#rukemis

They grunt, massaging their throat. "You use words, too." Usually.

"That's even more like magic!" They pinch the bridge of their snout and go silent for a while. Siffrin watches the minute twitching of the feathers around their ears. "Whatever, this is no more unbelievable than time loops. Is that what makes those weird matryoshka-looking statues dance around?"

"Matry-what?" He raises an eyebrow. "The Change God statues?"

"Sure, yes, Change God, whatever." They dip their head. "Is that how they move? I assumed there was always some sort of mechanism inside, but could never get close enough to check."

He shakes his head. "Crafted that way."

"Oh, don't look at me like I should know these things. Take it easy on this ol' foreigner." They close their eye for even longer than before. "Just tell me about Craft. Pretend I'm just a little baby being given their first lesson."

Siffrin hums and thinks. How to explain to a child... A very large child covered in knives.

They take a deep breath and do their best to explain as simply, yet quickly as possible, with their throat fighting them the entire way. He snaps his fingers and whispers 'Make up the Time,' and Craft energy sparkles around them.

"Oh," Loop gasps. Their ears are fully forward, and the large feathers between them vibrate. They look away and speak almost too low for Siffrin to hear. "That's—no, that wouldn't...they're nothing alike, you're just grasping at stars now." Their claw taps against the back of their hand, and they sway their head from side to side, looking at nothing in particular. "But the rules are different here..."

Their gaze focuses back on Siffrin. "You say everyone can do this right?"

"Most everyone." Where is this going?

Loop digs at a spot between their teeth. "And this power—Craft, it's just you who controls it? Within yourself?"

"...Yes?" Siffrin's head tilts as they raise their eyebrow.

"No other, er...entities in there with you? Helping you?"

"........No?"

"Hmm. Definitely not that, then. Unless..." Loop bites down on their nail. Siffrin massages their own fingers as Loop's talon cracks between their teeth. They don’t even seem to notice they did that outside of a small twitch as they mumble to themself. "Well, we've already blinding established this place is weird as fuck so why wouldn't humans be able to do it on their own?"

There's that word again. Fuck?

"Do what? Craft?"

"Huh?" Loop is jerked from their thoughts. "Oh, uh, yes. Craft."

"Where are you from?" Siffrin narrows their gaze. They continue to massage their throat. It's getting a little easier for him to talk, but the words still come out with a bit of a wheeze.

"Far away." Loop seems only half paying attention. They mumble something too low for Siffrin to hear.

"How far?"

"Very."

Siffrin grumbles.

"Further than Ka Bue?"

"Err," they tilt their head and look off to the side, "sure, yes."

Siffrin narrows their gaze.

"It's not important stardust~!" They press the tips of their claws together in front of the star on their chest. Something about the cracked one makes Siffrin's head feel like it's being squeezed.

"Why are you calling me that, anyway?"

They hum and stare off pensively. "It..." They continue to gaze into the distance as their ears pull back further and further. "Doesn't matter." They shut their jaws with a click and throw their peppy mask right back on. "We're getting off track, stardust~! We need to find you a solid plan to kick that piece of shit into next week and break these loops~!"

What even are these swears? Shit???

Another sigh. "Right, yeah."

Siffrin grabs their upper arms and rubs hard, grimacing. They don't want to even think about going back in the blinding building again, but...

"Oh, uh, erm, well..." They shift positions on the branch. "Perhaps go at him from a different angle. Sneak up from behind. Drop the ceiling on him. Poison him. Set him on fi—" They cut themself off with a grimacing snarl. They raise a paw toward the left side of their face but stop and weave their fingers through their other hand. "Electrocute him?"

"Electro-what?"

"You know, like electricity? Lightning? None of you have Lightning Craft or whatever?"

Siffrin blinks. "No? How would we even do that?"

"Ehh, never mind." They wave their paw at him in a brushing motion. "My vote is poison~! That's usually how they disposed of tyrants back then...I think. Or maybe...ehh..." They pause and mumble quietly to themself. Siffrin leans forward. "Do I really want to go there..?"

"Go where?" Their breathing picks up, and he finds himself gripping the branch harder.

"Ah...er...well if it's to defeat a tyrannical monarch I suppose the er...ethics of it all will cancel out, really no different than regular poison, after all." They heave a long sigh. "You could always gas him."

"What?"

"You know. Poison gas. I loathe to suggest chemical warfare, but desperate times call for desperate measures, I suppose. Just throw some bottles of chlorine and ammonia on him and run for the hills and just wait for him to die horribly."

"Chlorine and ammo-what? Where would I even find any of that?"

"Hmm, so that’s probably not a thing yet," they say in a low voice. Siffrin's not sure if they were meant to hear it.

Not a thing yet? He squints.

"Never mind," Loop says a bit louder. "I suppose that's for the best. It's more likely you'd end up poisoning yourselves and the entire house as well. I'm guessing you probably don't have guns either, otherwise somebody would have shot him by now."

"What are any of these things?" Siffrin raises a brow. "Are you…from the future?"

Loop's eye twitches, and they stare straight into him. "Would saying 'yes' get you to stop asking me questions about myself?"

He sighs. "Fine." Not worth pushing right now.

"Then yes!" they sing with a flutter of their wings. "I'm from the future! Five million, six-hundred thirty-six thousand, and two years to be precise~!"

Siffrin just looks at them.

"Anyway, lye!"

"Huh!?"

"You know, mix ash with water and you get stuff that burns real bad! I think...something like that. Just get a few buckets full and splash it on him and run away until his face is half-melted off, then finish him off~! Much less likely to poison the surrounding area!"

Siffrin grimaces at the thought. Gruesome, but still kinder than the King deserves. Ohh, if only he could force it down his throat until it rips through his innards and burns him from the inside out until there's nothing left. They claw at their stomach as images of that fate flash through their mind.

"I guess I can try... If not that, then something. The worst that can happen is we all die and start again." 

…

They don’t want to think about the again .

"That's the spirit stardust~! Think outside the box, and you may find victory! But oh!" They tilt their head and let out a slow rattling from their throat, almost like a growl. "You say he has this one attack that kills you all at once, correct?"

Siffrin flinches as the wet crackling of Mirabelle's body slamming against the floor reverberates through their mind. Nothing's too gruesome for the King.

He nods.

"How?"

"Huh?"

"Like, does he smash you like bugs?" Loop swipes their claws out in front of them. "Or shoot you with something?"

"Oh." He swallows. "He kind of just cries and..." They snap their fingers. "And then our heads just—" He makes a clawed gesture with both hands and fakes slamming them against his head.

"He crushes your heads? That certainly is brutal, to say the least."

"Not literally. Just...hurts so so so so much and then we—" They curl over and cover their ears and massage their temples.

"Hmm, well, perhaps some hearing protection, to start."

"It's not sound, it's some sort of Craft."

"Right, Craft. I feel like your party would be a lot more help in that department than me, but it seems you haven't asked them for help."

"I can't." He flinches in on himself.

"Why not?"

"I can't let them know we can't win." They can't. They can't. Even when they did. They. Still. Can't. Win.

Another sigh. "But you say you did, once. And they might know something we don't."

"I would have found something on my own by now."

Loop growls from deep in their chest. "Well, stardust, I don't know how much help I could possibly be if you don't work with your party too. As much as you told me about—" they wave their hand in a circular gesture, "everything...you still didn't give me that much to work with."

"I can't tell them."

Loop rolls their whole head in a groan. "I don't see why it would matter if they forget either way, but I suppose you're not budging on this."

Siffrin doesn't speak for a moment. They kick at a Crafted lantern dangling by their foot. They miss. 

Of course. 

“Be careful!” Loop snaps, puffing up immediately. “Are you trying to set the entire forest on fire?”

“What?” They look at the light. “With the Crafted lantern?”

“Is that not real fire?” They twist their head as their feathers relax.

“No, it’s Crafted .”

“Right,” they blink and slowly break their gaze from the lantern. “Anyway, your party.”

"I've made it this far not telling them."

Loop snorts. "And where has that gotten you?" They sigh with a faint rattle. Their exhale lasts much longer than Siffrin expects, and they find themself feeling winded just watching it.

"Perhaps...you say the hero of time, the main character, Maribel, is the one destined to defeat the King, perhaps she was the one who's supposed to deal the finishing blow? That's usually how it is in the stories."

"Mirabelle," they correct. "And this isn't a..." His eye snaps wide, and their head shoots up. "Wait. Mira. MIRA is the Change God's chosen one, not me! Loop!"

"Eep! Yes, stardust?" They dig their claws into the branch.

"You're a blinding genius! What if that's it!? Oh! Oh stupid, stupid, stupid! She's the one supposed to kill the King, not me! We tried so so many times, and when we finally got him to his knees I...I..."

You ruined everything, idiot. Stupid. You were so close and your blinding useless self had to make the final hit. All that work, all the pain they went through was for nothing because you DIDN'T BLINDING LET MIRA DEAL THE FINISHING BLOW?

"Er, stardust?" They don't seem convinced even though it's obvious Siffrin is right!

"Ha! This is good, this is great even! If it's something that simple, then all we have to do is go through the house again, and I'll just let Mira finish him off herself! That's fine! This is fine!"

Loop carves circles into the bark. "Er... well that is a good theory, but suppose that's not the ans—"

He doesn't even let them finish. They can't ruin the moment. "It is it! It has to be!"

Because if it's not, then...

Then...

Loop claps their hands together and perks up their head feathers. "Okay. Well. You're the expert on this uni-country, perhaps you still know things I don't!" They tilt their head, smiling with their single eye. The muscles around their destroyed one twitched in an attempt to mirror the grin. It falls after a brief moment, and they speak again. "But suppose it isn't?"

"It has to be. It has to be." Siffrin repeats it like a mantra, not even processing Loop's words. "We just...we can...we just have to do it again. Just...if I repeat what I did last time. Then we can do it. We can do it and we'll be free and...and..." He just has to brave the House one more time. Just once more.

"Thank you, Loop. Thank you. This has to be it. It has to be!" They look at Loop's puffed-out feathers and are overcome with the urge to bury their face in them. They seem so soft. Like a giant chicken.

But no, that would be weird. Maybe even weirder than doing that to another human in Loop's eyes...eye. Who knows how rukemis are about touch.

"Ehh...You're...quite welcome stardust~!" Their lilt is back again. "Let me know how it goes."

"You'll still be here, right?"

"Perhaps," they shrug with a little flair of their wings. "Or I might have moved on already and vanished back into the shadows where I belong! I don't know!"

"Oh." They did say they weren't supposed to interact with humans, didn't they? Siffrin can't help but feel a little hurt either way. "Well—" He gazes up to the canopy at the dim light filtering through.

"Stars! Stars! Blind it all!" He looks around wildly and sees more light from every direction. "It's so late! I have to sleep! I—" They jump down and almost slip off the lower branch. "Thank you, Loop! Again!" His feet hit the ground, and his knees buckle. Static runs up their legs, but they shake it off and take one last look at Loop and wave. "I'll have to thank you in person when we win! I'll bring you a whole roast chicken or something."

" Please don't ." Loop's entire body seemed to flatten with their ears.

"Okay, well. Something else then. Good night! Good morning! Whatever it is!" They take off.

"Wait!"

He skids to a halt and whirls around. "Yes, Loop?" His grin is wide and starts to hurt again. They can barely see Loop from where they stand.

"Don't tell anyone about my existence." Their words are low. "Please."

"What? Why?"

"Like I mentioned earlier." They lower their head so Siffrin can see them better. "I'm really, really not supposed to be talking with humans here. And I'm-I'm risking a lot following my gut to speak with you. But every part of me is telling me the consequences of not contacting you will be far worse."

"Oh." He's not sure what to make of it, and frankly, he doesn't feel like he has the space in his racing mind to think too deeply on it. "Okay."

"So you won't tell?"

"No. Of course not. What's one more secret, anyway?" they mumble, half to themself.

"Great!" Loop lights up with their chipper tone. "I knew you'd understand. I wish you the best of luck in your regicidal endeavor~!"

"Thank you. Thank you so much, Loop. I'll be back. I promise!" They turn and run off, stumbling a bit as the pins and needles subside.

Loop doesn't reply, but Siffrin can almost sense them waving awkwardly back.

This is it. It has to be it. This is it. It has to be it.

They slip on a dewy leaf but catch themself in the nick of time.

Duh. Of course. Of course. She's the chosen one, not you! You're just Siffrin! Just a traveler who's on this journey because he has nothing better to do! Of course, it's not you who should have dealt the final blow!

They breeze through the town, over the broken bridge, and slip into the Clocktower as quiet as a mouse.

It's just so simple, of course you messed it up!

He creeps up the stairs and moves past the sleeping bodies of his friends.

This has to be it.

Odile is sleeping in her usual face-up position with her notebook opened against her chest.

It has to be it!

The—Bonnie somehow has Mirabelle's sleeping cap wrapped around their hand and half the blanket wrapped around a leg.

It has to be. For them.

He comes to a stop by Isabeau. He's curled up against the wall, holding onto Siffrin's pillow for dear life. His face is pulled tight, less relaxed than his normal sleeping face.

A pang works its way through Siffrin's chest. Have they worried him that much that he can't even escape it in his dreams?

They slip in beside him and wrestle a bit of the blanket away. Their cloak should be enough to keep them from freezing but it would be nice to not wake up with frostbitten toes.

He has to sleep, he has to rest. He has to get this done this loop. It has to be it! They squeeze their eye shut and let out a long, slow breath. Isabeau positively radiates heat, and Siffrin finds themself sliding closer and closer.

Not too close, though—that would be disgusting of him—just until his back hits the pillow he wishes was under his head.

It's fine though; their arm will suffice for now. It's probably fair after all the times they've stolen the blankets from him, after all.

Okay. They squeeze their eye shut. Sleep time.

Sleep time.

Just a little bit is all they ask.

They think about mangoes.

Maybe they can find some after this is over.

He thinks about chasing a thieving fox carrying some bread stolen from a crying Bonnie.

He'll get that fox back some day.

They think about...

The sound of shattering bones.

No. No. It's fine. We'll get the...the...oh, you never finished talking about that part, did you?

It's fine! You'll figure something out. Maybe you do just need hearing protection!

That's it. It has to be.

It has to be.

It has to be.

They find themself mouthing the words as their body gets heavy.

Please. Please. Please, it has to be it.

It has to be.

They won't let any other thought enter their mind.

It has to—

"FRIN WAKE UP!"

Siffrin launches upright and finds themself on the floor in a flash, and in another flash, Isabeau is by his side.

"It has-wha?" They blink in the bright light beaming down on them through the opened window.

"What!? Frin, you can't sleep in today! We gotta kick the King's crabbing butt! Breakfast is ready. Let's go!" They scamper off and stomp loudly down the stairs to the dining area.

"You okay, Sif?" Isabeau hovers over them.

"Huh? Yeah, was just dreamin'."

"Okay, you weren't out too late, were you?" He holds a hand out to them.

Siffrin grapples the sides of the bed and hauls themself up. Isabeau lets his hand fall to his side and makes a shaky fist as they get their bearings on their own.

"Okay, okay, food. breakfast. Let's go." They stumble out of the room and down the stairs to the dining area. Isabeau follows after a moment of hesitation and settles at the table next to Bonnie.

"Good morning, Siffrin!" Mirabelle smiles over a massive stack of pancakes. "How are you feeling? Better, I hope?"

"Huh?" They plop down next to her. "Oh, yes, much better! All I needed was a good night's sleep."

They still do. He shovels his own breakfast down his throat, ignoring how it tastes like nothing and vanishes into an infinite void.

Mirabelle studies their face as they plaster their smile back on. After a moment, she smiles softly and leans back in her chair, hugging her orb to her chest.

"Okay, if you're sure, then that's a relief! You had us all worried yesterday."

Odile sets down her utensils. "Yes, you were acting a bit concerning, so I'm relieved to see you more...together...today... More or less. I shouldn't have to remind you that we all need to be at our best."

Siffrin nods vigorously. "Yep! At my best! I'm pretty confident about everything now!"

Isabeau smiles. "Well, if Sif is feeling this confident, then we really don't have anything to worry about, do we?" Siffrin almost doesn't see his smile fall as they turn their attention to their last pancake.

Nope. Because this is it. The last loop. We can get through in one go, and this time I won't be stupid and I'll let Mirabelle make the kill!

He swirls his fork in the leftover syrup on his plate. "Orb-viously this'll be a piece of pan- cake!"

"Ha!" Isabeau crows while everyone else nearly falls from their chairs from rolling their eyes so hard.

It has to be it.

He blinks and they're all standing before the House's gate.

It has to be it.

They all place their orbs into the slots in the gate. Siffrin hums just loud enough to muffle the scraping sound of the massive door opening.

He slips inside the moment he can and nearly leaves his party in the dust. When Odile chides him, he waits a moment, almost jogging in place for them to catch up.

There's no other options.

They're past the first hallway and are presented with three doors.

Siffrin stops. Their eye flicks between the doors, and they think.

Weren't there just two doors? Storage room with the key and the way forward.

They move to the right and enter a nearly empty room.

Definitely not a storage room. He spots the key on the ground and mentally shrugs as he picks it up.

Must be misremembering things. It has been a while since they were on the first floor.

They nod along to their friend's dialogue and move on to the room opposite them the moment there's a lull in conversation.

Ah, yes, this is the storage room. He taps his toes to the floor as Odile walks around and snatches every tonic and broth up into her bag.

Yeah, this seems right, he thinks. He must have just mixed it up with another room.

It's fine. It's fine! He just has to be on his toes more and get them all through this safely. No room for mistakes.

Isabeau approaches him and looks as if he's about to speak, but Siffrin moves on.

No room for mistakes. This is the last loop.

It has to be.

They almost run through the long, empty hallway ahead.

It has to be.

"Wait, Siffrin!" Mirabelle cries out, but they keep going.

It h—

There's a click from above him and in an instant their whole body reacquainted with the floor, both inside and out and in every direction.

It's quick—just a little fire in every single nerve before it all goes dark and they're thrown into the uncaring void.

Ah.

Right.

The rock trap...

'No room for mistakes!'

'This is the last l—'

They

            feel

                            a

              tug

on

                   their

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