just tell me what the problem is?” Isabeau’s patience was slowly wearing thin, which says a lot given how much of it he has. Although, the only one? Has he talked to the others already?
“I can't! You'd hate me!” Siffrin’s voice cracked.
“It's pretty hard to get me to hate someone.” Especially someone as funny and cool as Siffrin… well, usually funny. Even the day before they went into the house, they've been acting differently.
Once again, Siffrin wasn't listening. They shakily stepped back from Isabeau. “I can't, you'll remember and… you'd hate me.” This time they didn't yell, their voice more like a whimper. “I don't want you to hate me…”
Isabeau, though tempted to step closer, stayed where he was. “I’m not going to hate you, Sif. Just… breathe with me.”
Still shaking and breathing unsteadily, they looked at Isabeau, and after a few seconds, nodded.
Together, they breathed in sync. Isabeau realized he needed this too. Even if he was trying to calm down Siffrin at the moment, he was still so very confused. He could feel his head clear a little. Gradually, Siffrin’s breathing slowed to a comfortable pace, and he stopped shaking. They still seemed scared, but it's a start.
“Now… can you tell me what’s wrong?” Isabeau asked gently.
“... promise you won’t hate me?” Siffrin asked.
“Sure.” Isabeau nodded. He highly doubted that whatever he says could-
“... I’ve been going through a time loop.” They confessed.
What.
“And I… think in the last one, I dragged you into it.” Siffrin’s voice was full of guilt.
“WHAT?!” Isabeau shouted aloud this time, even louder than Siffrin’s own yelling and causing the traveler to flinch. Turns out that actually managed to get the attention of the citizens of Dormont, Mirabelle included since she also seemed to hear Isabeau’s shouting. Oops.
“... let’s… talk about this somewhere else.” Isabeau suggested, which Siffrin quickly nodded in agreement to.