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vulpixisananimal · 5 months ago

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C-Side. Chapter 1

(If you still had a throat, it would have been ripped to shreds with how much you were screaming.)

(Screaming for anyone and anything. Screaming into the void that had consumed you. Screaming for someone! Anyone! Anything!!!)

(Housemaiden, Fighter, Researcher, Kid.)

(Stardust, that Head Housemaiden.)

(You might even take the King, at least then you could take your anger out on someone.)

(But, the starless, lightless void around you answered only in silence.)

(The only star in this void, was you.)

(Your wonderful, helpful friend Loop. Loop the joke, Loop the hopeless, Loop the stunt double. Loop the fool. Loop the dead. Dead, dead, dead! You had felt your chest burn as you fell into that abyss, you had felt the Universe try and pull you back, had tried to fix things. But, it didn't happen.)

(Of course it didn't happen.)

(You're stuck between floating and falling for a long time, helpless to the whims of the Void. You're stuck here, alone. You were getting quite used to being alone, but before you at least had the comfort that Stardust would be crawling back.)

(You eventually feel your feet hit a floor. You look down, and there's nothing there. It's as lightless as the rest of this world. You start to walk.)

(What, happened. You were at the favor tree, waiting out the time it took for Stardust and his companions to sleep. It had taken you too long to notice the stars where blotted out by a storm, and by the time you had, it was too late.)

(But you were in a time loop, weren't you? That was the show! A fool stuck in time with no hope of escape. Yet now, on a loop as inconspicuous as any other, the world had died. Was it something you did? Something Stardust did? No, it couldn't be, you hadn't done anything more noteworthy than usual.)

(You stop for a second and rub your eyes. You couldn't exactly get tired, but you were getting sick of your lightless enviroment. Looking at your hands, where it not for the canvas of stars upon them, you'd be just as invisible-)

(You freeze up. There, in the distance, a white. . .)

"STARDUST!!!" (You start running towards them. They're alive?!? How far away where they!?! That didn't matter, all that mattered was that they were close. They were here! Someone! Someone you knew!! It wasn't just that, it was the only someone who knew YOU!!)

(You run. You scream for Stardust. You think your getting close, you can't even tell anymore. You're so close! You hope you're so close! You reach out and-)

(You're blinded by a flash of light and stumble back. After rubbing the blindness out of your eyes, you open them and look around to see a pristine white corridor with a door on one end that was, that was, that was. . . Off, shade.)

(Where, where were you?)

(It didn't look like the House of Change, it didn't look like Dormont, it didn't look like anywhere you'd ever seen. And Stardust was nowhere to be found. You walk up to the door. You try pulling it open, nothing. Pushing it, nothing. Kicking it, nothing. You yell what openphrases you remember, nothing.)

"It wont open just like that." (Said a voice from behind you.)

(You spin around, there's a person standing in the middle of the hallway with a black coat. You scowel at them.) "Who are you!! Where am I!?!"

"The place where to lose is to find, and to find is to lose." (The figure steps towards you.) "That is the way, in Castle Oblivion."

"Castle Oblivion?" (Stars, you wish you had your stupid blinding knife with you.) "If that's what this place is, then sorry to say I've already lost all I have~"

"That's just what you think." (The figure pulls out a card and tosses it to you. You catch it.) "Here you'll meet those you've known in the past, and those that you miss."

(You look at the card in your hand. Depicted on it was a house, a grand house that was blanketed in a lightless sky. One that looked ever changing.) ". . What is this." (You say with bitter distaste.)

"It's a memory. One of your memories." (The figure responded.) "Hold the card to the door to open it, and beyond it, will be your world, your home."

"My-"

"Go on, Loop. To lose is to gain, and you have lost all you have, after all."

(You step forward, but before you could get any closer, the figure is blanketed by darkness, and dissapears.)

". . ." (To lose is to gain? Castle Oblivion?) ". . . Now I see why Stardust doesn't like how ominous I am~"

(Was any of this even real? Maybe you really did die and this was how your memory flashes in front of your eyes.)

(You had no option, anyways. You never did. You hold the card to the door. There's a flash of light, and the door begins to open.)

(You step forward.)

(The light clears, and the door behind you clicks shut. You look around, and you recognize where you are.)

(You're going to be sick.)

(It's. It's the house, the house of change, YOUR house of change. That stupid blinding house that trapped you for years.)

(So this was a joke wasn't it. A big grand old joke! The universe was laughing at you! You look around, your friends weren't even here to help! It was just, you.)

"Stars above. . ." (You can't help but laugh.)

(You knew this room well. It was the room you woke up in every. Single. Time. But, this time the door out was blocked, and you saw a twinkling star in the center of the room.)

(Like the one Stardust had.)

(You reach out towards the light.)

(. . . . .)

[HP fully restored, command deck refilled.]

(You blink, you were holding something in your hand and the star was gone. It was, cards? More cards? These ones were different. They depicted your knife. You could remember every intricate detail of that knife, you loved it.)

(You pick your favorite from the selection, and in a flash it turns into your knife. You twirl it around.)

". . . Iiiiiiinteresting~"

(You hear a sound, you turn to see more of those strange creatures from before rising from the ground. This time though, their eyes, they, they gave you a headache.)

(You grip your newly formed knife.) "Veeeeery interesting."

(You lash out at the creature, your knife landing true and killing it. But, at the same moment your knife disappeared in a flash of light, and there were still creatures coming.)

(Quickly, you draw another card, each one summoning a knife then quickly disappearing. Some hits stuck, some of them deflected. This way of fighting was new to you, but, you think you could get used to it.)

(Rock-paper-scissors was getting boring anyways.)

(The last shadow dissapeared in a puff of dark mist, and in its place, sat another card. Picking it up, it was a weird shade, and had one of those creatures on it.)

("Hold the card to the door to open it, and beyond it, will be your world, your home." The words echo in your head, you hold up the card to the exit door and it opens.)

(. . . Hah, if Mr.mysterous-and-forboding wants to lead you on a wild goose chase, they picked the wrong star.)

(Back to the Stage, Loop.)

>>>

(You were getting the hang of this. It had been three or four rooms so far, and each one felt more like a disconected portion of the House of Change, less than remaking the full House. But how the rooms were arranged didn't change the fact that each room filled your head with bad memories.)

(You hold your newest card in your hand. A key. Where would this one lead, you wonder.)

(You hold it up to the door, and walk through and-)

"Alright let's gooooooooo!!!"

(On pure instinct, you reach out to grab the fighter who was running past you and into the tears- wait, what?!?)

(You were standing in a hallway, THE hallway. In front of you where tears, a touch would freeze you. And, to your side, who you were reaching out to, was your Fighter.)

(You had reached out to stop him, like you had so many times before, but, another hand grabbed him before you could. You knew that hand, that cloak, that, everything.)

(You turn and look, and your party was here. Fighter, Researcher, Housemaiden, Kid, and, a-and.)

(And you.)

(Not Stardust, you.)

"Oh!"

"Huh?"

"WAH! WH-WHAT? WHAT IS IT???"

(They all reacted like they had before, but, not to you. They just looked right through you.)

"Is it the water? Should I not touch the weird floating water???"

(You whispered every word to yourself as they said it. You knew the script, you knew it by heart.)

". . . Wait, This is. . ."

(You watch as Odile picks up the rock, you watch as she throws it, as it hits the tears, as it gets frozen in time.)

"Oh!"

"OH!!!"

"OH!!! THE ROCK FROZE WHEN IT TOUCHED THE WATER!!!"

"Oh indeed, do NOT approach those. We'd probably get stuck in time like everything eles."

(You would.)

(You would have gotten frozen in time. Frozen and looped back to try again. Try again, and again, and again, and again and again and again again again again again-)

"You know this moment well, don't you."

(You turn the cloaked figure is back, taunting you.)

"Who are you?!?" (You're about to pounce on this stranger, you never wanted to be back here, you never, ever did. This was worse than death, this was torture!)

"Just a friend looking to help another Nobody." (They hold up another card and toss it to you.) "Speaking of help, you might find this of assistance."

(You catch the card, it had a depiction of a snowflake on it. You glare at the stranger.) "Well my dear friend, maybe you could be striaght forward with me for once~"

(The figure ignored your annoyance.) "That is a magic card, it looks like you remember your knifes well enough, but what your holding is something even deeper."

(Magic? What, like in fairy tales? You look at the card. There's no such thing as magic. Not in your world, anyway. You hold the card, then dramaticaly cast it to the cloaked figure. In a flash it bursts into a hail of ice shards which pass through the figure harmlessly.)

(You're dumbstruck, staring at your own, hand. What, did you, just do?)

"A natural at no-heart, it seems." (The figure waved a hand dramaticaly.) "You'll remember this and more, Loop, we'll be watching with baited breath."

"WAIT-!" (But the figure was already engulfed in darkness.) ". . . How do you even know my name?"

>>>

(Threes, threes, it always comes in threes. Or sixes, sevens, thirteens. You were holding the third card of that strange shade. The first, a key. The second, a heart, and the third? The one you held in your hand? It looked like a heart, but, wrong. The past two times you'd used these golden cards, they had led you to a memory you wanted to forget-)

(Golden? What's golden?)

(. . . You hold the card up to the door. The last few gold rooms had followed the script to the note. So, if this next room was the same. . .)

(You breathe in, and out. You walk through the door.)

(If you still had blood, it would have frozen then and there. Stars, you wish your memory of the blinding script wasn't so accurate! It, it was the final hall. The one that lead to your death. You could do nothing more, so, you walk.)

(Castle Oblivion. . . What a joke. A castle of what, the end? Destruction? Of losing and gaining? Of dying? How stupid. How blinding stupid.)

(It's only as you hesitate to the entrance to the final room do you realize, the memories of your companions were walking with you. They can't see you, but. . .)

(You shake your head. Time for the finale. You walk forward.)

(The room is covered in hair, the Kings hair, and at the end of the room, there he was. The King.)

(Your party is quiet as you approach.)

"Oh. . . Young Ones. . . Are you. . . Here to kill me. . . ?"

(His voice has a annoying, as grating, as DRAMATIC as it always was! Stars, why did your memory have to be so BLINDING GOOD, NOW of all times!!)

"Oh. . . Young Lady. . . . You stand for Change Themself, do you not. . . ?"

("I just want. . ") ". .The world to st. ." (". . ay the way it. . ") ". . is now. ." (". . . To be frozen in. . .") ". . Eternal beauty."

(You knew his words, you thought them to ourself with every sentence, every stanza. You knew your Hoursemaidens reply, your Researcher, Fighter, Kid.)

"Haha. . . Oooh. . ." (Go on, King, get on with it. You didn't want to see this next part.) "Oooh. . .Oooooh. . . Oooooh!!! The Universe weeps. . . . Th-"

"The stars. . . Cry out in grief."

(You didn't finish that sentence. There was, there was another voice in the room. A voice behind you! You turn to see who and-)

(No.)

(NO.)

(NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO.)

(The man behind you was tall, as tall as your Fighter, he had long, white hair, and armor. Armor you had seen a thousand times. Armor you never wanted to see again. The only difference between how he is now and what you fought was that he wasn't a hulking giant! It was all you could do to not rip into him right here and now.)

(The King was staring up at his own memory, eventually he looked away, and saw you staring at him.) "Oh. . . You can see me?"

(You had to drag the words out of your mouth kicking and screaming.) "Does it matter?"

"Oh. . . But that means you're here to remember. . . Aren't you?" (He looks at you, he's analysing you, you see his eyes fixate on your star-scared chest.) ". . . We've both forgotten, haven't we?"

"Does. It. Matter?" (You repeat. Come on, Loop, keep your mask together!) "I remember all I need to."

"Oh. . ." (The King looks back at his memory. The memories of you and your party were fighting him now.) ". . . Was I really this. . ."

"Dangerous?" (You finish his sentence.) "Terrifying? Ruthless? Monsterous? Take your pick, King. This is your memory, isn't it? Or are you finally seeing yourself for a monster."

(The King turns to you.) "Ah. . . No. . . This is both our memories, isn't it?"

(Stars, he's smart. Of course he is, he could see right through Stardust. Don't get fooled by him, Loop.) ". . . I've seen it play out before."

"Ah. . . Have you? I have no memory of this. . . (He turns back to the memories fighting each other.) "Those. . . Are the Saviors of Vaugarde, here to kill me. But. . . I never met them. . ."

(You don't reply, you grip your deck of cards.)

(He continues.) "Either a vision of the future. . . No. . . A vision of a past undone, yes! If time could be frozen. . . Then. . ." (He steps forward to the memories, looking over each one.) ". . . That one." (He says, pointing to the memory of you.)

". . . What about them?" (You ask, bluntly.)

"Their clothes. . . Their hair. . . How they know the other me's every move. . ." (He reaches out to touch your memory, but the past you just passes right through him.) "This Bright One has fought me before. . . Hasn't he. . ?"

". . . Stars, you're so annoying~" (You say in that sarcastic tone saved for Stardust.) "They're memories, Tyrant~ Maybe if you waited just a bit longer you'd actually see for yourself."

(He turned back to you, a look of recognition on his face. You continue.) "Pathetic! Just pathetic! You're seeing yourself for the monster you are for the first time and all you can think about is a silly little rouge in a coat! Look! You're even about to win~"

"I. . ." (He turns back to himself.) "What do you-"

"Oh. . . It's time, young ones. . ." (The memory-king says, you made sure to look away.)

(You hear the Kings roar, the screams from your party, the begging, the pleading. You hear Bonnie run away, you feel the thud, thud, thud of the Kings footseteps, and. . .)

(. . . Blood and Stars.)

(You hear a sword strike flesh, and everything goes quiet.)

(You turn back, the King is kneeling, clutching his head. You walk over to him, mocking voice at the ready.) "Hurts, doesn't it~? Hurts to see yourself as a tyranical monster who wouldn't even give someone the mercy of a death frozen in time!"

"I. . . I had to-" (He starts, you cut him off.)

"Had to what! Tell me, tyrant, what was so important as to freeze an entier country? What was so important as to cause these saviors suffering, as to cause all of Vaugarde suffering!!" (You scream.)

"Stop, I. . . I had to do it!" (He gets up.) "I couldn't. . . Couldn't let this country be lost, be. . . be-"

"Forgotten? Forgotten like that worthless little Island?!? You didn't care about this country! Admit it, you wanted to feel the satisfaction of thousands of lives being ended!"

"Liar!" (He looked furious.) "How. . . How dare you! If you know of my home, our home then. . . You must know why I wanted to freeze Vaugarde! To preserve it forever!"

"HAHAHAHA!" (You pull a card from your deck, your dagger is at your fingertips.) "Talking just like the broken record you are~ Why don't I finish what the Saviours of Vaugarde couldn't!"

"Ha. . . . Then we will fight." (The King almost looks, relieved? Excited. He lifts up a hand, also holding a deck of cards. He pulls one, and a sword appears in his hand.) "And we shall see which side the Universe favors!!"

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