Chapter Text
And so, another cycle ends with your Banishment.
You suppose you should be grateful it is far more impermanent than it was made out to be by the Prophecy. On the other hand, this impermanence is the exact reason you're still stuck here, in this accursed time loop, unable to even properly contact the kind doctor.
Granted, you are not sure how much good that would even do. People usually don't contract Angels when they are capable of solving the issue at hand themselves, and this particular case has proved to be of a very troublesome variety. But having some method of reliable two-way communication with your client would be very nice, if not for requesting assistance, then at least for the possibility of backing out of this deal. Alas, you are veritably stuck here.
...well, since there's nothing else to do, it is prime time to go through variety of info you've gathered so far before jumping into action again.
If it was your first or second attempt, it would be prudent to start with the task itself: prevent/stop the local apocalyptic event and break/subvert the prophecy fortelling it, yada yada. There's no point in this though - you've experienced fortold events yourself 9 times now, and the actual mission had little in common with the briefing anyway, with the Vessel theft and all that. So you can save yourself a headache and skip this part.
Onto your opponents, who are, contrary to your original (and, admittedly, a bit cliché) expectations are not some power-hungry malevolent cultists or creatures of abyssal Darkness - the latter are present, but are the least of your worries - no, your antagonists are a small group of scarily knowledgeable people with little fear for superplanar entities - a coalition of the local mayor Carol, matriarch of Holidays; one of your wards, on whom you'll "re-brief" yourself later; and the Roaring Knight, a creature of mostly Darkness, who is also partially December, daughter of Carol.
Attempt at reviving the latter is, apparently, the reason for this entire occasion. On this basis, the best idea may seem to be to willingly assist this group with their goal in accordance with good old "if you can't beat it, join and spearhead it" principle, and you tried to do so, but between you being treated like an unwieldy tool with an very specific purpose and their idea of accomplishing this directly violating the "break/subvert the prophecy" clause, this move is not a winning one.
Not to mention their insistence on banishing you once everything is said and done. Such a termination is a one you'd rather prefer to avoid. Being denied your promised big pay-off is not an outcome most ideal, obviously.
Next are your assets, or, rather, abilities, since you were denied your Vessel by the aforementioned antagonistic group in a bid to control your actions. You have to begrudgingly agree that they have accomplished this mostly successfully, although their main "accomplishment" is majorly annoying you, buuut we're getting off track. Abilities, yes. You're equiped with the standard, inherent to your very nature time manipulation package, Heavenlight and maaybe some spatial manipulation if you try hard enough. Not good, not bad, and perusing this list again won't give you any new revelations, since you are already abusing every entry on it. It is nice to remind yourself that you are a capable Angel who is definitely not unsuited for this job and is thusly stuck here once in a while, though.
...
Ahem, now on the topic of your wards. You'd want to say "your allies", but considering their complicity in your Banishment 9 out of 9 times, their allied status is temporarily suspended until further notice. Anyhow, on this front you have a trio of heroes foretold by the prophecy that you are supposed to guide to victory - Fun Gang, Lancer Fan Club, the name varies from iteration to iteration.
The nominal leader of this trio and, coincidentally, the previously mentioned antagonist-leaning one is Kris, offspring of Dreemurs, designated by the prophecy as "Cage". They are the host and channeler your presence, the swordsperson and the main actor, and the main reason you are utterly unable to change anything in any remotely meaningful way. To be stuck here due to one depressed teenager, ugh. Even Emerald Banners did not give you that much trouble, and that's saying something. Personal grudges aside, it is clear as a day in a desert that they are your №1 Problem and for anything to change, you'd have to change them. Break them or befriend them - doesn't matter. At this point, both outcomes are perfectly acceptable to you.
The second hero is Susie of unknown lineage, code name "Girl". Chief damage dealer of the group and the closest this story has to a protagonist. Supposedly wields the White Pen, known as Hope, but in all of the cycles you've yet to see it. In fact, she is the main hope crusher so far on your journey, since she always takes Kris' side in an argument about your Banishment with almost no hesitation. Granted, the reveal of your existence always happens in less than fortunate circumstances, so you can't exactly blame her for choosing her friend over some Eldritch being. She would be an invaluable ally (and maybe even a friend) if you somehow managed to convince herself of your innocence, and you'd definitely not be stuck in a time loop right now if she was on your side. Alas, currently she is a Problem first and formost, as her tendency to simply deny you any important choices and, most importantly, refuse to follow or simply ignore commands she personally doesn't like precludes meaningful changes. It's not an entirely novel experience for a being like you to have people who don't listen to your commands under your guidance, but it doesn't ever get any less annoying, especially in your current predicament. If something were to change, it would have to not include her, otherwise you'll be railroaded back on the prophecy's track by its most fervent hater again.
The last of the prophesied heroes is Ralsei, no middle name, no last name, "Prince" of the Dark. The guide and the white mage of the group, who also sometimes wields fire magic. He is your most reliable ally in the group, who fails to make a difference every time anyway. He knows a very significant amount of information about you and is able to naturaly perceive your presence. Despite this, or perhaps due to this, he seems to fear you deeply and religiously, and will not willingly reveal an ounce of information about you without very insistent prompting. Another thing is that he, counterintuitively, fatalistically adheres to the very prophecy all of you are trying to subvert. With all of this in mind, he won't and can't assist you with changing anything, and you can even reasonably assume that he'll be opposed to such a course of action.
With such options, you seem all out of luck.
But there is someone you are neglecting to mention. The youngest of Holidays, Noelle. While technically not a hero, discarding her influence on the story would be foolish. She is a very interesting person, the one you are not sure you know even after 9 rewinds. But the things you do know are very promising.
For one, in loops where you avoided direct incrimination, she was the only person who didn't immediately jump to negative conclusions about you, courtesy of not being so tightly bound by the prophecy and misconceptions as your designated wards. Unfortunately, as she properly joins the ranks a day before the end, no matter what you do, even when you manage to properly convince her to join your side, she's just too weak to stand against the joint pressure of both her love interest and her mother, both physically and mentally. You have checked this thoroughly. Monday is just too late to make a difference, you're sure about this.
Another thing is that you think she is almost as desperate for things around here to change as you are, even if for a different reason. Normally, this yearning is adequately satisfied by her connection to Susie, but it is not entirely impossible to sidestep this development and use this alignment in goals to achieve results both sides will find acceptable. Adding to this her fondness for scary things and glitch-hunting, and you got a person who'll be significantly less inclined to ask stupid questions should the world accidentally break while you get your, how did that puppet put it, [FREEDOM].
The third and the most important knowledge you have about her is the fact that she is the only person you ever get to guide who has the access to the ice magic. After all, as one game has put it - "the forbidden path began with the ice magic". Admittedly, it is a really shady piece of intel from an unknown person who you can only hope is at the very least tangentially connected to the kind doctor. From this sentence alone it is evident just how unreliable this info is, and in any other circumstances you'd promptly disregard it, but beggars can't be choosers. "Forbidden path" sounds sequence-breaking enough to, if not fulfill your contract, then at the very least get into contact with your gracious employer, and so you have to try it.
Everything points out to it beginning on Friday, in Cyber City, during your first tenure as Noelle's guide.
Then, the plan of action for this next loop is as follows: wait until Noelle joins your party on Friday, follow the instructions provided by the anonymous source, and hope for the best. "Great" plan, but you can't play a card you weren't dealt.
Now, it is that time once again.
❤️ RESET
[Then we shall begin anew]