The battle between Doppelganger Arle and the Darle Princess went on way too long. It was still going on. Carbuncle got bored cheering on his former companion and took a nap. They were in no short supply of Puyo.

Yet they were both emotionally invested to keep on battling.

The room's door opened. It was the Wahre Arle, that's the blue one. She's confused. "How many of me are there left?" She scratched her head at the two fighting.

"Dangit! I knew forgot to kill you!" Doppelganger Arle snarled at Wahrer Arle.

"Arly, to my side!" The Prince continued to struggle.

"Why should I listen to anothe- Satan?"

"I'm so flattered you recognized me." He tried to tone down the lovie stuff so he could still focus on the battle. It didn't last. "Quick to my side, being helped by my true love will turn me back to normal, and defeat this no good impostor."

Arle nodded. "But, you do know you're an imposto-"

"Not now, Arly! We can talk how in love we are later."

"Erm… Let's defeat her first, Princess!" Arle joined the Prince.

"Hey, that's cheating, you can't join him mid-battle!"

Doppelganger Arle complained so hard Carbuncle woke up. "…Gu?" He looked at the Arle trio fighting.

"Oh, Carby! There you are, I searched everywhere in the castle. Please Help! I'll make up the time we lost later."

"Gu Gu!" Carbuncle hugged Wahrer Arle and joined the fighting. Not only made that Doppelganger Arle jealous, but it also made her angry and sad as well.

"No fair! Wait on your turn or please join me, Carby! I'll be better than that…" 'Darn it, I can insult her without insulting myself…' "I need you to even out the score!"

"Gugu GU!" He said angrily! The Darle Princess and Wahren Arle rubbed salt on the wound with some speech.

Doppelganger Arle tuned them out, why she should listen? Defeat was inevitable, her most powerful spells like Ragnarok and Armageddon wouldn't help, she no had back up, no friends, no allies… And she never will until she replaced that loathsome copy of her's, that Wahrer Arle. They were standing on her side! They should be battling on her side, fighting the blue one.

She gave it her all. But slowly but surely the tears blocked her judgment of when to build the stacks of Puyo and when to pop.

'Why can't I just be you? I don't want to go back into hiding! I'll make sure to take you out next time. I deserve to be you! Carby!' Is the last things that crossed her mind before she lost.

"Haaaah!" Arl- Doppel- Silvana shot herself straight up out of bed. Panting heavily. Why did large chunks of garbage Puyo still scare her? The crash of 500K Puyo was years ago.

On closer inspection, she rolled herself out of bed again. Once Sil composed herself, she slowly and fearfully glanced at her alarm clock.

It was three hours before she was supposed to wake up. "Not again!" She always had trouble falling back to sleep whenever that dream reaches that climax. "Stupid dumb dreams, teasing and reminding of who I'll never be! Keeping me up at night!" Sil's ranting made her blood boil. She took a good look at the now curseless mirror. It only made her madder.

"Non-Doppelgangers don't have to deal this! Rhhhaaaaahhhh!" She threw a rage-filled punch at the reflection, it shook the whole Caravan.

"Ow! Owieowieowieouch." That glass was way too sturdy. Her wrist hurted badly. Doing some acrobatics today is out of the question. Silvana started tearing up. "If I still wanna distance myself even further from I have to stop these dreams." She sighed as she grabbed her box. "I should have a dreamcatcher somewhere in this thing." She hung it above her head.

"That's taken care of." She said as she tucked herself in trying sleeping again. "Though I can't do anything about my face…"

Chapter 14: This is who I am

Sil's lack of sleep made her days miserable at worst, and this school day was pretty bad. High pitched voices, Klug and Raffine's insufferableness and Popoi's snide comments about Sil looking ill and the chalk writing on the chalkboard. Plus yesterdays failure to help anyone and the finger crossing hope that the reoccurring dream will cease almost drove her over the edge.

Sil threw her mask aside and dropped herself on her bed. Now she had to drag her day out so she falls asleep on time. Fun times.

"Lived in Primp for months. And I barely feel at home. Am I feeling homesick? That can't be it… Nobody at home can stand me. I got no friends…" It stung, yet she repeated it when alone at night, every night.

"Well, besides Sig and I guess Ami… No, I don't deserve him. And Amitie, how can we be friends if we got nothing in common. My crew just works for me. My classmates? Ha! That's a good one. Aside from maybe Lidelle. Even then."

"I wanna have the Puyo matches with my friends with my… her friends… Getting kicked by Rulue. I wanna be the one Schezo desires, I wanna be the one that solves Satan's nonsense." Sil stung herself so much the floodgates opened. "I want Carby!" Sil clutched a pillow really tight.

"What else could that empty feeling be other than that? Feeling guilty of being someone I'm not? Doubt it. They're not gonna accept me for who really I am anyway. 'Hiya, imma Arle's evil clone made to destroy her and take her place and still has those tendencies. I'm your new neighbour.' Even if I lie it's not gonna work out. 'Hiya, Imma Arle Nadja. No relation and make no relation or else you can beat it.'"

Sil tried to reign her tears and complaining in a bit. "Everything will go to hell once she visits. There goes everything I built up here, what little it is. Doesn't matter who starts the fight for what reason. My life will be done…" But the tears streamed only harder, seemingly endless, there was a giant pit in her stomach.

"Leaving Primp might be for the best. A town where no Arle exists. Where I can walk in the town without a mask and people call me by my name…" Sil put on her old armor for comfort. "But then I have four names. I'll confuse myself as… Arle, a faker, and Silvana Pierrot: Useless clown and Arle of Whatever Town… That won't make me suspicious when I slip up. This nagging feeling that I'll miss some things if I do that! What am I going to do?!"

Sil took a glance at her calendar. It was a dreadful day tomorrow. She hasn't told Sig about it, she wasn't even sure if Sig knew. But if he knew she wanted him to do nothing about it. It's a thing she's only been a part of five times and she can only remember the fifth.

"Happy Birthday, Arle… Sappy Birthday, me…"

*Later… Somewhere around the playground*

It was for a nice and sunny day for a stroll. That's what most would say or at least think this first. Sig was just unassumingly strolling regardless. "SIG!" A girl screamed hugging the blue-haired boy from the back. Sig couldn't see her face but he had a good lead who it was thanks to the voice and blue dress. "Arle?" "Yup! Missed me?" The both of them gave each other a warm smile. Arle released Sig so they could see each other, eye to eye. "Sure did. Enjoyed your home?" "It was great, I went out of my way to say hi to everyone, and most of them were happy to see me! My family invited everyone to a party celebrating my return."

"Neat."

"And sorry I didn't visit you right away when I was hanging out with Amitie and Ringo. I don't have a good excuse." Arle displayed some shyness.

"Where's Carbuncle?" Sig asked, looking like he seemingly remembered something he forgot.

"Huh?" The change of subject threw her off, but she answered. "What are you talking about? He's been on my shoulder the whole time." She stated matter of factly.

Sig sighed and materialized a yellow Puyo out of nothing. And threw straight in the middle of 'Carbuncle's' face. Arle's lifetime companion.

*Gasp* "CAR! Puyo…buncle?" Arle scratched head.

"You're pathetic, Silvana." Sig spoke coldly in Arle's own voice. It was jarring, as all his eerily familiar mannerisms weren't his own as well. "The first night you set up that dreamcatcher to stop those dreams where you relive, so you can focus better on your new life. Yet your first night of lucid dreaming thanks to the dream catcher YOU CONVINCE YOURSELF YOU'RE ARLE!" Seeing Sig angry was unnerving enough. But what the impostor said didn't help. Everything surrounding them turned into darkness.

Swallowing a big lump, Silvana, begrudgingly remembering her identity, wanted to ask Not Sig. "Who are you?"

"I could ask you the same. But a straight answer is…" Not Sig's menace dropped as he shrugged. "I dunno, I feel like I'm you, but you're me, but I'm Sig for some reason, yet I have your memories and experiences, and what you're currently experiencing... Maybe I'm some alternate you that's somehow in your dream, or maybe I'm the essence inside the dream catcher taking your form, or maybe your inner dream therapist?"

Sil wasn't sure if Not Sig was kidding.

"OR maybe I'm a projection of the part of you that's most like Arle at our creation that's just sick of wanting to be Arle, after eleven years of planning failing and hiding THAT I JUST WANT US BOTH TO FULLY TAKE THE SILVANA THING SERIOUSLY. THE YOU THAT MIGHT BE JUST YOU BEING HONEST WITH YOURSELF AND OUR FLAWS, BUT YOU'RE TOO PESSIMISTIC AND SELF-PITYING TO LOOK ON THE POSITIVE SIDES OF EVERYTHING THAT ISN'T SELFISHLY PRAGMATIC, TO JUST ACCEPT THAT THE PAST IS BEHIND US!" Not Sig got close and yelled really hard, he grabbed Sil by the shoulders.

Sil didn't care anymore who he was, she was too scared to. "Please don't say things like that in Sig's body." She meeped.

"Tough luck." Not Sig pouted. "Not until you stop having these fantasies, they're unhealthy." The red clawed faker pleaded.

"I know they're unhealthy! Can't a girl just have some fun after dealing with a lot of minor annoyances that build up over time!"

"Thanks to our frequent sleep depravity. Which the dream catcher is supposed to solve, by the way! Can't have the good without the bad, SILVANA!" Not Sig knocked on Sil's head with his monster arm. Sil didn't like it, it was scary seeing that arm put to use like that. "And you haven't even given it its chance." The dream thing snarled. "You disgust me."

Sil had nothing to say, she had no rebuttal, her legs were shaking, it was too much to take. She slumped to the ground crying, looking at the opposite of the boy. Not Sig cried too but was a lot more composed.

During Sil's sob, a massive red arm wrapped around her and Sig's body sat to the right of her. It's funny how comforting this was considering what happened before. Silvana couldn't help it. She hugged Not Sig's torso tightly, staining his jacket with tears. He hugged her back tried to comfort her the best he could. They did calm each other down a bit.

Sil wanted to say something, but couldn't. Not Sig knew all of what she meant though. "Please try. You can start with stopping the Arle roleplay."

Sil incoherently mumbled in Not Sig's belly.

"Yeah, I know the weight on the shoulders is nice, I never said we didn't have to make sacrifices to make it work." He patted her on the back, regretting that conclusion too.

"What next?" Sil asked soft-spoken.

"You know what I'm gonna say."

"I-I can't."

"Fine, fine I'll keep on spoonfeeding you. Try to acknowledge to yourself that the people close to you are friends. You're always so intent to dismiss them as such and avoid that the dreaded F-word, even to Sig!" Sil nodded weakly. "In a sense, we've been differentiating from Arle for years." The both of them sighed. "But let's not be afraid to go further."

A lot of dream minutes must have passed. Sil laid peacefully pacified on the lap of Not Sig.

"Are you okay now?" Not Sig asked softly.

"I think so…" Sil sounded like a person who cried for hours.

"Want me to let you go?" "Yeah, I'm getting a bit uncomfortable." Not Sig let her loose faster than lightning. "Thank you. It felt kinda weird comforting someone who I think is me, while in Sig's body."

"Yeah…" Some lightheartedness returned to the both of them. Even if it felt awkward.

Not Sig twirled one of his arms around to get feeling back into them. "His arm feels like weighs the same as the other" He noted.

"Can you turn into me, so I can thank you?" Sil asked.

"So you're gonna commit to it now?"

"I'll do my best."

Not Sig smiled, it's genuine but nothing like the genuine article. "Okay, I'll turn into you if you turn into you."

"Wha?" Silvana looked down at herself, it took her four seconds to realize what's wrong. "What're you talking- Oh…"

Not Sig sighed. "Yeah, you're wearing Arle's get up, and sporting her colors. Seriously, Sil, please try." Not Sig begged. "If not for Sig, our own sanity. I mean look at us, if I'm really you it meant we've been talking to ourselves."

"I'll try. And good point. Lemme change."

And she did. She changed to her regular red plaid jacket, her white polo with thin red vertical stripes and a bow tie made out of green string, green shorts, red suspenders, pantyhose with thick white and red horizontal stripes, low hanging twintails and her Arle's boots from the circus scuffle from back then. Her mask was hanging on top of her dark red-haired head. Unless there's someone in town who can dream travel why keep it on to obscure her red eyes? Silvana smiled upon her get up, she did grow to like the look.

"There ya go." Not Sig warped himself into Kinda Silvana. Looking identical to the real thing.

"So. Um…" Both felt a bit awkward. Time for hugging herself was over, so just politeness. "Thank you."

"We both know you don't entirely mean that. But don't mention it, thanks for not pulling the plug on the dream, and I was just saying what Sig would say." Kinda Silvana admitted. "I liked saying it as much as you did listening. Trust me." She hunched.

"Can you help me with one more thing?" Sil asked both embarrassed and a bit down.

"No, because you have two things in mind instead of one." Sil daggered herself like she would at Amitie. But her mirror image put the mask and the Pierrot suit then she had to chuckle a bit at the ridiculousness of it all.

"Okay, wiseguy. Just answer them already."

"We'll deal with Arle when she comes and hope our nature as a Doppelganger doesn't get in the way. We'll see how it goes."

"What about the Carby shaped hole in our lives?"

"I don't know…"

Author's Notes:

This was fun to write. That's half-a-lie, the concept made me cry, planning out what happened made me cry, writing it down made me cry. If I was a person reading this, because I'm a terrible reader, I may've cried, but just maybe. I wrote this surprisingly quick too, I got in 1400 words in one session while I usually keep it at 200-300.

Believe it or not I toned it down a bit. I wanted it to end on a somber note. The depressing self-loathing bit was just the whole chapter but then the roleplay scene expended into the lucid dream scene. And decided to end on it. This ending would cause some redundancies later on so I have to rewrite a little bit.

I know I misused the german words. If doppelgänger can be mispelled to lose the accent mark, I can use call Arle "Truer Arle".

Deleted scene: Everyone is Arle!

The biggest SilxSig bit so far and it's not Sig.

Also happy belated anniversary to "In the grasp of the Doppelganger". Thanks for telling me this Warelander, I wouldn't have known otherwise. It's a kinda somber, coincidental and yet a fitting chapter to acknowledge that, though.

Next up: Hopefully something less somber? Even though I know the outcome, no promises…