Sil had an absolute nightmare. Nothing new, but she hated it regardless. Even with the clarity the dreamcatcher provided she still imposed nightmares on herself. She was cowering in the fetal position in the middle of her big top as everyone was chewing her out for being born. All of those words were so hurtful coming from those closest to her.
Halfway through the nightmare it jarringly turned to a peaceful picnic with Sig with a few of his bug friends. Sil didn't let her guard down. She's gone through this song and dance for a whole lifetime. She knew her (sub)consciousness will make it a nightmare soon.
The crying wreck's whiplash let her take the dream Sig's warm embrace and his kind words telling her she'll be okay. It was comforting in a way Silvana felt like she was losing control over her dream. As if her dreamcatcher just disappeared. It felt like she was along for the ride. And the ride was whiplash. As it went straight back to the nightmare, and Silvana couldn't change course if she wanted to, she got lost to the dream.
And it all came to a head when in her hysteria that the dream Sig, with his super-strong red-arm, slammed Sil's face in.
"AAAH!" Sil shot up.
Chapter 87: The selfish spider's attack
Silvana panted. Confused and hurting. She could feel her right arm just keep on pulsing, and pulsing, and pulsing, it was distracting. Maybe she exercised too much. She could barely think.
That was a half-lie. Sil figured even if her arm didn't pound like that, she wouldn't be able to concentrate regardless. As she completely forgot what she was doing.
Suddenly the door opened, it didn't occur to Sil to be surprised at the suddenness of it. "I heard screaming!"A familiar voice panicked at the door's entrance though Sil couldn't get a good look at the face, she recognized the voice.
"Uncle?" Sil leaned forward and squinted her eyes trying to get a good look.
"Yes, it's me, Sil." The black-haired, red-eyed man joined her bedside on his knees. "Are you, okay? Are those tears?!"
"What are you doing in my room, Uncle?" Sil didn't think about how creepy that was.
"The better question is why are you in Sig's body?" The man said in a tongue-in-cheek way, though he sounded as weak as he did yesterday.
"What?" She raised an eyebrow, trying to process it. Sil tried to cup one of her breasts to check. "Huh." Only to not find it not there. The uncle had an awkward chuckle. She looked at her hand on the flat chest, though blurry looking, it was bigger than usual. The clown then took a look at the arm that would not stop pulsing. And it was the familiar red arm. There was only one she knew with an arm like that.
The uncle let her figure things out on her own.
"The arm is on the wrong side."
"What?" The man thought that was a non-sequitur.
Sil took a look around the dimly lit room, the sun wasn't up yet. It seemed to be Sig's room but it was mirrored. And everything looked doubly blurry and not at the same time. Like as if with one eye she could see the end of the room well and the other not. And same with something as close as her hands.
"I need glasses." Sil said plain and simple.
"What! Why?" The uncle leaned forward a bit to take mental notes but then he leaned back. Seemingly dismissing it?
"Everything's so blurry. Like my eyes."
"Sig!" The uncle looked straight ahead away from Sig. Yelling, holding his temples, and looking down. "AH!" He threw his hands in the air. Sil just blankly looked. Normally she'd react to it, but she didn't. "He could've just told me! That boy needs to stop lying about what bothers him." He rubbed his head. "Thank you, Silvana." He then muttered something with something that sounded like it ended in but whatever.
"No problem, Uncle. So can I have glasses?" … Sil paused, she lost her train of thought. "And for Sig too. This is really annoying…"
The uncle took a while to answer. "…Tomorrow… We'll look for it tomorrow." He held her shoulder. Sig's shoulder.
Sil looked some more at the distracting arm. "Am I really Sig right now, uncle?"
"Yes, Silvana." He tried to sound more cheerful. "You're indeed in my dear nephew's body, due to a rare spell I happen to know."
"Ah."
Sig's uncle went on to remind Sil why and for what this spell was cast. To get the two know each other even better, and to play a little prank on everyone. As a jester low on her joke quota, Sil agreed to pretend to be Sig. Sounded oddly comforting.
"Have a good talk with your former school friends."
"Sounds fun." Sig really didn't seem to be able to emote as much as Sil wanted to. She didn't feel all that internally emotive either, she's assuming how'd she'd feel back in her body.
And don't worry about your body, just in case I wrote in that note I gave you Sig should be reading to be respectful of your body.
Sil took a bit to answer. "Don't care what he does with it."
The uncle raised his eyebrows high. "Oh." It was a calm oh. "I feel a little silly writing that note so strongly." He chuckled nervously. "He's really gotta worry himself a lot if he's showing your usual emotional range like you're showing his' now."
"Jerk."
"S-Sig will be fine." He scratched his chin. "Go back to sleep, there'll be a big breakfast waiting for you when your alarm goes off. You'll like it, it's Sig's favorite. Just like you."
"Sounds nice." Sil said before she got a hug from the man. "Did you compare me to food?"
"Rest well, Silvana." The man said as he tucked in his nephew's body back in bed.
Later that morning, it took a while to get Silvana out of bed, confirming to the uncle that it was on Sig's body that he had trouble getting out and not his mind.
Sil felt a bit cranky through the emotionless haze but that soon dissipated as she smelled the pancakes on Sig's plate.
"For me?" She said with a weak smile on Sig's face as the second face attached to his body smiled wider. The one of the ghostly spirit sometimes spotted.
"Yeah, dig in." Sig's guardian pointed with an open hand. "Eat as much as you want."
"This is a lot of weight though…" Sil considered. To which the blue little spirit attached to her tried to argue against but Sil paid him no mind.
"Sig's an active boy. Don't worry about his weight issues." The man ripped a pancake piece off of the pancake with a fork. "You're gonna like it. Open up." Which Sil did against her clouded judgment. "Please remember to chew!" The legal guardian stressed. Sil glared at him before she took a bite. "S-Sorry."
Sil took a bite. "This is really good." She was impressed. They were better than the last time she ate them at this house. "Is it always this good to Sig?"
"Well, he does flatly say it's one of his favorites. You know how inexpressive the boy is, I have to take his word on it." It made sense, when she was there last time Sig didn't really change his expression while eating one of his favorite foods.
"Recipe." Sil asked impolitely.
"Eeeeh. Later. You'll have to go to school first after all to maintain the prank."
"Uhm… Yeah. That'll be fun." Sil took another bite. There was plenty of time to finish breakfast before school. Sil didn't wanna eat all of it though. She asked Sig's uncle to put it in the fridge.
Sig's little blue ghost wasn't too happy with that. Both Sil and Sig's uncle were wondering what that thing was. It seemed to be how Sig expressed himself if it was visible at that moment. But it's clearly not reflecting Sil's emotions.
Sil tried to swipe it with Sig's red claw. But it went straight through the apparition.
"I have never known what that is." The uncle commented. "Can you understand him?"
Sil stood still looking deep into its eyes as best she could as it faded from her vision. She shook Sig's head.
"Thought so…" He said as he prepared Sig's bag for school for her. "Silvana?" He wanted her attention and she barely didn't give it to him because she was spacing out. "I'll pick you up from school. I need you to be near me in case you space-out in town. We gotta be sure to be at the ruins."
And thus Silvana left the house with Sig's guardian as he went to work too. He gave her such a long hug. One Sig would give her, specifically reminded her of the hug she got when she returned from hell. "Sorry, dozed off again." He said.
"'Tis okay." She replied. He held her in a similar way Sig often did her but it didn't do much for her here. The girl was happy to have that man as an actual uncle someday. If Sig and her ever got that far… Sil bumped Sig's foot spacing out at the thought. She slapped herself awake with the human hand. To school!
She was already lost at the first turn. It took her an embarrassingly long time for her to realize as such on account of being in the space-case Sig's body. There was only so much space to feel sympathetic and frustrated at the same time. She's gonna be late.
"How does Sig live like this?" Sil asked herself as she tried to read the mirrored street signs from a distance. She decided to ask the way to Primp Magic School. She spotted two chatting girls walking in her direction. Both looking a fair bit older than her. She thought she might as well ask them.
"So, like, why're we talking about that clown again?"
"Because she's maighty intriguin'."
"We're so not talking about this again."
"Her stage name's Puhrow. That'sa sad clown."
"I know! I don't care."
"But that's such a weird name. Ya'd think she'd be sad 'll th' taime. But she's always putting up such'n happy face. She's gotta be hidin' sumthing. Laike a cry fer 'elp or sumthing."
'They're not wrong.' The clown in the half-demon's body thought. She was tailing them in hope to get a word in. "It's a last name." She got the girls' attention.
"Hey, look." The non-Pierrot fan pointed and giggled. "It's the red armed kid."
"Oh! Yer're Pierrot's boyfrien', raight?" The one who did seem to be enamored with Pierrot's mysterious nature found herself to be giddy. "Wha' didya jus' say, cutie pie?"
"Pierrot's the last name."
"Oh, Ah know that. Jus' that has ta be fake, ya know." The almost 20-something seemed to argue. On the inside, Sil flinched a little. "Wheth'r she's a sad clown or naht it's still purdy coincidental, Ah think." Her tone wasn't accusatory, she presented her questions as food for thought. "As 'er boyfr'nd you should know this."
"Ah…" Sil then uttered the Primp equivalent of "I plead the 5th." "She's um… Doesn't like talking about her past."
"Good, as I, like, do not care. Can we go now?" The other girl tried to get away as Sil wanted to do.
"Ah, come'n. As if ya don't laike yer gossip."
"Pah. As if."
"Can you tell me where Primp Magic School is? I'm lost." To those words the older girls giggled. It hurt Sil a little.
"Aw, the clown's datin' sucha cute ditz~" The nice girl bend over to pinch the boy's cheeks. Sil got a view of some cleavage, more of it then you'd see if she was standing up, as much as she could see with Sig's awful vision anyway.
It made Sil feel a little weird as she noticed her lack of her breasts more than ever now. It's been a while since she last was in a boy's body, she'd normally notice it more than she did now. She found them always a bit too big for all the moving she does, they got in the way if not bound.
But she would internally retract those statements she does notice when they aren't there, and thus misses them, they weren't there when possessing the opposite sex. But also, Sig's body is used to being Sig's body that it feels natural to Sil too. But if anything that made it weirder.
She then wondered how Sig's faring with the opposite problem. His uncle did tell him to be a stick in the mud about being in her body. That's not something she'd say to him if she was into this awful body swap plan to begin with. She knows her body, Sig's gotta make himself as comfortable and happy as possible, and not to make it feel like he's walking on eggshells. Silvana is not sure if her depression is tied to her body or mind. Regardless, the last thing she'd want is Sig to suffer from it when she herself is already a burden to him.
"HELLO!" The mean girl snapped Sil out of it.
"Wha?"
"Ah, yer're awake, cutie." The nice one said with a little concern. "So Puhrow likes 'em haigh-maintenance."
Sil pouted. To which the nice one giggled.
"It's past them buildings. And then ya go left."
Sil tried to visualize it. "Right." Sil droned. "Thanks."
"Like, say hi to Ms. Accord for me!"
"Ditto!~ Say hai to yer GF too, fer me, a fan."
That's when those strangers walked off. Sil didn't even know their names, remembering their request at all was out of the question.
Sil took a wrong turn again, so it surprised her how little she was late. The school was in her sight. She would make it. But she was feeling a bit woozy though, like Sig's sleepiness…
She fell unconscious on her face. That's what Lidelle told her when she woke up in class anyway. Amitie had spotted Sil succumbing to a narcolepsy spell (a figurative spell, no magic involved). Ms. Accord let it slide that she was late because it's been a while since Sig's narcolepsy was that bad. Sil figured Sig worked hard to not fall asleep.
So in addition to everything else Sil had to focus on, she had to fight against falling asleep on the spot. It would make Sil think of all the times Sig previously fell asleep like this, she had to be alert and learn not to conk out.
Ms. Accord might not let it slide next time.
Regardless, it felt weird to be sitting in this school again. Right next to her old seat which was now occupied by Amitie. That was enough to feel like a lot has changed to her.
That and everything was in mirror mode. Makes reading fun. She was barely able to do it.
"And now please solve these sandwich puzzles, kiddies." Ms. Accord said as she handed out papers with Puyo Puyo problems on them. The teacher instinctively almost handed it out to Klug's table. "Oh, silly me. Klug isn't here today."
"Safe to say he isn't coming at this point, meow."
"You're probably right, Popoi. Klug doesn't skip school if he can help it."
"Cat flu?" Popoi threw out there.
Amitie raised. "Can I give him his homework, Professor?"
"After class, Amitie."
"Okay." The red-hatted girl hoped to get out for some early fresh air.
"Nice try, Ammy." Sil dryly whispered. Saying in her usual sisterly jab toward her. Sig's blue spirit protruding from the boy smiled.
"Thanks, Sig." Amitie whispered back before she went to work. Sil had to admit, she got a little kick out of Amitie not knowing the truth. She kept on working on Sig's schoolwork, but it was just a headache looking at it mirrored.
"Hiya, Sis." Amitie suddenly said. Sil looked at her sister, and then at Raffina who made a noise, and then she looked at her own body.
'Sig?'
The two were granted to have a bit of time to talk alone. And Sil let out all her feelings about being in Sig's body to Sig. Learned something about herself as it seems Sil's body was engineered to make her hate Arle. Gave Sig a piece of his own comforting medicine. Once again confessed each other's love for each other without taking the next step.
Sil feared seeing her own face and asked Sig not to take it off. Discussed getting Sig glasses. Sig guiltily told her something that only made her smile and told him she didn't mind. Got to know this boy a little when not shackled by his body's limitations as she was at the moment. And told each other that they wanna be out of each other's body quickly.
Sil wanted to talk more. But she fell asleep again before she could ask how to keep being awake. She was left in the nurse's office until she woke up. Ms. Accord did tell her that Silvana kissed her though, that was nice.
The Magic Professor gave Sil an out. She was allowed to go home or to doctor because it was a little worrying the narcolepsy was at an all-time high. But Sil said her Uncle had to pick her up so she stayed at the school. Trying to do her best at Sig's schoolwork.
She fell asleep again until she was woken up for lunch break. The girls, meaning of all of Sig's classmates, sat together on the same bench and had a chat with who they thought was Sig. "Are you alright, Mister Sig?" Lidelle asked, beating Amitie to the punch.
Sil's groggy mind made her groan in response.
"Is that a no?" Amitie asked.
"Maybe?" Sil groaned in response, she didn't wanna think about it. Thinking was a burden after an unfinished sleep.
"What is it like?"
"What is what like?" Sil asked Amitie back in annoyance due to her lack of specificity.
"To just conk out like that?"
"Amitie!" Raffina shouted. Making her classmates jump. "You don't just ask someone about her shortcomings!"
"And you outright calling people names on what you think their shortcomings are is any better, Miss Ra- EEP!" Lidelle swiftly shut up her non-sarcasm sarcasm with a single quiet threat.
"So, Sig." Raffina tried to divert from one of her less than desired traits. "Are you and Silvana an item now?" Amitie and Lidelle swift turned to Sig's face, restlessly awaiting the answer "And I do mean an official item. You can't convince me that you and that fool aren't a couple yet with how close you two are." Amitie and Lidelle nodded intently.
Sil sighed. The girls took it as an admission that Sig wanted to tie the knot with words. "We're a little closer, I guess." There was more to say, but she didn't feel like it.
"Just ask her out already!" Raffina shouted. It got her some weird looks from her fellow Magic students. To which she just pouted and turned her head the other way. "It's not that hard."
"You'll feel great when you're finally a boyfriend. I know I was happy to be Raffi's girlfriend, one of the best moments in my life! None of my other dates ever compared." Amitie said a tad melancholic. It almost sounded like she was on the verge of tears.
Lidelle, seeing a good friend in distress, gently held Amitie's arm. Sil being a good sister did the same. *Sniff* "Thanks, guys. And don't sweat it, Raffi."
…
…
"I-I'm s-sorry…" Raffine got some eyebrow-raising and a hopeful look from Amitie. But the rich pinkhead averted her gaze with a "Hmph. I'm not repeating myself." The prideful martial artist stood up. "Now if you excuse me, I must go powder my nose." And she left to go back inside the building.
"5 Credits says she's gonna cry in the bathroom." There's no evidence she didn't.
"I don't wanna gamble with my money, Mister Sig." Lidelle humbly declined. "I need that for bread."
"Please don't tease her behind her back." Amitie defensively pleaded, with a tint of anger. "She wouldn't do that to you guys."
"Yes, she would."
"She would."
Was Lidelle and Sil's gut reaction.
Amitie wanted to argue back, but she has learned how two-faced Raffine can be. "Can we stop talking about this?" She said in the same breath as: "So who do you got an eye for, Liddy?"
The shy Lidelle's face flushed red; she didn't waste time hiding it behind her sleeves. "N-N-Not t-telling, Miss Ammy! Not here!" The embarrassed imp said.
"Ooooooo~ So there is someone~" Amitie got really interested. "Who is it?" She got closer to Lidelle by darting her body over Sig's lap as Lidelle scooted further away the closer Amitie got. Until there was no more bench to scoot away from. "C'mon, Liddy, you can tell me. Is it Tar-mmmhmphhmphm!"
Sil covered Amitie's mouth and pushed her back to the opposite side of where she was sitting. "Ammy, stop asking people about their loves."
Amitie sat quietly, thinking about it.
Sil wanted to conk out to escape this awkward conversation, but it seemed Sig's body had done enough of that for today. This seemed like as awake as she's gonna be for the day, and it's still pretty groggy. It made her wonder how Sig's not more dependent on his uncle.
"Oh yeah." Sil remembered.
"What is it, Mister Sig?" Lidelle asked.
Sil invited Amitie and Lidelle to whatever Sig's uncle had arranged at the ruins. Amitie said yes, but Lidelle declined. The ruins were spooky to her.
The rest of the school day went swimmingly. Well, relatively. Sil stopped falling unconscious, but her sight is still mirrored and Sig's vision still sucked and hurt her eyes. Sil was gonna stop pretending if this goes on longer than this day. And if it did she was gonna make Sig go to school her body while she can give his eyes a rest and look into fixing them.
Pulse. Pulse. Pulse.
And she almost forgot about that. Focusing on that made her lose focus on Sig's work again.
She hated it, and Sig suffered from this daily? It disgusted her, she'll do her best to fix her future boyfriend up any way she can because he cannot go on living like this.
And then there was a knocking at the Classroom's open door. "Hello, Accord. Am I interrupting something?" It was Sig's uncle with a rhetorical question.
"Oh, I don't mind, Stan."
"I doubt the kitties would either, meow."
"But be quick about it." The teacher gently nudged.
"You see, I sent Sig to school, knowing he wasn't feeling well. So I'm here to pick him up."
"By all means. He's been out of it." Sil stood up and got to the uncle of her current body.
"More than usual." Lidelle added.
Accord nodded. "His frequent sleeping problem is back"
The uncle snapped out his sullen mood. "Oh!" He picked up Sig's body and gave it a hug in the middle of the classroom. "Sorry to hear that."
"I'm okay… Sorta."
The uncle brought Sil to Sig's home with Sig's homework. They solemnly talked a little about Sig's body problems and they eventually went to the ruins and arrived ahead of when Silvana and Sig's friends are supposed to, about an hour ahead of when the others should arrive.
"So, what were we supposed to do here again?" Sil asked just as they went through a corner inside. "Stanley?" Sil raised Sig's eyebrow at seeing a fellow person not in the right body. It was Klug's reddened body (something invisible to less magically inclined or the observant). Meaning the demon in his book took over.
Which in turn means there's some kinda magic around that allows him do that such as Sil's essence, or that funky looking Amethyst Pearl she just noticed in his hands.
"That's more reaction than I would have expected from such an empty shell." He said unamused. Putting in a bookmarker in his book.
That's when Sil got a piece of cloth forced on Sig's mouth, she soon fell unconscious.
And before she knew it she woke up to the tune of smelling salts. "EEEEEEeeeeew!" Even Sig's body had an emotional reaction to it. Namely disgust.
"Finally." Sig's voice groaned. "My body is in reach."
"Did… I say that?" Sig's voice also said.
"Quiet. I shall flush you out…" Sig's arms moved to Sig's aching head without Sil's accord. "As soon as I can think. This body? How can it feel this bad? This arm isn't supposed to… Um… Word. Word..."
"Pulsate?" Sig's uncle nervously said, getting Sig's body's attention. Not that Sil and Stanley could see Stan very well wherever he was.
"What's going on?"
"That's not for a disgrace like you to know. Where was I?" The co-host's thoughts in Sig's body threw both him and Sil onto the hazy path. "Um… Oh yeah. Time to make this body mine!" He picked the Amethyst Pearl (looking awfully red) and casted a spell. "CRIMSON INSERTION!" Sil could see the crimson magic come out of the pearl. It was an uncomfortable sight and a worse sensation.
They could hear Sig's uncle and the muffled Klug wince just from looking.
For those not in the know(, and who could blame you?): Crimson Magic is one of the most arcane magicks out there. It's like Amethyst, but worse. Depending on the person the mere presence of a large dose of it can hurt them. And Sig's non-demon parts weren't used to it.
Sil and Stanley's screams made it sound more painful than it seemed, on account of two people fighting over a shared set of vocal cords, thus creating an inconsistent scream. The onlookers looked on in horror as Sig seemed to have a splitting headache and collapsed.
The Uncle quickly moved to help them up. "Sil!" But he was brushed off.
"Mml?" Klug mumbled.
"No need, descendent. The mind's clear now." They got up and incessantly dusted off the dust and sand off of Sig's clothes.
Sil noticed it too, all that pain in the brain seemed to have improved whatever was wrong with Sig's brain. Sil felt like she had her usual brain again with the clarity she gained. "It's so much less cloudy. What did you do?" She asked.
"Quiet you!" The unwanted guest yelled. Covering Sig's eyes to avoid having an eye ache. "I'll lock you up soon enough in the deep recesses of your mind." He groaned and gritted. "But first to fix this eyesight." Sil felt the crimson magic course through her eyes. It was pain.
Sig's uncle and Klug couldn't watch. And when it was done, Sig's eyes were both nearsighted. "Much better~" The former book demon said with a sigh of relief. He went to Klug's body to get his own pair of glasses.
"Whatever you're doing to Sig's body is great, and all I'm sure he'll appreciate it once he gets back in his own body."
"His own body?" Stanley stopped for a moment.
"Though I'm honestly starting to doubt he'll get it back at this point." Sil mused sarcastically. Sig's body visibly had a horrified eureka moment, Silvana's emotions took full reign of the boy. Seeing Sig with a scowl was something that freaked Klug and the uncle out. Klug flopped like a fish to face away, and the uncle was scared seeing the boy he raised with that unprecedented anger in both his face and mannerisms. It drove the man to walk his back into a wall in fear. Knowing it's Silvana (and his demonic ancestor) in there did not lessen the blow.
Silvana growled at the man she once affectionately her uncle did what she thought she did. She clenched Sig's giant pulsing fist and instinctively raised it close to Sig's chin.
Her sight looked at it. Calming herself down, turning the hand into an open palm. "Hmm." A melancholic noise, she thought about her situation. She shot a glare at her best friend's uncle again. She put Sig's red arm's monstrous strength to good use by just putting a little bit of pressure on the adult. Trapping him between the claw and the wall. There was no escape.
"Tell me, Stan…"
"I got-"
"NOT YOU!" Sig's voice screamed to shut the other person within him up...
"You, did you sell me out so that Sig got to live!?" Sil didn't need a verbal answer for Sig's guardian, his face said it all.
"I see." Sil removed the arm. Feeling a bit defeated leading to the book demon to be the dominant force again.
"I-I'm sorry Sil. I didn't want it to be like this. And I'm sorry, nobody will be here to save you. I made sure of that. I lied that Sig was inviting people and there's a barrier put on so no one can leave or enter." Sil regained control because her emotion was too strong. She fell onto the ruins' ground crying.
"Hmlphphmumph! HUMPHHMULPMHMPHUPHMPH!" Klug chewed the adult out.
"Don't feel so bad about it, Silvana." The other person in the body tried to cheer her up. "I wouldn't mind sharing my body with you. As long as I get my daily dose of books."
"Oh, ssssshhut up!" Sil spewed with vemon. "Do you seriously think I'd be okay with sharing a body with you?! You know I'm in love Sig, Stanley! Everyone does apparently! You want to wipe Sig away just so you can read books 24/7! You deserve to rot behind a bookcase, Stanley! You killer!"
Sig's body seemed to try and juggle sadness, anger, and fear.
"How! How could you! I thought we were friends!"
"Friends?"
"And you did this to me?"
"S-Sorry!"
"Sorry isn't gonna cut it! I THOUGHT YOU WERE COOL!"
Sil felt Sig's heart break due to the loss of a friend, it hurt her as well, but she didn't care. "I'm sorry! Maybe we can find a compromise to make us all happy?" The demon tried to make things right. "Perhaps can find a way to create a duplicate of this bod-"
"DUPLICATE!?" Everyone in the room flinched, the uncle was as disheartened that Sil shot down that solution as his ancestor was. "A DUPLICATE!?" Silvana laughed like crazy so she wouldn't have to cry, and Klug's book demon noticed. "Let me tell you a little something! Nothing ever came good out of a duplicate EVER!"
"Th-Then what am I supposed to do?!"
Sil's anger subsided. "Just do what you wanted to do…" That surprised everyone. "We're both awful, Stanley." Sil put Sig's body in a fetal position. Craving to hug something or to be hugged. "I deserve it… I've had a better life then any Doppelganger could realistically hope for…" Sil mumbled without care.
"D-Doppelganger?"
"Hmph Mmphfulfunger?"
"I deserve it… As long as Sig's safe." She started flatout bawling, hiding her expressions from the uncle and Klug. "He'll always have my body to remember me byyyyy." His nose got a bit runny. "Just do it. Living is not worth it…"
"I can't do that!"
"You better do it. Or I'll figure out a spell and find it in me to do it to you, you scum!"
"O-Okay!"
"I'm sorry, Sil…" The uncle said very apologetically.
"Whatever. Just tell Sig, Akuma, my family, my crew, Lemres, Baldanders, that ghost Silly and any other friend of mine not to dwell on my death. And give Army a good home…" She thought she couldn't cry anymore, but her last request had proven her wrong. "I don't deserve any of them. Don't bother throwing a funeral, my will is hidden in-"
"It doesn't have to be like this! We c-"
"SHUDDAP!" Sil roared at the uncle. "Stanley, do your thing!"
"I'm no-"
"DO IT!"
Sig's body stood up and prepared further alteration of Sig's body. It held the pearl.
Sig's uncle felt powerless to his ancestor now, he couldn't find it in him to stop them. Klug felt the same, even if he wasn't bound and gagged, even if he wouldn't run away at the sight of it.
The transformation began, and it was as much of a pain as it was before. Sig's right arm became just like the left one. But weaker, in fact, the left arm felt weaker too, they felt about on the same level. Still far stronger than the average human.
They stopped pulsing like a bad headache though. Is that what Sig's body supposed to be?
Silvana had noticed that Sig's non-red skin had turned darker a while back. What she didn't notice is that the eyes and hair turned red just then.
Sil was a little confused when Sig's shoes and socks were taken off. It was all made clear when his feet painfully turned monstrous as his arms did.
This is when Silvana noticed, looking at the feet, that Sig's body was leaking some kind of… Essence? Crimson essence, just like her Grandpa but not-blue. She noted that Sig started looking a lot like a ghost of some sort, like Grandpa. And like Akuma, she started floating. That was seemingly under Stanley's control.
Sig's uncle looked at the corrupting of his boy's body, and with the second-hand influence of the arcane crimson magic he gained the courage he needed.
"Great [etc?] Grand Uncle!" The adult got his ancestor to look at him. Sil noticed his hair started to turn red. "W-We gotta stop!" He nervously tried to argue. "Sil doesn't deserve this."
"You're right…" The demon begrudgingly agreed. Begrudgingly on his part. "You set me up, but it's a good set up." He frowned. "I can not go through with this… Let's find a way to give Silvana a happily ever after. Someone has to get one with the one they love. Even if she loves a plank of wood, but that's beside the point. Find a way to duplicate your neph-"
Before Silvana could reply there were voices.
"Sil?"
"Sig? Omigosh what's going on?!"
"What's happening?"
"Gu."
Sig in Silvana's body, Amitie, Arle, and Carbuncle didn't know what to make of all of this. Though it did seem vaguely familiar to Amitie and Sig. Sil couldn't see them well, but she certainly recognized their voices. Arle had a funny accent for some reason, it made whatever she said not sound like Kill me, real Arle.
"You told me there was a barrier!" Sig's voice shouted at the body's uncle!
"Quick! Girls!" The uncle yelled. "To save Sig you must bury him in Puyos or knock him down! Whatever comes first!"
"Sil, what happened to you?" Sig mumbled in horror looking at his body.
"Gotcha!" Arle affirmed the adult's commands. "C'mon, guys! We gotta save'm!"
"Y-Yeah!" Amitie got battle-ready. "We'll save you!"
"Gugu." Carbuncle bounced.
Sig just looked entranced at his floating demon body. More demon-like than before. With no trace of Sil in the facial expressions. Just a panicky confusion.
"SILVANA!" Arle got both Sig and Sil's looks but she was only referring to Sig in Sil's body. "Snap out of it! That's your boyfriend in danger!"
Sig swallowed his fear. "Y-You're right!" Sig got ready to save Sil from… Whatever happened, he doesn't know, but it seemed to hinge on Silvana making it out okay or not!
"Puyo Battle!"
"Puyo Battle!"
"Puyo Battle!"
"Gugu gugu."
*Stanley (and Sil) were in no state to think straight, nor could they see the puyos with Sig's new nearsightedness very well, so they lost badly.*
Sil pretty much signed her death warrant already. Her crippling fear of being buried was there, but it didn't affect her as much. She just laid there beneath the jellies.
"Smash that pearl, girls! Its crimson-infused amethyst magic is keeping Sig possessed!" The uncle yelled.
"On it!" Arle picked the magic orb up and threw it to Carbuncle. "Carby, catch!" She aimed for the mouth.
*Fushoosh!* *Boom!* *Shatter!* Nobody expected Carbuncle's laser approach. The pearl turned to dust. Its essence was absorbed into Sil's body and the essence that made up her mind in Sig's body. The crimson just dissipated, so none of it went to Stanley. And without the bonding process being finalized, the demon forcibly returned to the book next to Klug.
The uncle, Arle, Amitie and Sig dug out Sil from the rubble. All of them gave her a hug. Sil's just sat there. Sig's uncle made her swallow a mystery item. All of Sig's red and blue turned to black safe for his eyes, just like his uncle. His body maintained the further mutations Sil suffered through. Though Sig's body seemed to be free of crimson magic it seemed, but it did feel that Sig was left with more magical prowess then he started with.
Sig felt his uncle's arm around Sil's body. "I did it. You're safe, and so's Sil!" He was so happy.
"So what about the party?" Amitie asked looking around. "Doesn't seem to be decorated, no snacks, nothing to do. No one at a party should be tied up like Klug or be possessed like Sig. You should hire me to plan your parties, I do birthdays so why no regular par-"
"Seems like the possession was an accident?" Amitie and Arle went to untie Klug. Everyone but the uncle and Sig let Sil go. But Sil nudged them off. She'd snapped out of it and recollected herself.
She walked past Arle and Amitie, before going into a ghost-like float towards Klug. She snatched his book up. The one containing Stanley, she stared him dead in the eye. The book spirit shivered. "Don't think I'll ever forgive you."
The malice coming out of Sig's voice sent chills down everyone's spines, not just the sealed spirit's.
"If I ever see you again," Sil tore open a tear in space. "IT'LL BE TOO SOON!" She chucked him in with no remorse.
"Hmmphh!" Klug yelled! He yelled harder when Silvana closed the rip.
The girls were too shocked to see Sig like this to comment and connect the dots that Sig was doing Sil's space tearing move.
Immediately Sil dashed into her own arms Sig was using. She clung unto Sig tight, like a kid scared of lighting to her mother. "Take me home, please." She went on to sob about what happened to her/him at a pace Sig barely could keep up with. He did take something important away from it though.
"Wait… You sold Sil out, Uncle?" Sig asked in disbelief.
"It was for your safety, Sig. Sil needed to be put at risk if you were to make it out okay. And my plan worked better than I ever could've imagined. You both tu-"
"Shut up!" Sig made his uncle flinch. "I hate you!" Sig teared up! "What's wrong with you!" Sig gave an awkward cheek rub to his own body with a mask on for both his and her comfort.
"I did-"
"I DON'T WANNA HEAR IT!" Sig turned around and went on his way out of the ruins. "I never wanna see you near her again, and I never wanna see you either."
"Wait! Let me at least switch your bodies back!"
"I CAN'T TRUST YOU!" Sig didn't care if his uncle had an answer. He felt too betrayed. He just kept walking to Silvana's caravan with his own floating, mutated body in his arms. His arms were really tight of him.
He kept on whispering comforting words into his best friend.
…
"Uuuuum… I'm confused. What's going on?" A mildly scared Amitie asked the sobbing adult on his knees.
Author's Notes:
I hope you enjoyed SFCtC so far. I chose to end on that note to let you guys imagine the next chapters for a bit.
I'll advertise my stuff again as this will be the last time I'll write for SFCtC for a long while and I'll likely mean it this time: I started up an archive to preserve as much Puyo Puyo/Madou Monogatari/Disc Station stuff as I can. And I need your help.
This time I got a Ko-fi. You'll find it pinned to my archive's Tumblr and Twitter accounts. Please donate if you can.
The archive is called: Puyo Puyo Preservation Place.
Tumblr: puyopreservation
Twitter: puyopreserver
Please don't contact those accounts to ask me questions about my opinions on things. They are for business.
I will be back to return to this. Don't worry. Though, admittedly, maybe without the eye for continuity, because admittedly, I lost it during writing this chapter. I may need a writing break.
And remember, if do never return to this story there's always that April Fools ending I gave you. Not sure if anyone liked that one, but I did make it as a possible ending for the fic.
~The End of Act 4, They'll be alright~
