'Now I think about it… This is kinda nuts…' Sig thought to himself being transferred.
Akuma had come to him with a special proposal. Silvana's grandfather had a long-abandoned experiment that lets you get into someone's head.
Quite literally. Sig's about to see… something… Sig paid as much attention as much as he could. The gist was Sig needs to describe what's going on in there so Akuma has some more things to work with to dull Sil's instincts or at least how not to provoke it.
Sig's Primp Magic School Wing Pin rumbled. This time located on his shirt's chest area instead of his bag which he left behind as requested by Akuma. *Rumble Rumble* Sig touched it with his human hand.
"Sig? Are you there? Do you copy? Over."
"Copy? Over… what?"
"Oh for goodness' sake, mamakuma! Have you arrived?"
"Uhh..." Sig observed his surroundings. "I see nothing. It's all black."
"Aha. Her subconsciousness has yet to wake. Give it time."
"Okay."
"Inform me as soon as something happens."
"Okay."
"Over and out."
"But I just got here?"
"Arrrrgh! KUMA!"
Silvana will remain unconscious for as long Sig's in here. So Akuma's yelling and flailing has no effect on the jester in this state.
Sig was chosen because Akuma thought because her subconscious wouldn't fight back against Sig. He is the one she trusts the most after all.
Though Silvana is left in the dark as what these two were up to. She just suddenly was requested by these two to visit and was asked to lay down on the comfy couch.
Hopefully, her subconscious isn't angry about that when she finds out…
"Fu… Fu… Fu… Do our eyes deceive us?" A familiar mildly deep feminine voice spoke somewhere around Sig. Sig looked around him but he couldn't place it. He got on edge.
Chapter 77: Sigment Fraught
"Are you a figment like we are?" Sil's, maybe Arle(?)'s voice ominously spoke in the darkness.
"We?"
"Of course you are, Sig doesn't speak French."
"Are you dreaming, Sil?"
"Fufufu~ Somewhere in our head we are by now. You're kinda misplaced, dream boy~" She said kinda spacey. That confirmed to Sig that this was Sil. Though to what extent he didn't know.
"Want me to go then?"
"NO!" Suddenly out of the darkness, Sig was hug tackled to the ground. "Oh. We're so sorry, Sig figment!" The shape of the girl got off of him and got him back up.
As Sig was pulled up by the extended hand lent to him. He got a good look.
This was Sil, alright, he could tell by her worried look. Though it was a bit hard to see with the clown make-up on and the dyed hair.
Her face was white, it didn't even look painted on. Her left eye had a tear drawn under it, around the other was a green diamond suit. Around her lips were big red outlines to emphasize them. She also had a round nose on her face. Her hair was Arle orange but Sig supposed orange hair did go well with her image. 'But what do I know?'
The girl giggled at Sig's mildly puzzled face. "Hiya! Are you okay? Where does it hurt?" She tried to get a feel of where it hurt.
"Nowhere, I'm fine." Sig said, calming Silvana(?) down. She gave him another hug, a comforting hug.
"Thank goodness. We were so worried." She sounded so relieved. They broke up but she held his hands with hers and looked him in his eyes.
Sig looked at what she's wearing. It was the Pierrot suit but unhooded. And then he started looking at her face paint again.
The girl's lips wrinkled. She let go of his hands and playfully hid her face. "Heheh… Like what you see, handsome?" She said with her face blushed.
"Not… really."
"Hee hee. Just like the real thing~" She skipped. Her eyes widened and gained smirk afterward. "Wanna see what we're wearing underneath~" She said playfully flirty.
"Uuhhhhhhmmmmmm…"
"Then look:"
"Fufufufu~ Right behind you."
"Wha- Oof!"
"Surprise!"
A new voice hug tackled from behind. This one sounded more like Sil's deeper tone.
"We're so happy a Sigment seeped through again!"
"Sig… Mund?" Sig asked.
"It's short for Sig Figment." The clown Silvana explained. "You should know that, Sigment~"
"Please don't be a nightmare, Sigment." The girl holding him politely asked.
"Can I see you, please?"
"Of course~" She let him go. And let Sig turn around.
This Silvana could best be described as a red and white derivative of Raffine, complete with long beautiful hair, striped knees socks. Her hair was neatly combed straight.
The hair color was the same as the regular Silvana, the makeup count is higher than Raffine or at least more emphasized, red lipstick, and perhaps most noticeable (but only to Sig because the awake Sil makes a big deal about it) is that this one wasn't afraid to wear a normal bra to make her bust known.
This one put her finger on her lips and winked at Sig. "Like what you see, handsome?" She repeated what the other one said. "Oh. Sorry." She jovially, lightly slapped her temple with the tips of her fingers. "Rhetorical question."
The Clown Silvana whistled. "We like what we see~"
"Ohoho~ We're too kind~"
The clown kissed the lady's back of the hand while keeping a sly eye on Sig. Performing and clowning are still in both it seems.
"So, Sig. Whatcha wanna do?"
"Uhmm…" The two Silvana's made Sig forget his mission. He tapped his head trying to recall Akuma's instructions. "Getting to know you better."
That made the two just swoon.
'Wow.' Sig thought. Normal Sil doesn't melt this much.
*Rumble Rumble*
"Hm?"
"Huh?"
Sig touched his School pin. "Surely something must've happened by now, kumamamama!"
"There's two Sils in front of me."
While Akuma and Sig converse so did the Lady Sil and the Clowny Sil.
"Are we hearing our father speak through his pin?" The Lady asked.
"That's what we hear too… Weren't we put to sleep by those two?"
"They did. And didn't they tell us to trust them?"
"Oh gosh! Do we think that's the real deal?"
"Oh dear! We think so. Shall we give our piece of our mind?"
*Giggles* "Literally~ Fufufu~"
"Ohoho~ Quite."
"…describe them to-"
"Hold it!" The Lady Silvana held Sig's still attached pin. The Clown Sil stood by.
"What the heck, Gramps?!" The clown started.
"What's wrong with you, Grandpa!?"
"This was your plan?!"
"Invading our head!?"
"You guys could've been honest with us."
"We're right, you know. You two could've come forth with it."
"We already put so much trust in you already."
"And you come into our head via the back door unannounced?"
"…" Akuma had no rebuttal.
"Sorry." Sig said.
"All's forgiven, Bud."
"All's forgiven, Sweetie." The two wasted no time assuring that by gently rubbed his cheek.
"Now, grandfather dearest." The lady addressed. "You got some explaining to do to us."
"Very well." To their surprise, the teddy sounded very warm on the other side. "You've caught on quick. I'm proud of you."
That curled Silvana's lips. Even the unconscious one next to Akuma.
The lady groaned with her arms crossed. "Well, you've won… It's not like the waking Silvana will be aware of anything… Any attempts to warn us in our dreams turn out either too vague or into a nightmare."
"That's always such a bummer… So you've come here to make a direct psychological profile of us?" The clown looked at Sig but addressed Akuma. Akuma left out the fact that this method was left untested for centuries.
"That's my plan now, kuma!"
"We see…" The lady combed her hair because she wanted something to do.
"Gee, guys. Just be honest next time. We love to be more honest with you guys." The clown said. "You could've just come forth with it…" She was very disappointed. And the two felt it. Sig was distracted by the fact the two held his hands.
"We have one question, are we in a trance state? Are we susceptible to suggestions?"
"No, makuma! You're asleep and shall remain asleep until you wake shortly after Sig gets out."
"Okay." The clown was satisfied with that answer. "It's not like you can affect Silvana by affecting us otherwise. And don't think we're not gonna prolong this by cuddle piling onto Sig, gramps…" The lady was on board with that plan. Sig was contemplating if that was a good idea.
'Is it cheating if they're both Sil?'
"Don't waste time, kuma!" The ones in the head winched a little. "You two can be intimate with him if he so allows after were done, kumamamakuuuma!"
"Let's start the interview then?" The clown asked. Eagerly staring into Sig's eyes. Smiled back, even if the clown make-up made him a bit nervous.
"That'll be appreciated. I want to start with the superego? And that has to be the deep-voiced one."
"We are indeed Silvana's superego." The lady confirmed. "But you should kno-" The clown touched superego's arm and made a "Shh" motion and a really big grin the superego slyly imitated. "You should know that while we're willing to co-operate. The rest of us will think this is all in vain. We would find your efforts futile and will decry you for "caring for a worthless sub-human like us"."
Sig visibly flinched. Clown Sil fully embraced the boy telling it's okay. Didn't leave much place for the Lady Superego to do some of her own.
"I figured as much." Akuma dryly replied.
"SPEAK FOR OURSELF, MISSY!" Yelled the upset clown. "Oh, look what we did!" She put the attention on Sig's face. "We touched a nerve! How dare us!"
"As if we don't feel guilty too!"
"'m okay…"
"CAN WE GET ON WITH IT, KUUUUUUUUUUUUMAAAAAAAAA!?"
*And thus Silvana's Superego was interviewed. It was nothing you couldn't have picked up yourself by reading this chapter already anyway*
"Thank you for being co-operative." Akuma spoke.
"Our pleasure. Anything to make us like us more. Any questions?"
"What's a superego?"
They gave Sig the quick rundown. Have a quicker one:
Id = Is the unchanging root of the person.
Ego = How the person sees themselves.
Superego = What the person aspires to be.
"I see. Then what's Clown Sil?" He pointed at her.
"Eh?" She jumped back. "Whaddya you mean?"
"Because Sil doesn't see herself in a good light. She's your superego, and you don't make sense to be her id or ego."
The clown's lips wrinkled at the accusation.
"My, Sig." Akuma sounded impressed. "Seems as if we were on the same track, mamamamama!"
"You too, Gramps?" The clown felt cornered while the superego was visibly impressed and clapped. "Ugh. Fiiiiiiine. We wanted to make a joke out of it, surprise you guys a bit."
"A for effort." The superego tried to lift her other self's spirit.
"Hee, thanks. We are Arle's Superego."
"…" Sig tilted his head.
"…kuma?"
"You heard us. We're a remnant that carried over. We got two of each in here."
"Interesting." They heard Akuma scribble on the other end. "So tell me about yourself."
"Oh, there's no point, just write down the same stuff as the other superego. One thing we wanna add is that we, Silvana's superegos, are pretty much interchangeable. Sometimes we're the babe, sometimes we're a clown."
"There's no shame in that." Sil's superego felt the need to say that. "And sometimes we're Arle. Much to our ids' delight…"
"She has two roots... " Sig pieced together.
"Yup." Arle's superego confirmed. "That's why you know us as such a mess. The id acts on instinct."
"And to destroy it would destroy Silvana." Akuma said bluntly, making Sig jump.
"You make it sound as if egos and superegos are fair game." Sil's superego teased. "Father, can we say something before we search the others?"
The bear paused a little. He's gonna hear his Granddaughter's unfiltered opinion about him. 'Grrrr. I do really care…' He needed to admit to himself for how many-th time? "Yes."
And that's when this chapter became even slower paced. Apologies.
Sil's superego twirled her hair next to her side. "It's so nice to talk to you. Can you make some time for us next week? We really want some more quality time with you. We've already seen the kind, fluffy teddy you can be towards us~ We want more of that."
"Oh."
Arle's superego (for the lack of a better term) continued. "We fear that you won't believe this from our conscious words, Dad. But believe us. Silvana wouldn't admit this openly, but we will. As Sig as our witness, we love yoooouuuu!" She sounded almost teary. And certainly, that reflected on Silvana's body outside the head. Both smiled and let lose a tear.
"You're welcome." He spoke humbly. The two girly voices giggled in their own, but similar way.
"Though you can still do with a lot of improving." Sil's supego. Stated.
"Woah, nelly, he sure could." Arle's supego agreed.
"So can you." The bear bluntly stated.
"Tut tut."
"Uh uh uh uuuuuuuh." They both wagged their fingers with one cheeky eye closed.
"We're Silvana idealized."
"Compromising aside, we're completely right." Arle supego followed up. "So if you have a problem with our flawed self, take it up with our conscious body."
"Because your words are falling on our deaf ears!"
"Because your words are falling on our deaf ears!"
Akuma swore he heard a high five and a faint yeah as if one of them fist pumped.
He grumbled at the lame technicality. The bear did his best to mind his outbursts for once. "Search for your ego and id, please… In plural. You know what I mean."
"Quite."
"Yep."
"Oh, wait!" Arle's supego interrupted talking to Akuma one last time this call. "Maybe not get drunk at a fraternity next time." She reminded Akuma of why he hated the few Christmases he actually had with family.
"Quite." Sil's supego seconded, as they do. "You are the reason why we are so screwed in the head. Double of us mental representations have done a number on our psyche."
"One our conscience can't even fathom on our own."
"And please don't tell us when we're awake."
"Don't make our existence harder by telling us!"
"You too, Sweetie."
Arle's supego asked Sig nicely by wrapped her arms around him. Sil's supego nodded very seriously as well. He nodded back.
"I wasn't planning too. And I wasn't drunk! I AM A POLTERGEIST KUMAMAMAMAMA!"
"Than what's your excuse?"
"Than what's your excuse?"
(Both of those are legitimately calm and rational questions.)
"KUMAKUMAKUMAKUMAKUMAKUMAKUMAKUMAKUMAKUMA-" *Brrrrrrrr click* Sil's classy superego hung up.
"Let's go search for our egos and ids, shall we?" She pointed the way.
"Cool. Curious what they'll be like." Sig said morbidly curious.
Both superegos bit their lips. Arle's tried to distract him from it.
"Hey, you didn't hear this from Sil, but Akuma used to be a desk lamp!" She said with cheer.
They actually got Sig to crack a few "Ha"s. They were proud of themselves and Akuma knew they were having a laugh at his expense based on Silvana's smirk.
"IT'S SYMBOLIC!" The lady superego imitated. "KUUUUMAAAA!"
"You've taken all of this very well." Arle's supego complimented the cyan-haired visitor.
"Taking what well?"
"That was a lot of info. Even Klug would be overwhelmed."
"…Really?" He scratched his head.
The superegos shrugged. "We would be confused. If mildly." Sil's supego added to cover their tracks. "We do not represent our intelligence."
"Though we do have that too!" Silvana undermined herself.
The superegos took Sig deeper into their subconscious in the hope their four counterparts were there.
Sig took in a moment to look at his surroundings. Apparently, this part is where the six inhabitants of his friend's head sort the buildings they can remember. It showed a little. He recognized his school, the circus, Sil's caravan, his house. He thought he saw that last one twice, but that could've been his imagination. It's not like his house was unique from any other.
Any text he saw did make his head hurt a bit. Some text was normal, and some were mirrored. And so were some buildings come to think of it.
"Hm…"
"Something wrong, Sweetie?" Arle's supego asked. Sig pointed at a mirrored shop sign. The clowny supego took a moment to read it. "Smile Curry?"
"Dear, just as we discussed that's not a real place, it's just in our head. There's no food here you, as a real person, could eat."
"No. Sign's mirrored. Is that how you guys see it?"
"No."
"Yes."
"We mean technically, yes."
"No, but from your perspective, that's what we would see."
"Except we don't." The two scratched their heads, trying to find the best way to explain themselves.
It is at this moment the plural pronouns confused Sig. 'What if I could walk a mile in Sil's shoes…' He wondered. 'It'd take longer than it would need to find the fridge at night and than curse her existence. What would hating Arle be like?… Been a while since I hung out with her… I should help her on her job ag-' "Oof…"
The superegos gasped. They held the boy up. He'd been struck in the back of the head by a projectile ice rock. "That hurt a lot." Sig said very monotonously as is everything else he said. As the three heads turned to the snickering voice of a child.
"Get out of my head, lame-o!" The girl got more serious, angrier. The girl looked familiar to Sig. He remembered seeing Arle in the brief period before her complete disappearance shared a picture book with herself. This blue armoured blue-clad girl was in those pictures in her mom's arms.
"Oh…"
"Just so you're not alarmed, that's our id."
"Oh… Which one?"
"Didn't you hear me!? Get out!" The id threw another accurate ice rock which the superegos made Sig dodge.
"Let's not talk to that part of us." Arle's supego said.
"There's no reasoning with us." Sil's supego pointed at the blue kid.
"But we're supposed to- Oof!" And Sig got hit in the back of his head again. But not by the blue id. That one was still in front of them. There was a mirror image of the blue kid.
Only more calm… "Get out." And red…
But Sig recognized that calmness, much like his emotions, just didn't show. Sig realized this is very much like the Doppelganger instinct. He didn't need to figure out what each id represented.
Provided the red one was an id. "That's the other id." The supegos whispered in his ear.
"Thanks."
"Get out!" *Tantrum*
"Get out."
"That goes for you too!" The blue one point at the red.
"I am here to terminate Sig from our head. Perhaps forever." It's not often that Sig felt chills down his spine, let alone coinciding with his emotions being hurt. Sil just said that about him. He choked up a bit.
The superegos immediately coddled their best friend, giving Sig the love he's used to from Sil twice over. Whispered to him they can't do that. It didn't help.
The kid goosestepped past them to get to the other id. "He's mine! I'll kill him and make us the true Arle again!" She said at her own face.
"No, we need to traumatize him until he finally corrects his mistake until Silvana is no more."
"HURTING SIG IS SOMETHING ARLE WOULDN'T DO!"
"HURTING SIG IS SOMETHING ARLE WOULDN'T DO!" The friendly superegos reminded them.
"No! We need him to suffer for making us a literal clown."
"No. Suffering isn't enough."
It went on deaf ears.
"Is that how you feel about me?" He barely turned his head to the superego that looked most like Sil. Not daring to look at her face.
"…Follow us, sweetie." They started walking away from the most primal of the inhabitants.
"Don't worry about it. Those parts of us clowns don't represent the rest of us. Let's go to somewhere cozy and let these two choke each other out."
Sig gasped as his head shot up in horror.
"We're mental representations, Sig. We don't need air. We're fine." Arle's supego put her hands on his shoulder.
The three settled down in a facsimile of Akuma's quarters.
The lady called Akuma on Sig's pin to interview on the fighting ids' behalf while the clown filled in Sig while they cuddled for his sake.
Sig couldn't bring himself to face her. And not just because face paint is a bit freaky.
"We're stuck." Arle's superego said. Getting Sig's attention. "We're stuck being like that." She started playing the cyan haired antennae. "Ids are supposed to represent our most principled stances and moral beliefs. They are an anchor. But our situation made them go cuckoo. Our ids are good people. It's just one's gone crazy and the other is warped. We don't blame you for anything." The superego affectionately rubbed her cheek against the cyan bed of hair while patting his back.
"But… you do…"
"No. As I said, We're stuck. We've been stuck since we've been created. But we have changed. Don't see us as the whole person. The real person with feelings is the girl unconscious outside."
"…"
"And that's all… Yes, take care, Grandfather." Sil's supego hung up. She walked past the couch. Looked at the two, gently patted Sig on the shoulder. Doing her best to comfort him without sandwiching him.
Sig heard her open the door. "They're out cold." The superego said matter-of-factly.
"!" Sig got up quickly to look. Zoomed past the supego at the door.
He was upset seeing these two bodies. He picked up the one that had Silvana's hair color and hugged her.
"Our ids always knock each other out." The clown said.
"Why?" Sig asked.
"Don't worry, they're not actually hurt. Everything here is just a representation of what's actually going on in our head. The ids being at odds with each other, we just exhaust each other all the time. It's how we stay sane (At the cost of our ids being shut off… Maybe…)."
"We think that's how it works, at any rate, we've have heard too many stories…" The lady added. " We appreciate what you're doing, but it won't do us any good. You have to comfort the real us if you wanna comfort the rest of us."
"..." 'But these two hate me…'
Sig carried the body back into the house and placed her in a bed with a blanket. He then hugged the blue id and put her in Silvana's caravan.
The superegos giggled. "We say it's pointless and he does it anyway."
"Fufufu, yep! We're feeling nostalgic."
"Ohoho~ So are we..."
"We're in love for a reason."
"…"
"We're in love!"
"We're in love!"
"Oh. Congrats."
The superegos were embarrassed over the misunderstanding but didn't feel like saying to Sig directly that Sil hates herself
"W-Wanna hear about the times our ids got along?"
"Poor Sil…"
"We know." They shrugged.
"That's why you're so important to us." One or the other said fluttery.
Sig smiled at the two. "You too." The superego's trembled with excitement.
"Sig~"
"We love you."
"Uh… Where are the egos?" He nervously asked. Imagining how Sil sees herself will weigh unto him until he actually sees them.
And even then he'd had a feeling he wouldn't like what he saw. It can't be worse than her ids… Right?
"That's a good question."
"We're always hiding."
"And with "we" in this case we mean our egos."
"Why do you guys speak like that, actually?" Sig finally bothered to ask.
"We're a superego."
"We're a superego."
"Okay, then."
Sig felt like he had far exceeded a mile walking in Sil's head in search of either of Sil's egos. The anticipation killed him. He needed to see them now. Might gain a better grasp on how to be a better friend to her.
Arle's superego sighed.
Silvana's did too.
Sig just rubbed his eyes. He's been in here a while, narcolepsy might claim him.
He looked to both of his sides and smiled.
If he conks out these two will wake him up. He's glad he encountered these two first.
He picked up signs that his legs were starting to hurt. This walk starts to take its toll in addition to his narcolepsy. "Where's are they?" He yawned.
"Somewhere deep in our head." Arle's superego said.
"Oh…" Silvana's slapped her forehead. Picked a mirror and checked if her hair was okay doing so. It was, you can sit down now. "Ego who's a drama queen says what!"
"What?" A disembodied voice, identical to Arle's directly behind them spoke though they didn't see anyone there. "Oh, damn it."
Then slowly, a body started to slowly appear into existence. It was a ghostly figure with a ghostly cloak. Kinda like the ghostly trio of Yu, Rei and Silly except with Arle's face, older and floppy yellow Carbuncle ears. And she looked like quite the livid dead looking at Sig. Though her body seemed to be holding back.
"Oh, look." The ghost made sure her contempt known. She kept on daggering through Sig's soul. "It's the reason I am dead." Sig flinched at the ghost's passive-aggressive tone. The ghost floated towards the boy's face. "I've followed you for a while now. I know you're real, you scum." And that was just another cut to Sig. "I was this close to successfully being Arle. And then you come and dare and make a suggestion to become Silvana!"
The ghostly Arle snarled at the superegos as well. They're not innocent in this either.
"And because we're broken you reached out to them…"
Sig's lip quivered. This rarely happened. "Um… Sorry…"
"Don't be. I don't wanna hear it!"
"W-We wanna interview y-you."
"Fat chance! Leave now before you get hurt by the devil that is the faker ego. Just leave! As in leave my head, and use you convincing powers and convince us to leave town forever!" She shouted as she flew off and turned invisible.
…
Sig lowered his head. He took off his pin and held towards the girls behind him. "Please tell Akuma."
The superegos who were just as down once again came to his need while on took the pin.
"Don't take us so seriously."
"We thinks We're Arle."
"And Arle likes you."
"You're her friend."
"Our ego is always happy you're there for us."
"…" Sig did something he'd rather not do. Not that he can help it. Something he has no control over.
He doubted them.
These figures he's seen, 3 out of 5 so far have shown disdain for him. And it felt like those 3 were all that counted. If Sig understood the nature of a superego correctly then that means that she wants to like him.
Sig doubted if Silvana actually liked him. Something he felt the superegos couldn't give him a satisfying answer too.
Something tells him he isn't gonna like it.
Sig had been quiet. Well more quiet than usual. And the superegos noticed.
"Look. We know it may look like it, but we do really care about you."
"…"
"Fine, be like that." Sil's supego gave up. "But please don't show that attitude to the last ego…"
"…"
"Just don't…" Arle's superego nicely asked.
"…Okay…"
Outside of Silvana's head, her body trembled.
*Rumble Rumble*
"Sig, this is Akuma. It's been 6 hours since you've entered. And she seems very sullen. Silvana will have a lot of questions. Please hurry up and find the final ego and interview it already, over and out! Kumamamamam-"
It took an agonizing while before they found the last piece.
"Um, Sig. If we were a betting girl, we'd wager the final ego is in there." Arle's superego tapped on Sig's shoulder and pointed at the building that looked like Arms but giant.
It's still a boy Arms unlike the gender Silvana recently started referring to her red ugly toy (not Sig's thoughts exactly). Sig didn't understand why the switch happened.
Sil's superego placed her ear on the door. "We're inside. …Sig…" She wordlessly asked with a heavy heart for Sig to enter alone.
It was a poorly lit one-room building with little in the way of anything. It was empty.
Empty safe for a girl-ish shaped sitting right up in upright in a fetal position.
The atmosphere was unnerving. The superego said this was Sil's last ego. But Sig wasn't sure. All the others looked like Sil. Even from behind Sig wasn't sure this one was.
Her hair was all over the place in length and very scruffy. The hair was segmented in 5 different colors, the familiar dark red, the just as familiar hair color of Arle, the color dye Arle uses sometimes, a blonde color and… purple? That kinda reminded him of that jerk that made Silvana question reality around her.
She seemed to wear a long-sleeved dress, it looked quite old and ripped and familiar, it was on the tip of his tongue but he's drawing a blank… Wait, that's it, it's kinda like _ _'s cloth. At least it seems Sil's ego was wearing something underneath.
And that was all Sig could see. That and a big honking red flag devil horns and a slim demonic tail with a pointy tip.
…
…
…
"I'm listing the names who didn't [pass the purity test]: Silvana Pierrot."
"Knew it…"
"Face it, Sig… I'm evil…"
"I'm not even human. I am an evil, evil, evil homunculus! I'm not even a real girl. I'm just an evil caricature, I can't do anything good. Evil shouldn't be pretty."
"No, Sig, I'm evil! End of discussion!"
"I'm made to kill…"
"I'm a literal evil twin."
"I've murdered since I was a kid. Not even because my programming told me to, I just didn't want the other doppelgangers to get in my way. Why do you keep hugging me, Sig? I don't deserve you…"
…
…
…
It never felt good to Sig when the Silvana flipped that switch. No matter what he did, he could not make Sil see the way her friends saw her when she starts.
She truly thinks she's evil… Even when she was so chipper earlier today before they put her to sleep, she thought deep down at least she's evil. And that must've been the physical manifestation of all that, she had to be. Sig isn't looking forward to this.
He was considering just to make her interview, but that wouldn't feel right. Even if this devil-like Silvana hated him the most that wouldn't feel right.
Here goes nothing for Silvana if his Sil is truly unaware and unaffected. At most this will only affect Sig… And in turn Sil…
Sig wondered when he started thinking this much.
'For Sil." He took his bold tiptoe to this creepy looking Silvana.
He gently tapped on her shoulder. "!" She shot up looking at Sig with the corner of her eye. Her head turned and it showed a familiarly carved, unlit pumpkinhead. It seemed empty safe for the red human eyes inside. Sig found it unnerving to say the least. But in the depths of the eyeholes there were welcomely familiar red eyes that eased him a bit.
The girl(?)'s eye holes widened and before Sig could realize what has happened he got leg sweeped and found himself on his stomach on the ground. "...Ow." His feelings.
Sil's ego(?) scurried out of the room. Sig took his sweet time getting up. In fact, he didn't get up by himself.
"Sweetie!" He heard Arle's voice enter to his aid. "Are you okay?" She tried to find his booboo.
"I'm okay...…" The extra ellipses didn't go unnoticed. He was helped up.
Outside Sig saw the legsweeper sobbing into Silvana's superego's chest. "I don't even know who I am… Why can't I be like you?"
"There there." The superego tried to comfort her ego counterpart.
The pumpkin head turned her head to see Sig again. "!" She quickly buried her head again.
"..."
…
…
They explained the situation to the ego. Which made the ego hide even more behind her superegos. They convinced her this was the real Sig. "H-Hi." The pumpkin head timidly greeted.
"We aren't shy, we just feel like we don't deserve anything."
"Please shut up." The flustered ego pleaded to her original's self's superego.
"We won't," The other superego said. "Sig's here to make us fully have confidence in ourselves."
"I-I know…"
Sig kept on looking, he felt like he could interject, but the most stable parts of Sil's double-decker psyche had it under control it seemed.
"He won't harm you. Give him an embrace, he won't reject a hug from our ugly self-worth, riiight?" The superego wasn't too sure about that one.
"…I won't." Sig was a little hesitant and Silvana knew it. The pumpkin threw him off more than the clown face paint on Arle's face.
The ego hid her face.
"Whether you think you deserve him or not, you're still getting a hug from him."
"So nothing new." Those words put a smile on Sig's face. If nothing else he made her superegos functional and those actively tried to improve the other parts of her. Or not and he thinks that way. No matter, it was still good to see even if every other part of her crazy.
"N-N-No! Don't!" The ego tried to escape but the clown with her muscles the ego lacked held her in place.
The lady, on the other hand, led Sig by the hand with a big loving smile on her face to the ego.
"Hugs us, Sig!"
"And by us we mean us."
"This ego."
"Yeah."
"No! Please, leave my head! Please! Noooooooo-"
*Hug*
…
…
The ego was pacified with those arms around her waist. Sig was a bit alarmed when the pumpkin head's face closed. But it was so she could lean her chin on his shoulder. So he got over it quickly. The ego put her arms around his torso and gripped tight. Unlike the warmth he directly felt off the superegos' touch. This ego was cold.
"Y-You're so warm…"
"I know."
"I… I love you, b-but I don't deserve you…"
"I… I… Wanna be your… your…"
"…"
"Your what?"
"..."
"Forget it." Her voice faltered again after a streak of tranquility. "It will never happen."
"Oh, come on!"
"Boooooo!" The clown yelled with her thumb down.
Sig heard the wheezes from the ego thanks to the superegos' words and narrowed his eyes at them.
"S-Sorry."
"That uncalled for, forgive us."
Sig kept holding the ego for sometime before he actually asked the question. He took off his pin. "You wanna answer a few questions to Akuma?"
"Uhm?"
"It's for our mental health. So we can be a sane individual with two psyches." The clown said unironically.
"I know." They've told her as such. She gently broke off Sig. "I uh… Um… I-I… I wan… IDON'TWANNATALKTOMYFATHERI'MSORRY!" The ego tripped Sig up again as she ran away deep into the darkest places of their mind. The superegos just let her go as they both came to Sig's aid.
"There goes the neighbourhood." The lady sighed at the slimmest chance of them being normal being crushed once again. The clown felt it too as they lifted their friend up. He had his head down.
"Looks like ya gotta keep doing your best, Sig. And we'll do ours, right?" The clown asked very optimistically to her counterpart.
"…We're, right." The lady shook herself out of her pessimism spell. "It might be against our nature, but when has that stopped us before!"
"Never!"
"We're gonna do whatever we can to make Silvana the ideal Silvana!"
"Word!"
"Even we fail, we won't stop, us superegos' ideals should be set in stone as they are now!"
"Nothing won't get in the way!"
"We won't veer off course!"
"Nuh-uh!"
"What do you think, Sig?"
…
Nothing.
…
Suddenly his body shook.
"OUR GOODNESS!"
"OUR GOODNESS!"
"You're crying!"
"Guys!" The Arle's ego ghost floated back with dread in her voice. "I was watching our dreams and we got the adultery nightmare again. And that's not all! I think we're not under a dreamcatcher!"
That perked up Sig's awareness, they didn't put a dreamcatcher over Sil!
"What!?"
"Oh, not now… Not ever, please."
"'Fraid so. Do whatever you need to kick Sig out of here and put him into our arms. Bye!" And thus the ghost turned invisible once again.
…
"So… Tell Akuma to pick you up."
"…it's time for you to go… We wouldn't want this nightmare affect us…" The superegos got sentimental. Even if they know Sig won't be really gone this will be an experience to remember.
"Gotcha." Sig was about to grab to the pin before he got intercepted.
"Wait!" The clown looked him in the eye. "Before we inform our Dad, we have three things to say." She focused on the tears on Sig's face and gently wiped them for him. It made Sig smile a little too. "May we?"
Sig gave a nod.
"We probably would feel the same if we saw your id, ego, and superego in your head. So don't fret about us that much, please."
Sig gave another nod.
"Don't tell our conscious self, the awake Silvana, about us. About anything you've seen here. We don't wanna be blamed for anything by ourselves." The lady reinforced it by clasping her hands.
Sig gave an understanding nod. He got that wouldn't be good.
"Thank you~"
"Thank you~"
"Now. If you have anything you wanna say to Silvana, and you're too shy to tell us..." She erected her arms outwards to both sides, like the ringmaster she is. "We're here right now to listen and react."
"And we wouldn't know a thing when we're concious~ Silvana wouldn't know a thing~"
"Hm…" Sig thought about it.
Akuma was frustrated this effort was potentially for naught. "Insufficient data. Don't be surprised if I can't work with that."
Sig saw for himself that Silvana remembered nothing of what happened in her head. She had several questions and Akuma lied to her by saying "You'll see, kumamamamama!" And Sil begrudgingly accepted it.
The first thing she did when she woke was hugging Sig. The boy missed the full girl. He put her nightmares to rest.
Akuma left the two alone. Sil had asked him to tell Sig's uncle that Sig's staying the night because he was absolutely tired and Sil needed some company (that's not blonde) while she realigns her sleep schedule.
While Sig seemed sleepy as usual, for once he felt like he had insomnia instead of narcolepsy. He just couldn't sleep. And Sil took notice. They've been hanging about her caravan for a while now. She knows him well enough to know that the sandman should've taken him for a while now.
The headaches made him understand why Sil couldn't stand Amitie at first, he couldn't take her voice and he felt sorry.
Sig took solace, however, despite his first-hand experience with her ugly sides and his headaches, he got a firm reminder that this is still the girl he thought she was.
"Owowow!"
"You okay?"
"Yeah…" Sil winched. "Now I got headaches too. Whatever Gramps did it better be worth it…" She rubbed her head as Sig held her.
Sil gave a tired moan. "I'm finally sleepy, Sig. Do you need, like, a sleep spell…? Drat. I should've used one… Oh, well…" The two walked to Sil's bedroom. They already were in pajamas.
They got on each side of Silvana's bed. But that won't last long. Sig had refused a sleep spell.
He waited to ask something while the rest of the caravan was asleep.
"Sil?" He whispered.
"Hm?" The girl kept her eyes closed as she snuggled Arms.
"Would you say you are an Id, Ego, or a Superego?"
Silvana opened her eyes and turned to face Sig. "That's a question I did not expect. Why?" She asked unsuspectingly.
"Can you please answer?"
"Alright. Lemme think… The id is the core of a person I think… I don't wanna be that, not anymore," She tensed up a little. "An ego, heh, I don't think I'm my ego, you wouldn't like to see how I see myself. That's gotta be horrible. Fufufu." She chuckled. It sounded only a bit nervous as she thought about it.
Sig let out an inaudible moan.
"So it has to be a superego." Sig smiled. "And considering what I'm like, that's sad." Now he didn't.
"Do you honestly like how you're life turned out?" He asked the loaded question.
"No…" Sil answer. She immediately followed up to keep Sig's concern at bay. "But my life is the best it ever could've been. I need to remind myself of that." She sounded happy, Sig took it.
"I want you to have peace of mind."
"Sig… I think you need peace of mind, you've been so tense since I woke up."
"…"
"What happened."
Sig looked away. "Nothing."
Sil tightened her lips. "Whatever. We both need a good night's rest."
"To get peace of mind?"
"Pfft…" Sil reflexively scoffed in a jokey tone. "Fufufu. I'll never get that."
Sig made an uncomfortable moan.
"Babe, is Peace of Mind a vital organ?"
"Ummmm… Don't know?"
Sil scooted closer to Sig. "It's not, it's hard, but I'll live. As long as you're there to help~" She looked at him longingly. "And I'll be there for you too help too." Sil casted the sleep spell on Sig despite his wishes and he was put to rest.
She scooted closer.
Author's Notes:
I'm back. With an announcement. I'll be working on a new big project soon. SFCtC won't end until it ends, but I'll give you guys an ending anyways just-in-case SFCtC gets overshadowed on my priorities. This project is big, and the next one's gonna be big too. I've been working with it for a while, and let's say a boring high school AU.
I hope to have the first batch of chapters done by April. We hope you like them.
Also, you guys seen that new evil-looking Lidelle from Puyo Puyo Quest that as of writing this I don't know the name of yet? That's what Vento looks behind the mask now.
Original titles: "The Mental Trio. The Mental Trio" "Sigment Fraud"
Next up: Mom.
