"Sorry but....this isn't our stop." Sif responded, trying to hide his face under his hat. 

"What?!" Chef looked hurt and shocked as he turned around to properly face all of you. "Why not?!"

"Siffrin....we can't." You could hear the pain in Mira's voice as she responded simply.

It wasn't like you WANTED to leave them all. They were family as much as all of you were. The last two days had been so much fun! Living and traveling together, everyone learning so much about each other. But....it couldn't stay that way. You all knew that.

"It wouldnt be a good idea for all of us to come with you into your world." Rekishi explained when all of you were unable to find the words. "While I myself might be alright, the rest of our party are copies of all of you! We wouldn't want people going around asking about such a thing. Besides....you all are a year behind us timeline wise! We can't go having such paradoxes..."

"Shi's right." Bonbon agreed with the eldritch god, the young researcher frowning but...understanding. "It might cause a lot more problems..."

"But....But we don't KNOW that!" Traveler Mira was rather distressed at the idea of splitting the group now. "You guys are so strong! If we had your help...the King wouldn't stand a chance! And I'm SURE we can figure out something for Wolf and Vee! Please..."

"Mira..." Your double seemed to know she was upset but....he likely understood that you didn't have a choice. "It's not something any of us can risk."

She frowned even more at hearing his words, clenching her fists at her sides. Everyone looked upset in fact. Saying goodbye....was never easy... You...didn't want to say it. You raised a hand to your shoulder, tracing the seam where your Housemaiden double had helped you with patching your shirt. You didn't think you had anything you could give to them, nothing to let them know you'd see each other again like how Loop had promised Sif. You had one of Housemaiden's little Change God statues in your pocket, a little travel token. But...you didn't have anything you could give back....unless....

You reached in your pocket, you didn't carry much with you. But you had this, handy for quick patches when it had been new...but now.

"Housemaiden, catch." You tossed him the tiny object and saw him raise a hand to catch the little wooden spool. "It's not much but... it's something that won't cause a stir if anyone else sees it."

It was just a little empty wooden spool. The thread having been used up. There was no markings, no dents, nothing that would set it apart from any other wooden spool. And yet....it meant a lot to you. BOTH of you. You had used it up during this strange event to patch your shirt. It was simple and meaningless to anyone else....but for you, for him, it held the memories of this encounter. You hoped it would bring him some comfort... it couldn't be easy carrying the fate of a country on his shoulders. And with different criteria than what you had known...

"This is...." He was looking at it, seeming to understand.

A strange sound behind you made you spin on your heel, tossing a ball of Rock Craft at the Sadness that had come out of the forest. One of the bad things about this place was that it had gained the Sadness Swarms of Housemaiden's world. There was over a dozen of them creeping out from the trees now. 

"A Sadness Swarm!" You heard Travel Mira behind you gasp. 

"Go! We'll hold them off!" You called over your shoulder to the other group. 

"But--" Chef hesitated, you knew they were looking at the odds you all were faced with but... you glanced back to see the exit had shrunk.

"GO!!!" You heard Sif hiss desperately as you focused ahead. "The portal is CLOSING!!! You guys HAVE to go!"

"But those things are still coming!" Battle-dile had noticed the numbers. "You'll be overwelmed!"

"M'adame....I am sorry for this." You hear Mira say before you heard her familuar roar and felt the heat of a wall of fire behind you. 

The Sadnesses had noticed all of you and you saw Rekisi raise her hands to send out a wave of ice across the area. You charged ahead to smash any Sadnesses that had been frozen, it didn't get all of them but it got a lot of them. You raised your gaze to look at the other group  across the wall of fire that Mirabelle had put up. You locked eyes with your double who seemed....torn on what to do.

"GO!!!" You commanded, knowing this was hard. "You have a country to save! Don't worry about us! JUST GO!!!"

You saw his expression shift from a stunned state into pain and then he finally managed to tear himself away from watching the fight to turn back to his own team.

"You heard him!" He told his group, instructing them all towards the portal. "Let's go..."

You saw Travel Mira cast one last heartbroken gaze back at all of you before all of them vanished through the strange exit. They had barely reached the other side before it snapped closed. You felt the pain in your heart but couldn't allow yourself to cry. Turning back to the battle at hand, the Sadnesses were still coming.

"Never was one for 'goodbye'...." Odile commented as a sharp slice of Paper Craft carved right through a Rock Type Sadness like butter.

"These things don't quit!" Siffrin complained as he pulled his dagger out of one of the fallen creatures and then immediately focused on another.

"Well....good thing none of us die easily, right?" You cracked your knuckles and put on a smile. 

"CAN WE NOT TEST THAT PLEASE?!?" Squawked the owlbear cub beside you, claws pinning one of the smaller Sadnesses.