Chapter Text
Siffrin opens his eye, a hand already on the handle of the door in front of him. (I can do it this time… I was so close the last time I could feel it. The King will fall. I’ll finally leave this accused House and after that… maybe… maybe they’ll forgive me…) Siffrin looks around the corridor for people who aren’t there. With a deep breath in… and out… he opens the door.
A towering figure kneels before Siffrin. “Still crying huh?” he says to The King
With a booming but low voice The King says between tears “Bright one… have we met before…?”
A small frown forms on Siffrin's face. “More times than I could count.”
“Ah… I smell it now… that overwhelming stench of sugar… you’ve trapped us in this fight haven’t you…? Thank you… when I kill you, I know my mission will still be complete… even the house maiden can’t stop this.”
“Shut up and fight me already. I’m tired of you.” Siffrin swears he can see a smile on The King's face as they initiate combat. He’s grown a hatred like no other for The King over the past 99 loops. Locked in an eternal battle he can’t win. Last time Siffrin got caught off guard by an attack he’s never seen before and he’s not sure how to dodge it. If he even can. They always fight for what feels like hours. The two are at their strongest but with The King's massive size and heavy armor he is much tougher than Siffrin and he knows it.
Tonic after tonic until the taste starts to make him sick again, Siffrin can barely stand and the idea of moving more than they have to, hurts just as much as the action itself. Just like the previous loop The King uses their final move. They cry out, giving Siffrin a feeling he knows well. The feeling of The King’s curse spreading across his body. But he can tell that the King is as close to death as he is. With the few seconds Siffrin has left he quickly runs up to The King for one last and desperate strike. Caught off guard by this, he can’t defend himself in time as Siffrin's dagger plunges into The King’s neck.
For one final time they look each other in the eye as The King collapses backward and Siffrin’s body freezes over on top of him. A permanent smile fixed on his face as he finally wins.
Siffrin begins to feel a tug. on. his. stomach.
Floating in an endless void Siffrin opens his eye. (... where… Am I? Didn’t I win? Was the talk about the King’s curse disappearing after his death not true? That sucks. But. Oh well, at least they will get to live on.) Siffrin looks around seeing nothing but a small glimmering light. He tries to focus on it, but when he does, he sees himself. Before he met his friends.
Siffrin takes a step closer trying to call out to his younger self, but his mouth doesn’t open and the words don’t form. (Is that. me?) He takes another step forward hearing the crack of a stick under his footstep alerting the younger Siffrin to his presence. He takes another step reaching out to them, trying to see if they’re real but as he reaches out a hand his younger self takes out a dagger and swipes at him with it. Siffrin retracts his hand (it… didn’t hurt… but) he looks at his hand; the color reminding him of the many frozen people he’s come across. The cut itself doesn't bleed, a white slash mark being the only indicator that he was cut at all. (I'm… not human anymore… this is… concerning…)