I'll add Maguro's star quirk in a later update because my computer isn't letting them show up.
In-Between Truth
Ringo watched Satan gather himself, his eyes unreadable. He seemed to be surveying the forest, his expression perfectly neutral. The wind bristled around them as Arle stomped towards them, her fists clenched. Satan inclined his head towards her before dropping his attention to Ecolo, who slowly rose to their feet.
Ringo took slow, shallow breaths. She gripped the fabric of her school uniform and glanced between the unstoppable duo, her heart feeling like it would leap into her throat and out of her mouth. Sweat dampened her brow even though the sun was shielded by the clouds. She hadn't realized she was shaking until she acknowledged the odd chattering pounding in her ears was her teeth grinding together.
"Your motive," Arle demanded, leering down at Ecolo. "Tell me your motive."
Ecolo sighed, rubbing their head. "You didn't hafta wallop me like that! I might be soft, but I'm really not impervious to a pounding."
"Ecolo," Satan began, his voice like ice, "your reasoning. Now."
They sighed, floating above Arle's head. They had the nerve to wrap their arms behind their head. Humming, they rested on their side. "Eh, I don't wanna tell you now. It'll ruin the big surprise at the end."
"Ecolo, are you serious? Don't you realize what's going on?" Ringo snapped, throwing her hands out.
"Oh, Ringo! I guess normal humans think this is just so scary, right? It's a totally unpredictable situation for you!" They tilted their head, their smile stretching into their round cheeks. "It's a situation that someone as analytical as you can't predict, right? Even you don't know what will happen when two big, bad monsters get together and brawl."
Arle fired a lightning bolt at Ecolo's head, but the space-time traveler evaporated into a thick, black mist. When they reformed on Arle's left, she seethed, "Don't talk down to her like that. Say something like that again-"
"And you'll what? Banish me to some void? Trap me for a millennium in some tiny pocket of the multiverse?" A harsh peel of laughter split between their lips. "Oh, that's such a super duper easy-peasy lemon-squeezy place to escape from! I'm still really shocked you couldn't get outta your void for such a long time! Guess you aren't really as much of a god as you thought you were, huh?" They sighed. "Although, five hundred years isn't really a long time to someone like me."
Heat boiled in Arle's cheeks. She sucked down a sharp breath and felt her uneven fingernails carve into her calloused palm. She shot out for Ecolo's throat, but again, they vanished into black particles and reappeared on Ringo's side, earning a yelp from the younger girl. A swill of panic sweltered in Arle's chest as they rounded between her and Satan, wrapping their arms around their shoulders.
"And don't even get me started on this lunkhead right here! How dumb was he to not take you with the Arle I know into his little fantasy world? Seriously! You gotta be nearly blind to leave behind a perfectly good husk in a void!" Ecolo swirled their finger by their temple, and Ringo quickly jumped out of their reach. "Unless, old man, you're really colorblind! This Arle is reddish and purple, and the other Arle is blue! How do you not see that you left her behind? Was the void you found her in super dark or something?"
Satan swatted at Ecolo, their lips curling into a snarl, but as expected, they vanished. Their mist wafted in the wind before reforming in the center of the battlefield, appearing like a mischievous devil as they peered between the combatants. They crossed their legs and watched Arle gnash her molars together so tightly that they expected them to crack into shards. Stifling a yawn, they rose into the air and allowed Arle to bask in her fury, her entire body burning with five hundred years worth of wrath towards the deity who left her behind.
"I hate admitting this, but that freak has a point. There's no conceivable way that you wouldn't have realized that the new Arle wasn't at full power. You must've known that you left me behind all this time." Arle chuckled, low, hollow, and vindictive. "Yeah, isn't that right? Leaving that girl so powerless, it gave you all the strength you needed. She wouldn't be able to stand up to you like I would have if we were one person again."
"And again, you're completely off the mark." Satan waved his hand and dismissed her retort. He ignored her jaw tightening and sighed. "If you can't accept that it was an honest mistake, then I'll have no choice but to send you back there. I really can't have you ruining what I worked to create."
Arle tensed, and Ringo jumped in front of Satan, her head shaking. "H-hold on! What does that mean? I've spent almost an entire day with her, and she's been nothing but nice!" She paused. "Eh, for the most part. She did get all weird about immortality and stuff last night."
"H-hey! If you're going to defend me, then don't drag me down," Arle huffed, feeling her irritation spike when Ecolo spat out another laugh.
Satan towered over the young girl. With his expression blank, he observed Ringo return to her former confidence. She had always been like that, it seemed, even when her world was threatened by Ecolo on two occasions. Leaping to protect or accuse others had been in her nature. It was really no wonder why his Arle found a new friend in the clever, courageous girl. Standing up to gods was something both Arles and Ringo had in common. With some proper training in magic, perhaps even Ringo could achieve his level even though he personally doubted it the second it crossed his mind.
He peered over his shoulder, finding a two familiar outlines behind a tree. They ducked when he noticed them, and he sighed. Witnesses were fine as long as they stayed out of his way and allowed him to finish his job.
"Knowing her for one day doesn't matter, I'm afraid. You don't know the carnage she's capable of doing or the real magic she's been hiding," he said, and Arle snorted, her brow furrowing.
"Ah, that might be right." She raised her hands, fire burning in one and lightning sparking in the other. "It's unfortunate that my new friend will have to see this, but I'm sure she'll understand in the end."
Ringo whipped her head over her shoulder. "Hey, hey! I sure as heck don't-!"
A hand covered her mouth, and she was dragged back towards the brush, allowing Satan and Arle to resume their duel. She shook her head, chilliness piercing her chin and nose. Ecolo's laughter boomed in her ears, and she gasped as they released her, reappearing fully beside her.
"Ringo, Ringo, Ringo, you're such a silly girl." They flicked her nose, and she grimaced, squinting at the chuckling trickster. "Don't you know that adorable humans like yourself should stay on the sidelines and worship the gods like in the old days?"
"And don't you know that you're super annoying in every little thing you do?"
"Aw, a compliment! I'll add that to my online testimonials. You know, I've gotten into blogging recently. You should follow me!"
"Ecolo-!"
"I won't let you go with simple brainwashing this time!" Arle roared, thrusting her hands forward and unleashing the power she gathered.
Fire and lightning split the ground, unearthing chunks of soil and roots and shooting them in the air. The fresh scent of earth was stolen in the wind. Like cracking whips, the fiery and electrical beams shot out faster than Ringo could see, and her scream drowned in the dirt raining down on top of her and Ecolo.
Satan's wings snapped open as the beams rushed for him. He dashed for the sky, flipping in the air and spiraling for the ones hiding behind the tree. As the beams slashed through shrubbery and trees, Satan dove for them and snatched their arms, ascending into the air once more and tossing them towards Ringo. Ignoring her yelp as the bodies crashed into her, Satan watched Arle grimace and clap her hands together, her magic vanishing in an instant.
Charred trees toppled around them. Arle panted, her head already pounding from withdrawing her magic so suddenly. She gnawed on her lower lip as Ringo shouted the names of her friends and watched Maguro and Risukuma struggle to sit upright. In her blind rage, she hadn't even sensed them, and if her attack had struck them, they would have been incinerated. Her gaze quickly found the ground, and her heart trembled.
"Well, that smarts," Maguro grumbled, rubbing his head.
"Aw, why are you two here?" Ecolo whined, hunching forward. "I thought this was gonna be a fun date for me and Ringo."
"Can it already!" she spat, helping Risukuma to his feet.
The older student leaned against another tree and held his humming ears. "Well, we hurried back when we heard the commotion. It wasn't exactly quiet."
"We caught most of what you guys were talking about, but uh, hey! Thanks for the save, Dark Prince!" Maguro called, and smirking, Satan casually waved back.
"Now, what was it you were saying? You weren't going to let me off with brainwashing?" Satan asked, and Arle straightened, her expression plagued with distress.
"Acting like you don't care this early into the game? How like you!" Arle rushed forward, her fingers splayed out to the sides and thrust them forward. "Ice Storm!"
Satan had to roll his eyes as the sharp, jagged ice blades rushed for his head. It was such a basic spell, one he was certain that even the Suzuran children could learn in a day. Satan flew up to the sky, allowing the ice to pierce the ground where he once stood, skewering stones and dirt.
"Labyrinth!" She clapped her hands together in a tight prayer, a light purple magic circle appearing before her. It spread around her, encompassing her like fog and wafting around her wrists. The magic spiraled into thick bullets, each sharper than any blade, and she whipped them forward, roaring, "Grand Cross!"
In the blink of an eye, the magic bullets burst forward with incomparable speed. Ringo could hardly keep sight of a single one. All she could see was Satan's afterimage vanishing over and over again, his lips moving as if chanting. Arle grunted, waving her hands this way and that way, following him as he swerved gracefully through the onslaught of bullets, each of them more deadly than the last.
"Hey, uh, shouldn't we do something, Ringo?" Maguro asked, taking shelter behind Risukuma.
"What can we do is the real question," Risukuma gravely replied, and Maguro tightened his grip on his coat.
Ringo was silenced by the display as Arle lunged into the air as if she could soar with a swan's grace. With her fist clenched, dark red energy circled around her hand, and she punched the spot where Satan had so arrogantly hovered. She followed his afterimage, punching again and again, missing each time. He effortlessly dodged her, leaving behind a ghostly visage for Arle to scream at and punch into foggy particles.
"Eclipse!" she bellowed, thrusting her fist forward and unleashing a chaotic burst of crimson magic.
The beam rippled with twisting electricity as it stormed for the ground where Satan landed. It crackled and made even the very air hot, as if it could ignite and burn everyone into charred pieces. As Arle held her place in the air, Satan merely held up his hand.
In that moment, a startling realization crossed Ringo's mind.
Why can't there be two Arles? Why is Satan so insistent on her being a simple doppelganger?
Ringo's mind, always analytical, worked as Maguro and Risukuma shouted for Satan to move. Her expression tightened, thinking as hard as she could to comprehend the history Arle had told her last night. Ecolo chuckled above her head, and as if someone snapped their fingers by her ears, Ringo found herself at a crossroads. The conclusion of the battle seemed painfully clear, and yet, she couldn't move, the consequences of their duel dawning on her.
But that's so cruel. Their old world and their new world...it has to be!
"Figured it out, huh?" Ecolo sneered, resting their elbow on her head and their palm to their cheek.
She understood the severity of this match as Satan whispered a spell, one which raised a shield around his body and split the beam in half, sending it curving towards the forest and right to Ringo.
Her eyes widened, matching the same dismal shock shooting through Arle. Both girls caught eyes for a moment before Ringo's world became blinded in a bright red light. It was like she was gazing into a sunspot, the heat burning her vision and silencing the scream that was certainly crawling up her throat. She couldn't move, speak, or blink as the beam dashed towards her, filling her world, and she took a sharp breath when it struck, everything enveloping in darkness.
Explosions echoed in her ears. Trees burst into the sky and incinerated. Heavy smoke filled her nostrils, and her mind blurred, the voices of Maguro and Risukuma suddenly so distant. Her ears rang with the force of merciless gongs, beating over and over again, stripping Ringo of her precious thoughts.
Hands held her body, her friends' voices slowly reaching her. Her fingers meshed with dirt, and the griminess clung underneath her fingernails. She expected pain, but there was only numbness. Ringo blinked once, twice, thrice, and the world burned around her in brilliant shades of scarlet and gray, but those weren't natural colors.
"Ringo!" Maguro shouted, shaking her shoulders. "Hey, hey, Ringo!"
She shook her head, her mouth appearing like a tiny crease. She stared at Maguro for a moment, taking in his distress as the wind swept his bangs up, revealing his panicked, dilated pupils. Dragging her attention to Risukuma, she found part of his coat completely blown off, the ends singed, as he placed his hand to her brow.
"She's-she's responsive. That's good, that's very good," he whispered, relief flooding through him.
Ringo looked in front of her and knew what had saved her. She struggled to sit up, feeling as if her spine would snap with the slightest movement. Grimacing, she covered her mouth and coughed, her brow furrowing as she glowered at her savior.
Ecolo materialized once again, the mist coming together to form the space-time traveler. Their confident smirk was ever-present. Drool slipped over their round chin and landed in globs on the brown grass, but all eyes focused on the gaping hole where their heart should have been.
"Why did you take the blow for me?" Ringo whispered, her skin turning whiter than paper.
"Wh-what the-? How are they-how are they even standing?" Maguro gasped, sweat trickling down the sides of his face.
Ecolo laughed like a child receiving a treasured birthday present."Awww, Ringo! You do care! You're so sweet that it makes me wanna puke."
They pressed their hands over where their heart should have been. Closing their eyes, they traced the wound, and slowly, fog wafted in and out of the hole as it slowly knit itself back together. Without a thread or needle, Ecolo's wound simply closed up and left behind no trace of an injury.
Yet, what did remain was the fire surrounding them. The leaves, once rich in emerald hues, burned in ugly shades of orange, dooming the neighboring shrubberies to the same fate. Engulfed in flames, the battlefield was transformed into a twisted, hellish arena where heavy oak branches fell, dominating the former scent of honeysuckle with ghastly smoke.
Arle panted, her magic aura dwindling and forcing her back to the ground. She gazed at her trembling hands. She had been so close to killing them. If Ecolo hadn't reacted and took the blow for Ringo, then she's certain she'd be gazing wide-eyed at the bloodied corpse like the ones she had seen in Schezo's dungeon all those years ago.
"Are you satisfied?" Satan asked, drawing her attention to him. He narrowed his eyes. "Is this enough for you?"
"Wh-what? You-"
"It seems you're hellbent, aren't you? You'll go through any hoops and any lengths just to kill me, right?" Satan smoothed through his long hair. "It seems you haven't changed at all."
"Y-you bastard, you almost got them killed! Why did you shield? You could've easily fired off a countering spell to reflect my blast back at me!" Arle roared, shaking her head.
Satan looked at her with an expression that made her blood boil, red hot like the flames surrounding her. It was a painful look of pity, one that made her soul cry out in anguish for ancient times and friends never to be seen again. He glanced over to the bewildered humans and Ecolo, finding them humming and enjoying the show.
"I was going to offer you the chance to live in my world," he began, "as the doppelganger."
"No! No! I'm not a doppelganger! I am Arle Nadja!" She clenched her fists. "You did this to me when you separated me from her! You have no right to call me a doppelganger when we used to be one person!"
"I don't think you understand." Satan crossed his arms and sighed. "When I say you are welcomed as a doppelganger, I mean you have to be a doppelganger. My world will not accept two Arle Nadjas."
Ringo slowly drew to her feet with Maguro and Risukuma's help. Her thoughts spun and settled on her lone conclusion. Drawing a breath, she sucked down a breath, but Ecolo clapped their hand over her mouth.
"Not yet. We've finally reached the big revelation scene," they sneered, and leaning closer, they lowered their voice. "You can pay me back by letting Satan have all the glory in telling her, okay?"
"Telling her what?" Maguro asked, and Risukuma swatted Ecolo's hand off her mouth.
"I-it's-it's..." Ringo trailed off, her teeth gritting together, and even though Ecolo saved her, she shoved them aside. Hobbling forward, she shook her head and shouted, "That's enough! You don't have to hurt her this way."
Satan gazed at her, his eyes widening. "If I don't, then we'll simply be at this again sooner or later."
"Tell me what? What the hell are you two going on about?" Arle seethed.
"No! Both of you, just stop." Ringo coughed, the heavy smoke beginning to wear thin on her, and she heard sirens whispering in the distance. "There's no point to any of this-this-this...this madness! It's just illogical madness." She pointed at both of them. "Neither of you have to fight over this. We can just move on."
"'Move on?' 'Move on!' Are you out of your mind? I thought you were the smart one!" Arle barked out a shrill peel of laughter. Her lips twitched as they stretched into her cheeks. "I saved my world and lost everything and everyone I loved! Rulue, Schezo, Carbuncle! They're all gone! Dead!" She threw her head back and laughed, her fingers streaking through her scalp. "Now they're back in his world to be his playthings with a pathetic imitation of myself!" She threw her arms out and stormed towards Ringo, clutching the front of her vest. "And you think you can just waltz in here and stop us? You think just by asking nicely that I won't kill him? I have every right-!"
"Stop it! Just stop talking like that!" Ringo barked back, and she hacked, quickly dragged back by Maguro and Risukuma. Shaking her head as Maguro coughed into his fist, she rubbed her neck. "That's enough, Arle. It's over. It's not the past anymore. It's the present, and I..." She swallowed and glanced over to Satan. "...and I want to resolve this peacefully. Let's put this five hundred year grudge to rest and-"
"-and go back to normal? Okay." Arle smiled, her eyes suddenly vacant. "Then bring back Rulue and Minotauros. Bring back Schezo. Bring back Draco and Witch and Lala and all my friends from school. Bring back Carby. Bring back everyone I once knew." She giggled. "Then, and only then, will I forgive Satan and let it all go."
The rapid crackling of the fire echoed around them. Heavy branches continued falling, landing into the singed, black grass. Risukuma coughed, using his coat to cover his mouth. Sweat continued dripping off their faces, and the heat only rose, leaving Maguro queasy and forcing himself to ignore the temptation to vomit.
"You really are quite cruel. Is this the Creator's influence on you?" Satan asked. "You did battle him for so many years that perhaps he's rubbed off on you."
"Bastard! Don't you dare-!"
"Deviations in the world that I created will be punished, and that's not my law. That's simply the universal constant in any world. It's something that not even I can break free from." Satan lowered his voice. "In other words, my universe is structured to be the same. The same people have the same memories. Every detail is the same down to the tiniest bit of a person's past. I even made sure Schezo met Rune Lord and received his immortality that way."
Arle balked, her lips quirking upwards. "Wha-?"
"Wait, wait, stop!" Ringo shouted only to break off into another coughing fit, the gray smoke drawing closer.
"I made everything and everyone the same. Everything as you remember from the old world happened in my world because I made sure to replicate it all perfectly with the same people in the same manner." He gripped his hips. "They were all innocent victims of a cruel lord. I couldn't let them suffer such agonizing fates, so I made them new again with all the memories of the past. They just don't remember the cruel end they suffered and live day by day with everything as they once knew."
"H-hey-hey, hold on-"
"You don't mean-!" Maguro broke off, paling, and Risukuma closed his eyes.
"Satan! No That's enough!" Ringo cried.
"That's why, Arle Nadja is Arle Nadja. You are a doppelganger because the world dictates that to be your role." He sighed. "I didn't realize you two had split when I tried to rescue you. If I had, you wouldn't be in this situation as a remnant of the old world, as the doppelganger you are dictated by universal law. I'm sorry."
Then, the world that she knew, shattered into glass. Memories of friends splintered off and faded. The truth was a blade, and it pierced straight through her heart, skewing everything into tiny, tiny pieces.
They were husks, but they were filled with the memories of the past – the happy ones, the sad ones, all of them. Everyone was alive. They had the true Arle. Even if she didn't remember it, she also fought against the Creator. She battled with all of her might and lost everything only for it to be regained by Satan's crafting hand.
She thought Arle was the true doppelganger, but that was the farthest understanding from the truth.
She was the doppelganger. This whole time, through five hundred years of loneliness, she who carried the name Arle Nadja never had a right to it in the world she once protected. The universe already bequeathed that name back to the true heroine, leaving her behind in splintered fragments of a world that once was and as a vengeful being who had forgotten compassion.
She dropped to her knees, nameless and speechless. Tears welled up in her eyes. She felt Ringo, Risukuma, and Maguro fall with her, their hands holding her shoulders and backs, their voices asking if she was okay.
Everyone was already there with Arle. She was simply a doppelganger who tried to kill her and take her place despite everything Arle had endured. Like a selfish and mindless beast, she tried storming the castle to rip the princess off her throne, but as the universe dictated, she failed.
Tears rolled down her cheeks, her sobs suffocating her more than the smoke spiraling around them. With no tether to any reality, no reason to be alive, and no hope of reuniting with her loved ones, she silently cried, her face as blank as the jester mask she once wore.
"I can welcome you as a doppelganger," Satan quietly said, "to make up for my error but-"
"If we had stayed together," she whispered, "then I could've killed you so easily. I would've killed you again and again and again for making me go through all of this."
Satan didn't give her the benefit of an answer. He raised his gaze to Ecolo, their long stretch of silence too unnerving not to notice.
"Is this it?" Ecolo asked, and Satan bristled, forcing Ringo to look as well when she noticed him shiver.
For the first time since they had met, Ecolo scowled. Their forever present smile was replaced with a frown that dipped to their chin. Anger burned in their eyes hotter than the flames that threatened to devour them all.
"Don't you wanna try refuting him? Come on, come on, argue back! Fight back! You know there's something with what he's saying!" They grimaced as she continued gazing at the ground. "Don't you know that's garbage? It's worse than garbage Puyos! How do you know he's not lying? He could be lying!"
"Hold on. Didn't you say I reached the right conclusion?" Ringo retorted, glaring at them.
"Yes, I did. It's true that Satan made the world back the way it was with everything and everyone as is, but that doesn't mean you aren't Arle Nadja! You are not a doppelganger! There's also-!"
"The universe-" Satan coughed, the smoke finally beginning to choke him as the sirens blared far more closely. He noticed spotty red flashes through the scorched bark, signifying the oncoming fire trucks. "It's rather dangerous here."
"You don't say!" Maguro snapped, his annoyance boiling over. "We've been standing around listening to you guys argue about what's real and not while everything keeps burning around us!"
"Having an existential debate in the middle of all this is pretty extra," Ringo mumbled.
Ecolo glared at them. They really were a bunch of fools. They thought they could get some exciting magical battle with a satisfying happy ending, but it all ended up in tragedy. They even made sure to impress Ringo by dramatically taking the blow for her even when they didn't feel an inkling of pain.
This sad ending, it really pissed them off especially when they knew one certain fact: Satan was lying through his teeth about one certain part.
Well, they still had their ace up their metaphorical sleeve.
"Oh, I know what will make this fun again. Be right back," they said, breaking out a clownish grin, and before anyone could gasp, they vanished in a puff of dark mist.