Chapter Text
You wake up. Just as you always have, back in the same meadow again. What loop is it, this time? You have to dig in your memory a bit to remember, as you stopped counting at some point along the way. It’s somewhere around 100, maybe near 200. You’ve tried nearly everything you can think of, and it’s still the same. Endlessly repeating, every hall the same, every word and second, it’s all the same. Everything, everyone, everyplace, it’s all the exact same thing, over and over and over, you’re SICK OF IT.
YOU. ARE. SICK. OF. IT.
But, what can you do? It’s your fault for not being good enough. You’ve considered just killing everyone around you, but you know you could never do anything like that. You love your family too much to even think of raising your dagger at them. Slowly, you close your eye. Maybe you can just sleep for today, maybe you can rest.. But, you already know what’s coming. As if on cue, and, well, she is on cue,
"--frin!" She calls out. You’ve heard it from the Housemaiden so many times, you can already tell what she’s gonna say next. Something along the lines of good morning, napping, and whatever about coming to see her. You can blank it out, you already know it all.
But that’s weird. You’ve been waiting for her to continue for a while. Maybe she thinks you’re asleep..? But that didn’t matter to her in any other loop, she’d always call your name again and wake you up. Slowly, you open your eye and look up to her.
“LOOK AT THE STARS.”
…
…
What? What is-
“LOOK AT THE STARS.” You aren’t sure what that is. A creature, probably a Sadness, their face obscured by darkness and stars, wearing what seemed to be a dark helmet, a checkered pattern running down the middle of it. Its outfit was what looked to be a suit, and its pants.. Pure darkness, splotches of light all along and around it. It seemed to have two light swords on its back, yet the most noticeable thing was the deep and mind numbing aura around it. Swirls of nothingness, endless voids filled with stars and random flashes of light, it felt like you were being forced to look, and yet you couldn’t look at all.
Okay. You know how it looks. That doesn’t explain what it is. You try to move to pick up your dagger, but your body is entirely stuck. You can’t move. You can’t move..! Why can’t you move..!? You start to hyperventilate, stuck staring at this supposed Sadness standing over you.
“LOOK AT THE STARS. LOOK AT THE STARS.” Why does it keep saying that!? What does that mean?? You- Is it questioning your faith..? You look towards the stars every night, and sometimes even in the morning, following their guidance. The Universe, sure, has been making you the actor for an endless play, tormenting you and your mind for months on end, but.. You’ve followed it anyways, so.. What does this Sadness mean..!?
“LOOKATTHESTARSLOOKATTHESTARSLOOKATTHESTARSLOOKATTHESTARS-” It starts to say that same phrase over and over. It repeats itself constantly, the sound of it ringing in your head. You’ve got a headache now. It’s pounding, it hurts. Everything hurts, and you still can’t move. You can’t blink now, your eye seemingly forced open to stare at it. You feel your jaw tighten, your head pounding, your heart pumping, your body tensing, everything all at once. This must be a dream, you must be dreaming.. So.. Why can’t you wake up..!?
You try to scream, you try to move any part of you, even just a little twitch, that’s all you want, but your body wont listen to you..! Your ears ring loudly with every repetition of that phrase, and your vision is slowly filling with stars, slowly going dark, and as if the Universe finally listened to at least one of your pleas..
You feel.. a tug.. on your stomach.