Bl_ _ed
It had been rough but it's over…
Arle's doppelgänger had resurfaced behind the scenes of what previously had been thought of as being an unrelated endeavor. But that rapscallion has been unmasked, and with the help of Carbuncle, Rulue, and Schezo, Arle had beaten her look-alike.
The doppelgänger sat there, and couldn't take much more, she was empty on magic. All she could do was run.
That's when Satan finally contributed to this battle. He had put an open sleek black metallic box on the ground and separately from that he just spawned in a labyrinth in the doppelgänger's path. The was no way for her to not run inside, it had funneled her in. Based on the doppelgänger's scowl back at those who defeated her she hated Satan for making escape harder.
"Wait!" Arle gave chase. Or would've if Satan hadn't held her by the cape.
"No Arly! NONE of you go in!" The lord of the underworld commanded.
"But I have to know her deal!"
"Arly no! It's too dangerous."
"Well duh!" Arle frowned. "But the safer option won't. Ex. Plain. An. Ny. THING." She passive-aggressively poked Satan's chest.
Arle's guilt trip worked. "Look, just promise me you won't go in there and I'll-OOOF!"
Satan had been decked in the stomach and Arle ran after red-clad counterpart, and Carbuncle ran on a delay.
Rulue's gut reaction was to take care of Satan so he didn't indignantly fall to his knees. Schezo was impressed by Arle's maneuver and took notes. Rulue shook her fist.
"Aaaaaahhhnnnsssssssss" Satan hissed.
"My Prince! Are you okay?"
"Arly, merely hit a… weak spot of mine, Rulue…"
Schezo raised an eyebrow. "Is that why you didn't fight? Can't take a punch?" Schezo almost felt insulted.
"ZIP IT, Dark Mage, and listen!" Satan leaned on Rulue's shoulder. "We need to get the blue Arle out of there and fast. Everything in that labyrinth WILL be imprisoned back in that little black back over there."
Rulue and Schezo's eyes widened.
"So they'll both be imprisoned?" Rulue asked.
"Indeed…" Satan wasn't comfortable with that idea… "And what's worse I'm not sure how it opens to begin with, nor I'm not sure what will happen if more than… 1 person enters…"
"Then what are we waiting for?!" Rulue gently sat Satan down. "Schezo, we'll get Arle out!"
"No, Rulue!" Satan cried on the floor, still holding his stomach. "Only Schezo can hope to find her and Carbunny! Schezo, I beg of you, put your magic sensing abilities to good use. Find Carbunny and Arle and teleport out the moment you see the walls shrink." The Dark Prince pleaded. "Pleeeaaase!"
Schezo and Rulue looked at the mess Satan was rapidly becoming. Even Schezo found himself silently agreeing with Rulue. He didn't like seeing this devil like this.
Schezo didn't say anything, he just ran into the labyrinth. Satan and Rulue just looked on until he turned the first corner.
"..."
"How badly are you hurt? What can I do?"
"Just… stay with me until Schezo comes back…" He still held his stomach.
The doppelgänger ran frantically through the Labyrinth halls. Taking the most erratic route she could come up with on the fly so they couldn't follow her.
But she knew she was hosed. Even if she didn't realize how much of a trap this place was. Rulue could bring down the walls, Schezo could sense her, Satan could pull something out of his butt. And as much as she hates to admit it, the blue Arle wouldn't struggle to find her either…
She reached a dead end… a 3x3 grid room with a mirror in it. Not like she can climb out either because of the ceiling.
She turned around desperately hoping she could escape. But to her horror, she left a trail of blood drips behind. Placing her hand in front of her face she saw the culprit, a wound the blue fakers Ice Storm caused…
The doppelgänger decided to stay put. "What's the point?" Maybe another escape route will present itself if they catch her…
Nothing to do but wait. Thus she walked over to the mirror.
Her expressions didn't seem right? They never did to her ever since she had been freed… She couldn't place why, she was definitely Arle, but…
Despite the situation she was in she tried to relax the muscles in her face. And now she looked like a dead ringer of the other Arle. And as much as she wanted that… she hates it. She visibly saw herself turn blue in the mirror while staying red outside.
She IS Arle, she shouldn't have to conform to that Arle to be Arle! She will take over her life.
The red Arle grits her teeth. She gritted them harder when some footsteps echoed through the halls behind her.
"There you are!" The blue Arle almost sounded relieved.
…
"Look I'm not here to fight you. I just want answers and to help if possible."
The red Arle made eye contact with her counterpart through the mirror. She gave her a hostile look. But after a few seconds, it became clear she wasn't going to intimidate her.
"...As a kid, I found mirrors fascinating…"
Arle didn't know where the red one was going but she was listening, she was also faci…nated?
"It's like there's another world inside of there isn't it? This Arle in front of me could be another me living out the exact same life as me and we'd never know. They just exist blissfully parallel to us."
The blue Arle widened her eyes she had thought about that too. With the same wistful tone her doppelgänger took up.
The red Arle lifted her arm, she pointed at her own reflection. "But that should be you." She pointed at the blue Arle's reflection with a vertical open hand. "Yet we're both here…"
She was trembling, not quite enough to cave in. But she definitely was using the wall as support
The blue Arle couldn't see the red one's face. Her shoulder obscured it. But she figured to chance to give her a shoulder pat. "Look, I'd be lying if I said I'd be happy to live with you around. But we both deserve to exist. Just lemme try to get the oth-what are you doing?"
Red Arle undid her own chest plate. The Blue Arle found that a confusing move. She wasn't quite sure where this was going. Maybe it was to wave the metaphorical white flag?
The red chest plate was off. The girl held it vertically on one end with both hands.
She used it to SMASH the mirror! Shattering it into bits!
The blue Arle only saw it coming mid-swing. "Why?" The red one vigorously tossed her now unusable chest plate into the corner.
…
"Are…" Arle tried to look at the other Arle's face who still refused to look directly into her eyes. And now she covered her face. "Are you crying?" Arle approached the girl.
But she was cut off by the walls rumbling.
"Wh-what's g-going on?!" The floor began the rumble as well.
"...I-If I wuh-were to guh-guess we're puh-robably in Satan's tuh-trap…"
"This is b-bad!" Schezo ran through the halls. He could sense Arle, Carbuncle, and the doppelgänger were here, he just couldn't find them because this Labyrinth just had too many dead ends!
The walls are shrinking and he hasn't found one!
"Guguguguuuuu!" That was music to Schezo's ears. Carbuncle ran down the halls. Surely Arle was soon to follow, having no doubt slain the doppelgänger. Schezo successfully caught the yellow rabbit creature. Carbuncle isn't escaping now.
Now he just needed to wait on Arle.
…
…
…
Satan & Rulue both were very tense. The labyrinth was vibrating, shrinking, and visibly becoming less corporeal by the second.
"Arly… Carbunny. I can't watch!"
Rulue watched though. That labyrinth compressed itself into a ball of light that made itself into the metallic box that closed itself. All that was left of the labyrinth was Schezo holding Carbuncle.
Rulue had to process it. Arle was stuck in that box with her evil doppelgänger… she picked up the metal box and with her strength tried to bust it open.
"Rulue, please stop, you'll only hurt yourself."
Rulue accepted the solemn Prince's words. He would know…
"May I have the box?"
"Of course, darling."
Satan held the box in both of his hands.
Schezo finally made it walking from the spot he teleported to and where Satan and Rulue were.
"I got Carbuncle." Schezo gently put the confused creature down. "I could sense Arle, I regrettably could not locate her. I tried." Of the three, he looked the least sad though he was far from happy either.
Rulue grabbed Schezo by the collar and lifted him up into the air. "You didn't try hard enough! Thanks to you Arle is GONE!"
"CUT IT OUT!" Satan roared. Making Rulue drop Schezo. "If anything this is my fault. But it's not hopeless. Arle can be saved from this forsaken box. I… just don't know how…" The others wouldn't even know if the right Arle would be rescued…
The lord of the Puyo Underworld turned around. Looking down on the ground.
"Would you accompany me back to my castle… my friends?"
Carbuncle, Rulue, and Schezo didn't wanna say no.
It's been some time since that day. Satan, Rulue, Schezo, and Carbuncle met up frequently at Satan's castle to try and get their Arle out.
They haven't been successful.
Schezo's dark magic didn't make a scratch on the black box. And draining the box of its magic didn't seem to work either. It was sealed tight.
Rulue strikes have broken the floors and walls of her beloved's home more than break the box.
Carbuncle shot a laser or two.
And even the almighty Dark Prince couldn't really do anything to the box with his power. The metal was just something he couldn't affect.
It just refused to open.
"So at what point should we give up?"
"Schezo!"
"I'm just asking. Not every one of us are immortal."
Satan picked up the black box. "If you two want to give up that's your choice."
"I won't." Rulue said with conviction. "This is a fate way too ghastly to wish on anyone."
"Gu! Gu gu gu!" Carbuncle said from Rulue's shoulder.
"Not like I want this either…" Schezo felt like he was treated like the villain here. "Say… can you visualize how the box sucked up the labyrinth? I don't even know how you accomplished that given you know so little about that box."
"I'd like to know as well actually." Rulue said, even if she feared a lot of it would fly over her head.
"That's quite simple." Satan swapped from carrying the black box with two arms to loosely just holding it with one hand so he could magically illustrate to his friends.
Carbuncle wanted a closer look. The fella jumped from Rulue's lap onto the ground, onto Satan's box-holding arm.
"Ah!" Satan dropped the invincible black box.
And it opened…
Reactions were mixed but then they realized they did it! It was nail-biting. The box emitted light, but it just sat there.
Then a formless ball of light shot out from the box. It erratically circled and bounced around the room.
"Please calm down. You're free once again." The dark prince said while putting up a magical barrier so the light couldn't escape. "Who are you?" Satan asked.
The ball of light slowed down. It seemed to observe its surroundings and the people present.
"You(?)" It spoke. It hovered in the corner as the consciousness regained its corporeal form.
Rulue and Schezo never imagined they'd be this happy to see Arle after this long of uncertainty.
It didn't seem mutual on Arle's end. She seemed far more conflicted. Her mind was bustling looking at them all. Running a triathlon of emotions at seeing them again.
"Gu!? Gu Gu gugu gu gu gu!" Carbuncle cried as he passionately jumped into Arle's arms. And Arle snuggled Carbuncle, she missed him so much.
"How are you feeling?" Satan asked, a little apprehensive.
Arle daggers into his eyes.
"I know my deal now… I've always known my deal… I've always known my deal now… No thanks to you, Satan..." The purple-clad Arle spat.
I think I worked more hours on this than the Secret Santa rules allowed and that's not factoring in spell checking. (They can't verify.)
This story is intentionally more a springboard than anything else so where it goes is wherever you'd like it to go, whether you keep it in your head or put it on paper. I encourage you to let your imagination write the rest in your head.