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Ciel's list of notes was getting extensive. New entries—like "There is no act too insanely dangerous for Ruby Rose"—joined the usual ones about her semblance and the Atlas Military.

It was harder than usual for Ciel to take them down, to her frustration. Was she still thrown off by the weirdness with the bathroom? She really didn't understand why that was sticking in her head. She couldn't think of what else it could be, though. It wasn't greater-than-usual disorientation from her latest death; if anything, that was a milder, less-traumatic way to die than others she'd endured.

Great, now she was annoyed at being annoyed.

Trying to shake off the sensation, she looked back at her notes, and added a few more.

"Pyrrha didn't want this."

A lot of thought would need to go into this. If Pyrrha didn't want it, why'd she do it?

"Pyrrha goes absent during the battle."

This was a complete mystery. Ciel tried to project her own experiences into Pyrrha. It didn't work. There was no way Pyrrha had the same fear of death that had broken Ciel in loop four. Pyrrha certainly had much less cause for fear, given how much of a powerhouse she was compared to Ciel; even accounting for her Aura losses to Penny she still had much more Aura than Ciel, and out-skilled her to a laughable extent.

Fear wasn't rational, though. It didn't know those things. Could someone like Pyrrha Nikos really just succumb to her fears?

As Ciel looked back at her own experiences, she could tell that she still felt fear when she was fighting, it was just suppressed in the moment. Experience, combat routines, drills, all helped the mind stay focused and on-task instead of drowning in emotion. She'd gotten to where fear had less control of her, was the point.

How much better, then, would Pyrrha be at mastering her fear, given that her combat experience dwarfed Ciel's? Pyrrha didn't have Ciel's looping to help her confidence, but she did have a lifetime of tournament victories under her belt.

Then again, Ciel had never charged into combat having just accidentally killed someone.

Well, there was the Swan incident…

No, not the same. Swan wasn't dead. Nor would he be. If anything, Ciel had saved his life, because this was literally killing Ciel, while Swan… wouldn't have the chance.

Enough about that. The point was, Ciel didn't think Pyrrha was having some emotional reaction to going into battle. With a huff, she realized Pyrrha might have just died. Plenty of students were dying, she knew. Herself, most of all, but others too; she'd seen some go down in the courtyard, swallowed up by grimm or gunned down by AKs. In the last loop she'd had the time and attention to notice gunfire and explosions in some of the other buildings, like the dormitories. Some of her peers were getting killed in their dorms, never having the chance to reach their weapons, having almost no chance to defend themselves.

It was possible Pyrrha had died. She was in the most dangerous part of the battle, after all. Then again, she had the most tools, allies, and opportunities to survive. She had a whole team watching her back on top of it. It was hard to fathom Ciel surviving longer than Pyrrha.

There was only one way to know for sure. Ciel made a note for herself, and moved on.

Or tried to, at least. She'd thought she had a handle on her discontent and frustration. Apparently not.

She looked up at Penny going through her exercises. Even if Ciel continued to improve, even if she found a way to survive the battle with her honor intact… what good was that? If so many Huntresses died and Beacon fell, what consolation was Ciel supposed to derive from her own petty survival?

She didn't know how to stop a dragon, she didn't know how to save the Air Fleet, and she certainly didn't know how to protect Penny. It was all just so much bigger than her. She didn't see any way for one person to solve all these problems. The only thing she could think to do was… keep on looping and try to figure it out.

Aggravation.

In, tick, tick, tick, out, tick, tick, tick.

Routine. Sort your thoughts, write them down, keep them orderly. Mantras for the addled mind.

She dove back into planning her next twenty-four hours. And she promised herself she'd add another drum of ammunition to her locker.

"Bird strike."

"1615."

Normal morning.

"Gunnery score: 261."

"I'm looking for information about semblances that work without Aura."

Five more books down—no mention of no-Aura semblances, more than a few of hallucinatory/illusionary semblances. Beacon's library was extensive and the study of Aura was an important and well-explored topic, but Ciel was truly starting to worry. She couldn't doubt what was happening to her, not any more, but she was starving for information to help her understand better. Could she control her semblance? Alter it? Even a vague mention would have let her tell people, "Yes, some semblances do work like mine," which would have been invaluable when trying to convince them. Instead, nothing.

Breaking from her usual schedule, she took a chance and called Professor Absinthe back at Atlas Academy. If Ciel knew any expert on Aura and semblances, it would be her.

"You have reached the desk of Professor Absinthe. My office hours are…"

Ciel killed the call before the pre-recorded message finished. She got the gist.

Frustration on top of frustration. Ciel was in such a fit that she blew way past her usual end time for her afternoon training session, even knowing that it risked her not being at full power for that evening. She hoped to exorcise some of her ill feelings. It didn't work.

Not only that, but it meant she didn't have enough time to return to her locker and replace Metronome. She'd have to take it with her up to Amity. That would be awkward, having her weapon on her even when she wouldn't be fighting.

Well, she wouldn't be competing, at any rate.

She made her way to Beacon cliffs without conscious thought, too thoroughly immersed in her own feelings to look around much.

Which was why the flash surprised her.

She staggered back, reaching for Metronome instinctively.

"Sorry!"

Ciel gathered herself and tried to calm down. It was just the Beacon photographer Faunus again. Just like every other time.

Ciel frowned. Not like every other time. She couldn't remember the Faunus ever taking her picture, specifically…

"I just really like taking pictures of weapons," the Faunus continued apologetically. "I'm a bit of a nerd about it."

"Don't worry about it," said Ciel, who understood now. She hadn't been wearing Metronome in any previous loop, so the Faunus had never paid her much mind. Well, Ciel wouldn't bring Metronome again. This was too obnoxious.

"Like someone else I know," said the Faunus brightly. "Ruby! Hey, Ruby!"

That made Ciel frown to herself. Ruby Rose was here?

Sure enough, the youngest girl in the Vytal Tournament was trotting over to talk to the Faunus. It left Ciel more confused than ever. Had this conversation happened in previous loops? Maybe, but there was no way to know. Like most Atlesians, Ciel didn't pay much mind to Faunus unless she had to.

Well, she was paying attention now, though it was mostly to Ruby. Despite her color scheme, the girl seemed as bright and cheerful as… well, as Penny. Maybe there was a reason those two seemed to get along so well.

When the content of the conversation reached Ciel's ears, though, her attitude changed.

"…even experienced fighters can get scared and start seeing things. If it can happen to Coco, it can happen to anyone."

"Coco?"

"Yeah. She swore she saw Yatsu with her in the forest during the fight with Emerald and Mercury, but he never even made it out of the geyser fields."

Almost before she realized it, Ciel was walking towards the Beacon pair. "You think something like that happened to Yang?"

The two were startled at Ciel's appearance. Ciel realized belatedly that, as often as she'd seen the two of them, they'd seen her rarely and interacted with her never. "Ciel Soleil, Atlas Academy," she introduced herself awkwardly. "Sorry, it's just… you said something interesting. You said Coco was seeing things during her fight?"

The Faunus drew back, wary, but as awkward as Ruby clearly felt given the way she twisted under Ciel's gaze, she still was too friendly to ignore the question. "Y-yeah, that's what Velvet said."

So the photographer's name was Velvet. Good to know, maybe. "And Yang acted as if she saw something no one else saw…"

"We were just talking," Velvet said timidly.

Ruby, at least, seemed to pick up on Ciel's curiosity. "You think there's something more going on than just stress?"

Ciel blinked in realization. "I think Blake thought so," she said—not really intending to vocalize it.

"Blake? Like, my teammate Blake?" said Ruby.

Ciel nodded. "I met her in the library this morning doing semblance research. She was checking on illusion and hallucination semblances."

"So that's where she ran off to!" Ruby said, crossing her arms in a huff. "She never tells her team leader anything! Well, did you at least find anything?"

"Maybe," Ciel said. "We did some research, at least."

"I still think it was just stress," Velvet mumbled. "At least, I hope it was just stress."

"Why?" said Ruby.

"Because if this is someone's semblance in action, it means they're trying to sabotage the Festival," said Velvet. "And who would want to do that?"

That, Ciel knew, was an excellent question. "The White Fang?" she offered.

"That'd be really far from the White Fang's usual M.O.," Velvet said with a shake of her head.

"I don't know, the White Fang's been acting weird lately," said Ruby. "That's what Bl… er, that's what we think. We've tangled with them often enough to get that idea."

"You have?" said Ciel, surprised.

"Yeah!" said Ruby, warming to the subject. "Dust robberies, a fight at the docks at the end of last semester, plus the Breach before the tournament started…"

"Oh, we're boarding," interrupted Velvet. The three Huntress trainees jerked themselves back into line.

"What's 'the Breach'?" Ciel asked once they'd boarded and found seats.

"That's this whole involved thing," said Ruby, who nevertheless looked like she wanted to tell the story in all its gory detail. It was a very Penny-ish look. Good grief, no wonder they got along so well.

Ciel had her own motivations for listening besides Ruby's enthusiasm, though. Any information on the White Fang's recent actions might be useful, given that she knew the White Fang would be attacking Beacon soon enough. She listened as Ruby went on a rambling tale, full of double-backs and digressions. (Velvet paid little attention, as apparently she'd been at the Breach, although Ciel didn't find this out until halfway through.)

"Sorry," Ruby apologized as the shuttle approached Amity while she was no closer to finishing. "I love stories, but I think I'm better at listening to them than telling them."

"Isn't that everyone?" said Ciel.

"Maybe?" Ruby said with a wince.

Well, that reaction was different than Penny's, at least. Penny would have thanked Ciel for the fascinating insight into social behavior and gah, how had Ciel not realized Penny was a gynoid sooner?

They debarked onto Amity. "Well, I suppose we'll see each other again," Ciel said. In under two hours, under less pleasant circumstances.

"Say hi to Penny for me!" said Ruby, and she walked with Velvet towards the stands.

It wouldn't hurt to humor Ruby, Ciel reflected. It was a harmless gesture. She'd do it after getting what she needed out of Penny.

That sounded all wrong in Ciel's head, and she didn't like it.

"Sal-u-tations!"

"Penny," said Ciel neutrally. "Let's get you registered."

"Of course!" said Penny, exuberantly falling in alongside Ciel.

"You researched the Vytal Festival's history, right?"

"Oh, certainly," said Penny. "As part of my preparations for the tournament."

I know you did, which is why you're the one I'm asking this question. "Have there been any recorded instances of people hallucinating during a match, or seeing things that weren't there?"

"Ab-so-lutely!" said Penny brightly. "Before the introduction of Aura meters, when Haven dominated the fencing-style matches of the Tournament's early days, Beacon attempted to counter with contestants boasting sense-affecting semblances. The goal was to stay competitive without dedicating instruction time to so-called 'niche tournament techniques'—"

"I don't mean by the contestants," interrupted Ciel. She knew that if she let Penny get going, she'd miss this window to get answers before Penny had to prepare for the competition. "I mean just… spontaneously, you know, like someone breaking down under combat stress?"

Penny opened her mouth without speaking, frowned, tried again. "My knowledge of the tournament is not exhaustive," she said cautiously. "However, I do not recall any prominent stories where that happened. It might have, but if it did, it is not famous or well-documented."

"Because if it was well-documented, you'd know it," Ciel said. "You're very thorough about these things."

"That is very flattering," Penny said proudly, "although I'm not sure I deserve it. Again, I do not know of any incidents like you describe. That doesn't mean they didn't happen. However, I'm inclined to doubt it. Selection bias makes it unlikely."

"Since the schools are only sending their best," said Ciel, seeing Penny's meaning. "The Academies wouldn't send teams they're scared might suffer breakdowns mid-battle."

"Affirmative. Few teams qualify for Vytal without considerable tournament and/or field experience. It is no guarantee, but it does greatly change the odds."

"What about third parties?" Ciel pressed. "Are there records of third parties interfering with the Tournament?"

"Oh, certainly. The most famous is the match-fixing scandal of the 34th…"

"Other than that one," Ciel said in a rush.

"…Other than that, yes. One year there was an attempt to sabotage the environment selector to give certain teams favorable terrain. For several tournaments in a row, there were organized hooligans in the stands who heckled Faunus competitors with horrid slurs."

"I mean," Ciel said, trying again to steer the conversation even if it felt like driving a rock tumbling downhill, "are you aware of any instances where a third party tried to induce hallucinations or illusions? Has anyone ever interfered with a match that way?"

Penny was surprisingly quiet for a surprisingly long time. Ciel could only barely resist the urge to check her watch, but they were coming up to registration awfully quickly; if Penny didn't answer soon, Ciel would lose her chance.

"You are being very persistent and focused with this line of questioning," Penny said guardedly.

No time. Other competitors were nearing. Go for broke. "I thought something like that might have happened to Yang. I wanted to know if there was any historical precedent."

Penny's guard dropped. "Oh, I see now. That is a legitimate inquiry, and one in which I have a personal interest to boot. Unfortunately, I do not know. I have not read of any incidents like what you describe, but I imagine it would be difficult to detect such interference, and even more difficult to prove."

Tell me something I don't know. "It fits, though," said Ciel. "You thought Yang was too nice to do something like that, didn't you?"

"Positively," Penny agreed. "That's what makes the event so confusing. I can understand how comforting it would be to say this is someone else's fault. Still, all you have is a theory that fits the facts, rather than positive evidence. That will convince few."

A few would be enough, if they were the correct 'few'. Too bad she couldn't get to those 'few'. "Thanks, Penny," Ciel said, mind trying to digest all this new information. "Oh, by the way, Ruby says hi."

The words made Penny almost incandescent. "She does? Sen-sational!"

They were adorable, they really were. Ciel thought she might be sick from cuteness overload. Which made what was about to happen even more dreadful.

Screw these loops.

Penny. Pyrrha.

Ciel watched the match from the stands as a matter of course, but this time she had an extra mission: to give Penny's return message to Ruby.

("…and I am certain that this approach will be adopted when we complete our after-action reports and submit our weaponry for refabrication—all of which is to say, Hi to you, too!")

As Ciel looked around, however, she noticed something wrong. Where was Ruby?

"What a dazzling display!"

No, really, where was Ruby? Where could she be?

She wasn't in any part of the competitors' bleachers. She wasn't…

"Oh my!"

There was Ruby, breaking out of a maintenance hallway—odd, why would she be—

A horrible tearing sound.

Silence, then a flood of distress.

"This was not a tragedy."

Ruby Rose fell to her knees and wept openly as pandemonium erupted all around her.

Damn this, damn all of it—just when Ciel thought nothing about this battle could be more horrible, she saw a heart crushed in front of her. Just when she thought she had it rough…

She had never cared before, she realized. Penny wanting to spend time with Ruby had been an obstacle, something that interfered with keeping Penny safe, on-schedule, and out of trouble. The idea that their bond might be a good thing, that it might have value because of how much they cared about it and wanted it, was only now breaking into Ciel's mind… in the worst possible way.

Just how selfish had Ciel been?

To think, at first she'd been upset about Penny's death because it reflected poorly on Ciel! As if her petty feelings were more important than the gynoid's life!

There was a shattering sound, then a heavy impact and a rush of air around Ciel. It was the Nevermore, she knew without looking; she had eyes only for Ruby. Ruby saw the grimm. Her eyes went wide despite the tears. Then she grimaced in determination and, without so much as wiping her face, dashed down the concourse like a bullet, down onto the arena floor, and into the Nevermore's chest, driving one of Penny's daggers home with berserker courage.

No matter how many times she saw it, Ciel still couldn't believe it. Couldn't help but want to follow.

Ciel's fingers flew to her scroll and called in her rocket locker. Hers wasn't the first, but it was in that grouping. She was pleased with how well it nailed one of the Nevermore's tail feathers to the arena floor.

Even so, she only got to her locker after her peers had exterminated the beast. She gathered her three reserve magazines and followed Ruby's lead to the docks, although she shaded her way towards Pyrrha and her team as she went.

When they were on board the shuttle down to Beacon, she made her move—not on Pyrrha herself, but on the ginger in the row behind. The ginger was vibrating with restrained energy, like she wanted to get in the middle of the murmured conversation between Pyrrha and her blonde companion, but also like she knew not to.

"Team JNPR, right?" Ciel said.

"That's us! Nora Valkyrie, at your service!" the ginger replied exuberantly. She seemed very relieved to have an excuse to talk, and the bottled-up energy was releasing itself at Ciel all at once.

"I don't have a team to stick with during the fight," Ciel said. "Could I tag along with you?"

"The more the merrier!" Nora replied. Her eyes glanced at Ciel's weapon. "Stick with Jaune, would you? He's kinda range-limited, if you know what I mean."

"Okay," said Ciel, pretty sure that Nora meant Jaune didn't have firearms and wasn't making a crude joke.

"Are you sure?" said Nora's slender, dark companion. "Jaune has an important job right now." He jerked his head in Pyrrha's direction. Pyrrha wasn't showing much emotion, but, judging by the constant stream of words from Jaune towards her, they all knew she was feeling it.

"I'll be discreet," Ciel promised. "I'll cover him without him having to worry about it."

That got tall, dark, and moody to relax. Nora gave a grin and a thumbs-up. "Al-right, but you owe us the story later as to why you don't have a team!"

Ciel started to protest that, No, she certainly owed Nora nothing—but she realized before the words escaped that she wouldn't survive to fill that promise, so there was no harm in making it. "Okay."

"Coming in hot!" came the call from the cockpit.

Once more into the fray, thought Ciel, and she followed Jaune and Pyrrha onto the battlefield.

If Sun was a bouncy ball and Flynt was a turret, JNPR was a stormcloud: all thunder and fury, and even when it was buffeted this way or that, it always raged back. Jaune translated Ciel's callouts into sharp orders, and his team responded with speed and violence. Even the arrival of the Wyvern did little to stop them. Ciel was beginning to wonder how long this could go- and when those stupid Paladins would show up- when Jaune jerked to a halt. "Pyrrha?"

Ciel looked to him and on to Pyrrha, who had gone stock-still and was staring wide-eyed towards the base of the Emerald Tower. Following her eyes, Ciel saw a figure standing outside the base.

Headmaster Ozpin. Ciel recognized him from the official functions of the Vytal Festival and Tournament. The shaggy gray hair and cane were instantly recognizable at any distance. He wasn't saying or doing anything—just standing like a sentinel, and staring back at Pyrrha.

It must have meant something to her. With a dazed expression on her face, with no word nor gesture to her team, Pyrrha set off towards Ozpin, batting aside a Beowolf without breaking her focus or her stride.

"Where is she going?" asked Nora.

"I'll go find out," said Jaune, and he trotted after her. "You two stay here and keep fighting!"

He'd been looking at Ren and Nora. Ciel's existence had dropped from his mind. All that mattered to him was whatever was happening with Pyrrha.

It was an irresistible temptation. Once, Ciel wouldn't have had the brain cycles for curiosity, but this part of the battle was familiar enough that she could pool some concentration over her brain's terrified yammering.

What could be so important that Ozpin, who would have been damn useful holding the line, was taking himself and Pyrrha Nikos out of it?

She had to know. Unloading a quarter of a drum to scatter a White Fang fire team, she sprinted for the Emerald Tower.

She was through the front door in time to see the elevator start its descent. No one was in the lobby, and there didn't seem to be anywhere else for a person to go. Ciel walked towards the elevator, led by her curiosity like a fish on the line.

The indicator above the elevator changed to 'B'—a table beside the elevator's call buttons showed this meant 'Basement'. Its descent continued to SB ("Second Basement") and AG ("Art Gallery", which raised more questions than it answered).

Then the indicator went blank. The down arrow went out, but Ciel thought she could faintly hear the elevator continuing to descend. It was going somewhere off the books. Now Ciel knew where Pyrrha had disappeared to, but not why or to what end or-

The roar of battle grew suddenly louder.

Ciel whirled and saw the door had been opened. A woman walked through, tall, with a glorious mane of dark hair and an alluringly cut red dress. There was nothing attractive at all about her eyes, though: amber, greedy, and pitiless.

"You shouldn't have followed them," the woman said as she let the door close behind her. "Too bad for you."

Ciel brought Metronome to bear. "Who are you? What are you—"

The woman's hands flicked, and twin swords, black and sharp as obsidian, materialized in her grip.

Ciel unleashed Metronome, but the woman dodged so far so swiftly that the whole burst missed. Before Ciel could correct her aim, the woman was sprinting at her, closing the distance faster than Ciel could turn.

Panicking, Ciel thumbed Metronome to swap to mace form, but the woman was just too quick. She slammed the point of one sword into the mecha-shift assembly, then snapped the sword to the side, breaking off the tip and leaving it in place.

Metronome jammed, stuck in an incomplete transformation. Ciel had lost before she could make a second attack.

Not that the woman stopped just because she'd won. She swung the other sword, smashing into Ciel's Aura. Ciel dropped her disabled weapon and tried to close for unarmed combat. The woman laughed at her, danced away from her clumsy swings, and, after letting Ciel take one more jab she dodged with humiliating ease, closed for the kill.

One slash, another, and on the third slash Ciel's Aura buckled. Each hit had been amongst the hardest Ciel had ever tanked, hard as the White Fang's rockets, and each had been delivered too fast for Ciel to follow. With a contemptuous laugh, the woman kicked Ciel to the floor and loomed over her, amber eyes bright with malice. A tongue of flame seemed to wick away from her right eye without scorching her—she really was untouchable.

"I do love killing Atlesians," the woman purred, "even ones as weak and meaningless as you."

And she stabbed Ciel in the chest.

Ciel never had liked needles.

Ciel's brain shorted out, swamped with primal terror—she stabbed me, I'm dead, I'm dead, I'm dead—

Her vision went black as her head jerked back but the panic remained, flooding her brain, she flailed and writhed but that just made it worse, made the sword cut deeper, she couldn't breathe it was in her lung and now it was hot, so hot, so hot…

Searing pain from inside the stab wound, impossible heat like a furnace opened in her chest, like fire in her veins, Ciel's lungs were empty from screaming but still she tried as the heat grew and grew until she thought she must burst apart—

Bright!

Screaming in fear, lunging back from the stab and the heat, slamming into something behind her—no!—surrounded no weapon the heat the pain…

No. No heat. No pain.

"Miss Ciel, are you okay?"

Vomit.

It was like her body, surprised at the sudden lack of pain, decided to inflict some on itself.

"Don't call emergency services," Ciel gasped as soon as she could breathe.

"Why not?"

"I'll be okay," lied Ciel. "I'll be okay."

Slowly, slowly, her situational awareness returned as her senses stabilized. There was no impaling sword punched through her chest. There was no molten lava in her bloodstream. There were no gloating amber eyes blazing as bright as any pyre. She could breathe without it hurting. She could move without that revenant appearing out of nowhere. She was okay.

It would be a while before Ciel had enough control to attempt her breathing exercises, but she could tone down the spasming, at least.

When at last Ciel had settled her stomach, moved away from the puddle of puke on the floor, and rolled to a sitting position, she opened her eyes to look around.

She was in the simulator room.

Not the hallway leading to the simulator room. The simulator room itself.

Her stomach revolted again. It had emptied completely the first time, but that didn't stop it trying.

"You are making me want to call emergency services regardless of your words," Penny said with alarm.

Ciel tried to wave Penny down as soon as she could speak without gagging. "Don't worry, just… get started, I'll be right back. Gonna clean up."

Feeling Penny's eyes on her the whole time, Ciel staggered to her feet and stumbled out of the simulator, headed for the bathroom.

It took longer than usual to put herself back in order. Part of it was that Death continued to find new and innovative ways to torment her. Stabbed and cooked alive from the inside-out? She had a second-place entry now on her list of 'worst ways to die', which was an absurd thing to have a list for, but Ciel's life was absurd now.

The greater part was coming to terms with how she'd returned this time. The circumstances. Something was wrong, and she couldn't start to understand it until the sensation of wrongness started to subside.

Inventory. Survival 101. Take an inventory.

The wrongness didn't reside with her. She looked in the mirror, checking and double-checking everything about herself. No. She looked normal enough. Survival items- wallet, watch, scroll- were all on her person. Her body didn't betray any of the fatigue or shock she felt, mostly because this version of her body hadn't felt them yet. Her body didn't know to send adrenaline through her bloodstream or spike her heartrate, and why would it? It didn't know she was losing more and more sleep every night, because it hadn't lost any yet.

Why this unusually harsh reaction to her return, then? She closed her eyes and thought. Because she'd come back in the simulator room. The simulator room. She'd always come back in the hallway before.

The hallway before she'd gotten to the simulator…

Even last time, when she'd come back and the bathroom was in the wrong place.

No—no, she realized, and now her heartrate was coming up, along with her breathing and her blood pressure and her adrenaline. The bathroom wasn't in the wrong place. Ciel had come back in a different place that time. She'd come back further down the hallway, and this time further still.

No, further was the wrong dimension, this wasn't about distance. This was about time. Not further. Later.

Ciel gasped as realization rushed through her like an icy flood. She grabbed for her scroll, flubbed it, dropped it to the floor, regained it with quivering hands, and brought up its note-taking mode.

She stared at it, trying to wrangle this huge, monumental shift to her reality into words.

"When I die, I return to a later point each time I loop."

It would have been hard to tell at first, since each death would have put her in the same hallway—no milestones, and she wasn't looking for it because she wasn't expecting it, so there was no way for her to notice what she was losing. But with the bathroom, and now with the simulator, there could be no question. She was returning to later times.

There was no reason to believe she would loop back to any earlier point, and no reason to believe she could reverse the trend of later and later return times. Which led her, inevitably, to one final, devastating conclusion. Tears blurred her eyes as she wrote the last note.

"I am running out of time."

Next time: Reach