START!!!!

“Okay… Smash or pass… Jay!”

“Definitely pass. I’m open to it, but he’s just kinda old.”

Jay turned around to Vera and Kindle. “Stars above, can’t you do this somewhere else?”

Kindle shook her head. “Nope! We’re doing it right in front of the people we’re asking!”

“It’s part of the fun. I wouldn’t expect you to know. Being old.”

“I’m not that old! I still look young.”

Vera nodded with an intelligent air. “Yeah, that’s why I’m open to it.”

“You are seventeen.”

Vera shrugged. “Okay, Kindle, smash or pass Jay?”

“Pass. ‘Cus he’s old.”

Jay frowned. “Don’t play this game. It’s inappropriate.”

“Ooh. Smash.” Kindle slyly grinned as she changed her answer.

“KINDLE.”

“Let’s go ask QD!!!” Kindle turned to Vera with a beaming smile.

Vera suddenly jumped back. “No— not QD!!”

“Why not?! QDDDDD!!!!!!!”

“SHHHH—”

“Hi guys!” QD appeared out of thin air behind Vera.

Vera jumped back again. “QD! HI.”

“VERA! SMA—“

Vera picked Kindle up and drop kicked her.

“VERA, GODS BELOW! WHAT THE HELL?!”

“Kindle was going to ask a very stupid question. And look, she’s fine!”

“I think my arm is broken.”

Jay chuckled from behind them. “Maybe it’s time you two stop playing that game.”

“NO! WHAT?! MY ARM IS FINE!! VERASMASHORPASSQD”

“AAAAGHH!!!!”

“What is it? Smash or pass?” QD began to play, too.

Jay frowned. He’d hoped QD wouldn’t encourage it.

Vera hid behind his hands. “No.”

“Pass?” QD tilted her head. “I thought I was pretty.” She lifted Vera’s fingers from his face.

Vera and QD exchanged long looks.

“I think it’s a smash.” Kindle commented.

Vera turned around and promptly left.

Kindle jumped into the air. “YAYYY! I WIN!”

“You can win that game…?” Jay seemed disgusted. “By what? How many people you’d…?”

QD’s face went blank. “You don’t necessarily win. I had no idea that it was a competition.”

“JAY! HAVE YOU EVER FUCKED SOMEONE?”

Jay flinched. “Kindle! Please, mind your manners.”

“Ohhh, do you have any way to fuck at all…?”

Jay stood up and left.

Kindle bounced around again, this time disappointed. “Awwww, was it something I said?!”

QD nodded. “Yeah. I think so.”

“WHAT?!”

“Kindle, you asked him if he fucks. I don’t think skids can fuck.” QD rolled her eyes. “Anyways, smash or pass Rhine?”

“You can’t say that!” Kindle frowned. “You’re supposed to say it in front of Rhine!”

QD then jumped back, too. “What!!? NOO!!! And— aren’t you aroace?! Why do you keep saying you’re gonna smash everyone?”

“It’s funny!” Kindle shrugged.

QD blinked. “You’re right. Let’s go do this in front of Rhine.”

“SMASH OR PASS— RHINE!”

“OOH, SMASSSHHH!!”

“ME TOO HAHAHAHA”

Rhine looked up at them, holding onto a test tube of silver nitrate.

“Get out.”

Kindle and QD, awkwardly posing and laughing, quickly became composed.

“Sorry.” QD muttered.

“We’ll leave now.” Added Kindle.

They walked out of Rhine’s lab.

“Now what? It was funny teasing Vera… and we teased Jay and Rhine…” Kindle looked down.

QD nodded. “Yeah. There’s no one left…”

Kindle paused. Then she exploded. “LET’S GO MAKE A SUPER AWESOME CAKE!!!”

“YEAH!!!”

The cake was a monstrosity, thanks to Kindle’s great decorating skills. She topped it off with sprinkles and sprinkles and sprinkles until sprinkles became less like sprinkles and more like sprinkles— the same going for the word.

        QD and Kindle shared two slices of the cake. There were six uneven slices left– uneven because Kindle had cut them. Oh, well!

        “Let’s take some to the others as an apology for making them super uncomfortable!” QD suggested.

        “Awww, do we have to? Can’t we just eat it all ourselves…?

        “Nope! I’m fairly certain that with this many sprinkles and decorations, we’d get diabetes.”

        Kindle blew a raspberry– away from the cake. “Fineeee, but only because I don’t think diabetes is something my parents know about.”

        Kindle held onto two plates, just as QD did. They first visited Jay, probably the most traumatized from this out of everyone.

        “JAAAAAAAAAAY!!! CAAAAAAAAAAAKEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!”

        Jay was in his room sitting at his marble coffee table. “Oh, please, Kindle–” He then noticed QD. “Ah. So, this isn’t poisoned?”

        “Heyyy! Why would it be POISONED!?!” Kindle pointed a finger at Jay after unsteadily setting down the slice of… well, it barely looks like a cake– even right now… so…

        “You’d poison it because it’s ‘funny’.”

        “Wouldn’t all your lava inside of you kill the poison!?”

        “It’s wax, but we can still be poisoned…”

        “Wooww! Interesting!!”

        “Are you making fun of me…?

        Kindle blinked. “NOPE! I’m really curious, swearzies!”

        Giggling from behind Kindle, QD grinned at Jay. “Have fun removing all the unnecessary decorations. I promise, the cake’s not half bad!”

        “Yeah! Not half bad after you find your wedding ring, which I conveniently hid in that very slice…”

        Jay frowned, holding up his left hand. “No, you did not.”

        “WHATEVER!!! MAGIC KINDLE AND NOT-SO-GREAT QD OUT!!!!”

        “Why am I the not-so-great one!?”

        “‘Cause it works that way,”

        “Nuh-uh! I’m gonna literally fire you if you try that again.”

        They walked to Rhine’s lab.

        “RHINEEEEEEEEEEEEEE CAKEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE” Kindle bust in, holding onto Rhine’s cake without a care in the world.

        “No food in the lab.”

        The cake was placed right outside the door. On the ground.

“AMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICAKEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE”

“Wow… what flavor is this?”

“We went with a split of carrot-velvet-chocolate. Carrot and velvet have cream cheese frosting, and the chocolate has some of QD’s special frosting. I colored it blue and purple. And pink. And green.”

Ammi took a piece and ate it. “...this one has carrot and chocolate in it.”

“Aw yeah! Two for one!” QD cheered.

“Thanks. I don’t know if I’ll be able to finish it though…”

Kindle shrugged. “I can eat it!”

“Or– Vera. Vera can eat it, too. We’re trying to not get diabetes.”

Ammi nodded with a quaint smile. “Okay. I can’t imagine he’d want to eat after anyone, though… would it be okay if I had to throw it away?”

“Sure!” QD answered.

Ammi then slowly frowned. “That feels like a waste…”
        “Yourproblemnotoursbyebyeeee!!!!!!!!” Kindle ran out of Ammi’s room.

“Bye, Ammi!!”

“Bye, QD.”

Finally, they went to Vera’s room. He was on his computer.

“Vera”

Vera was playing a fighting game. Too engrossed to notice Kindle, he flat out ignored her.

“Vera”

“Hm?”

“WE HAVE CAKEEE!!!”

Vera paused. “...uh-huh,”

QD looked at Ammi. She gave her a look that said, ‘I got this’. “Vera!”

Vera pressed pause. Somehow. “Yeah?” He turned back to QD.

“We got cake for you!”

Narrowing his eyes, Vera asked the big questions. “Who made it?”

“QD made the whole thing, and I decorated it.”

“With QD-made frosting and store-bought or homemade polyester sprinkles?” Vera further narrowed his eyes.

“Sprinkles– store-bought. Frosting– QD-made. Flavors– carrot, chocolate, velvet. Frosting is QD-special and cream cheese.” Kindle recited it like a military training exercise.

Vera’s face softened. “Oh, that sounds nice.”

QD handed him the plate. “I gave you that special and super cool fork Rhine got!”

“Ohhh, the one with the little swirly?”

QD grinned wide as Vera examined the fork.

“Yeah, with the swirly! That’s awesome! Where’d she even get this fork from!? I always wondered…”

“No clue,”

Kindle frowned as Vera and QD dissipated into their own world. “Okay you guys are realllll boring bye”

She hopped out of the the room and went to go scream in the halls. Instead— she remembered that she had a day with Zachary tomorrow. Then she screamed.

“YAAAAAAAAAAAYYYY!!!!!!!!!!”

Kindle ran to QD’s room and started to steal her really nice art supplies. Card paper, markers, paints, glitter, pens, puffy paint, glitter, stickers, glow-in-the-dark powder, glitter, glitter…

Then, she ran back to her room and brought a table over her favorite patch of void. She turned all of the items into two things: a mess and a crazy card. With all of the Kindle Stank on it.

Kindle then hopped over the void to reach her closet, pulling out each of her outfits.

From her first everlasting journey… hm…

From her first journey again, but that other thing, since she wore two things that time… hm…

Uhhhh…

Hmmmmmmmmmmm…….

HMMM………..

EARTH TIME!!

Kindle pressed a couple hundred-thousandy buttons on her band and made her way to Earth.

She sprang up from her bed and searched her closets at her home on Earth. Lots of funny shirts… shorts… that cute tutu she never wore… wowie, funny hat!

“Kindle?” Her mom called out to her as she walked to the door frame. “Kindie, did you brush your teeth?” She didn’t seem surprised to see the mess in Kindle’s room.

Kindle showed off her brightest, beamiest smile. “IHSH DUN!” She spoke through her teeth.

“Good. Now, clean up before you do anything else, okay?”

“Okayyyy!” Kindle saluted as her mom closed the door behind her.

Kindle then looked around. A double take. A triple take!! She wasn’t gonna clean her room! That’d take AGES!! She had to go get ready to get everything ready to get ready to see Zachary tomorrow!!! So, Kindle promptly dropped everything, opened a window for some fresh air so the room would at least… feel clean, and stormed from her room down the stairs to the kitchen.

“HI DAD!!!” Kindle scream-commented as she was raiding the kitchen.

“Good morning! What’re you doing up so early today?”

Kindle recounted the days. It was a Sunday. “I had a cool dream I was gonna go visit my best friend, so I wanna go do that RIGHT NOW!!!” She bounced around the refrigerator and stole some cooled juice packs— and a side of fruit salad in a little container.

“Your mother thought that she could pack you that salad for lunch tomorrow. You sure you wanna eat it for breakfast?”

“I’ll make another! Bye!”

“Ah— Kindle—?”

Kindle made her way to the front door, tossed on her favorite jacket and bag, put her snacks in said bag, put on her shoes, and burst outside.

“Kindle! You didn’t clean your room!” Her mother warned from the top of the stairs.

Ignoring her mother completely, Kindle picked up her awful bike from the front yard and turned on that engine she stuck on it. It had no use being there, but she liked to make cool noises to pretend she was the engine. She propped it up, rang the bell until it was being hit so fast it didn’t have time to pop back up and ring again, made a motorcycle-revving noise, hopped onto it, and pedaled off.

She aimed for the top of the hill— Durin’s house.

Of course, riding a bike up a hill wasn’t very fun— especially with a regular, plain, not-the-newest-bike-in-the-bike-shop-that-was-TOTALLY-within-mom-and-dads-budget-of-love-for-me-and-my-well-being bike… but Kindle’s engine noises drowned out all that boringness.

Finally, sweating really bad and breathing heavily, Kindle made it to the top of the hill, then made her way up to Durin’s house after tossing back down her awful bike. She rang the doorbell like she rang her bike bell.

“DURIN DURIN DURIN DURRRINNN!!! OPEN OPEN OPEN OPEN UPPPP!!!!!!”

Dawn opened the door. “KINDLE! IT IS 7 AM!”

“Hiiii Dawwwn! Is Durin hommmeee?”

“Yeah, but he’s sleeping.”

“What?! No he’s not!! He can’t be sleeping when I’M here!!!”

“Hi, Kindle!” Durin’s brother waved from behind Dawn.

“Heyyyy!!! I’m not talking to you, though. WHERE’S DURIN!!!”

“In his room.” Dawn furrowed her brows. “Sleeping.”

“What?! No he’s not!! He can’t be sleep—-“

Dawn nearly shut the door on Kindle, but she stuck her foot in between it and the doorframe right on time.

“KINDLE I SWEAR TO GOD I WILL CRUSH YOUR FOOT IF YOU DON’T—“

Kindle pushed through and clutched onto the straps of her bag. Once inside, she pulled off her shoes by her heels and tossed them near the front door. She pushed past Durin’s little siblings and ran up the stairs.

“KINDDLEEEE!!!” Dawn screamed after her.

“What’s so bad? You know she’ll see Durin anyways.”

Dawn frowned.

Kindle went up each flight of stair more tired but more determined than the last until she found Durin’s door. She kicked it open (it wasn’t even closed properly) and scanned for Durin.

He was sleeping.

“GOOOOOD MORNING SUNSHINNEEEE!!!” Kindle chaotically lunged for the window and pulled back the blinds. Once she turned back to Durin, he was already sitting upright in his bed, giving her his stare.

“MORNING!!!”

Durin didn’t move a muscle.

“DURIN I HAD A QUESSSTIOONNNNN.”

Durin blinked once. After a long pause and Kindle anticipatingly and eagerly bouncing on her toes for twelve seconds, he began.

“What is it.”

“DDDDIIIDDDD YOUR MOM MAKE ANY PRETTY PRETTY DRESSES FOR DAWN AT ANY GIVEN TIMEEE?”

During blinked twice.

“Yeah.”

“CAN I HAAAAVVVEEEE SOMEEEEEE?????”

Durin blinked thrice.

He stepped off of his bed and fixed the sheets, fluffing his pillow again.

“CAN I HAAAAVVVEEEE SOMEEEEEE?????” Kindle followed Durin to the bathroom.

Durin shut the door on her.

“CAN I HAAAAVVVEEEE SOMEEEEEE?????” Kindle bounced at the door.

Durin came out of the bathroom some time later.

“CAN I HAAAAVVVEEEE SOMEEEEEE?????”

Durin took a shirt from his closet, and eyed the pants he was wearing. It was good enough.

“CAN I HAAAAVVVEEEE SOMEEEEEE?????”

Durin pushed Kindle out of his room.

“CAN I HAAAAVVVEEEE SOMEEEEEE?????”

Durin came out of his room sometime later. He was wearing the shirt he took.

“CAN I HAAAAVVVEEEE SOMEEEEEE?????”

Durin inhaled. “Okay.”

“YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!”

Kindle tried on some of Dawn’s old dresses for seven hours that day. Dawn got into it. She stopped minding the whole breaking and entering sorta kinda weird thingamagig.

She took one she liked and said goodbye to Durin. He was nicer this time, since he hadn’t just woken up.

Kindle then cheerfully rode her awful bike down the hill, made it home, ignored her parents again about cleaning her room and running off like she always did (she was sure that this time had been the last straw), and convinced them she had fallen asleep. She teleported back to the Train.

“Kindle!” QD frowned once she walked out of her room and into the common area. “Why did you take all of my art supplies?”

“I didn’t!” Kindle cheekily grinned.

“I saw them in your room. And I can also tell you’re lying.”

“Sorry!! I didn’t have any art supplies left!!”

Ammi, finishing off the cake slice from earlier, turned to Kindle. “You know why Rhine doesn’t let you use them.”

“Hey! Rhine doesn’t let you use art supplies anymore, either!”

Ammi went back to finishing her cake. “Whatever.”

Kindle took this as a win. “When you see the card I made out of it, it’ll allll be worth the mess!”

“Ohhh, that’s right.” QD nodded as she recollected her thoughts. “You’re seeing Zachary tomorrow.”

“Mhm!! And we’re gonna have fun, fun, FUN!!!! He said— ‘I’ll take you out to the best bakery we have in the kingdom! But you BETTER not order the same thing the NEXT time we go there! You HAVE TO TRY SOMETHING NEW, YA LITTLE STINKER!!!!”

QD giggled. She doubted Zachary would say something like that— at least that last part. “Okay… I’ll forgive you. But— just ask next time, okay?”

“Yup-yup! Guess where I went today!”

“Uhm… I don’t know. Where?”

“I went to Earth and I visited Durin!!! I didn’t have a lotta pretty dresses, so I went to go ask him for some of Rhine’s old designs she tried with Dawn!! I found a real pretty one, wanna see?”

“Are you sure Rhine would let you borrow one…?” QD raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah!! Once, she told me, if I ever needed a cool dress or something done, I could just ask her!! And she gave me full permission to wear whatever she made, as long as it fit my size and wasn’t inappropriate!”

QD wasn’t surprised Rhine had to add that last one, honestly.

“Anyways— I gotta go to bed now!!!! I needa get to tomorrow fast!!!”

“Hey, you don’t wanna hang out with us more?”

“NOPE!”

“That’s rude.” QD teased. “Not even a bit?”

“Well… Maybe to annoy someone, sure!”

For the next three hours, QD and Kindle went around the Train annoying people. It was a really fun time.

Kindle got ready for bed and ate something before— she was a little hungry. While eating, she set up her lamp so she should finish her fruit salad before clocking out right on top of it.

Finally, she jumped into the blankets and pillows and cushions and fell asleep.

***

Kindle yawned as she woke, pushing off the blankets and such. She walked into the bathroom and got ready for the great day with Zachary!

        ***

OWIE!!! WHAT THE HECK!?

Kindle rubbed her throbbing head, lying on the bathroom floor. She looked down at her feet– and there was a piece of toilet paper stuck to the bottom of her right foot. MAYBE she should start being a little cleaner… MAYBE.

        Peeling off the toilet paper and tossing it into the trash can, Kindle stood up feeling lighter than ever. It was like that fall turned her into a SUPERHERO!!!! AWESOME!!!

        She tried zapping her lotion bottle– but her powers weren’t stronger. Awwww.

        WHATEVER!!! IT WAS ZACHY DAY TODAY!!!!

        She searched her closet for the dress… but she couldn’t find it!!!

        “WHAT!?! NOOOO!!!!!!!!!”

        She HAD to find that dress!!! She ran out of her room and darted for the common area in record time!!!! Kindle searched for the nearest best friend!!!! INSTEAD, SHE FOUND SOMEONE UNFAMILIAR!!!

        “HEY!! DID YOU STEAL MY DRES—”

        QD turned to her, but she looked… WAY different. She had LONG hair, like NOT uneven with the little tendrils, and she was super… ANGRY-LOOKING!!!!

        “Hey, Kindle.”

        Kindle was too stunned to speak. “Q–QD! Your hair is super long now!”

        QD raised an eyebrow. “Did I grow it out enough? Looks good, doesn’t it? I was waiting for someone to tell me that it looked different by now.” She ran a hand through the back of her hair. “I’m trying to take care of it more. It makes me feel prettier.”

        By the pitch of QD’s voice now, it didn’t seem like she’d care about being pretty.

        “Whuh.” Kindle was absolutely CONFUSED. QD ACTED AND KINDA LOOKED LIKE VERA!!! SHE EVEN WORE SOMETHING HE WOULD WEAR!!!! “QD! DID YOU SWAP PERSONALITIES WITH VERA?!”

        QD laughed. “What are you talking about? Did you hit your head, dumbass?”

        Oh.

        Barbatos save me.

        “WHERE IS HE!?”

        “Who?”

        “VERA!!!”

        “He?”

        “AAAGHHH!!!!”

        Kindle’s heart began to race. What the HELL happened!?! “VERA!!!” She raced down the halls for Vera’s room. Upon finding it, she burst in. “VERAAAAAA!!!”

        OH NO.

        HIS ROOM WAS SO DIFFERENT– AND CUTESY!!!!!

        He yawned from his bed, elegantly sitting up. “Good morning, Kindle! Thanks for waking me up. I was gonna go for five more minutes… but I probably shouldn’t have! It was enough beauty sleep anyways…”

        VERA WAS ALL… GIRLY!!!!!!!

        “WHAT!?! WHAT THE HECK!! WHY ARE YOU DRESSED LIKE THAT!?”

        Vera looked down at his chest. “Hm? My pajamas? I sleep in these.” He pulled on the little ribbons on his cutesy tank top. “Why do you ask?”

        Kindle realized she had to be discreet.

        Just now.

        “Oh– my bad! I hit my head… and everything looks so DIFFERENT!”

        “You should get that checked out. Talk to Myst!”

        OH HELL NO!!!!

        “O-okay. Where is he right about now…?”

        “Probably in Ammi’s room. She wanted to ask him something about her window…” Vera pulled his silky hair from out the back of his shirt. It was MUCH shorter now.

        Kindle grinned. “Coolio! One more thing– you go by she/her, don’t you?”

        Vera slowly nodded. “Mhm! Are you forgetting things because of your head?”

        “Yeah, a little! Don’t worry, though!”

        “Awwh, okay! C’mere real quick!” Vera held out her hands for Kindle.

        UNSTEADILY and EXTREMELY CAUTIOUSLY, Kindle waddled over to Vera.

        She wrapped her arms around Kindle and gave her a warm hug. “It’ll be okay! If you ever need any help remembering things, please– ask me!”

        “Yeah!!! I will!! Thanks, Vera!!!”

        “No problem~! Eat some breakfast today, okay?”

        “Uh-huh!!!”

        Kindle ran through the halls to Ammi’s room. It seemed like her regular personality was the same in this place– whatever it was. Did she butt-dial her band!?

        She opened the door to Ammi’s room. “HEY! AMMI! JAY!”

        Myst, at Ammi’s window, turned around to Kindle. “Ah, good morning, Kindle…” He seemed to dwell on her words. “‘Jay’...? You can use that name, if you’d like. Wouldn’t it be weird, though?”

        Kindle clasped her hands over her mouth, realizing she had to watch herself more than she thought. “UHm– YEaH!”

        Ammi waved at Kindle.

        “Hi, Ammi!!!”

        Ammi smiled tiny and turned back to her window.

        “Is it broken?” Kindle came to the window next to Myst and Ammi.

        “Yes. It seems like it won’t teleport Ammi to her worlds.”

        Ammi shrugged.

        “Don’t you have something to do? With Zachary, yes? Help yourself to the Glass.” He waved a hand as he turned back to the window. “Just set the timer for it to close.”

        “Mhm! Thanks!” Kindle grinned. “Oh– and– I’ve been forgetting some things after I hit my head today… soooo… if you have time, check it out?”

        Myst turned back to Kindle with a grin Rhine would wear, only more malicious and… ulterior-motivey. If that was even possible. “Hmm~, really? Okay, I’ll be sure to. Goodbye, Kindle.”

        Ammi waved.

        “Bye-bye!!”

        Kindle made her way out, drops of cold sweat sticking her to her pajamas now. She had to find the others. She went to Rhine’s lab… instead, it was an actual room. Rhine was in it, brewing tea.

        “Good morning, Kindle.” She yawned. “Such a sleepy day, isn’t it?”

        Kindle nodded. “Yeah! Whatcha makin’ today?” She had to assume things had always been like this.

        “Green tea this morning. I wanted to try infusing some fruits with other types of tea, but first– green tea, just like that. It’ll be wonderful. Come by after you visit Zachary.”

        “Yeah! See ya!”

        Rhine waved slowly. “Bye-bye,”

        Kindle was back in her room.        

        QD was like Vera.

        Jay seemed like Rhine.

        Rhine was super laid back.

        Vera was a girl now.

        And Ammi… she seemed like she was mute now.

        This… was… WEIRD!!!! She HAD to go back!!!!!! But… she was curious what this Zachy looked like.

        While getting dressed with a dress that she never wore and didn’t know existed, Kindle thought about this. The Sea couldn’t be a world– it was outside worlds. It was what contained them, like a pool holding people– or a cup holding ice. The water was the stars and cosmic matter and stuff… then the people or the ice were worlds and what was in the Sea, like the Train or the Rip. So, this couldn’t be a copy of the Sea. It had to be a world kinda like it. It was strange.

        She checked her band’s teleportation history.

        She hadn’t gone anywhere but Earth yesterday– last time she checked.

        Okay. Not a new world. It seemed to be just like the Sea she knew and loved.

        Kindle swallowed hard. She looked for her Zachy-card with a buildup of nerves and sudden fears. The Zachy-card had noticeably less Kindle Stank on it. She wondered which Kindle she replaced– and if that Kindle had replaced her. Oh, Barbatos, no.

        What if I NEVER make it home again…?

        She had to try. Kindle made it out of her room and to the Glass room. She picked out the one for the Realm of Dreams and carefully took it to the portal. Operating the portal with excessive caution, Kindle set the timer and turned it on. All she had left to do was enter, and she’d be at the meeting place with Zachary.

It was nerve wracking.

Kindle met with Zachary.

“Kindle! So good of you to arrive!”

He seemed off. Maybe Kindle hadn’t seen him in a while— that’s all. Or maybe she was still on edge, and overly suspicious.

“Hey, Zachy!”

At the bakery, the two sat while their cakes arrived.

“…which was honestly terrible!” Zachary commented as he took a piece of cake in his fork.

Kindle laughed. “Really? She did that?”

“Yeah, and she never said sorry!”

“Embarrassing, really…”

Zachary grinned— then he suddenly became alert, putting his fork down on his plate. “Oh! Kindle! I have something for you.” He pulled a little gift bag out of nowhere. “You can open it right now!”

Kindle beamed. Well, she tried her best to, really. “WOWIE! FOR ME?!”

“Yup! I wanna see you smile when you open it!”

Kindle took the first item from the bag. “NO WAY! JADE FROM THE REALM?!”

Zachary nodded. “Yeah! We found a way to take some as souvenirs and keep the Realm intact. This one’s authentic— the others aren’t. Mostly because of the environment… but, I figured my sister wouldn’t mind if you had a piece. Especially after all you helped us with.”

“That’s SO COOL!!!” Kindle held the jade up to the light of the cheerful sun. If everything went as planned, she wouldn’t have this… “What else?!” She took a small gift box, sparkly in every way. Opening it… she found a cute bracelet that matched her style perfectly. “OOOH!”

“I saw that and I was reminded of you.” Zachary commented. “I got us matching ones! Chelsea won’t stop bothering me about how girly it looks… but I wanna remember you. No matter how far we become!”

Kindle nodded. “Thanks, Zachy! I’m gonna wear it forever!”

“I’ll do the same with mine!”

Kindle put hers on and held the jade up to the light once more.

Urk… my stomach…

She hadn’t felt dread like this in forever.

***

“So, you said your head was hurting?”

“No… I just hit it! That’s all!”

“Ah. I see. You want me to give you a check-up, then?”

Kindle nodded. “I think I’m forgetting things, or maybe… in the wrong universe.”

If Myst was the Rhine of this place, then maybe he had an explanation. QD seemed too distant to talk to— and Ammi didn’t seem to talk at all.

So, Kindle wanted to be able to confide in him.

“Everyone’s been acting different. You used to be a lot like… Rhine, I guess.” She added. “Vera used to be a lot like QD. And Vera used to be a boy. But… he always said he was one— and he kinda sorta looked like one— but he was more of a girl. And… Ammi used to talk, or at least say hi! Then— you— you liked us calling you Jay, so I did it by accident— and I assume you just want us to call you MYST here.”

He nodded. “Yes, I do.” Then he pondered Kindle’s words. “That’s strange. You hit your head?”

“Mhm,” Kindle clarified once more.

“Maybe you hit your head before, too… and…” Myst seemed to be at a loss. “Maybe you’ve only just stopped dreaming.”

Kindle blinked. “What?”

“As far as I’m concerned, this is the Sea. And it always has been. There isn’t any copy of the Sea. There can’t be. Kindle… I’m sorry, but— you were in a sort of dream-like state. Or something else.”

It couldn’t be. “That’s not an answer Rhine would give me.” Kindle muttered as she looked to the floor.

Myst stared her down with whatever eye contact she was giving. “I’m not Rhine.”

Kindle looked up and met his piercing gaze.

“R-right.”

She felt like she was in danger. She had to run.

“Uhm… thanks for your help, Myst.” She grinned, only now thinking about her sudden appearance as an anomaly… Rhine hated anomalies. “I’ll just go to bed now, and see if I feel better tomorrow! Goodnight!” Kindle turned around to leave.

Myst grabbed onto her hand.

“Don’t leave just yet.”

Kindle froze.

“What?”

“Don’t leave.” Myst gave her the same malicious grin as his grip tightened.

Every hair on Kindle’s neck stood up. “Oh—but— I wanna go to bed.”

“If you’re sleepy, you can stay here tonight.”

“No— thanks— for all the help.”

Myst pulled her from the door. “I insist.”

Kindle looked up at Myst. Pure terror.

She yanked her hand away, to no avail.

“HEY! LET ME LEAVE!”

***

Kindle was on the floor, sobbing.

“Yelling isn’t very nice, is it?”

She held onto her head. It felt like it had shattered. Blood covered her hands.

“Apologize.”

“S—ssss…”

Myst tilted his head to the side and examined Kindle on the floor. “Ah, it’s alright. See? How nice was that?”

Kindle found it hard to breathe.

“Very nice. It was very nice.” Myst stomped on her back. “Now, let’s see how you look as a ceiling decoration.”

What?

That day, Kindle died.

She was always afraid that Rhine would turn on her again.

***

        H–hey… why’d he…?

Sterile… clean…

The unsteady beeping of the heart monitor…

It all came together as Kindle blinked away the blurriness from her vision.

She breathed in and out, clearing her lungs from all the nasty old air.

“You fell really badly.”

Kindle looked over to the edge of her bed in the medbay.

“I came to see if you were okay.” It was QD. She was still like Vera. “It doesn’t mean anything, though. I was just wondering.” She frowned.

All of the pain from the beating slowly washed away. It was only the pain from the back of Kindle’s head, where she fell, that stuck around. “Th—thanks.”

QD nodded. “Myst patched you up. You should be all better.”

Myst killed me. And then he hung me. I shouldn’t be better.

“Tell him I said thank you.”

“Alright.”

Kindle looked off into the distance. It seemed like she was still in this alternate world. But… this time, somewhere new. Myst hadn’t killed her. She fell in the bathroom and woke up… maybe from being unconscious— or a coma. How long did those usually last?

“If you feel better, then you should come and say hi to the others.” QD ran a hand through the underside of her hair. “We've been waiting for you to wake up. I just happened to be here when you did.”

It was like she was given all of her answers and segways immediately.

“How long was I out?”

“Three days. Not as much as you see in movies, but we still missed you pretty bad.” Looking down as if she was still missing Kindle, QD muttered. “It doesn’t mean anything, though. Not from me.”

Kindle slowly nodded. “Okay. Well—! I’m ready to see the others!!!” She tried to bounce up from her bed, but she was still connected to all that hospitally stuff.

“I can help.” QD made her way over to Kindle’s bed and discharged her properly. Once she was done, she turned away. “Okay. Go do whatever you do.”

“Thanks!!!” Kindle bounced then, and made her way to the common area.

There, she saw different people.

“Cory!!!” She leapt over to him with a big smile. Hopefully he was the same.

Cory blinked. “O—oh! Hi, Kindle!” He grinned and patted her head. “Do you feel better?”

Something was off. Ugh…

“Yeah! Super duper better cool awesome!” She grinned. “Did I miss my day with Zachy?”

“Nope.” Cory gently smiled as he shook his head. “It’s tomorrow. You’ve only been out for three days.”

Oh. Huh. That was… new.

“Really?! AMAZEBALLS!!!”

“Yeah! Amazeballs!” He grinned. It seems like Cory was more of a pushover here. “Let’s make a card for him together. I know you miss him.”

No… no, you don’t.

I’ve never told anyone that.

Kindle hid her fear once more. “Okay! Let’s use—“ who here was artsy? Maybe Vera. “—Vera’s artsy stuff!”

“Oh— she does art?”

“Maybe… sorry! My head’s still all mixed up!” Kindle giggled. “We’ll use yours!”

Cory nodded. “Okii!”

Okay— this Cory was kinda cute. That was the only good thing about this place, though.

Kindle and Cory made a great card for Zachary, just the way Kindle thought he’d act. “This looks GREAT!!” Kindle held up the card and admired it like Simba. Then she saw Zachary’s bracelet on her wrist.

She froze. Her eyes widened.

“I know! We did a great job. I like how you put the stickers on the side like that.” Cory pointed to the card, the location ambiguous— since he didn’t want to take it from Kindle. Pushover.

Kindle nodded. “Mhm! I can’t wait to see the look on his face when he opens it!”

Then Kindle realized— she didn’t remember giving Zachary her card. Everything was so weird. Did she even have it with her? She took it, yes, but…

“This was awesome. Wanna go ask Rhine if she can cook us something?” Cory began to collect every art supply neatly, putting it back away in its place. “She said she could make me something nice, since my birthday is soon. I didn’t wanna have it all to myself, though… it’s better shared with you. You’ve gone through quite a bit.” He turned to Kindle with a smile. “You’re alright going outside tomorrow, aren’t you?”

Kindle scoffed. “Whaaatt?! I’m gonna be super duper all good! I trust Zachy would help me if I fell again!”

But…

Kindle trusted Jay, too.

Here— even if he was Myst—

She trusted him.

She knew Myst longer than Jay.

And he…

He was just gross…

Kindle felt like dying.

“Okii! Just take it easy, alright? Have fun and eat something good.” Cory smiled as he held out a hand for Kindle.

Kindle took it as they walked to Rhine’s room happily. It felt like they were taking a nice waltz through the park.

Kindle knew Rhine couldn’t cook for the life of her.

That was more QD’s thing.

Maybe everything was worse than she thought… especially since Vera swapped with QD, and QD didn’t seem to be as girly as Vera was now.

It was so confusing.

“Heya, Rhine!” Cory greeted Rhine with a joyful decorum. “Me and Kindle wanted to try some of your cooking. As my birthday present, you know.”

Rhine turned around to them. “Oh, Kindle and Cory! Have a seat.”

Rhine’s room looked different. There was a table in the middle, as if she’d been expecting them.

“I’ve already been making something. I was going to give it to you anyways— since making food is a pretty awful birthday gift, isn’t it?” Rhine gave Cory a smile.

Cory blinked. “Oh— no! I’m totally fine with just this. Even your presence is a gift.”

“That’s sweet of you. It’s nice to know you care about your friends so much.”

He nodded, giving Kindle a smile. “Yeah, thanks.”

Rhine had made a nice soup for Cory and Kindle. She also made biscuits with a cinnamon butter dip. It seemed like this Rhine loved cozy food and things. “Okay, tell me if you like it.”

Kindle tried some suspiciously.

Cory grinned. “It’s amazing! And the biscuits look so good too! Is that a little bit of sugar on them?”

“Mhm! I put a little pumpkin in the soup, too. I think it came out quite nicely.” Rhine put a cup of tea down in front of Kindle. “Here, Kindle. It’ll help you feel better. No headaches. Chamomile.” She smiled warmly.

Since Cory seemed to have not died yet, Kindle thought it would be safe. Plus, she had to find out more if she wanted to escape. That’s what she’d subconsciously decided for herself. She took a spoon of the soup and ate it.

“Wow…! This is AMAZING!! It feels like forever since I last ate!!” Kindle let a wave of comfort and warmth wash over her. “I wanna try the biscuits!”

“Help yourself! If you want anymore, then just ask me.”

The biscuits were good, and the tea was even better. Who knew regular chamomile could taste so sweet? Kindle felt better about the situation… but she still had to get back home. Home was… was…

Kindle rubbed her eyes, trying to blink the blurriness away. She yawned.

“Oh, are you sleepy?” Cory turned to Kindle with a soft smile. “Here, I’ll bring you to your room.”

Kindle’s head landed flat on the table.

“Eek!” Cory jumped back in his seat. “R-Rhine! What happened to her?”

Rhine came over right away. “Oh, no… I think she just fell asleep. Don’t wake her up.” Rhine advised warmly. “I always have an extra bed here, so I’ll let her sleep in it. Finish up your food— you don’t need to worry about this at all. I’ll take care of everything.”

Cory smiled. “Thanks, Rhine.” He patted Kindle’s head.

“Of course.”

***

Kindle woke up.

“Good morning.” Rhine spoke to her from the shadows. She’d turned the lights off.

Something hard was pushing onto Kindle’s shoulder blade.

“It’s nice to see you’re all awake and better.”

Kindle couldn’t move.

“What’d you put in that tea?”

Rhine giggled from the dark. “You’re so cute. You know, Vera doesn’t eat much. She always hides away in her room and makes something.”

A pause.

“She asked me if I could help her stay on top of her nutrition. I said, ‘of course I will’. I was thinking— why don’t we start her off with some protein?”

Kindle felt the dread again. She was going to die a lot, wasn’t she?

“Vera doesn’t mind what kind of meat it is. Did you know? Vera’ll eat anything.” Rhine giggled again— manically. “I was wondering what your limbs would sound like if I snapped them from your torso, too. Do you think you’ll taste… plant-based?”

***

With broken arms, Kindle fought and fought and fought.

“Aw, can’t you just stay still? Vera’s hungry.” Rhine clung onto her limbs as she advanced, pulling her across the floor and closer to her death.

“NO—-! I—!!”

“Screaming will wake the others. Be a little quieter, won’t you?”

Kindle’s mouth was covered by a cold hand. Her tears and sweat meant nothing.

Her leg was snatched and jerked the wrong way. A loud crack rang through the room. Kindle screamed— muffled.

“Just like crunching celery, don’t you think?”

Nice people that always smiled always hid something.

That day, Kindle died.

She was always afraid that Jay had ulterior motives.

***

Sterile… clean…

The unsteady beeping of the heart monitor…

It all came together as Kindle blinked away the blurriness from her vision.

She breathed in and out, clearing her lungs from all the nasty old air.

“You fell really badly.”

Kindle looked over to the edge of her bed in the medbay.

“I came to see if you were okay.” It was QD. She was still like Vera. “It doesn’t mean anything, though. I was just wondering.” She frowned.

All of the pain from the beating slowly washed away. It was only the pain from the back of Kindle’s head, where she fell, that stuck around. “Uh-huh… thanks…”

QD nodded. “Myst patched you up. You should be all better.”

This… is the same thing…

“How long have I been out?”

QD counted. “A month.”

“O—oh…”

“It’s okay.” QD came over to Kindle’s bedside.

Kindle edged away. She couldn’t trust any of these people.

QD seemed surprised at Kindle’s sudden shifting. Then, her gaze softened.

“I know I’ve been mean all the time. I know I’m not the best person. But… Kindle, I really care for you. It hurts to know you’re afraid of me, but I understand. I’m sorry.”

“Wh—what? No! Not at all!”

QD looked at Kindle pathetically.

“It’s just… I had lots of dreams in… my coma.”  Kindle assumed it was a coma. “I had a dream that Myst killed me. And I had a dream that Rhine killed me. It felt so real… so I was just nervous you’d hurt me.”

“Really? That’s all?” QD laid her hand on the bed next to Kindle.

Kindle nodded as she slid her hand on QD’s. “Yeah! Really! I know you care.”

QD smiled, closing her eyes as her eyebrows and lips twitched like she’d cry. “T—thanks,”

“No, thank you.”

The two were silent for a while, enjoying each other’s company. Kindle nearly forgot where she was for a moment.

“Hey, Zachary gave you a card. When he heard you got hurt, he was worried it’d ruin your day with him— even though you two planned so far ahead. Luckily, it’s scheduled for tomorrow… but I’m not sure you wanna go in this state, don’t you?” QD held onto Kindle’s hand tighter as she turned to the nightstand next to the bed. She picked up a card and handed it to Kindle. “Read it. He said he wanted to make sure you were okay.”

Kindle nodded. “I’m sure I’ll be able to go tomorrow.”

“No, you should stay in bed. Recover more.”

“What? I feel great! I can go! Trust me, I recover super duper quickly!” Kindle beamed as she took the card.

QD tilted her head to the side. “No, really? Please, stay for a while. I’m worried about you.”

Kindle shook her head as she opened the card. “Nopie-doo! I feel super energized, like a superhe—“ as soon as she opened the card and laid her eyes on the disasterly splayed words, she dropped it and held onto her face.

“K—Kindle! Hey—hey, are you alright?” QD loomed over her suddenly, holding onto her head. “What happened?”

Kindle appeared from behind her hands slowly. “Ugh… c—can you read… that… that card for me…?” Looking at the card made her sick. All it was was a splatter of messily written words and stains. Her pulse beat into her brain.

QD nodded. “Okay.” She picked it up. “‘Dear Kindle, when I heard you got hurt, I got really worried. I hope that you get better. Don’t forget, you’re my best friend! Hopefully by the time you read this, not much has time passed, and we’re still really close. Get well soon! Love, Zachary.’.” QD then looked at Kindle sadly. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah— yeah, I’m fine. Phew… that little pang made me feel much better.”

“No, it didn’t. Kindle…”

“Really! It did! It was like vomiting and then feeling super duper better afterwards!”

“Please…”

Kindle took off all the IV-heart-monitor-thingies from herself and stepped off the bed on the side QD wasn’t at. “I wanna go talk to the others!”

“Wait, just stay here, please. If you wanna talk to someone…” QD was at a loss. “I—I’ll go get Ammi.”

Kindle paused. She kinda wanted to see how Ammi would kill her. “Okay!” She hopped right back into the bed.

QD nodded with a smile. “Thanks. I’ll bring you two something to do.”

Kindle waited and waited. Eventually, QD came back with Ammi.

“I brought you board games and Jenga. I have to go do something with Vera, so I’ll see you two later.”

“Okay!! Bye-bye!” Kindle waved.

Now, she was curious. She hadn’t seen Ammi or the others last time. She saw Cory, who was new, and Rhine… who seemed a little different. QD seemed the same, minus the mean Vera stuff— thought she was sure she still had it, since QD apologized. Kindle then turned to Ammi.

“You don’t talk. Why not? Sorry, I forgot.”

Ammi, holding onto the board games, looked at Kindle and said nothing.

They set up a board game on the floor. Playing in silence killed Kindle— not literally— and she wanted to stir something up. Maybe friendly board game fighting.

“C’mon, at least spell it out with these Monopoly cards and money— or the Jenga blocks— or better yet, talk! Why don’t you?”

Ammi rolled her dice and ignored Kindle.

Then— Kindle figured…

If she was just gonna wake up in her hospital bed a day before meeting Zachary anyways… then why shouldn’t she do whatever she wanted? There was no consequence.

And anyways, sometimes Ammi was annoying. It wouldn’t matter.

“C’mon! Spill!” Kindle grinned as she looked over their Game of Life.

Ammi moved her car to the spaces she’d rolled. Their wheel wasn’t broken— Ammi just liked using dice.

Kindle gave Ammi a little shove. “Talk to me!”

Ammi gave Kindle a look that told her to spin the wheel and move her car. She didn’t seem angry— just neutral and without feeling, personality or purpose.

“Aw, you’re a little bitch.”

Ammi shoved Kindle as hard as she could.

“Why won’t you talk? Huh?” Kindle became angry. “Don’t shove me. What did I ever do to you? I was just asking you a question. Is it so hard to answer, dumbass?” Kindle took Ammi’s dice and threw it at her. “I feel like I’m observing an animal! All it does is act stupid— and it’s really funny, actually—“

Ammi then lunged at Kindle over the game, grabbing onto her hair and tugging at it.

“HEY! ANIMAL CONTROL! SOMEONE GET THIS—“

Ammi punched Kindle’s face as hard as she could, yet it barely did anything but cover Ammi’s hand in Kindle’s spit.

Kindle kicked Ammi off of her. “YOU’RE SO ANNOYING!!” She then hit Ammi back.

Ammi threw the game board at Kindle.

Kindle tossed it to the side and pushed Ammi down.

Ammi began to cry silently.

As she was about to hit her again, Kindle suddenly felt self-hatred and guilt. She wanted to die. She was disgusted with herself. Kindle stood up and walked around the room.

Ammi was still crying.

Kindle felt even worse. She felt so bad that when she looked at Ammi again, she lost her balance and fell— hard. Kindle then searched the drawers in the medbay room until she found some sharp medical tool— which she used to slit her wrists.

It was hard to live with herself.

That day, Kindle died.

She was always afraid that Ammi would be the end of them all.

***

Kindle woke up on the bathroom floor. Her head throbbed. This time, she hadn’t woken up in the medbay. Odd…

So, today, she was scheduled to meet with Zachary. She’d only gone once… she wanted to go again.

She looked at her bracelet. She still had it.

Something felt bad and dreadful, not seeing QD at the edge of her bed, carefully watching over her.

Yesterday… if it was yesterday, would QD come back to find her dead?

Did anyone know who she was killed by in any of these universes?

Death seemed like a joke. Death was fine.

Kindle was fine.

Kindle could do whatever she wanted.

So, she was gonna ask QD something. QD seemed the nicest to her— and if she could manipulate her into spilling this simulation’s secrets, then she could get out.

Kindle sat up. She checked the time. It was late— since the Train went off of a common time zone for most of the inhabitants, and it was based off of Earth’s time. Rhine’s fault.

Still, it seemed the same here, even if Jay had been the one who built this… or, at least, that was what was implied.

Kindle left the bathroom and went to QD’s room. She wasn’t there.

The only other place she would be in the kitchen, snacking late, or in Vera’s room— where she usually watched movies or shows with him back home. Though, Kindle was unsure of QD and Vera’s relationship here… so they might not be as good of friends as the regular QD and Vera.

Kindle went to the kitchen. QD wasn’t there. That meant Vera’s room— and if not— she’d check everywhere else. QD barely left the Train. This QD seemed like she wouldn’t, either.

QD opened Vera’s door and walked in.

Vera and QD were on his bed… and… uh… they were kissing.

Kindle’s eyes widened and her jaw dropped.

OKAY THEY WERE BETTER FRIENDS THAN SHE THOUGHT.

Vera turned around at the sound of the door opening. “Oh~! My bad~~” she hummed as she grinned at Kindle. “I forgot to lock the door.”

QD’s face went blank when she saw Kindle.

“Y—WH—YOU’RE KISSING!!!”

“It’s not that much of a surprise, is it?” Vera pulled QD closer to her and pushed her head on her chest. “She’s cute, so why wouldn’t I?”

QD’s face turned red as she tried to pull away from Vera. “Uhm— it’s late—“

Vera brought QD closer again. “Whaatt? But we’re only just getting into it…”

“G—goodnight.”

“Why don’t we show Kindle our love?”

Kindle was already leaving. “Nah, I’m good. Goodnight. Have fun. Bye.”

Vera was up in an instant, pulling Kindle back in the room and locking the door with her band. “No, nonsense~! Stay with us for a while.” She turned back to QD and grinned.

QD looked away.

“Well, since we can’t all have QD, then why don’t we play a game?”

Kindle jumped back. “No— I wasn’t planning on giving QD a kiss, anyways.”

“Awwh, but why wouldn’t you? Isn’t she just adorable? So, so, sooo pretty? My little angel?” Vera waltzed over to QD and wrapped her arms around her. “Of course— you wouldn’t. Right? Because she’s mine. All mine. I get to have her whenever I want.”

“Vera— it’s okay. I’m just gonna go to bed…”

“Now— now look what you did!” Vera, enraged, turned to Kindle. “You’re making her feel awkward!”

Kindle frowned. “Uhm. I can just leave. I wanted to in the first place.”

“Ugh, liar!” Vera gave Kindle a look of disdain. “Now we gotta get fired up all over again…”

“Please, Vera—“

“I should KILL you for that!”

“Oh no, please, don’t.” Kindle sarcastically groaned. “That’d hurt sooo bad.”

Vera grunted as she stomped to Kindle.

“Do you want me to? I needed a small model size for my accessories, anyways. You— taxidermied— would be just right.”

“Vera—“

Vera grabbed Kindle and pushed her to the wall. “Yes, let’s try that! I needed something to feed my muse anyways— and this is just the project I need!”

QD was behind Vera in an instant, and tried to pull him back. “V—Vera— you’ll make me upset— if— you hurt her!”

Vera was determined. “Don’t be silly! Just stay back, and nothing bad’ll happen~!”

“No— Vera!” QD slammed a fist on her back.

Vera blinked, pulled away from Kindle, and turned to QD.

QD’s face urged Kindle to try and run.

“Why’d you hit me? You’re supposed to love me.”

“You know what you were doing. Don’t blame me.”

Face scrunching up in anger, Vera punched QD square in her nose. A pop and crack came from it.

“Ouch—!”

“If you get any blood on the carpet, I’ll kill you, too.” Vera then turned to Kindle and grabbed her again. “You made me hurt her beautiful nose! How could you?!”

“But— that was all YOUR FAULT!!” Kindle tried kicking off Vera’s grip by flailing around. She was too strong. “DON’T BLAME ME!!”

Kindle tried to electrocute Vera, but she still wasn’t strong enough. She couldn’t even summon a small shock from her fingertips if she was desperate— which she was.

“Ahh~ I’ll gut you out~~ but first, I wanna make sure you’re aesthetically pleased with the color of the tools I’m using! I’ve got so many colors, and I’m sure you’ll like at least one.”

“Vera! Please, c’mon!” QD pleaded from behind him. “She’s— she’s okay! Don’t do this!”

Vera snapped right back around to QD. “Just worry about that blood, sweetie~ did you drop any?”

QD’s face sharpened. Then she took a hand, covered in her blood, and put it over Vera’s carpet to let it drip.

Eyes following the drops as they landed on the floor, Vera’s temper heightened.

“That’s it~! Two big projects! Won’t that be fun?” Vera grinned wide. “We’ll all be together forever!”

What would you expect from a bomb that can't be diffused?

That day, Kindle and QD both died.

She was always afraid that one day Vera would snap.

***

“You fell really badly.”

“I came to see if you were okay.”

“It doesn’t mean anything, though.”

“I was just wondering.”

Kindle, too, was wondering.

Could she really do whatever she wanted?

Would QD kill her today?

Could she push her limits?

Why not see Zachary?

Why was he always a day away?

What about Juno? And Cory? And Danann and Trillix?

Would they kill her?

Something made Kindle want them to kill her.

She was going to find out.

Every day, Kindle tried to do the impossible. She tried to leave— but somehow, she could never get a Glass into the portal. She tried to stay alive— but someone would always kill her before she slept. She tried to not speak to a single person— but either way, she would die. It always ended in death.

Kindle killed, too. She played around with every day she was given and tormented the copies of her real friends. She even killed herself purposefully— just to see what would happen. She lit herself on fire, drowned herself in a toilet, choked herself…

Every day was a gift to explore more. 12 hours to try. 12 hours until she breathed again.

Days always started on the bathroom floor or in the medbay. There was no exception. QD was always in the medbay, and no one was in the bathroom but her. Kindle found out everything about everyone. She enjoyed silently controlling their lives, and she enjoyed finding out new things or finding out something had changed about someone. Every experience was unique.

12 hours alive until she died. 12 hours to start again. 12 hours 916,362 times.

Kindle lived every day over and over again until she forgot what she was looking for.

***

“And when I was finished with you, I went to Myst. Then he was gone, too.” Kindle bragged as Vera tied her up with sparkly pink ribbons.

“Ugh, you’re so gross. And weird. I don’t even know what the hell you’re talking about.” Vera finished off Kindle’s binding with a nice bow. “You said the pink ones, right?”

Kindle nodded. “I wanted to try something different. Not many days are.”

“You’re different. Yesterday, you were fine. Hitting your head broke it bad, huh?”

“You could say… but I’m not the crazy one— you are. You never remember anything that happens to you.”

“Weirdo. And you do?”

Kindle grinned. “I always do.”

Vera frowned as she grabbed a knife. “Okay, whatever. Scream for me, won’t you?”

“Sure, let’s mix it up a bit.”

Nothing mattered.

That day, Kindle died.

She… ran out of things to fear about Vera 916,298 days ago.

***

Kindle woke up on the bathroom floor. She grinned, feeling dirtier now that her organs still filled her like a balloon. Another day in the Sea. Another day she couldn’t leave. 916,363 was just a rough estimate. That was nearly a thousand years. Even more— Kindle never overestimated. A thousand years of the same shit.

“You’re not doing very well, aren’t you?”

A familiar… she wasn’t in medbay. She was on the bathroom floor.

“How long have you been here?”

Kindle looked up.

There was an angel.

This… this was new.

Would it be back tomorrow?

It had to be.

Kindle clutched onto her bracelet. “Hey, how are you?”

The angel grunted. “I feel like I’m handling a dirty animal.”

Animals? Kindle called people animals all the time. “Well, I don’t bite.”

“You certainly do.” The angel eyed Kindle with some sort of distaste. “Who are you?”

“Kindle.”

“Who are you?”

“Kindle.”

“I’m trying to ask you who you are. Tell me who you are.”

Kindle grinned wider. “Kindle.”

“And so?”

“So— That’s my answer.”

The angel eyed her. “You’re not doing too well…”

“Wow, as if you hadn’t said that already. That time— I chose to ignore you, y’know? Shut the fuck up with all your cryptic shit.”

“Rude. After all we’ve been through?”

Kindle was now offended. “WE? I’ve been—“

“I’m talking about our individual struggles. Why not be nice to someone who’s been hurt? They’ll only think of the same.”

“What makes you think that?”

The angel shook his head. “Kindle, when did you stop trying to leave this place?”

Kindle didn’t answer. She only eyed the angel fiercely.

“When you exercised your power over these mere entities that shadowed who you knew? The real versions of themselves? When you became content with your inhumanity, finally? When you loved being human, even when you weren’t?” The angel bent down to her, who was still lying on the floor. “It has been 1,255 years. You have to wake up. Wake up.”

“N—no. This is… how it’s always been.”

“You’ll be surprised how different it was before.” The angel flicked Kindle’s forehead. “Wake up. Realize the truth.”

Kindle frowned. “I’ll find out how to toy with you soon. You’ll regret this.”

“You and your puny size? Stuck a day before meeting Zachary? When you wanted to learn how to leave—“

“—WHEN?!—“

“You decided you’d find out by messing with these people. These strangers. And with no consequences— your instinct unfolded. Don’t you miss me? Miss the real world?”

Kindle eyed the angel. The angel was familiar. She’d never seen him before. “You’re full of bullshit. This is how it’s always been.”

For a moment, Kindle realized that it maybe wasn’t— why’d she suddenly start believing it when the angel appeared? Did she think that earlier? She couldn’t remember anything. She only knew she’d been in the same day. All she knew were these people.

The angel sighed. “It’s been too long. I should’ve left a long time ago. You miss me.” The angel then poofed into sparkling dust. The bathroom door opened.

“Hey! Kindle! I heard a crash. Are you okay?” Ammi looked at her from the doorway.

This was different.

***

IS IT OVER!?!?

“Why are you ignoring me?”

Kindle walked into Myst’s room.

“Kindle! Hey!”

Kindle gave Myst a look. “Hey, Myst, ever wanted to fuck?”

Must shrugged. “Well—“

“WHAT?! No ‘well’s!! Myst, what the hell?!”

“I’m just being honest.”

“I was asking— with me.” Kindle pointed to herself. “I was curious.”

Ammi pulled Kindle away from Myst. “Okay— stop— I don’t like how he’s looking at you.”

“Ammi, you’re always getting in the way of things.” Myst waved his hand in the air as if to dispel her from the conversation. “Please leave.”

“HEY!! I’m gonna tell Rhine!”

Myst frowned and slouched back.

“Good! Bad Myst!”

“You’re asking for it.” He maliciously grinned.

Ammi dragged Kindle out of Myst’s room. “Kindle! You weren’t serious, were you?! Does your head hurt too much?”

“Myst was right! You’re always getting in the way of things!” Kindle snapped back at her angrily. “You’re not worth my time.”

“B—but… I was gonna ask if you wanted to go to that candy world with me and Zachy today.”

Kindle’s eyes widened.

“Today?”

“Yeah! Today! I wanted to hang out. All of us. Zachy was asking when he’d see you again. Sorry this is such short notice. —Maybe you should rest— your head—…”

Kindle yanked her hand from Ammi’s grip. “I never told you I fell and hit my head.”

Ammi’s eyes widened. “Well, you sounded like you did. In the bathroom.”

“That was a long time before you came in.”

“Really? Nope. I came in as quickly as I could. I was afraid you got hurt. And it seems like you did.”

“Still doesn’t explain why you know my head hurts.”

Ammi shrugged. “It was an educated guess. You were lying on the floor. From that position, I thought you possibly landed on your head. Plus, you’re acting different. Way different.” She smiled. “Yeah… I’ll just go myself. You’re not in it today.”

“W—wait. I wanna come.”

Ammi’s smile widened and she grinned. “Yay!! Let’s go together.”

What? What? What?

Kindle started to overthink. This— was just a big change. The loop of death never stopped circling back to life. The day would repeat. This was just some big change. The day would go back to normal. She was okay. Nothing bad. Nothing bad. Nothing bad.

For the first time in 1,255 years, Kindle saw ‘Zachy’. He didn’t look like she remembered. He acted different. He looked different. Zachary… and… how was he like before? Zachary was something she couldn’t reach. And Zachary appeared in front of her.

“The clouds are actually made of cotton candy! It’s like childhood dreams have all come true!” He cheered as he took a bit of the fluffy cloud in front of him.

Kindle didn’t feel like eating. Last time she ate, Rhine poisoned her again. Poison always made her feel sick— sick was what she was used to— pain barely bothered her… where was she going with this?

“Kindle! Are you okay?” Ammi bent down to her. “You’re shaking.”

Zachary came to her. “Yeah, what’s wrong?”

Kindle’s entire body shook as she was wracked with her sobs and laughter.

1,255 years.

1,255 years.

God—, Gods in the sky, all of them— stuck— she was stuck— ohhh, oh no, no, no, no— it never mattered— years— stuck— she couldn’t remember her life when it didn’t loop.

Was the looping abnormal?

She wanted it to loop again.

“Th—this— time— it’s gonna work—!” Kindle giggled. “I’m leaving… I’m leaving… I— I can— I can leave? I can leave? I can LEAVE!”

Her laughter echoed.

1,255 years and expecting something different from the same procedure.

Kindle had gone insane.

There had been no escape.

Now— with Ammi and Zachary—

These two—

There could be.

The angel.

“I CAN LEAVE! I can LEAVE!”

Zachary and Kindle looked at each other.

Kindle laughed and laughed and laughed. 1,255 years didn’t matter. It was NOTHING. NOTHING! SHE COULD LEAVE! SHE JUST HAD TO BE PATIENT!

“HAHAHAHAHAHAAAHHH!!!! ISN’T IT SO— HILARIOUS?! I— HAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAHH!!!”

Ammi and Zachary melted into a pool of their bones and flesh and blood.

Kindle was laying in QD’s arms.

Kindle blinked as she stood in front of Vera, grinning and waving at her kindly.

Rhine ruffled her hair.

Myst just kinda stared at her.

75% of the time, he killed her.

Yeah…

Zachary sat down next to her.

Kindle lifted her head and looked at him.

He grinned. “What is it? You alright?”

Kindle blinked.

Ammi sat down on the other side next to Kindle and gave her a hug.

“If there’s something you wanna tell us, I don’t mind listening.”

Kindle… her instinct…

Why was she born?

That, she knew— she knew that all the time— she knew that she didn’t know.

1,255 years of replacement memories felt worthless.

“I—I—you—…”

And for what? For what? Was she satisfied? She was pathetic. She succumbed.

She cried and cried— this time— without laughing. Because… because…

GOD!!!

***

QD was running her fingers through Kindle’s hair.

Peacefully, in her room, Kindle planned to stay alive tonight. QD never killed Kindle. QD never dreamt of hurting her. Every time Kindle walked in on her and Vera— or when she found QD in a tough spot with someone else— QD was always making sure Kindle was alright. And that’s why Kindle was going to stay with her tonight.

“You wanna go to bed?” QD held onto Kindle like a teddy bear. “I’m sorry, I don’t have an extra mattress, so… you’ll just take the bed, okay?”

Kindle shook her head.

“What? I couldn’t let you sleep on the floor.”

“I wanna sleep in bed with you. I’ll feel safer if someone hugs me.”

QD blinked. “Oh. You’re scared at night?”

Kindle nodded. “Always.”

Always.

Forever.

What a word.

“Sure. If you’d like.” QD laid her head on top of Kindle’s. “Ready now? Or you wanna stay awake a little more?”

“Now.”

Kindle could never have been more eager to leave. She should’ve been satisfied with going anywhere but the Sea for the first time in 1,255 years… but she wasn’t.

1,255, God.

QD and Kindle both got ready to sleep. QD made sure Kindle felt extra comfy.

“I have extra pillows, or some plushies. If you want them.”

“I’m good.”

“Okay,” QD smiled as she wrapped her arms around Kindle. “wow… it feels like you’re my little sister. I’ve always wanted a little sister. I’ll protect you forever…”

Kindle swallowed hard. “Mhm.”

***

Kindle woke up in the bathroom.

No, the medbay.

What a disappointment.

She blinked away the blurriness and lifted QD’s arm off of her.

Then, her heart leapt.

It wasn’t the medbay.

“Whah— WHAHHH!!!!!”

QD sat up. “What?”

Kindle hugged QD and bounced around in the bed. “YOU DID IT!!!! YOU DID IT!!!”

“Kin—Kindle?”

“I’M OUT! I MADE IT OUT!”

QD nodded slowly. “Y-yeah. You did it.”

Kindle then snapped her head to QD. “Did you know this ENTIRE TIME?!”

“No. I’m just agreeing with you. Well done.”

Kindle realized she should probably tell QD everything. Her mess. It felt like that number— 1,255– all of it— came and went. And she flew past it. Wild. Wild. And even though the story of her life would skip past it— it hurt. It hurt so much. 1,255 years wasn't nothing, but it felt like they were.

A waste.

Kindle recounted each year, the earlier and smaller numbers blurring.

Kindle was sure QD would hate her.

Kindle… and… everything…

She cried again.

Why? Why did she do this? Why was she born? It was so difficult.

“It’s okay. I’m sure it wasn’t your fault.”

She hid in her hands, crying away her putrid, rotting life as QD comforted her.

“If I was stuck somewhere with no escape— not even death— I think I’d be insane! You’re somehow pulling it together! I’m proud of you!”

Kindle gripped onto QD’s arms.

“You’re not giving up, right? If you can’t remember anything from before, then why don’t you go ahead and remember?”

“You’re… not… mad?”

“I’m still here, as far as I’m concerned.”

Kindle blinked.

“I wanna help you.”

Kindle wiped her tears.

“Can I come with you? To escape? I’ve never left the Sea, either. I never wanted to. So… I’m with you on this one, really. No matter what you say.”

***

QD opened the door to the Glass storage room.

Kindle hadn’t seen the inside in… well, you know how many years. She felt old. She completely forgot what this place looked like. She forgot EVERYTHING. Now, to learn it again… to be a good person again…

She wasn’t sure she was ready.

“QD— QD, let’s— let’s just not, okay?”

“Morning, Kindle. What happened yesterday?” Myst teased her from behind QD.

“GET THE FUCK OUT.”

Myst frowned. “Shit, my bad.” He walked off.

QD grinned as she gave Kindle a gentle smile. “Y’know, you gotta start somewhere. You’ll be stuck here forever. I wanna see you get home.”

Something came back to her.

“What are we gonna call this?”

“This?”

“Yeah. Our journey.”

QD raised an eyebrow. “I don’t think it needs a name, Kindle.”

“It’s… like… I was stuck in a loop…”

“I know that.”

“A forever loop. Everlasting. Never ending.”

QD looked at her like she was crazy. That was the exact look she gave Kindle while she was explaining the loop.

“An everlasting journey?”

“I mean, sure. This is your idea, not mine.”

“Kindle’s Everlasting Journey to Getting Out Of This Time Loop?”

“Hey! Why aren’t I included in this title?!”

“Kindle’s Everlasting Journey to Getting Out Of This Time Loop— Destination: DESTINY!!!!”

“Since when did destiny come into play?”

***

START THE JOURNEY!!!!

Kindle had decided she needed super duper awesome cool adventure clothes, so she wore something she felt a strong connection to— but had forgotten what it was. QD didn’t care about how she looked.

QD looked through the shelves of Glass. “Kindle, do you know what any of these are for?”

“No. I haven’t been in here in forever.”

“Oh… guess we’ll have to try any of them, huh?” QD picked one up and examined its glittering beauties. “There’s so many, though. And how do we put them in the portal? I’m not a nerd.”

Myst slid into the storage room. “I am. As you usually say.”

“GET THE FUCK OUT.”

“I can help you two.”

“GET THE FUCK OUT.”

“For a price.”

“GET THE FUCK OUT.” QD repeated.

“What’s the price?”

“KINDLE!”

Kindle snickered. “I’m just joking. I think I actually have to watch what I do now, anyways.”

Myst sighed with a smile. “I wasn’t talking about Kindle. I was talking more about you, QD, but if you don’t want to—“

“We’re both minors, thank youuu.” QD pushed Myst out of the storage room and locked the door. “Phew. He’s terrible.”

Kindle nodded. “Yeah.”

QD’s eyes scanned the shelves. “I mean, they’re all really pretty, but how do we know which one to use? Where are we even going? What’s the plan?”

“O—oh. That’s right. We don’t have a plan…”

Sighing, QD put back the Glass.

“Y’know who’s great with plans? Myst.”

“Yeah, but, Kindle. Seriously?”

“I know, I know! It’s just a shame. You’re dumb— no offense—“

“None taken.”

“—and… last time I thought…” Kindle ran through the memories. “Like, as in, used my brain power… was… a long time ago.” She shrugged. “I acted on instinct all these years. The thousands of them. Because… I think…”

“You think? You’re thinking?”

Kindle tightened her eyes— also an instinct. Then it came to her.

“It used to hurt to think!” She beamed. “I— I just tried like— actually thinking and using logical reasoning and going deep into it— and… I might not remember why, but my body does!”

QD frowned. “That sounds like trauma.” Then, she started to think. “But, Kindle, how does that work?”

“Things used to come naturally to me. Complex math was easy. I was doing calculus without fail at a young age. I picked up the cello INSTANTLY. I could do all these incredible things— without needing to think about doing them. Or doing them right. When I actually did use my thoughts, it hurt a bunch. If something didn’t come naturally to me, I didn’t know it.”

QD blinked. “A—and you forgot all of this? Until now?”

Slowly, Kindle’s face lit up. “Yeah. Yeah. It sorta came naturally. Like I said.” Then she paused again. “It didn’t hurt… it. Didn’t hurt. When I… when I said I was thinking earlier. I— that last part was hatural. It doesn’t hurt to think.”

“Okay, this is confusing. It’s hurting me. My thinking.”

“Hold on— can— I?”

Kindle looked down, daring to ask.

Why was I born?

Then she looked back up. And it didn’t hurt.

“THAT’S RIGHT! There hasn’t been a single time here when it hurt to think! I even— I thought about it before, too! Why was I born?!”

QD slouched back against the door. She felt it was better to let Kindle think it through— and also to push against the door if Myst decided to brute force it through.

“So… it… I can think. And I think… that… we’re somewhere unreal.”

“Because— because of the loop. A breakage? A leak. A leak in the Sea— like— just a leak, y’know? And so… I’ve been stuck in the same day— but the day before I see Zachary again, always. When I hit my head, was that when it happened? When did I hit my head? 1,255 years ago. So, when that happened, my life kept repeating before I met Zachary. Everyone was the same, just… over and over again.”

Kindle looked around.

“I hit my head in the bathroom by tripping a day before I met Zachary. It caused a leak somehow— and then the day kept repeating— either in the medbay or on the floor. But it was always the day before.” Kindle had only repeated the facts. “So what does that mean?”

“There’s a leak in the Sea… so… fix it?”

“Yeah! Only… how?”

QD thought. “Vera knows a lot about the Sea. So does Myst. But… Vera… I’m sorry, I love her, but I can’t ask.”

“Why not?”

QD looked down. “I kinda don’t trust her. She lies a lot. Just because she can. It turned into a habit she can’t control.. so… I don’t know.”

Kindle slowly nodded. “That’s understandable. Who are we gonna ask, then?”

“I know a lot about the Sea!”

Kindle jumped, and QD’s head snapped to the door. “M—Myst!!!”

“No, me!” The angel, now infront of QD and Kindle, unfurled its wings proudly and knocked off a bunch of Glass. “AGH— sorry!”

“WOAH— OkAY—“ QD pressed herself against the door and pulled Kindle to do the same.

Kindle blinked. “A-angel?”

The angel nodded as he picked up some Glass and put them back in their velvety boxes— only to knock down more and more. “W-wow. This feels like a scene from a movie, doesn’t it? Don’t look at me— that’s really embarrassing—“

“KINDLE, KILL IT!!”

“YEAH! GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE, DIPSHIT!”

“You guys are so rude! C’mon!” The angel held boxes of Glass in his arms, picking them up when they fell so that they could fall again. “I just wanted to help!”

QD protectively placed a hand on top of Kindle’s head. “Okay— if you wanna help— drop all those Glasses.”

The angel dropped them.

“Good. Now put your wings back.”

The angel folded his wings neatly.

“And tell us what the hell you’re doing.”

“YEAH! WHAT THE HELL!!!”

The angel looked around. “I’m here to help Kindle.” Then he grinned innocently.

“Really?” QD narrowed her eyes and pulled a large machete out of her pocket— somehow.

“Hey! Yeah, really! Put that thing away!” The angel frowned. “I wanna help. I’m a nice guy.” He shrugged with a smile.

Kindle shook her head. “No! You called me a dirty animal!”

“I’ve never said that to you in my life.” The angel declared. He was obviously lying— but he was doing it so well that Kindle began to believe him.

QD raised an eyebrow. “Okay. Kindle hallucinates, anyways.”

Kindle grinned. “What.”

“Let’s get back to the topic, right? Everyone wants to get back onto the topic? Okay? Okay! Let’s go! Topic time. You guys were looking for someone who’s knowledgeable in the topics and areas and stuff about the Sea? I am!”

“I can’t believe that.” QD shook her head. “You look really clumsy… and stupid. And movie-esque.”

The angel laughed and scoffed. “Okay, maybe that last part— I gotta agree— but, I am super knowledgeable. I’m the second purest being in the Sea!”

QD frowned.

“Ethos? Right?”

“Vera would still be more qualified…” commented QD.

“NO SHE WOULDN’T!!!” The angel fumed. “LOOK! I WANNA HELP!” He composed himself. “Is that so bad?”

Kindle narrowed her eyes. “Okay, yeah, it is, ‘cuz you’re sounding totally suspicious, idiot. Why are you so insistent on helping us?”

The angel looked away.

“Ooh, if you can’t answer that, I’m killing you.” QD grinned.

“Okay— first of all, you wouldn’t be able to. Second of all— I… wanna help…”

Like more of a warning, QD helped him continue. “Because?”

The angel frowned. “Can’t say.”

“That’s it, I’m killing you.”

“Look— I just— I wanna… it’s— it’s not technically showing off, but—“

“OOOOH! SHOW-OFF!!!” Kindle teased the angel with a sly grin.

Wings unfurling to knock more Glass off the shelves, the angel’s pale face went red. “I AM NOT A SHOW-OFF.”

“You totally are. ‘Think you’re so cool and nice and angelic because… God and stuff?! Well— you’re not! You’re a meanie!”

“I am not a meanie. I like cats.” The angel defended. “Only a monster would hate cats.”

QD rolled her eyes. “That’s an opinion.”

“Wowww!! Really? You’re so knowledgeable.” The angel then spat.

QD turned to Kindle and whispered. “This kid’s not an angel. I’m gonna kill him.”

“Yeah, do that.”

“I can hear you two!!” A long sigh echoed from the angel as he held onto his forehead like he was having a migraine. “Look! Let me help you! Just— fix my stupid complex.” He tucked his hair behind his ear with a stuffy frown. “Satisfy my need to impress, y’know?”

Kindle groaned. “Okay. Fine. But only because if we say no you’re gonna keep asking and probably appear out of nowhere again.” She paused and added to her reasoning. “And also only because you made me feel seen and heard when I found out I wasn’t hallucinating you yesterday.”

“You know him?!”

“Yeah.”

“Why didn’t you just say it?!”

Kindle shrugged. “‘Dunno. I guess it did kinda feel like a movie scene.”

The angel grinned. “I know, right? Okay! Now that we’re all good, let’s get going! What do you want to know?”

“Where the fuck are we?” Kindle asked with an innocently baby doll cute cute fluffy fluffy uuuwaaa! grin.

The angel’s mood dropped instantly. “The Sea. That one’s easy.” He then grinned once more, feeling superior.

“Okay. Cool. Not in a mind-scape? Timeloop?”

“Ahhh, I thought you meant setting. Location is different.”

QD shook her head. “No. No. That’s— that’s the same word. Cinnamon.”

“Synonym,” corrected Kindle.

“Same shit.”

Kindle then turned to the angel. “So? Timeloop? Or no?”

He shrugged. “It’s not related to the Sea. I don’t know.”

“WHAT?! Isn’t the Sea the UNIVERSE?! EVERYTHING?!!? How could you possibly NOT KNOW!!??”

“I just don’t,” he shrugged again.

Kindle groaned and sighed and a little bit of both and everything at the same time. “Fine. Did we even need your help at all?”

“No, I don’t think so. But, hey, it’s free. Who doesn’t like free stuff?”

“Get out of here! Idiot!” QD snapped. “Help us for real or not.”

“Alright, alright— ladies, ladies. Relax.”

QD punched the angel in the nose.

“Ouch! What the fuck?!”

Kindle’s face dropped. “OOOH YOU SWORRREEE!!!!”

Suddenly, a small crystal of pure periwinkle light appeared in front of Kindle. She took a long entranced look at it— it sparkled and glowed brighter than the yellow light of the storage room, sending scattered particles of a shattered rainbow on the floor and on the feet of the three in the room.

Kindle slowly extended her hand toward the crystal.

“D—don’t touch it.” QD pulled Kindle’s hand back.

The angel eyed the crystal. “Do it. I think you should.”

“Are you just doing that to spite me?!”

“You punched me in the goddamn nose!”

“For an angel, you’re really using the lord’s name in vain, aren’t you? Swearing and all—“

Kindle used her other hand to tap the crystal.

⟣

“Vera, can you shut the fuck up for a second?”

…

“Nice.”

⟣

Kindle took a look at QD. Then at the angel.

“A—anyone else just hear that?”

***

SOMETHING… NEW!?

The plan was… incohesive.

Kindle had to find out what exactly was wrong. The Sea must’ve had a leak. It repeated the same day over and over. That, she knew.

Just— how to fix it? How to get out?

A long time ago, Vera was a boy. It was surprising. And… a long time ago, Juno was not a furry. Which was as equally as surprising.

A long time ago, they said those two things. And a long time ago, they were surprised, too. It was a blurry picture and a mess of a memory.

But— it was a memory. From 1,255 years ago.

“I suggest we find all of those memories. Some crystals, right? Containing your old memories?”

“But, but— it’s not my old memory. It’s not— it’s— like an entirely separate universe. It was so weird—! Vera was a boy! Juno wasn’t a furry! He was just— some— normal old dude! It’s not real!”

QD thought about the memory as she leaned against the door again. “Maybe it is. Everything changed in 1,255 years. Maybe you really did forget everything— hence it being a memory. Maybe Vera’s trans.” QD then frowned. “And I never knew.”

“That can’t be, though. There’s no way— you would’ve remembered!”

“That’s true…”

The angel grinned. “If we’re so confused, then why don’t we go ahead and find out more? We can’t keep guessing and guessing with a single fact and intuition. It’ll be more fun that way— and we can get better answers.”

Kindle thought for a moment. “How? How are we gonna look for those things?”

“Maybe we go everywhere.” QD suggested. “Find somewhere you feel a strong connection to. If those crystals are old memories, then we should go to places where you have lots of memories from.”

It seemed hopeless. “B—but— where?”

The lights on the Train flickered. It rumbled and shook, the Glasses in their boxes tinkering together. A low groan and scream of machinery echoed through every scrap of metal, vibrating the walls and floor. The door pressurized and locked tight.

QD grabbed onto Kindle and held onto her as she stood her ground from the shaking. The angel unfurled his wings— again— and held onto the shelves.

Slowly, the chaos subsided. The Train slowed and slowed and slowed— then came to a halt. It pressurized again, letting the complex layout of wires, gears and mechanisms relax.

Kindle burrowed her head out of QD’s arms. “What was that?”

The angel, still tied onto the shelves and tightening his eyes, shrugged as he slowly came undone.

“I— hey, I think— the Train sometimes makes stops. I think we reached one.”

So… different! The Train never stopped!

“What—?! WHAT? Really!?” Kindle bounced out of QD’s hands, spun to the door and opened it. With QD leaning on, the door swung back and QD flew out while Kindle leapt.

“Hello.” Myst grinned.

QD, who re-enacted Kindle’s entire existence at this point, rubbed her head. “GET THE FUCK AWAY.”

“My bad. Again.” He frowned. “But someone’s gotta repay me for stopping the Train, no?”

“I will!” The angel stepped out of the storage room.

Kindle’s jaw dropped. “NO! DUDE— HE MEANS FUCKING!”

Myst laughed.

The angel paused. “Oh— uh.”

“Are you a minor?” QD slowly sat up as she looked at the angel.

“N-no.”

“That means you’re our best candidate.” QD finished. “Please, pay off our debts for us.”

The angel’s face scrunched up as Myst grabbed his hand. “HEY! WAIT! I DON’T WANNA!!!”

Kindle grinned as the angel was dragged away. “Finally! He’s gone! Let’s go, QD!!”

QD nodded with her own smile as they walked to the exit.

“No one’s ever needed to use this. I can’t remember the last time I came up here… other than to help out Myst with the engine.”

Kindle raised an eyebrow. “Really help with the engine, or fuck?”

“Really help with the engine. He’s got a thing for not doing any physical labor…” QD then blinked. “That sounds wrong, doesn’t it?”

“Well,” Kindle shrugged. “I’m sure that any conversation involving Myst will have some sexual implication, so it’s actually not wrong at all.”

They had made it to the exit.

QD eyed Kindle. “We gonna do this?”

Kindle slowly nodded. “I think we can.”

“Deep breaths.”

“In the Sea? Wouldn’t we drown?”

QD shrugged. “I think it’s safe.”

“Hey! Kindle! QD!” A voice came from the hall.

“Wow, does that angel fuck that nasty…? That was quick.” QD commented as she turned to the hall.

It was not the angel who called to them, in fact. It was Zachary.

“Where are you guys going?”

Kindle blinked, something clicking. “No clue. We’re just… going places.”

“Ugh.” QD frowned, already feeling like she’d need to take this entire journey in her own hands. “We’re trying to look for places where Kindle feels connections to. ‘Cuz…”

“…Because I wanna have a stronger understanding of myself!”

QD eyed Kindle, itching to tell Zachary the truth for her.

Kindle, however, didn’t feel it was necessary to let Zachary know. She didn’t know him. She might’ve forgotten— so, Zachary, who must’ve remembered, would be sad if Kindle didn’t.

Messy…

“Kindle’s been in a time loop for 1,255 years.” QD casually commented, tilting her head to the side. “She’s forgotten everything from… before. We assume before includes you, since she hasn’t seen you. But we’re not sure what else it has. She saw a crystal that she felt a connection to— through memory— but it was unlike anything in this world.”

Kindle slowly frowned.

“So… we’re thinking about the Sea being in a loop or a leak— and it just got patched. Now all that’s left is to get out of the water, allowing Kindle to remember everything from all those years ago.” QD shrugged. “Or something like that. I wasn’t following along much.”

Zachary blinked. “Oh! So… a cool journey!”

“Yeah, I guess.” Rolling her eyes, QD stepped back.

“Like… one of our everlasting journeys! ‘Kindle’s Everlasting Journey to’ blah blah blah.”

“Wh—what?” Kindle froze.

Slowing down as if he touched up on a difficult subject, Zachary nodded. “Yeah. Our journeys. You… you don’t remember, right?”

Kindle shook her head.

“I thought so. I just brought it up to help you. They were our favorite things.”

“B—but—“ Kindle weakly smiled. “I did! I made this connection earlier! I was thinking of a cool name…”

“For our journey. And she thought ‘Kindle’s Everlasting Journey to Getting out of this Timeloop? Destination: Destiny’, something something.”

Zachary’s lips twitched into a smile. “You do remember.”

“I guess I do.”

He paused, looking down. “Well… then.” Zachary folded his arms and grinned. His teeth were practically sparking with confidence. “I’m gonna help you remember everything!”

Kindle gave him a look.

“You have to remember! There’s no way I’m gonna let you forget!”

The sheer childlike, innocent determination radiating from Zachary felt like gamma rays melting away Kindle’s skin.

“Okay,” Kindle nodded blankly. “I will.”

QD grinned. “Great! Let’s go NOW!!”

“W—wait! Let’s all make a wish!” Zachary added. “Please?”

“Uhm… sure.” QD fluffed up her jacket and snuggled her head into her hoodie. “Like… any wish?”

“Maybe something relating to our journey?” Thought Zachary. “Like… I wish for Kindle to remember our friendship! And everything else!”

QD nodded. “Ah, I see. I wish…. I wish to see all of the Sea. See the Sea.” She elbowed Zachary for no reason. “I wanna adventure and see it all!”

“Then… I…” Kindle seriously debated this. “I wish I get to remember everything. That’s two wishes for me! I’m winning!!!” She beamed, feeling closer to these words after saying them out loud.

“Oh— I’m— not a great artist… and my handwriting is bad… but I was thinking about keeping track of the things you feel connected to, Kindle!” QD pulled a small notebook from the inside of her jacket. “I… use this notebook for other things… but it can be for us, too.”

Zachary laughed with Tsukasa-akin pride. “YES! An AWESOME JOURNEY DIARY!”

“And we can have photos…!”

“I’ll draw all over it!”

“What?! No you won’t! It’s my notebook!”

“Didn’t you just say ‘it can be for us, too’?!”

“I DIDN’T MEAN THAT! Dumbass.”

“HEY!”

Kindle felt something warm build up inside her. “C’mon, guys! How long have we been standing in front of the exit here? Aren’t we gonna go soon?”

“Yeah, let’s go. QD.”

“Zachary.”

They gave each other stinky looks.

Once Zachary and QD eyed each other out the Train, their journey was officially on.

Outside the Train…

They were in a HUGE bakery. All covered in cutesy yellow wallpaper dotted with hearts and frosting patterns— baking equipment and machinery all following the same style. Lacey napkins dotted an adorable dinner table with room for four. On the baking counter, where they were standing, were ingredients galore. They all followed the same brand. ‘Lovely’s’. It was all a neat pastel of cheery cooking love.

“Hello.” A beautiful girl with white locks, looking much like a goddess as she was dressed in lacey white and glowed bright, floated down to them. “Did you come here to help me with my cake?” She opened her eyes— like a galaxy full of teal cosmic dust and stars. Something about her made Zachary, Kindle and QD love her from the moment they saw her.

Kindle blinked rapidly. “H—hi.”

“Yeah… we’ll help you with your cake…” Zachary mumbled, entranced.

“You kinda look like me.” QD added.

The goddess laid a soft, milky white hand over her mouth and chuckled. “Really? Or do you look like me?“

QD looked down and put her hands in her pockets, face turning red. “I—I dunno. Whoever came first…?”

“I’ve been here since the dawn of time.” The goddess added. “I pass the time by baking.”

“I’d love to try some of your food!” Zachary added to flatter her.

The goddess chuckled again, her dress flowing through the air like a gentle breeze in slow-motion was constant around her. “You can…  Only if you help me bake this cake. If you want to try my baking, you should try it fresh and full of love.”

Zachary slowly nodded, convinced. “Good idea.”

“What’s your name?” Kindle added.

“My name is QD.” The goddess replied with a gentle smile and dip of her head. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

QD— Kindle’s QD— then jumped. “H—hey! That’s my name, too!”

“Wonderful! I’ve never met another QD before.”

“Me—me neither.”

Kindle felt a wave of something strong. “Wow… so… it’s like a leak! A really big one…”

“What do you mean, ‘leak’?” Goddess QD smiled.

“Uhm… I’ve been stuck in a time loop. And I think it’s because the Sea had a leak.”

Goddess QD floated back, placing one leg over the other. “Hm… but, you’re not in the Sea.”

“Hold on! We were just on the Train! And that’s in the Sea!” QD retorted. “And— it’s—“ she turned around…

…to find out the Train’s station was gone. They were fully enclosed in this cutesy kitchen.

“WHERE ARE WE?!” QD began to freak out.

“Not in the Sea.” Goddess QD answered. “You never were.”

Kindle’s head began to spin. “Whuh?”

“Huh… but… isn’t everything in the Sea?” Zachary frowned, seeming disheartened— like a child learning that Santa isn’t real.

Goddess QD grinned gently, but it still crinkled the corners of her eyes.

“H—hey… ANGEL!!!” Kindle called out.

At her call, he appeared. “Damn—!” The angel cracked his back and stretched out. “PHEW. THAT MYST—“

“NO TIME FOR THAT!!!” Kindle waved her hands as Goddess QD watched and giggled, amused. “Are we in the Sea?!”

The angel frowned. “I think I already answered a question like this, didn’t I?”

“OKAY, FINE! I don’t CARE if you’re LYING. Another question. Is everything in the entire universe and all that will ever be— inside of the Sea?”

The angel thought for a moment. “Yup. Except for when we talk about multiverses. Everything for us, brings of the Sea, is in it. All of the entirety of everything we know.”

Kindle’s head spun… not in the way it had the years ago, though. “Huh… okay…”

Zachary piped up. “So— then— where exactly are we? If we’re not in the Sea…? Did we travel outside of it?”

“Not possible.” The angel added. “Only beings with even the smallest bit of given purity can exit the Sea.”

“Wow, that makes perfect sense.” QD spat.

Goddess QD leaned down to Kindle. “Do you have any idea what might’ve happened?”

“Ma…maybe? We’re not in the Sea… so there couldn’t have been a leak… but we’re in a time loop…” she put together the fragments. “Maybe something from before the time loop messed everything up…? And it could do with… these strange memories…”

Feeling as if his work was done, the angel poofed away into sparkles and glitter.

Kindle then looked up after going silent. “Let’s bake your cake! I think I know how to proceed!” She beamed with confidence.

Goddess QD nodded. “I like to hear that. Let’s go~!” She waved her hand and enveloped the three in a pink light.

Once they emerged from the light… they were wearing attire that matched the kitchen around them!

Kindle wore a ruffled apron with a heart on the pocket, pastel stripped socks, silky white gloves that poofed out at the top, and a pastel yellow and pink lolita dress adorned with a maze of ruffles underneath— and curtains of fabric as thick as creamy chocolate draped on top. All was finished off with a chef’s hat embroidered with hearts. She twirled around and waited for the others to emerge from their outfits.

Zachary came out with the same apron as Kindle— to which he immediately eyed and frowned. Other than that, he was dressed like Nerd from Boyfriends if he was a lonely Victorian child. “WHY AM I WEARING THESE SHORTS?! AND THESE KNEE HEIGHT SOCKS?!!?”

QD was still wearing her usual outfit, but with a big sheet of paper with a heart on it. “Haha! You look like a British schoolboy!”

“YOU DIDN’T EVEN GET A COOL OUTFIT, THOUGH! HA-HA!”

“Whatever, dude. At least I’m wearing something I like.”

Goddess QD blinked. “Oh, apologies. I forgot to give you your outfit.” She waved a finger around QD, and she was soon covered in lace and ruffles… suit form.

QD eyed herself up and down. “Hey, it’s better than Zachy’s!”

“URGH.”

“I like yours, Kindle!” QD commented. “It’s got cute socks. Cuter than Zachy’s.”

Kindle giggled as Zachary uncharacteristically fumed. “Yeah! I actually kinda like this!”

“Great! Now that we’re all ready and cute, let’s start! I have a plan for the biggest, bestest cake ever! First layer— chocolate. Then, vanilla. And I wanna put a layer with some Oreos in it— which is the only thing that isn’t on brand here. I have so many decorations… and buttercream frosting…! It can’t be too sweet— it has to be just right! But I also want an ice cream layer… and cheesecake— and red velvet…!” Goddess QD spun around her dress, lulling in Cakelandia. “Let’s try to figure out how to do this with… let’s say— five layers?”

Zachary put his hands on his hips and stood tall. “Challenge accepted! When you said chocolate and ice cream and Oreos— I had a brainwave. What if we combine those all into ONE LAYER?!”

Goddess QD clasped her hands over her mouth. “G—genius!!!”

And so there it was— the perfect cake plan. Chocolate-ice-cream-Oreo for layer one, Red velvet for the second, a rich vanilla (it’s a classic, c’mon!) for the third, and cheesecake for the next. The fifth and final layer was to be Goddess QD’s special layer— a secret.

They preheated the oven for the first layer. Since their cake was going to fit the size of the room around them, it would be massive. And it would fit in the equally massive oven. No problems there! They gathered their ingredients.

“For the first layer, we should make the base chocolate cake. Then we can fill it up with our ice cream and Oreos! So… not too tall.” Goddess QD spoke as she laid out the several types of pans. Pointing to the smallest, roughly as tall as Zachary, she singled it out. “This one will be for the top layer.”

“That’s HUGE!!” Zachary hopped over to the pan and tried to overcome it by standing on his toes.

Goddess QD nodded. “Mhm! So… I was thinking…” She held out two pans. “These will be the size of our bottom layer… just which height is better? More cake and less ice cream… or vice versa?”

QD practically bounced at the choice. “Ooh! Ooh! More ice cream!”

“Yeah, more ice cream!!!” Kindle squealed, getting into the baking as if she hadn’t spent her entire existence in the same day over and over again.

“Alright! Shorter pan it is, then!” Goddess QD tossed the other pan behind her, which shook the entire room like an earthquake as it clattered on the floor. “Okay!” She spoke, unfazed. “Kindle, add some flour. QD, sugar. Zachary, cocoa. I’ll add in the baking powder.”

Kindle shook her head loudly. “What? Don’t we need… like— measurements??”

Goddess QD shrugged. “I use the love in my heart to measure.”

“…that’s awesome.” Zachary was once again entranced.

Giggling to herself, Goddess QD nodded. “Just wing it. You need more flour out of anything, no?”

“Okay! If you say so.” Kindle felt proud and important to be the one pouring in the best ingredient. Flour, in fact, was not the best ingredient. She bounced over to the flour to realize— she was too small to lift that whole thing up.

“Uhm— Goddess QD? It’s… it’s HUGE!” Sizing the flour bag up, Kindle waltzed around it as if a solution would present itself. “How are we gonna pick it up?!”

Goddess QD floated to the flour bag. “Ah, yes. That’s a problem. Everything is quite light to me… but, the same can’t be said for you three." She paused and examined the large ingredients. “I have an idea.” Floating down to the three, she held out her hand and produced three wands— a rich purple colored stick with a rounded bright yellow star at the top. “Use these!”

Zachary snatched his wand and pointed it at Kindle. Already laughing with villainy and putting on a magnificent voice. “HEROINE KINDLE!!! BOW BEFORE ME!!! YOU WILL NEVER ESCAPE THE EVIL CLUTCHES OF…. THE STAR WAND!!!!”

Taking the challenge, Kindle grabbed her own star wand. “YOU UNDERESTIMATE ME!!! FOR I HAVE MY OWN!!!”

Zachary and Kindle began to float each other in the air until they were both screaming to put the other down.

“Guys! Both of you come down!! We have a cake to build!!” QD tried to wanded both of them down.

“It’s not building a cake, it’s baking.” Kindle corrected as she and Zachary were lowered.

“Tomato-tomato.”

Kindle inhaled and exhaled. “It doesn’t work if you say it… like… non verbally. You… you gotta say it— like— in real life.”

“Tomato-tomáto?”

“Yeah— yeah that works.”

“CAKE TIME!!!” Zachary suddenly screamed as he lifted the flour.

“Hey! That’s my ingredient!”

“Too bad~!”

Goddess QD preheated the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, since she said she never bothered to learn the metric system or how Celcius worked. She sprayed their pan with butter, then went to encouraging the others as they poured in the dry ingredients.

“Okay… flour!” She pointed to Kindle. “A… heart amount, okay?”

Kindle nodded, ripping the top of the flour bag open with her wand and dragging it a bowl and tipping it in. “Can you check if it’s okay…?” She turned back to Goddess QD as she slowly poured the flour in.

Goddess QD nodded and floated to the bowl. Overhead, she examined the contents. As if filled, she readied herself. “…and…! Good!”

The flour bag was tipped back over, and Kindle grinned wide.

“QD, sugar?”

QD nodded and took a large spoon of sugar, pouring it into the bowl. “More?”

“More.”

“More?”

“More.”

“More?”

“More— no— wait.”

“…more?”

“Yes. More.”

“No—wait— less.”

“Less?”

“Uhm… Nevermind, more.”

Zachary was ready to pounce with his cocoa powder. “I’m ready, Prettier QD!”

QD poured sugar on Zachary.

Baking soda soon followed, then salt and espresso powder (Goddess QD said it would be cool)!

“Mix-mix!” Goddess QD clapped happily. “Ooh, four more times~ and we’ll be done~!”

“Is the secret ingredient us?” Zachary teased.

Goddess QD giggled as she floated down to ruffle Zachary’s hair. “No, why would it be? I hear pixies aren’t very sweet, anyways.”

Zachary frowned. “We— we’re super sweet.” He knew it was the biggest lie of his entire life.

The dry ingredients were mixed and vanilla was added. Soon, milk, vegetable oil, and eggs were mixed in with that as well. Finally, the batter was poured into the pan and then the oven.

While waiting for it to cook, the others made tons of buttercream frosting (no, seriously, like three tons), the other cake flavors, and planned the decorations.

Finally, they created the coveted ice cream cake— freezing it and adding each layer of ice cream and fudge and Oreo bits with love. Once all the layers were separated and cooled, decorations began. Zachary advised they should stack the pieces after frosting them, then decorate from there.

They baked the cake and decorated it quite well. It matched the vibe of the room very well. Once they were done, all four of them basked in the cake’s glory. Goddess QD cried.

“Wait… I gotta draw this in the notebook! And write down our recipes!” QD whipped out her notebook and pen.

Goddess QD nodded, fanning her face hot with tears.

Once QD and Goddess QD had finished their crying and writing, Goddess QD served the very top layer to the three.

“It’s special, so don’t eat it too quickly! Tell me when you think!”

Zachary took a bite. “WOW!” He exclaimed, a mouth full of cake. “IT’S SUPER DUPER GOOD!! That’s awesome! I can’t believe we helped make this!”

QD agreed with a thumbs up. “It’s the best cake I’ve ever had. It tops Rhine’s.”

Intrigued, Kindle gave her untouched slice a look. Then, she took a bit and chewed.

Something hard and big and spiky hit the inside of her mouth. She spat it out.

“PTHOO—-“

“EW! KINDLE!!” Zachary edged away from her. “DON’T—-!”

Kindle took a look at what was in her cake. Another periwinkle crystal. She tapped it.

⟣

“It’s gotta have some of THIS color in it!”

“Kindle, if you put too much food coloring in the frosting, then it’ll taste like straight manufactured sugar…!”

“Wah? Does that really happen?!”

“I think so…?”

⟣

“Woah…! Another one of my memories! Goddess QD— was that you?”

Goddess QD giggled for the last time. “It was fun baking with you, Kindle. And Zachary and other QD. Good luck on your journey.” She floated to the side and revealed a door.

Kindle turned to Zachary, who turned to QD.

“Go on. It’s waiting.”

“Thanks for the cake and fun times, Goddess QD!” Zachary commented as she shoved the last pieces in his mouth.

QD gave Goddess QD a handshake that they somehow both knew. Must’ve been a QD thing.

Kindle eyed the door. “So… we just open it?” She placed a hand on the doorknob and turned.

Just like magic, a whole new world was behind the door.

***

STRANGE DOOR TIME!

It was a warehouse. It looked like the inside of an Amazon warehouse, to be exact. Since it seemed very desolate. There were also no windows. That’s corporate, isn’t it? The shelves were lined with the periwinkle crystals— though there were scaringly few.

“Why should I bother writing anything down in the notebook when we have this?” QD looked around the warehouse, eyeing each crystal. “Hey, Kindle, try touching these. See if they give you any memories.”

Kindle nodded, walking over to touch a crystal. She did… but all she got was something she already knew. It was a memory of… well, she rather not say.

“Nothing new.” She shrugged as she assimilated back into the group.

“So… that door took us here, huh…?” Zachary stated the obvious. “Maybe we need to find the right crystal from here, then be on our way! Since… when Kindle— you ate that other crystal— it opened the door.”

QD snapped her fingers with a beaming smile. “Oh, yeah! And… we saw that other crystal earlier— so that door from the Glass storage room might’ve taken us out-outside the Train. Or transported us somewhere out of the Sea. That’s why we weren’t in it, like QD said.”

“Write that down!!” Kindle commented. “I doubt that we’ll forget it, but it’ll be useful.”

Nodding, QD whipped out her notebook and pen, jotting down the ideas. “Anything else for now?”

“Nope,” Zachary swung his head from side to side.

Kindle did the same.

“Cool. So… now… we have to find the correct crystal, right?”

“That was just a guess.” Zachary added. “I think it’s viable, though. Since apparently Kindle’s been in a time loop… so it can take as long as it wants. And be as painfully boring as it wants.”

Testing to see if she could access the memories too, QD placed a hand on a crystal. Nothing happened. “Yeah… I don’t think anyone but Kindle can use these, too. Weird…”

“Hehe… someone’s gotta carry me through these aisles. Who’s gonna do it?” Kindle turned to Zachary with a sly smile.

“Another weird thing… why was there another QD? Is this some parallel universe kinda stuff…?” QD scratched the back of her head as she scanned the warehouse for even just one hint.

Kindle shrugged. “I don’t know. Sorry.”

Zachary looked down. “Maybe we are in a parallel universe! Does the door switch from parallel to regular, or does it go random…?”

“Again. I don’t think any of us have a clue.” Kindle sighed. “We’re just gonna have to keep playing along with all of this. I figured that out when we were baking the cake. Then sure enough, a memory appeared. That’s what I thought would happen.” Finally, she put her hands together and exhaled. “So… just keep going along. I guess that’s all I’m trying to say.”

“Got it! That should be easy enough, right?” Zachary turned to QD, who frowned at him.

“Mhm. Now… look for the memory.” Kindle concluded.

There was a pause as all three of them examined the warehouse even closer than they already had.

“So… better get freaky. Touch things.” QD pointed at Kindle.

The three went around rubbing Kindle’s grimy fingers on absolutely every single crystal they could find. She had to climb up the shelves or ride on Zachary’s shoulders as he was riding on QD’s shoulders to reach every level. It was taking forever, and seemed of no use— since all the memories were ones Kindle already knew. They were all getting pretty tired, too… barely 20 meters through one aisle.

Kindle once more slobbered (not really, ew) all over a crystal as little footsteps walked up to the Three Pandas Stack.

“Hello, Kindle.” At the base of the stack stood a little Kindle, holding a crystal.

Zachary jumped back and toppled everyone on the tower down.

Everyone piled onto QD, who groaned under Kindle’s massive hair.

“Sorry.” The little Kindle eyed them and put the crystal in the empty space of the bottom level of the shelf they were taking a look at.

Zachary sat up. “THE—THERE’S MORE KINDLE! AGH!

Kindle lifted herself up from QD. “Hey! More Kindle!” She beamed, standing up on QD’s ankle and walking over to the little Kindle. “Hi, Kindle!”

Little Kindle softly smiled, lips curling with a sort of sheer innocence. “Hello,” she repeated.

“More Kindle! Guys! Kindle, what are you doing here all by yourself? Don’t you need another Kindle to help you out?”

Little Kindle shook her head, hair bouncing like bright and juicy fruits on a summer day. She then walked off, hopping up more than she stepped forward.

“Little Kindle! Wait!” Kindle reached out a hand for her… but honestly, she was really slow, so it didn’t matter.

QD, rubbing her ankle, finally sat up. “Great. A Zachary next?”

Zachary ran a hand through his hair. “I’d enjoy that, actually.”

“Hey, Little Kindle.” QD called to Little Kindle with a sort of ‘im your cooler older brother in a rock-punk band and we’re gonna go smoke weed right now’ authority.

Little Kindle hopped over, then intently watched QD— who was eye level with her even though she was sitting down.

Then, QD began with a subtle inhale. “Where-are-we.”

Little Kindle blinked.

Confused as to why Little Kindle didn’t respond, QD tried to think of an on button— so she decided that patting Little Kindle’s head would work.

It did!

“In Kindle’s warehouse.”

Kindle frowned. “Uhm. I don’t have a warehouse. Is this some… inheritance? A warehouse outside of the Sea? Hey, that’s actually kinda cool!!”

“Inheritance…?” Zachary shook his head. “I think it’s actually more like your brain.” He then nodded, as if that sounded right.

“Uhm.” Kindle rolled her eyes.

QD then perked up. “Oh, yeah! Kindle’s crystals… and these were all things you already knew! We’re— we’re in your brain. That’s… gross.

“It’s a very neat brain,” added Zachary.

Little Kindle sighed, rocking back and forth on her heels. “No… not very. Nothing is categorized. It’s all messy. Unorganized.” She turned to the crystal she placed on the shelf, pointing. “That one is only there for now. I’ll move it later.”

Like clockwork, Kindle touched it.

It was the memory from Goddess QD.

Blinking profusely, Kindle bounced to her toes and back down again several times. “Hey! Guys! That’s the Goddess QD memory!” Now Kindle was frantically pointing, a sheer opposite of how Little Kindle was pointing. “This really IS my brain!”

Zachary placed his hands on his hips and held his head high, ready to assert his superiority. “KNEW IT!”

“Yeah. Cool. I’m a little concerned, though. An unorganized… brain?” QD turned to Little Kindle.

Little Kindle nodded.

“What do you mean?” QD asked again.

“Everything fell out of place…” then, Little Kindle shrugged and looked down. “Sorry.”

Making a face, QD pieced things together. “Sorry? Did you forget?”

Little Kindle nodded again, though much slower, unsure and with more thought.

Now, Kindle looked down with Little Kindle.

“We’re on this journey to remember, aren’t we?” Zachary restated. “Don’t be so sad! We’ve got this! Little Kindle, do you know the memories we have to get back?”

Little Kindle looked back up. “I only know that…” then she spoke no more.

“Great. Y’know, it wasn’t surprising.” Commented QD, looking over at Zachary and then Kindle. “No offense.”

Kindle shrugged.

“…that lots of things went missing.” Little Kindle finished what she’d started. “I can’t remember anything else.”

The three gave each other looks.

“So… please… bring back more of the crystals. I’ll be here organizing.” Little Kindle smiled gently. “The exit is somewhere around here. Just follow the arrows on the floor. You can’t miss them.”

When Kindle looked under her feet, there was a brightly colored rainbow arrow. Then— down the hall made by the aisles and aisles of shelves— more.

“How did we miss these?!” Zachary frantically asked the air.

And off the three went!!! Following the arrows on the floor, they reached the exit. It looked exactly like the door they’d gone through to get here.

QD already had her notebook out again, writing down her ideas. “Okay…! So. We’re… in a parallel universe, right?” Her questions stopped the others.

Zachary nodded. “Let’s say that for now.”

“Mhm… got it. And… Goddess QD gave Kindle an old memory. It had both of them in it— baking a cake. Honestly, I think that means that anyone we meet here might be someone Kindle knew once. Though, it’s hard to think that… there’s more than one of me, y’know?”

“True.” Kindle added. “Honestly, I have no clue about what’s really going on— but with this, we might be close. A memory of a QD I’ve never seen before…”

QD perked up. “Maybe these are someone else’s memories.”

“How could we explain Kindle showing up in them, though?” Zachary retorted.

“That’s stupid. I showed up in all these memories so far.”

“No… There was only Vera and Juno in the actual first one. The one in the Glass storage room.” QD looked down. “They both looked really out of place… and weird. And…didn’t Vera say ‘nice’ or something?”

Kindle nodded.

Thinking harder than he could, Zachary scratched the back of his head. “Sorry, I never saw that memory. Do you think it’s possible that Kindle’s image might be replacing someone? The owner of the memories?”

“Yeah. You never know what can happen in the Sea.” QD shrugged with a smile.

“Well,” began Kindle. “we’re unsure about a lot so far. That means we just have to put a pin in this and come back to it later— when we have more evidence.”

Zachary grinned, his natural sign of agreement. “Sounds good! And… y’know, since we’re here in your brain… can I see that memory you guys saw in the storage room?”

⟣

“Vera, can you shut the fuck up for a second?”

…

“Nice.”

⟣

“Okay…” QD spoke at the door once again, after they had finished reviewing the memory. “So… Some guy told Vera to shut up. And Vera looked taken back— and then Juno says ‘nice’. Got that?”

“Seems right to me.” Kindle nodded.

“And for Goddess QD… you’re talking with her— though she looks much less goddessy— and it’s about… I dunno, how food coloring changes the taste of frosting?”

“Yup!”

Zachary grinned. “Thanks for the review.”

“No problem.” QD returned the smile. “Now let’s go.”

Opening the door and then walking through it, the others wondered where they’d end up.

***

And that place was inside of a really small and cramped bathroom.

“PERSONAL SPACE—!” Zachary swatted away at the others as he tried to find his bearings— and own ground.

“Sorry!” Kindle hastily commented, getting her foot out of a toilet. “GROSS——!!!”

QD squeezed herself against the wall, but her lower back was poked by the mount for toilet paper rolls that was drilled into it.

Overall, the space was about as big as the smallest bathroom that could ever be on a plane. Was there a legal amount for the size of bathrooms like that, actually…?

Zachary sighed, backing away from Kindle’s newly gross foot. “Did we get stuck inside of someone’s bathroom?”

“Seems like it…” QD lulled her words, rubbing her back. “Let’s get out of here.”

The bathroom slowly shook.

Kindle held onto the sink. “EARTHQUAKE!!!!”

A loud sound of steam, probably— sounded through the air.

Looking around and minding the toilet paper, QD shook her head. “I don’t think it’s an earthquake…”

The doorknob behind Zachary dug into his side. Once he noticed it, he opened the door without hesitation.

Zachary walked out of the men’s restroom.

QD and Kindle walked out of the men’s restroom.

None of them had realized this until Zachary turned to the others and pointed it out.

“We got teleported to a men’s restroom!” Zachary wildly pointed to the sign.

“EW!!! MY FOOT TOUCHED MEN TOILET WATER GERMS!”

Kindle abruptly clasped her hands over her mouth as she took a look around and realized they were on a bus— and would’ve been stared down— if people on buses cared for anything at all.

As if reading Kindle’s mind, QD spoke up. “Why’s there a bathroom on a bus?”

Zachary slowly came to realize that people on buses did not care, as he has never seen or been on a bus. “…why not?”

“Uhm…” Kindle looked down.

QD didn’t know a thing about where Zachary was from. Kindle didn’t seem to remember.

“Trains have bathrooms.” Zachary added as he noticed the others were at a loss. “And… the Train has bathrooms. For obvious reasons. Why not a bus?”

“Buses usually don’t travel to… like… different countries or states. They’re local. And small. Usually.” QD thought for examples. “Except for those huge British buses. Because British people care about the environment and carpooling, probably.”

Zachary nodded. “Ah… bus bathrooms are strange…”

Someone walked by them and into the women’s restroom like it was nothing.

“Another great question— where are we?” Kindle chimed like a bell.

“That’s gonna get asked a ton— then answered never.” QD commented. “It’s best to leave it out at this point.”

Zachary grinned. “Do buses check for tickets?”

“Nope. You pay when you get in.” Shaking her head, QD came to the same realization Zachary had. “Hey, we're in here for free! And people on buses don’t care! No one’s gonna check us!”

Kindle bounced to her feet. “YES! Free bus ride!”

“Everything’s fun when it’s free,” blissfully, QD sighed.

The three had come to an unsaid consensus that they would sit on the bus, and get off on the next stop to explore wherever Kindle felt a connection to.

Kindle snuggled up against QD, who allowed it and wrapped her arm around Kindle’s shoulder protectively. When Zachary tried this, it was a very different story.

“Why won’t you let me snuggle, too!?”

“‘Cuz.”

“That’s not an actual answer, QD.”

“What if I don’t want you to snuggle with me?”

“B-but I wanted a pillow, y’know?”

“Wowww.” QD scoffed. “Kindle sees me as a person and not a pillow.”

“No i actually dont youre my pillow”

“See?”

“SHE LITERALLY JUST SAID YOU’RE HER PILLOW??”

“Oh, and now you’re gaslighting her!? And trying to gaslight me, too. You’re really a good kid, y’know that?”

“WHAT.”

“Shut up.”

“HEY.”

QD stuck her tongue out to Zachary.

Afterwards, anytime he tried to speak, QD would make a loud, random noise to get him to shut  up. It worked very well.

Unfortunately for them, the three had barely a moment’s peace when an angry-looking German lady burst out from the restroom in full costume.

“YOU THREE!” She accusingly pointed at… the three. “I’M GONNA KILL YOU!”

No one else on the bus cared enough, so they didn’t pay attention. But the three being pointed at did.

“Who are you?” Zachary leaned forward, as QD was blocking his view of the angry lady.

She laughed maniacally, then went back to pointing. “I felt your sudden presence through a shift in the continuum! You’re the so-called ‘heroes’ of this ‘story’!”

QD held in her laughter.

“So I’m gonna kill you,” the lady finished off with pride. “got it?”

Unable to take it anymore— which happened really quick— QD burst out. “YOU— YOU?! YOU’RE SO HILARIOUS IT’S—-!”

The lady whipped out a gun from nowhere and shot QD in the head.

Zachary, who jumped back about two meters, was now splattered in blood.

“OH MY GOD QD.” Kindle turned to the recently deceased, the polar opposite of the calm I’m writing this in.

Blowing on the tip of the gun and waving it in the air, the lady taunted them. “AWWW, how SAD! I said I’d kill you guys, so why would I hesitate?” The lady tapped her chin with the now cool gun. “Oh! That’s right! I made a little escape room! ‘Just wanted to nonchalantly flaunt my genius as I watch you guys cry… and get splattered on the floor… and die.” Finally, a cottage girl’s grin. “Why wait?”

***

CRAP UH WE’RE DYING AREN’T WE

Zachary and Kindle both woke up in a very dark room.

“Kindle? Kindle! You there?” Zachary’s voice called from the perpetual night.

Kindle felt her way around, as if she was a really blind person who dropped their glasses. “I can hear you, but I can’t see you! Did she blind us??” She unnecessarily raised her voice like Zachary had also gone deaf in their dark room transportation process.

“I don’t wanna be blind!” Zachary whined.

Kindle flicked her pointer finger and thumb against each other several times, attempting to create even a small spark. “Hold on— I’m trying something—“

A tiny flicker of light appeared between her fingers and lit up the room for a moment.

Kindle could see a long block of a table— and Zachary somewhere— but after that, her light was gone.

“I just saw you!”

“I just saw you, too!”

Now excited, Kindle got to her feet and ran for where she’d seen Zachary. Apparently, he thought to do the same. The two bumped into each other.

“OWCH!”

“HEY!”

“Zachary! You never said you were gonna run to me!”

Zachary grabbed onto Kindle’s shoulders like he was holding her steady. “Same for you!”

A low, electric buzz came from whatever shrouded, invisible walls held them. Then, industrial-grade and sized flood lights clicked on. The room was now fully lit— then it dimmed down.

Kindle had been able to catch the image of the entire room, still. There was a gathering of TVs in front of the blocky table, which had many glasses full of different colored liquids. She turned to Zachary.

He looked over at her, shrugged, then turned to the scene before them.

The TVs turned on and the image of the evil German lady appeared.

“The stupid lights weren’t working. Pretend you just woke up.”

Zachary and Kindle exchanged glances.

“NOW!!” She demanded.

Kindle promptly dropped to the floor.

Zachary was still very confused. “J—just? Like…?” He lowered to the floor.

“YEAH. LIKE HER!” The lady pointed down to Kindle.

“Oh— o-okay.” Zachary safely lowered himself to the floor and hugged his knees. “Like this?”

“DRUGGED PEOPLE DON’T TALK!”

“they sometimes do” corrected Kindle.

“IN THIS CASE, THEY DO NOT.”

Once the silence became unbearably awkward, Kindle sprung up. “What the—?! Where ARE we!” Over exaggerating her moves, she looked expectantly up at German Lady.

She was slightly smiling. That seemed… nice.

“Oh, No! Zachary! What Are We Going To Do?!”

Zachary sat up. “No… we’re trapped.” He wasn’t very enthusiastic as she stood next to Kindle.

Kindle, gaze unwavering, punched Zachary in the stomach. “you gotta keep up man”

Reeling back in pain, Zachary began to play. “Oh, no! We’re trapped.”

“close enough”

That was German Lady’s cue to maniacally laugh. “YOU GUYS ARE STUCK IN MY MAZE!! My fully funded and functional maze,” she added confidently.

“Hey, wait! You killed QD!” The realization struck Kindle as she pointed to the German Lady.

Zachary nodded, also just realizing this. “Yeah!”

“We can’t go on without her!”

“Yeah!”

Then Kindle really realized it. QD was dead. QD she’d known for 1,255 years, who only looked to help her and never hurt.

“TOO BAD!!!! SHE LAUGHED AT ME!“

“We— we can’t go on without her,” repeated Kindle, helplessly turning to Zachary.

Zachary then lit up. “I have an idea.”

“HEY! SAVE ALL THE IDEAS FOR THIS PUZZLE!” German Lady pointed down on the screen— meaning the blocky table. “WHICH I WILL TELL YOU HOW TO SOLVE BUT NOT REALLY.”

“Let’s kill ourselves.”

“WHAT?! But—! This—! My first—“ Kindle slowly broke down. “NO!”

“Trust me on this one.”

Kindle shook her head violently. “Let’s— let’s just do this puzzle! Please? C’mon! Nice puzzle, set up for us…”

“Yeah! Nice puzzle! DO IT!”

Zachary grinned, then pulled off his glove. “Look,” Underneath…

…a bracelet.

Kindle looked at her own wrist. The same bracelet.

She didn’t know what it meant. But… she felt… another connection.

“O—okay. Let’s do it.”

Zachary formed a dagger of ice— then another. One for both of them.

“GUYS WAIT NO DONT KILL YOURSELVES YOU’RE THE BEST LITTLE LAB RATS EVER PLEASE”

Zachary nodded to Kindle as he pulled down his collar and shoved the dagger into his throat.

Kindle, who flinched to look down, slowly did the same as the view of crimson blood trickled into her view near her feet.

***

Kindle’s eyes fluttered open. She felt something warm— she was resting against QD in the bus. QD was sleeping.

From QD’s other, not-full-of-Kindle side, Zachary leaned over to look at her.

“Do you remember?” He asked quietly— not in concern for QD, sleeping— but more wistful and expecting to find destiny.

The puzzle. Kindle looked back down at her bracelet, a bead replaced by a periwinkle crystal.

“Yes,”

Zachary grinned. “That was really cool, actually.”

Kindle nodded again. She felt powerful once more.

“But— but, there’s gotta be some sorta… consequence. We can just do that for free, can’t we?”

This made Kindle think. In 1,255 years— what consequence did she get? Was it forgetting everything she knew? But… now— she was remembering. So it wasn’t that bad. She felt once more that those 1,255 years hadn’t gone by in the blink of an eye.

“…nope. ‘Shouldn’t be. Otherwise, something bad would’ve happened. We’re fine.” She shrugged it off.

It seemed like Zachary desperately wanted to tell Kindle something he shouldn’t.

“If you say so.”

QD flinched awake. “…hm…? Oh… hey, guys.”

Kindle warmly smiled as she snuggled closer to QD. “‘Morning! How was your sleeeeep?”

“Good, thanks for asking…”

Unfortunately for them, the three had barely a moment’s peace when an angry-looking German lady burst out from the restroom in full costume.

“YOU THREE!” She accusingly pointed at… the three. “I’M GONNA KILL YOU!”

No one else on the bus cared enough, so they didn’t pay attention. But the three being pointed at did.

“Angry German Lady! GET DOWN, MR. PRESIDENT!” Kindle, with a sudden burst of energy, shoved QD to the floor.

“DO MY PUZZLE, IDIOTS!!!!”

***

Uhm, blah-blah-blah— dark room— you know, the usual.

“K—Kindle! Are you okay?!” QD called out to the void.

“I’m here. Don’t worry. Just pretend to be dead.”

QD was heard shuffling around in confusion. “O—okay…?”

The lights turned on… whatever… this should be obvious…

“MWUAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAHH!!!!!” The Angry German Lady laughed from the newly turned on TV. TVs. Plural. She put multiple together to make one large TV, but it didn’t look very good. “YOU’RE STUCK IN MY MAZE! MY PUZZLE!! HOW DO YOU FEEL?!”

Kindle slowly stood up. “wwwOoOOoOoooozy.”

“You’re overselling it Kindle” Zachary stood up without a problem.

“SHUT UP!!!! NO ONE WAS TALKING TO YOU!!!”

Zachary then stepped back. “Okay…”

Angry German Lady maliciously grinned and eyed the others from the screen. “Hahaha… you’re stuck in my puzzle…”

“you said that before too” Kindle added, pushing Angry German Lady’s limit.

“WHATEVER I’M GONNA LEAVE YOU GUYS TO DO THIS PUZZLE ALL BY YOURSELVES”

The large table lit up— and test tubes and all sorts of chemical nonsense nerd stuff appeared on it. In the middle, there was a metal panel with a dip in it.

“CORRODE THE METAL PANEL TO DEACTIVATE THE CARBON MONOXIDE SEEPING ITS WAY INTO THE ROOM FROM IT!!!!” Angry German Lady laughed once more, then the screen shut off.

The sound of air fissuring from a tight space filled the room, and lab equipment fell from the sky. A pair of goggles hit Zachary on the head.

QD scratched the back of her neck nervously. “Uhm— she’s not serious, right? Just delusional? She wouldn’t actually kill us?

Kindle shook her head. “Nope. She’s serious.”

“Trust Kindle.” Zachary nodded wholeheartedly and eyed QD with a parent’s look of ‘I’m warning you’.

QD scratched the back of her head again, still kinda not believing it entirely. “…riggghttt.”

“Well— uh— let’s get to work?” Kindle turned to the table, eyeing the chemicals. “We have to identify each of these… So we gotta be careful. Take those gloves, Zachary, and the lab coats and goggles—“

Zachary went up to the metal panel, put his hand on it, and blasted frigid air onto it. A cracking noise came from the metal and it tensed and snapped in some areas. He then balled his fist and, with the strong part of his armored gloves, smashed it onto the panel. As it has become brittle, it easily snapped. Zachary had pressed down hard enough to hit the hidden button under the panel.

QD let out a sigh of relief. “Zachary… thank you…”

“QUICK MESS UP THE TABLE SO SHE DOESN’T THINK WE DIDN’T DO HER PUZZLE RIGHT” Kindle launched herself to the table and trashed the contents.

Zachary quickly followed— and there were glass shards and chemicals everywhere.

Kindle and Zachary high-fived with successful smi——-

And they blew up.

Everything blew up.

Pro tip: DO NOT TOUCH VARIOUS UNIDENTIFIED CHEMICALS WITH YOUR BARE HANDS AND OR BRING THEM INTO CONTACT.

***

Kindle and Zachary both shot up from their QD sleep seat.

“WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED—?!!?”

“THECHEMICALSONOURHANDSCAMEINTOCONTACTANDCAUSEDANEXPLOSIVEREACTIONITHINK”

“KINDLE!!!! YOU DUMBASS!!!!”

“NOT MYYYYY FAULT!!!!!”

“WH—UHHHAAAAAAHHH???!???”

“QD IT’S HER FAULT”

“NO IT’S HIS”

“OKAY! OKAY!”

“DON’TBELIEVEHISLEEESSSS!”

“NODON’T—-“

“SHUT UPPPP!!!!” QD doubled over and hid in her hands. “FOR TWO SECONDS!“

Kindle immediately stopped, just to get on the good side of QD. Then she blew a raspberry at Zachary once she realized QD wasn’t coming back up.

Zachary, now infuriated, reached over QD and blew ice onto Kindle’s face, broke a window open, and tossed her out of it. All in about 2.36 seconds.

“ZACHARY WAIT WHAT THE HELL?!”

“Relax, she’ll—“

***

Kindle shot up from QD’s shoulder. She looked around wildly. Then she found Zachary.

“YOU KILLED ME!!!”

Zachary’s eyes fluttered open. “…hgn.”

“ZACHARY YOU KILLED ME!!!”

“Whhh—yeah—! Yeah, ‘cuz you wouldn’t stop yelling and being stupid!”

“THAT IS NOT AN APPROPRIATE REACTION FOR BLOWING A RASPBERRY AT SOMEONE!!!”

“PLEASE! You’re fine! You’re back here, anyways!”

Kindle started to burn up. “WHAT ABOUT THOSE CONSEQUENCES?!!?”

QD stirred, turning to Kindle in her half-sleep state. “hhmmm…?”

Shoving QD from blocking her view of Zachary, Kindle spat. “YOU SAID ‘oOoOh what about CoNSeqUEnCes?’!!! And then you KILLED ME! WHAT HAPPENED TO THOSE CONSEQUENCES, HUH?!”

Zachary leaned over QD, still lying with her chest over her thighs and being flattened like a pancake or oddly shaped corner. “C’mon! If there were any, we would’ve found them by now!”

“THAT’S SO FUNNY! YOU’RE JUST PRETENDING TO BE ALL SMART AND EVERYTHING!! SAVE YOURSELF THE TROUBLE, IDIOT!”

“KINDLE I AM SERIOUS.”

Kindle, in a fit of rage, grabbed onto Zachary’s shoulders as the Angry German Lady walked in, prepared to run over whatever monologue she was gonna go say again. Kindle sent a shock that she’d built up inside of her and passed it to Zachary.

Unfortunately, Kindle, being spontaneous in both nature and magic, accidentally electrocuted everyone she was even slightly touching to death.

***

Kindle blinked open. Okay. Back here. On the QD sleep seat. On this bus. Again. Because she kept dying.

This time, she pounced up before Zachary could wake up and ran down the bus and all the way to the back. Much like a train, there was a door at the very end of the bus. It led out to a small balcony-like platform, where one could watch the street reappear from under the wheels. A sudden known fact that the door was open rushed through Kindle. She opened it and walked on the platform.

Everything around her changed quickly. The views were starry lakes, mountains, and even otherworldly things like worlds’ skies full of colors, voids above nothing, the middle of a planet… it was bright— and not blinding.

Kindle rested her elbows on the railing that surrounded the platform, breathing in all sorts of air as the bus whizzed through the landscapes.

Then again…

1,255…

The landscapes dulled.

Everything felt so, so far away.

1,255 years felt like a day…

A day that was now stretching out, like the fabric of space and time now did around the bus.

Kindle felt old. Felt like she should be dead. The days lengthened.

Escape felt impossible.

She had given up on it long ago, however. So there was nothing left of it to worry about. She should just play this game. Try to kill Zachary and QD— maybe even the Angry German Lady.

She tried the same thing and expected different results, so she had gone insane.

Until her heart beat out of her chest, Kindle turned around to face the inside of the bus as every hair on her neck pricked up. Every fiber of her being jot awake. There was a dead, undry feeling of dread and ice in her stomach. A moment hanging, somewhere on a tree. From being tied up and beaten and squashed and cut and left to bleed.  

The moment materialized, Kindle’s brain melting away in her skull. It felt like it was about to pour out of her ears and mouth and eyes and nose.

A terrorizing ripping sound emerged from the space Kindle had glued her cold eyes to on the bus. If you’ve ever tried to do a tear-away-clothes gimmick just for the bit on actual clothes, then found out that it actually hurt quite a bit to do, it could be comparable to this moment— only ten thousand bajillion times worse.

The space tore away and from it, out stepped a… Kindle. A Kindle if she had grown up. Not like an adult. Much more like a young adult. She was in pure white, save for her furry, elegant black coat, with a decorated rapier at her side. This Kindle pulled out her rapier, then charged for Kindle.

Immediately, Kindle’s instinct told her to jump off the platform. That’s exactly what she did.

***

Kindle woke up. Again. Next to QD.

She couldn’t shake the feeling of This Kindle coming closer. She couldn’t shake the feeling that This Kindle was dangerous.

Zachary leaned forward so Kindle could see him.

“KINDLE! WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED LAST TIME?!”

Kindle stared at him, beady eyed. She opened her mouth to speak, but choked on the feeling getting stronger.

QD’s eyes fluttered open. “Hghhh.”

The sound erupted once more.

Now, Kindle jumped to her feet. She ran down the hall.

“KINDLE!!!”

The run became a sprint. It would’ve evolved into something bigger if Kindle hadn’t reached the platform again.

This Kindle already emerged from the space from near Zachary and QD.

Kindle watched her, sweating bullets and exchanging ice for blood.

She didn’t want to watch anymore.

Kindle once more jumped off the platform.

***

“WE HAVE TO GO!” Kindle shook Zachary awake, then QD. “WE HAVE TO!”

“K—Kindle! What the hell?!” Zachary repeated, shoving Kindle away. “What?!”

“Have— we have to go! Now!”

“Why??”

Kindle managed to get QD awake, pulling her by the arm to get up. “Because.”

Zachary’s eyes slowly widened and showed his understanding. “T-that other Kindle?”

“YES!”

“Why??”

“She’s dangerous— she has to be— please—!”

QD looked from Zachary to Kindle as they spoke.

“How would you know?”

“I JUST KNOW!” Kindle breathed, already heaving with fear and tears. Fear. Something she forgot about until his journey started. Now, she was sure it was real. “I KNOW!”

Zachary frowned. “That makes no sense.”

The noise erupted again.

Kindle took to her feet and dashed down the hall.

“HEY! EXPLAIN!”

Kindle ran to the platform and jumped again.

***

“It’s going to happen! I’m going to die! I’m going to DIE!” Kindle stumbled over her thoughts as she pulled Zachary down the hall. “I know! I— can’t— I can’t! I can’t!”

Zachary watched Kindle frantically make her way to the door. “Kindle, you just need to calm down. We can’t die, so…”

“We WILL. PLEASE.”

“Hey! Calm down!” Zachary repeated, though he began to understand.

QD came down the hall with them. “Okay— what’s going on? I keep waking up—“

“LATER!” Kindle’s voice went up a few octaves as she panicked. “WE HAVE TO GO!”

“Go where?!” QD asked. “We know how to go to the Angry German Lady, right?”

“There’s other places— different things— and we have to find a way out.” explained Kindle. “This— but I can’t— so we can look through each seat! Everywhere on this bus! It’ll be worth it! Just search until— until— we— until we can FIND something! Something new!” She stepped out onto the platform. “I know! I know!”

“What’s going on?!” QD nearly screamed to ask.

“LATER! LATER!”

QD made a noise, much like being asked to rate a fashion senseless friend’s outfit and not wanting to be harsh about it. “Uhhhhhn.”

“Kindle! What’s—“

“ZACHARY, LATER!” Kindle screamed as the noise erupted again.

Upon hearing it, Kindle raced to get off the platform and die.

Zachary grabbed onto Kindle’s arm as This Kindle stepped out of the torn space. “Consequences!”

It all felt like a gripping nightmare. Zachary warning— consequences. QD holding onto herself in a fit of fear— consequences. This Kindle who intended to destroy her— she knew— consequences.

Kindle bent her hand from Zachary’s grip like a metal beam under earth shattering pressure. She looped one leg over the railing and jumped off again.

***

CAUTION

An idea popped into Kindle’s head. It was… surely, risky. But that was if those consequences were real. Then again, as far as she was concerned, the only thing that mattered was herself. It didn’t matter if everyone else all had gone… which… she knew. For as long as she had been alive, she knew.

Once again, Zachary had woken up. Kindle already knew she was stuck again.

“Kin—dle. Explain…” he rubbed his tired eyes.

Kindle stared at him for a while, thoughts rushing through her head. It didn't hurt.

“We need to go. That other Kindle is dangerous. I know it.”

“Is that because she’s you?” Sitting up straight now, Zachary spoke. “You keep— making us redo this day! This isn’t like back on the Train!”

But it is. Kindle stood up and made her way to the back as the hairs on her neck began to crawl.

“Kindle!”

“I can’t explain, okay?! We need to go.”

Zachary followed after her. “Okay. Kindle. Whatever happened earlier— with us fighting— that’s over. Okay? What’s going on.”

“Do you think I have any clue?! She’s DANGEROUS! That’s all I can tell!”

“Tell? As in— deduce? Or spill?“

“I’m not trying to hurt us.”

“Give me an answer.”

“I’m serious! I don’t know! We just need to leave!”

QD stirred and sat up.

Zachary took a deep breath in. “And… this is because… because she’s dangerous?”

“Yes. I know she is.”

“…really?”

“Really.” Kindle nodded. “Look… just trust me on this.”

“…I will.”

“Did— you?” Dazed, QD pointed at Kindle. “Explain? Without me?”

Kindle sighed and looked at Zachary.

“Technically. That Kindle that’s following us is dangerous, and our Kindle is telling us to get out of here. I don’t know why.” Zachary now looked at Kindle as if she had swapped places with the dangerous one.

QD blinked. “Okay… r-really?”

“Yes, really.” Kindle was done explaining.

QD then nodded slowly. “Alright…”

“Do we have a plan for getting out of here?” Asked Zachary as the air around them ripped again.

Kindle furiously nodded. “YES. Stay away from her— we’re redoing this day a ton.”

“Got it.”

“Wait— I wake up last, though…!!”

Just like all the other times, Kindle made it to the back and jumped from the balcony.

***

Kindle woke up and went back to the balcony, jumping.

***

Kindle woke up and went back to the balcony, jumping.

***

Kindle woke up and went back to the balcony, jumping.

***

Kindle woke up and went back to the balcony, jumping.

***

Kindle woke up and went back to the balcony, jumping.

***

Kindle woke up and went back to the balcony, jumping.

***

Kindle woke up and went back to the balcony, jumping.

***

Kindle woke up and went back to the balcony, jumping.

***

…

…about 45 times.

***

Kindle shook QD and Zachary awake. “Guys, c’mon.”

Zachary was used to waking up immediately now.

QD was not.

Kindle made her way to the girl’s restroom and opened the door. There, she found Angry German Lady, making faces at herself in the mirror.

“Hey! You! We wanna try your maze!”

Angry German Lady slowly turned to stare at them. “…my maze?”

***

“AND NOW YOU MUST FIND THE CORRECT CHEMI— wait you’re not supposed to do it like that”

Kindle frowned at TV Angry German Lady. “We did your puzzle, though.”

Angry German Lady looked distraught. “No, you didn’t.”

“We did.” Kindle corrected.

“…but… not the way I wanted you guys to…”

“We’re running a little short on time.” Zachary added. “What’s the next puzzle?”

Angry German Lady scratched the back of her head. She muttered something.

“Speak up?” Kindle grew a large grin.

Angry German Lady muttered something again.

“Hm?”

“I DON’T HAVE ANOTHER PUZZLE.”

“Great! Can we leave now?”

“YOU’RE NOT SUPPOSED TO!!!!”

QD stomped a foot on the large boxy table. “ADMIT IT!!! YOU SUCK!!!”

“NO I DO NOT. THERE ARE MORE PUZZLES.”

A periwinkle crystal dropped from the sky, landing on the table right next to QD and making a dent in the metal.

“HEY WHO STOLE THAT FROM ME?!” Angry German Lady pointed to the crystal. “THAT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE THE PRIZE!!!”

Zachary made a lance out of ice and launched it at the conveniently placed generator at the bottom of the TVs that powered every single one of them. The generator blew up, and the Angry German Lady on the screen glitched out and returned noise.

“Great!” Kindle sighed with relief. “No Danger Kindle…” she reached for the periwinkle crystal.

The air in front of her ripped open the quickest it ever had, and a hand grabbed onto the table.

Kindle stumbled back, shot with sudden terrible fear.

“THE CRYSTAL!” Zachary pointed to the table, hand and crystal. “KINDLE!”

Danger Kindle emerged from the ruined space, recalling her hand and stepping out from her entrance.

Upon seeing this, Kindle fell back and froze. It was like she couldn’t move— but she had to. She needed to.

QD turned to the crystal as Danger Kindle eyed her maliciously. QD snatched the crystal.

Kindle swore she could hear Danger Kindle click her tongue as she unsheathed her rapier and slashed QD across her chest as the crystal was taken and QD stepped back.

“Ghh—?!” QD’s free hand flew to her chest, suddenly torn and bleeding.

Danger Kindle narrowed her eyes. She stepped on top of the box table and advanced on QD.

“HERE!!” QD tossed the crystal at Kindle.

It smacked her head and fell into her hands.

⟣

No words— just a feeling. Being hunted. To be dissected. Like she wasn’t human.

And after that was over… after she had come back for the first time…

Then there were the words.

“Kindle, can you NOT tape things to the windows?!”

And a laugh and a smile.

But despite that…

She wondered how this could possibly be the same person.

⟣

Zachary grabbed Kindle by the back of her collar as he yanked her to stand.

Her hands clasped around the crystal as she gasped for air amongst her sweat.

“Give it to me.” Danger Kindle pointed at the crystal with her rapier.

QD stepped back to stand by the others. She narrowed her eyes at Danger Kindle, ready to spit at her. It seemed like she had remembered what had happened the last time she had made fun of someone, though. She kept her mouth shut.

“GIVE IT TO ME!”

A door— like the one to the storage room— materialized behind Danger Kindle.

There was their exit.

Zachary sent a blast of ice towards Danger Kindle, but it seemed like she knew what he was going to do. She stepped to the side and ran at the three.

QD summoned a large, unruly gust of wind around them as Zachary dragged Kindle off to the side, running to the door.

Danger Kindle clashed with QD, already reeling her weapon back.

Successfully making it to the door, Zachary opened it and shoved Kindle through. “QD! C’MON!”

Pulling a blade of wind from the floor behind her, QD parried Danger Kindle’s swing. Her eyes flicked over to Zachary. She blasted wind from her foot and launched herself up and over Danger Kindle.

Danger Kindle swished around, ready to follow QD as she lunged after her.

However, QD made her way over the table and to the door before Danger Kindle could. Zachary pulled her through the door and shut it behind them as Danger Kindle conjured a bolt of lightning behind them.

***

Zachary and QD landed hard on the floor of the storage room as lightning and thunder crackled above their heads. The door they came from was gone— like it never had existed.

Kindle was still on the floor, watching them as her shoulders heaved with anxiety.

“A—are we— s-safe?”

QD sat up and tumbled away from Zachary.

Zachary shook his head out, then slowly stood up.

The air was quiet.

“I… think so…” Zachary mumbled. He was still for a moment, then tucked a lock of messy hair behind his ear. “…she really did feel dangerous.”

Kindle’s gaze fell to Zachary’s. She slowly nodded. “I know, right…?”

QD took off her jacket as she examined her cut in silence.

“Oh, QD. You’re hurt. That’s right.” Kindle leaned back.

QD nodded. “…mhm… oh… we forgot to pack actual stuff.” she sighed.

Zachary came to her side immediately. “Hey, are you okay? You sound really tired. We should rest before we continue.” he held a hand to QD’s back as she leaned back to lay down.

Now it looked like QD was waiting for true love’s kiss to bring her back to life. She sighed again. “…nope. Just need bandages.”

Staring at QD with incredulous belief, Zachary’s face slowly melted and succumbed to fatigue. “Maybe… we should rest.”

Kindle blinked as she continued to watch the other two. The blinks became slow, like trudging in molasses.

QD’s head dropped as she drifted off into sleep.

“Kin…dle? Why are we… So sleepy…?”

Kindle shrugged, slurring her words. “ionnoh,”

Zachary rubbed his eyes with his free hand and slowly lowered QD to the ground. “…mh.” He mumbled as he took off his cape and made a small, icey dagger. He cut it to an appropriate length as he eyed the size of QD’s cut. And not her chest.

Kindle’s own head began to droop. As it did, she noticed Zachary slowed and hovered in the air as if being held on by a string.

What happened next did not matter. Kindle fell asleep very nicely.

***

I HONESTLY DON’T KNOW WHAT HAPPENED OR HOW WE GOT HERE!!!!

Kindle’s eyes fluttered open. She came to her senses very quickly, now recharged and energized with a pillow under her and a solar lamp aimed for the back of her head— just the way she liked it, so as to not be disturbed by the light as she awoke.

Sitting up slowly, she remembered where she was. That’s right. The warehouse. She spotted Zachary and QD— Zachary doubled over and resting his head on his knees, and QD laid out and peacefully sleeping like a princess. The wound on her chest was tightly bound by a bit Zachary’s ripped cape. It was nicely done.

Zachary lifted his head from his knees. He turned to Kindle with a well rested, babyish face.

“…oh… did we just really fall asleep?” Kindle grinned as she rubbed her eyes and dragged her attention to the solar lamp on her back. She only began to realize the last time she’d felt one… was… 1,255 years ago. Honestly, she had no clue how she still knew what a solar lamp even was. Things just came back to her as of late.

“I think it was you who fell asleep.” Zachary stretched out as he gazed at QD below him. She was waking up, too. “Maybe… everything’s connected to you. I mean, we’re taking back your memories— visiting your brain again— dying when you die—“

“Uhm. Y-you’re right. I dunno. I guess that didn’t occur to me.”

Zachary shrugged. “Well, if you redoing the same day for… however long you told us again is real… then it’d be pretty easy to forget that everyone else is a real person. And has feelings. And that the world doesn’t revolve around you.”

“Woah, rude?”

“ah. Uhm— sorry. I didn’t mean it like that.”

Giggling, as it was no big deal, Kindle waved her hand in the air to dismiss the topic. “It’s fine.”

QD had woken up a while later. “…gh.”

“QD! You okay? Does your cut hurt?”

It took QD a while to get used to her surroundings and some weird nerd’s voice. “…nwuh?”

Kindle stood up, bringing the pillow and lamp with her. “Hi, QD.”

“ACK— THAT THING’S SHINING IN MY EYES!!”

“Oh.” Kindle had forgotten to turn off the light. She placed it down next to herself as she sat right next to QD and handed her the pillow. “How’re you feeling…?”

“…fine.”

“Thanks for taking all those blows.” Zachary grinned.

“Yeah, well, I had to, ‘cuz Kindle was sitting there like an idiot.”

Kindle frowned. “Okay. Whatever. Let’s focus on our stuff.”

Zachary turned to Kindle as he helped QD sit up. “What stuff?”

“Y’know. Memories.”

“Oh, right… we just saw one, didn’t we?”

QD slowly nodded as she looked at Kindle.

Suddenly uncomfortable under all the states, Kindle began to sweat. “What.”

“Kindle… you have the memory, right?” Frowned Zachary.

Patting herself down, Kindle quickly realized the answer to that question was a straightforward, flat, big ol’ hard NO. “…shorry.”

“KINDLE!!” QD groaned as she shifted all her weight to laying back down in defeat. This was tough for Zachary to handle.

“B-but— I had it! We came here with it… unless we were all collectively sharing a dream.”

“Honestly, that seems plausible at this point.” Pushing QD back to sitting up, Zachary commented bitterly. He sighed. “We shouldn’t worry too much. Little Kindle probably took it while we were sleeping. And she probably also gave you that pillow and lamp.” Zachary pointed to the items in question by waving his head around Kindle’s general area.

“…oh! Why didn’t she bring you guys some?”

As if Little Kindle had a designated and bloodhound-level-recognizable sound for footsteps, she made her presence known from the next shelf over. It was completely empty— so it wasn’t hard to spot her, too. She was lugging a pillow along. Just one.

“Little Kindle!” Kindle waved to her cuter proxy as she stood up. “Hey!”

Little Kindle’s head bounced in recognition characteristically as she turned to Kindle’s call. She waited for a few seconds, eyeing the group, before continuing her path.

It took a good while and three expectant stares to get Little Kindle to mosey on over. Once again, every tiny, rapid step she took only bounced her up more than moved her forward. Finally, she made it to the others.

She paused.

“…hi,”

“Hi!” Zachary waved to Little Kindle cheerfully.

Little Kindle returned the wave silently, but much clumsier and faster than Zachary did. It looked like she was flailing her hand around to pretend it was broken rather than it did a wave.

“Little Kindle, did you take the memory we had?”

“You. The memory you had.” Repudiated QD.

“The memory I had?”

“…yyyes.” It took her a while to get started, but Little Kindle nodded up and down like a flimsy light switch. “I put it away.”

Kindle smiled as she turned to the others with unnecessary incredulity. “Oh! Cool!” She directed her attention back to Little Kindle. “Thanks!”

“yeah-yeah.”

Another pause.

Zachary slowly leaned to QD, keeping his eyes and head locked onto Little Kindle. “Okay what now” he whispered.

“No cl”

“IIIIIIIII have this for everyone.” Little Kindle spoke out of the blue. She paused again, then pulled a comically large memory out of her pocket. It was twice as big as her head.

Kindle blinked rapidly. “WOAH—!!? HOW DID YOU…?!!?”

Little Kindle handed the memory to Kindle with a face that was taking no questions or comments, please.

“N-now?” Despite this, Kindle asked. It seemed more like a question for the others behind her.

Zachary shrugged from behind Kindle, evident by the ruffling of his cape and a clink from his armor. “Sure,”

“…okay.” Somewhat full of nervousness, Kindle tapped the memory.

⟣

“…”

Kindle, who now stood with the others, holding the crystal, looked down.

There was something she knew was very important about that memory.

She looked up at the others.

Zachary had been staring at her until she lifted her head. By then, he had pretended to be looking at the ground next to her feet.

QD shrugged.

Little Kindle did and said nothing.

“…”

“…I felt a very, very strong connection to this memory.” Holding it a little higher now, Kindle examined the crystal’s sheen. It was like the revelation began to triple its meaning as she did. “No one else can understand it, can’t they?”

The others remained silent. Zachary was the only one to speak.

“I don’t get it, no. But, yeah, it did seem very important.” He thought for a moment. “Little Kindle, where did you get it from?”

Little Kindle blinked.

“I forgot she was unreliable.”

“The thing is… it’s… like…” Kindle held the crystal in one hand and waved the other around. “…it’s like it knew this was just a game to me.”

“Oh…?” QD came back to consciousness. “That’s how you felt this whole time?”

Kindle slowly nodded. “Yeah. After I decided there would be no escape… stopped looking for new ways to get out… I accepted that I’d be on the Train forever. Without a single day where I didn’t die by the end.” She stared off into space as if looking for an answer, her words flowing out in a sort of seamless confession. “So… I treated it like a game… that was somewhere around 1,255 years of a game. Now, looking back at it…” Kindle chuckled to herself uncharacteristically. “…the more I think about it, the less sense it makes. Like a dream. You begin to explain, and then it’s gone. Like I was sleeping.”

Zachary tugged at his gloves as he stared at Kindle.

“Then— just now— the same thing. No consequences… only choices. Only games. Without a meaning.” She patted the crystal. “…I’m pathetic, aren’t I…?”

“…I don’t think so.” QD added with an optimistic smile.

Kindle looked up at her. “That was more of… a genuine realization. And— yet, what could I have done? I didn’t know how to get out until something unexpected happened. What could I have done?”

Another pause.

“That’s it. This memory told me that. Everything I needed to know. This… on some level, is real, isn’t it?”

An agreeable hum came from Zachary. “Exactly what I was thinking.”

Again, Kindle slowly nodded. “…so, like it really said— be serious.”

QD began to nod, too.

“…consequences, hm…?” Kindle blinked. “Wow. It’s been, what, 25,583 words? I think I’ve monologued enough, haven’t I?”

“Yeah. Way too much.” QD grinned as-a-matter-of-factly.

Kindle’s lips curled into a smile. “Alright. Then I’ll do what the memory says and get serious.”

“Hah! How many memories does it take to change Kindle’s lightbulb?” Joked Zachary, suddenly breathing life into the air. “Finally, we’ll get somewhere! I was beginning to think you’d either really forgotten our journies— or that you’d never grow up!”

“Pfft. Okay. Thanks, Zachy.” Kindle frowned in good humor.

QD smiled as she pumped a fist into the air. “Yeah! When did we stop and get all scared, huh?! We gotta keep going! See the world! Recover Kindle’s memories! Get the hell outta this loop!”

“Where do we need to start from? I wanna clear everything up for you guys.” Kindle excitedly looked from Zachary to QD and back again.

Little Kindle smiled and walked off.

“Maybe from the, I dunno, Angry German Lady part?? I’m extremely lost.” QD crossed her hands and raised an eyebrow.

“Oh, sure. So— we basically found out how to finish her puzzle. The whole reason why we went through it was because it was plain to see that was how we were going to progress. Then, when That Kindle came around, I knew something was up.” Kindle nodded to solidify her words. “I knew she was dangerous, like I said. Imagine— a video game— where you have limited lives. I got the vibe that That Kindle would be able to one-shot us, right then and there. No respawning after we die to her.”

QD subconsciously put a hand over her chest.

“Then— that’s when I realized— whenever I died to get away from Danger Kindle, it would take her some time to come back. And she never came around in the same place— unlike Angry German Lady. She must’ve been from somewhere else entirely, too, since she ripped the fabric of space and time in front of us and used it like a portal.”

Zachary blinked. “And how do you know that was space and time and…?”

Kindle shrugged. “I dunno, it feels like dream context.”

”…dream context?” QD echoed.

“Yeah. Like, when you’re in a dream, and you already know the context of the dream’s situation. Somehow.”

QD nodded. “Got it.”

“Annnddd… yeah, I think… oh— yeah! I decided that Danger Kindle must’ve been traversing through universes to get to us, so I kept killing myself— which, in turn, would kill everyone and restart the day— to confuse her and shake her off our track. Then, finish the day by cheating Angry German Lady’s puzzle, and get outta here. If that wasn’t the case, then I’d have to keep dying over and over and over until we got enough time and experience with the rest of what came at us.”

Zachary and QD exchanged glances.

“Makes sense enough.” Zachary shrugged.

Kindle smiled small. She turned to QD and awaited her answer.

“Oh, yeah, sense.” QD nodded. “Makes sense.”

“Does it?” Zachary frowned as he glared at QD with disbelief.

“Yeah. It does. I’m not a dumbass.”

Zachary and QD glared at each other for a really, really long time. Really.

Kindle giggled to herself as she watched them. She felt light and giddy, full of a promise she knew she would struggle to keep. “C’mon, we gotta keep looking for memories! Where’s the next stop?”

“Isn’t that for you to decide?” QD pointed at Kindle with a hand on her hip. “Honestly, we’re all following you.”

“…ah… I’m not really feeling a connection to leaving.” Kindle shrugged.

Zachary raised an eyebrow. “If you did before, you didn’t say anything about it. Are you sure we don’t just need to leave this place before you can find another connection?”

Kindle grinned. “I don’t get what you mean by that!”

“Nevermind.”

“Wait, we can’t ask Little Kindle, right? She forgot a bunch…?” QD recalled as she peered off into the empty shelves, looking for where Little Kindle could’ve possibly gone. “She said she didn’t remember a lot.”

“Yeah… ‘cuz this represents my brain…” Kindle added.

Zachary’s eyes lightened up. “But— it’s a little absurd, isn’t it? Us, being in your brain?” He somehow connected a bunch of unrelated dots into one string of Kinda Makin’ Sense. “...Little Kindle should also feel the connections, then.”

Not catching that string from but agreeing with the statement in some way, Kindle nodded. “Sure. We can just ask her.”

QD frowned. “Yeah, once we find her.” Kicking at the ground, which didn’t have a single spec of dust to kick at, QD muttered under her breath. “When you need her, she’s never a help. Then she’s gone when you don’t!”

Little Kindle tapped QD on the back.

“GODS BELOW—-??!”

“Hi.”

“Oh! Little Kindle! We had a question!” Zachary smiled at her and caught her attention. “Do you feel the same connections that Kindle does?”

Little Kindle stared at Zachary.

QD resisted the urge to hurt herself and others.

Like she had all the time in the world, Little Kindle began very slowly. “…uhhhn… yes.”

“Really?” Zachary raised an eyebrow.

“…yup.”

Kindle beamed as she turned to QD and Zachary, wild with brimming new ideas. “Oh! Is there a map of this place?”

Little Kindle shrugged. “Let’s see.” She began walking… Once more… slowly…

“Great. Had to ask for a map, when we’re literally just going through doors.”

***

After walking for what seemed like three days (15 minutes), Little Kindle led them to a plastic table you’d see at a child’s cheap birthday party held at a playhouse with a laminated sheet on it.

“Map.” Little Kindle pointed to it.

Zachary made sure he was the first to make his way to the map, which he immediately laid his eyes over.

“Thanks!” Kindle gave her little copy a thumbs up and a gleeful expression.

Meanwhile, QD shoved Zachary from the view of the map. “Hey, lemme see this, too!”

“What? No way. You probably suck at reading maps.”

“Keyword: probably.”

The two fought over the view of the map as Little Kindle slid from under them and snagged a front row seat. She pointed at a small, beige looking industrial box in the middle of the map. “We’re here.”

The box was labeled ‘Warehouse’.

Zachary and QD immediately shut up, then fawned over the new knowledge and the rest of the map with equal and personal space.

“There’s many other areas. We haven’t seen them yet.” Little Kindle took a pencil out of nowhere, then began drawing in the vast blank areas. She doodled a bus… then a dark room with a boxy table and numerous TVs. “…our bus… the puzzly room… since we haven’t been to these other spots, there’s nothing in them. I draw them in.” The pencil scribbled over the drawings, and they soon became fully rendered with clean and authentic lines, aged like a treasure map. “They’re not connected by pathways. Like… not… a real map. These are places, but just places. Not set… maybe I could say instances. Distance between them does not exist. They’re not next to each other, nor are they touching, but they are… make sense?”

“Yup!” Kindle nodded as she squeezed in between QD and Little Kindle to see the map for herself.

“No.” Zachary frowned.

Little Kindle ignored Zachary. She pointed at blank spots. “Okay… here… and here… I feel some… connections.” Then she turned to look back at the others. “That’s not any help. Although, it remains the same. The doors will guide you on your journey.”

QD seemed so lost. “what.”

“I think what she means— is that, since we just kinda went through doors earlier… Those are what guided us to places I felt connected to. We didn’t actively choose where we went, because we didn’t need to. The doors instantly brought us. Plus— everywhere kinda had some connection to me. So, when we see these blank spots, we don’t necessarily need to go there. We’ll be brought there.”

Little Kindle nodded, as if Kindle said exactly what she wanted her to.

“Okay— that still makes no sense. The doors… bring us to where we need to be…?” QD thought. “…but… Y-yeah… we didn’t really actively look for connections, didn’t we…?” She had trouble piecing it together.

“Just think of it like a video game! You make a buncha choices, but it all leads back to the same thing. The main story!” Kindle concluded, knowing this was no longer a game and that her choices divided her path endlessly.

QD’s face went through all five stages of grief instantly. “…didn’t we just say— you said— that you’re gonna stop treating this like a game?”

“Well, YES,”

“But actually no?” Suggested Zachary.

“BUT it’s the only analogy I figured you'd understand.”

Now in deep thought, probably trying to remember what Kindle had said before her reasoning, QD blinked. “…okay.”

“You should go now. There’s not much time left.” Little Kindle advised.

Kindle raised an eyebrow. “…hey, did you make that memory we just saw…?” She turned to the others, who had seemed to have connected the same dots as she did.

Little Kindle shook her head. “No. I say that because… well, it’s a little… scary… but this place is rotting.”

“What?”

Zachary’s stomach dropped, entirely visible on his face.

“Rotting…? Like, termites and crap?” QD was lost once again.

“B—but, we’re— in your brain, now, aren’t… we…?” Zachary turned to Kindle, as if he was seeing the living dead.

Kindle’s eyes widened. She realized.

“Oh, crap— that’s right.” Reeling back from the thought, QD grimaced silently. “…dude…”

“That memory was right. You’re running out of time, so you better fix it.” Advised Little Kindle. “This rot is different than what you’d think, but then again not much different than maggots eating away at dead flesh.”

Everyone was silent.

QD coughed into her elbow. “—anyone else just picture that?” Her face held a ‘I just ate the world’s most sour lemon’ quality.

“C’mon, no wasting time. Little Kindle, where’s the door?” Zachary grabbed onto Kindle’s hand, already gearing up to depart.

“Arrows again.”

“Thanks.”

Little Kindle nodded. “And— a tip. If you ever wanna see this map again, just think of it.”

“Got it.” Zachary returned the nod, and handed one to QD.

“Good luck. There’s not much else to it now but that.”

The three ran through the shelves. The arrows seemed to point in every direction now.

“You’re not scared, are you, Kindle?” QD asked. Kindle hadn’t spoken in a while, which has worried her.

She spoke. “…yeah, I’m scared.” As she spoke, her pace with Zachary never faltered. “…I… just don’t know what… it could be. Lots of things are going wrong. Lots of things don’t feel real.”

Zachary scratched the back of his head, exchanging a worried look with QD.

“It seems like every time I think I’m going to be fine— or that I’ve figured out what’s going on and how to fix it— I drop back down to the start. I feel so stupid and useless.”

“…that’s why we gotta keep trying, right? You’re not stuck in that time loop anymore! Things keep going forward! Now, there’s a chance for change!” QD advised with a grin.

“Still— how I go about that change— it’s what worries me. I feel incompetent and repetitive. Like my struggles are just pitiful things that I whine about.”

Kindle blinked.

“That’s what this has been from the start, hasn’t it? I just— I just pitied myself. I just acted like this— after seeing that memory. It’s getting tiring.”

“…no one wants to see this anymore, do they?” She added.

“You see it, don’t you?” Kindle turned to QD. She wasn’t there anymore.

In fact, Kindle wasn’t in the warehouse at all.

“Kindle?” Zachary was still there.

They were in an office-esque room of filing cabinets, acting as walls for a maze. The old, brown and shaggy carpet beneath them felt like the only ground there was. Nothing underneath. The industrial, faulty lights above were pale yellows and whites, sometimes flickering when it felt necessary. Each filing cabinet seemed like it would burst, full of papers and documents.

Kindle blinked.

“This is just another self-pity thing, isn’t it?” She asked herself. “Why can’t I move on…?”

Zachary wiped his now sweaty head with his sleeve. “It’s okay. Don’t be afraid.”

“We’re not in the warehouse, definitely.” She added. “There’s no way we could’ve made a wrong turn.”

“The warehouse is your brain. Do you think it could transport us to different places…?”

“Likely.”

Zachary seemed on edge. “You’re not dying, aren’t you? You’ll just… respawn us back to… wherever it seems like we could’ve ‘saved’.”

“I don’t know. I feel like I did when Danger Kindle came… that feels like real death. Did I tell you?”

“No. Let’s just figure out how to get out of here.”

“My thoughts exactly.”

They walked through the lanes made by the cabinets. There wasn’t any particular direction they were walking in— there never seemed to be a dead end.

Eventually, Kindle brought up another idea. “…you don’t think my brain rotting is… consequences?”

“It might be.”

“I mean, I keep dying, so… death is rot… and… slowly…”

Zachary bit his lip. “Kindle, y’know, if you’re worried about something, you can tell us outright. We could try to help you out rather than you dealing with it alone.”

“I didn’t want it to be a burden to your own goals on this mission.”

“But… I wanted to help you. That wouldn’t be a burden.”

“Still, you’re counting on me to remember. Not to feel better about myself.”

“Why wouldn’t I want that for you?”

“You don’t know me.”

The words created a divide.

“…I do.”

“Oh— sorry. I don’t know you. I can’t remember a single thing about you from before this. Just that you were some unreachable name at the tip of my tongue.”

Zachary led her through the lanes.

“…still, you know…”

“But if I spoke to you, what would be the use? It’s not like we can fix it.”

“Exposing the cause could help.”

Kindle looked down. “I was stuck in a time loop. I did terrible things. In getting out, I kept pitying myself when I thought I had already gotten past being sad and actionless. That’s all there is to it. I’m doing it now, too.”

“Do you think that… you ever really got out of that hole? You say that every time you thought you had gotten better, you dropped back down. So… did you ever really get better?”

Kindle was silent. She listened more to her footsteps rather than Zachary.

“I still remember how you are. You’re secretly having all these thoughts and problems, but to everyone else, you’re smiling. Being stuck in that loop must’ve been so tiring… it’s hard to keep up a smile, especially when all you can think of is what you’re trying to hide.”

“…I didn’t really have any problems before this.”

“But when you did, it was always the same. You weren’t gonna let anyone know that you were going through something.”

He paused.

“You’re still stuck in a loop.”

“No. I got out of it.”

“You’re trying your hardest, but you keep losing it. That’s why I think you’re still stuck there. Just… not the actual time loop.”

Kindle wanted to rip off his arm.

“Trying and trying… but never trying something new. You never thought of talking to someone, haven’t you? Or even doing anything but trying to fix it and smile all alone?”

That was the essence of insanity, wasn’t it?

“You lost yourself in 1,255 years. Reduced to survival tactics, hm? Baring it? Just gotta live until tomorrow.”

“I’m still me! I’m doing everything I can to stay— the same!” Kindle retorted as she ripped away Zachary’s grasp on her hand. “It’s just— I can pass this— if I stopped being—- so irrationally pathetic!”

“C’mon, you can’t pretend like it never happened! Are you so invested in keeping up an act that even you are starting to believe in?”

“I know what I’m doing. I just needed— more information. That’s all. Now we can leave and go back to normal. Just let me get us out of here.”

“No, Kindle. Let—“

“—what do you mean, no? I know myself the best! You can’t tell me what I’m thinking!—”

“—just let me hear about what exactly happened during those years! What’s bothering you?!”

“You wouldn’t even be able to help. You’re not magic.”

“I can— try…” Zachary’s voice trailed off as he realized what he’d said earlier did not fare well with what he said now.

Kindle looked at him up and down. She couldn’t take it. “I’ve spent too long alive. I learnt nothing. I’m still a kid. If I didn’t learn by— now— then— what use am I?” Her face dropped, and lost all will. “I’m so tired.”

Zachary was silent as he watched his best friend fade away.

“I don’t even know where I should begin… I can’t do this anymore. The— failing… the smiling and the pretending I got better… really… in truth… I gave up years ago. I wanted to die for real. I could never get that, though. Then— now— with your hopes and QD’s— hoping to see things and hoping I get better… I couldn’t let you down. Right? I… hurt so many people when I was stuck. I let them hurt me, too. I didn’t feel… human… or anything sane. Now… I could make things right! Live again… with people who changed and felt and saw the same things I did, who figured out things and saw the world move forward and didn’t forget it… but… if I wanted to do that, I couldn’t stay in the past. So I forgot about it. I tried to. I tricked myself. It’s still there, clear…” Kindle felt like it had unraveled, only sadly and anticlimactically, and only to be carefully rolled back into place and left alone for the next 1,255 years. “…I felt awful. My friends— people— humans and not humans… they didn’t last. They always reset. But… their feelings… Those lasted for 1,255 years. Emotions lasting a millennium.”

Zachary tried to blink his tears back into his eyes.

“…I can’t hide from it. You’re right. I did lose myself. I can’t remember what I was like years ago… I just took the idea of a smiling idiot from how everyone else saw me during the loop.” She seemed conflicted as she spoke. “Was that all I was, too? There’s… so much to think about… and… especially— especially that those people were my friends, even though they hurt me. I had lots of friends, didn’t I? What’s so special… about friends… why do… I miss them so much? I spent YEARS— with them. And I’m so damn sad they’re gone. And I hurt them. And I loved doing it. And I hid from it. My dirty acts. I’m nothing but a shell… ‘Kindle’… with dirt filling my insides. I don’t even remember my last name.”

“…Astrea…” Zachary added. “I was always so jealous you had a cool last name.”

Kindle’s face, looking back at Zachary blankly, hid her true thought: ‘were you even listening to my problems?’.

He patted her head. “…it feels better to get it out, doesn’t it?”

Kindle looked down. Zachary mussed her hair up.

“I won’t tell anyone if you don’t want me to.”

“You can tell QD— no— just… let me tell her. When I’m ready.”

Zachary wrapped his arms around her and gave her a hug. “Mhm… at the end of the day… I don’t have anything against your choices. It’s insane— how you managed to deal with those years and years of that. I honestly only yelled at you just now so you could tell me what was bothering you… just saying it is good enough. Like a magical cure, hm?”

“…yeah…”

He smiled.

“I still want to give up… only a little bit now, though…” Kindle’s face then changed in the way she would’ve pretended it had earlier. “…we covered all of it, I think. I had a lot of things wrong with me… it’s nice to see them all there and laid out in front of me either way.”

Zachary nodded.

“I’ll try… again… just— this time… I’ll try my best to… not go crazy.” She shrugged. “Like when I kept jumping off the bus without explaining… or when we started killing each other… ahh… being with people and consequences again feels very restricting, but also like something keeping me together.” Kindle finally sighed. “We’ll get out. We’ll get out together— with you and QD and me. I’ll remember everything— I have to fix this mess. No more slacking. No more pitying.”

With a hopeful grin, Zachary agreed. “Mhm. And… we’ll have fun, too.”

“Why? Aren’t we supposed to get to work…?”

“We can take the opportunity to turn this into a legendary story! Like— the Everlasting Journeys. You used to be so keen on that kinda thing.”

Kindle nodded. As much as she didn’t want to disappoint Zachary and QD, she didn’t want to conform to how Kindle used to act. She now decided she’d do that herself. “Sure. Fun, too…” Kindle took a deep breath in. “…let’s get out of here.”

Though, once she’d opened her eyes, she was back at the warehouse with QD at her right.

“Whatever you’ve done in the past doesn’t matter! You can do whatever the hell ya want in the present.” QD spoke with a passion. It seemed she was still stuck in the old conversation.

Kindle’s head stirred and settled. That, too, was true. “…I’ll keep that in mind. Thanks, QD.”

QD slowly nodded. “Yeah. We’re here for you, okay?! Don’t be all sad and depressed all alone!”

Zachary stifled a laugh from Kindle’s left.

“What?”

“Nothing. It just sounds like something I’d say.”

“Ew— don’t compare me to you.” QD tossed her hair from the inside of her back collar. “Loser…”

Kindle smiled. This was obviously QD’s attempt at lightening the mood. That was considerate of her.

Yes… now, with the past out of the way… Kindle had remembered how much she’d loved her friends.

Little did she know… they were what had gotten her in here in the first place.

I’m sure that you wouldn’t understand what I mean. That’s because you never do~!

***

Danger Kindle doesn’t have shit on me

They’d gone through the door. They were now in another maze— this one felt like an enclosed, moldy box. Liminal and much like the filing maze, thought Kindle. It reminded her slightly of some other series of mazes someone had once told her about. She couldn’t remember.

“If Danger Kindle finds us here, what’s the plan?” QD asked, a hand subconsciously maki bc it’s way to her chest.

Zachary looked down. “Stay together— that’s the best option. If we split up… it’d be best to steer away from Danger Kindle, but stay in place. If you see her coming, then just get yourself out of here. There must be some exit, or some memory. If Danger Kindle finds us, it’s better to outrun her than to fight.”

The other two nodded as they solidified the plan in their head.

Thus… the walking through the maze began. It was fairly simple, though they took their time and used it to keep track of where they were going.  

“Hey— while we’re here— let’s talk about… this everything. I literally keep forgetting to write in the journal, too…” QD suggested. She pulled the journal from the side of her jacket along with a pencil. “Okay. What do we got so far.”

“Hmm… got as in… questions or answers?” Kindle turned to QD as she tried to match each step with Zachary’s.

“Both. Preferably questions later. We should just refresh on the little details we wrote and then see if they answer those questions, too.”

Zachary nodded for Kindle. He wanted to pitch in, so he said what he could remember. “Doors lead to places with memories like the main story of a video game. We can redo days— but I’m not exactly sure from which point. And… only one of the memories we’ve seen has Kindle in it. That’s gotta be important.”

“Reasonably so.” Kindle agreed. “Also… that my brain is rotting.”

“Oh… yeah…” Regrettably, QD wrote that bit down.

“Uh… I think that’s kinda it. We don’t have lots of information in the first place, anyways.” Zachary shrugged as the three came to a fork in the road of the maze. “Now for the unanswerable questions. Yay.”

Kindle pointed to a lane with a shrug as she spoke. “I gotta know who Danger Kindle is. We all do, really.”

QD agreed with Kindle’s suggestion with a tiny nod. To get it approved, she turned to Zachary, who had given her a thumbs up. They went down that lane. “Do we have any clues as to who or what she may be?”

“Well, when we first saw her, she came from a— what I assume is— some sorta rip in the space-time continuum.” Kindle added with an air of self-proclaimed intelligence.

“Do you even know what the space-time continuum is…?” Zachary frowned.

“Nope. It’s gotta be some Sea stuff though… and I’m not an expert.”

Finishing up with jotting a note down, QD’s lightbulb turned on. “Of course— guys, we can’t forget about the angel!”

“Ohhh! That’s right! Wait— when did we last see him again…?” Kindle blinked with a newfound brain fog around the mystery and general existence of the angel.

“Uh… when he was… our scapegoat for… repaying Myst.” QD added in a taken-aback tone. “…D’you guys think—“

Zachary shook his head violently. He was mouthing ‘no’ and ‘shut up’ and ‘no one needs to hear this right now’.

Kindle shrugged. “I dunno. Didn’t think Myst was into angelic bitches. Or… boys… he’s totally a pedophile, though. Hey— in terms of angels— how old are they? Like? A thousand years old? Wouldn’t Myst be the minor in that case?”

“Okay let’s just stop talking about all of this and see if we can call the angel.”

“If he didn’t get fucked too hard…” Kindle added— which really didn’t add anything at all!

QD seemed like she was prepared to call the angel, totally ignoring Kindle’s great conversation addition. She couldn’t do it. “…how do we call him again?”

Zachary shrugged.

“Maybe we scream his name. Like this—“ Kindle took a big breath in… “ANNNGEEEELLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!—“

Immediately clasping a hand over Kindle’s mouth, Zachary became infuriated. “KINDLE WHAT IF DANGER KINDLE’SLOOKINGFORUSANDYOUJUSTTOLDHEROURHIDINGSPOTYOULITTLEPIECEOF” he yelled in a whisper.

The angel appeared before them.

“Hi.”

QD grinned awkwardly. “Hiiii aangggeeellll”

Now staring at the angel from under Zachary’s hand, Kindle felt an immense sense of familiarity with the angel. She assumed it was just because she had seemingly forgotten him… but something about his aura gave her the impression he was unreachable, untouchable— and was so, so precious to her. Cool, I guess!

“Okay. What do you guys want.” The angel looked already done with everything they were going to say as he pushed his bangs back with a hand.

Zachary and QD exchanged glances. They both nearly forgot what they were going to say— and Kindle would be no help, anyways. With a unanimous vote of glances, it was decided Zachary would ask.

“Uhhh… space-time continuum?”

Unfortunately, their question was never actually phrased like a question.

The angel frowned. “What the hell are you talking about.”

“Like… can you rip the fabric of the space-time continuum to traverse through these… memories…?”

“Guys, this isn’t even the fucking Sea. I don’t know why you’re calling me.”

“AHA! So we’re not in the Sea.” Kindle concluded.

“Yeah. Didn’t I tell you dipshits that earlier?”

Zachary rolled his eyes. “Hey, whatever. We just need your help. Even if we’re not in the Sea, we can at least have someone smarter than us to help conclude what’s been going on.”

The angel seemed to like being referred to as ‘smarter than us’. “Oh~ that makes sense.” He grinned with a sort of egotistical pride. “Gimme some context for this, first.”

Zachary nodded. “There’s this older version of Kindle—“

QD pitched in. “—and we call her Danger Kindle because Kindle feels in danger around her—“

“That’s called any man over the age of 40 to any age of girl.” The angel advised. “But go on.”

“—and she literally just ripped the air and space in front of us and exited from some glowing galaxy thing!” Kindle concluded. “And she kept on doing it, and followed us through every day cycle— but it seemed like she wasn’t part of the loop, just like we were.”

“Oh, yeah! That too! Gotta write that down…” QD scribbled this down with a few quick flicks of her wrist.

The angel thought for a moment. “You’re sure that your pedophillic Kindle isn’t beyond the tethers of this ‘day cycle’. I assume that’s like… where you die but you respawn? Like in a video game?”

“Yeah. Exactly. How’d you know?” QD looked up from the note taking (which, in reality, was doodling).

“I dunno. I kinda pieced it together. Mostly in the interest of time. Carry on?”

Slowly nodding with a confused grin, Kindle did exactly that. “But— uh— yeah. You said… suggested— that she might be ‘aware’, like we are?”

“Mhm. Traveling through space and time like a serious bounty hunter. Y’know, to kill you guys.”

Zachary piped up, returning the vibe to its usual ‘when will Zachary shut up’ flair. “That makes a lot of sense, now that I think about it. We’re set back to sleeping on QD’s shoulders— and she’s set back to ripping open space to kill us.” He shrugged like it was nothing.

“He gets it.” The angel pointed to Zachary with a casual finger gun. “That’s what I mean.”

“Yeah, it was pretty easy to tell… nothing special.” Kindle added with a frown, totally not wanting to prove that she was still technically smart to the angel, idiot! Where’d you get that idea?

QD blinked. “Mhm. We’re smart.” In saying this, it did the opposite of what QD wanted it to.

Eyeing Kindle and QD incredulously, the angel sighed. “Alright… but, uhh. Yeah. That’s what I think. Anything else?”

Kindle scrounged her brain for a desperate question as she remembered that thing must be rotting by now. The question then presented itself to her. “…yeah. My brain’s rotting.”

“Oh, is it? Just now? I could’ve sworn it was already a decomposed lump before.” The angel snarkily added.

“Yeah. Just now.” Narrowing her eyes, Kindle continued. “I felt the same sense of death when I heard about that as I did with being around Danger Kindle. Same ‘oh, no, I’m really going to die this time!’ feeling. Since, y’know, I’ve died so many times it became fickle to me—… what I mean is… this feels like real death. Got any ideas?”

It didn’t take long for the angel to respond. “Danger Kindle is real death. If she’s beyond the respawns like you guys are— if her memory isn’t affected by the respawns— then any action by her is the same. Unless we’re dealing with some heavy reality crap, I think that’s wh—“

He was cut off by a loud, deep rumbling, like the janitor’s cart rolling down the halls in school.

“She’s here again,” Kindle, with dread, stated. The feeling of real death returned.

Zachary leapt to action as he snapped QD’s notebook closed. “Okay— let’s run. Now.”

“I—“ QD cut herself from speaking further. It suddenly did not matter if she was in the middle of drawing, and Zachary made her crease a line through the page and doodle with her pencil.

“Should I explain or run with you or disapp—“ the angel was cut off as the rip in the fabric of whatever it was called everyone was still unsure appeared behind him.

“Look out!” Zachary tried to grab the angel away from the rip at the same time as he grabbed Kindle and pulled her behind him.

Danger Kindle immediately unsheathed her sword and stabbed at whatever mass of flesh was in front of her, perfectly stabbing clean through the middle of her target.

The angel jerked forward as blood splurted from his chest. “Ghhh—od…”

Kindle’s heart screamed to get out of her chest.

“Sorry!” QD waved to the angel as she followed Zachary and Kindle, already sprinting away and ditching the scene.

Danger Kindle pulled her rapier out of the angel’s back and swished it cleanly to her side. She picked up the pace to go after the three— but was stopped as a hand gripped onto her long braid.

“C’mon— not even a proper battle after that sneak attack?” The angel tried to sound as least cringe as he possibly could, but it was a little hard with a hole in his chest. “Let’s see if you’re a match for—“

“—unlike a fool would, I wisely choose my battles.” Danger Kindle, with an oddly ethereal and mature voice that somehow still sounded like Kindle’s, commented. “Though, I don’t believe it would be unwise to slap you until you apologize for yanking on my hair.” with that, she leapt for the three track stars that had sprinted through a hall of the maze.

The angel frowned.

***

“Any exit?” Zachary looked through each passing hall of the maze as he led the others without a direction.

“No. Not that I can see.” Added QD, just beginning to run out of breath.

Kindle, on the other hand, had run out a long time ago. Her thoughts gnawed at her brain, so sure she was so close to real death.

“Okay. We just have to keep running.”

“GO FASTER!!” Kindle screamed as she held tighter onto Zachary’s hand.

Zachary nodded, thrusting more energy into running through sharp turns and corners as QD matched his pace behind them.

The maze’s floors began to feel like sinking grass, or the rotten, squishy flesh of a fruit. Every step sunk deeper into the wet carpet mud.

QD nearly tripped over a sagging piece of the floor. “H-hey, the maze! The maze!”

Like a soft gingerbread house breaking and losing its walls, the maze began to tear itself apart as the walls fell like sticks.

A wall leaned for the three, yearning to crush them.

Zachary tried to run off with Kindle, hoping QD would follow– and was successful while she wasn’t.

The wall fell onto QD, who struggled to push it over her.

“Z-Zachy, help!” her feet dug into the mushy ground that tore apart where she stood.

Kindle held onto Zachary’s hand even tighter.

He swallowed hard, the ground already giving way from where he was with Kindle. His brain screamed at him, and he made his way to QD and pushed the wall off of her.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! LET’S GO! QD CAN DIE FOR—“ Kindle shut herself up quickly.

QD and Zachary managed to push off the wall, but the others around them began to topple like wobbly bookshelves.

“None of us should get caught by her. If the angel’s right, we can all die.” Zachary looked back at Kindle as he struggled to keep steady on the bubbling and ripping ground.

Kindle’s face burned as she pointed to their enemy, right behind them. “THEN WE’RE ALL DYING!”

QD and Zachary gave each other ‘oh crap’ looks.

Danger Kindle closed in, shoving QD out of the way and lunging for Kindle.

The ground below them tore apart as they fell out of the sky.

Kindle’s heart was beating too fast to react— all she could see was Danger Kindle, perpetually reaching for her, Zachary and QD falling with her… but hey, at least they were romantically holding hands… (???)

They toppled onto a floor made of large, thin and ivory puzzle pieces, paired with a dazzling night sky. The puzzle pieces also began to fall, but much slower. The maze from above them seemed to have never existed at all.

Almost immediately, Danger Kindle lunged for Kindle and pinned her down.

“WAIT!!” Zachary screamed behind her, struggling to stand as the puzzle piece floor snapped and teetered to the side like a picture frame being held up by one nail. He had no choice but to watch, hold onto QD even tighter and fall off once more.

The floor which Danger Kindle and Kindle were on also seemed to be teetering off, wishing to stand vertically rather than horizontally. Struggling to keep Kindle down on a rotating floor, Danger Kindle pressed her even harder onto it.

Kindle fought back raging, screaming tears. Her shoulders already began to ache from being practically ground onto the puzzled floor, head already rotting and melting away like a jack-o-lantern forgotten until March. Surely… this wasn’t how it was going to end, was it?

The floor, in all its incredible mutability, once again changed. The pieces flipped over so that Danger Kindle and Kindle were now at the bottom, dancing with a pattern so starry it blended with the sky. Gravity had no meaning, as they suddenly were back on normal ground and every other puzzle piece around them was back to normal. It was like they had invariably been stuck in place, never falling, never changing… and QD and Zachary hadn’t followed them to this place.

“You. YOU!” Danger Kindle spat in Kindle’s teary face. “WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING?!”

Kindle shuddered and sobbed, trying to crane her face away from Danger Kindle’s as much as she could. “NOTHING! NOTHING!”

“You IDIOT! MORON!”

Kindle sobbed again, shoulders burning. She had only then realized she couldn’t kick her feet, as they had also been pinned down.

“Do you have any IDEA what you’re DOING?!”

No.

“GO AWAYY!!”

Danger Kindle erupted into manic laughter. Strands of hair, matted with sweat, hung from her face. “You’re ruining EVERYTHING! EVERYTHING!”

“PLEASE— STOP—“

Danger Kindle hammered a fist onto Kindle’s face. She reeled back and rode on her words with a sadistically bubbly laugh. “Ahh, I don’t know whether I should kill you or make you suffer. There’s nothing I can do but end your little parade right here.”

Kindle sniffled, smelling iron. Her nose was clogged with putrid blood and her tears puffed her soon to be swollen face.

“What do you want, hm?”

Breathing from her mouth now, Kindle took in broken and heaving breaths. “…none…”

Danger Kindle slapped her with the back of her hand. “It’s so easy to just choose one.”

The blood from Kindle’s nose splattered out onto the cosmic floor and was such a bright red Kindle swore it would break whatever simulated sky the floor projected. She blinked away at the tears that dried and flooded her eyes until it hurt.

“CHOOSE! OR I WILL.”

Kindle fought to tear herself from her opposer’s pin, but it only made it worse. Danger Kindle somehow found a way to dig her even further into the ground.

“FINE!” She quickly took a hand off of Kindle to reach for something at her belt— something to kill Kindle with, of course.

Now. Act fast.

Kindle’s free hand went to Danger Kindle’s face, scratching at it and pulling and poking. Kindle sobbed and gasped for air, pushing strength into her arm and teary voice to get herself out of there.

Danger Kindle grinded her teeth, still holding onto her weapon. “BITCH!” She stabbed a dagger at Kindle. Obstructing her view was fingers— so she missed her target only barely, and cracked the puzzle floor when the dagger thrust down.

The cracks glowed a bright red.

Relentless, Danger Kindle pulled the dagger from the ground and tried to stab at Kindle again. Another miss— but let the ground crack. She dared it. It fell twice— the third time was surely the charm.

“LET GO! LET GO!!” Kindle scratched at Danger Kindle’s face once more, struggling and fighting as she felt she could already smell the stagnant rot from the inside of her head.

Danger Kindle picked up the dagger again, and with a final cry, she thrust the dagger behind her head and with both hands, raced it for Kindle’s throat.

Falling, falling… the point made its way to Kindle’s throat—

and it barely burst her skin like a balloon as the world blinked colors and colors upon eccentric colors.

Spinning, spinning… bright and violent… colors mixing and crashing and oozing, exploding like confetti and twirling like a dancer… beating her eyes and dragging them along the pavement, stomping them on the curb and breaking her bones like a lead pipe to her arms and legs.

Kindle’s head lifted itself from the bathroom floor.

There was only the quiet hum.

The familiar, quiet hum.

like a generator powering a hospital room.

never quite giving her a rest.

“No.”

She looked around. The same clothes, the same room, the same piece of toilet paper stuck to the bottom of her foot. The same smell. Vague headache. The same feeling. The same. The same. Never changing.

She was a fool for thinking she’d ever left this place.

“No.”

Kindle breathed. Blood stained her collar. A headache.

“NO!” She screamed wildly. “NOOO!!!!!”

She banged on the floor.

“NO! NO! NO! ANYTHING— JUST— KILL ME—!!! KILL ME!!!!”

***

Danger Kindle has shit on me

Another day…

But not so similar.

More often than not, the Train had gone silent with no one around— and the same deep red of the Sea ravaged by the Rip tearing at the sky was paired with it. There was only the quiet of the Train’s lights humming, maybe even the generator. Kindle had never bothered much to find out where it came from.

Occasionally she’d be stuck in her original loop. QD would wake her… or not. And she would die. On the days where the Train was silent, she went to bed and woke up in the medbay or on the floor again. This time, she was a little more careful about dying. Then again… not at all. It didn’t seem to matter anymore. She could never escape. All she could do was try. Try the same thing, try again and again, try to fail.

“Ammi, say something.” She once asked.

Ammi looked at her with a blank stare.

“Tell me Zachary’s waiting for me.”

As if expecting Kindle to say something of the sort to her, Ammi sauntered away with a cat-like manner.

That surely got her somewhere.

Vera once more either stuffed her up or killed her. The end result was the same, really.

Rhine was always thinking about being caring and a personified hearth.

QD never faltered in doing better than her, but also being able to give less than two damns.

Myst…

eh. Same guy. Anything else left to say?

The angel was gone. He must’ve died.

Speaking of death by Danger Kindle and injuries caused by her… Kindle always woke up with a broken, bloody nose again. Vera always got mad at her for it, solely because her new mannequin had some fixing up to do.

That was it. All there was. For the next few… ‘days’. Because of this, Kindle had absolutely no idea what was real and what wasn’t. If she hadn’t given up at this point, then she totally would’ve had at least a sliver of hope— because at least something changed. Her days were no longer spent in one place. Sometimes they were spent in another. And that was worth all the time loops in the world to her.

Once, she found herself on the bathroom floor, waiting for something to loom over her and tell her that she had to wake up, flicking her aching head as she lay down. Of course… not today again. Trying to remember what her brief escape (if it was at all a brief escape and separate from this realm of time loops) she knew would prove to be difficult as time went on. This she thought lying down on the same floor… and it created a thought— a goal rather—, one she knew she should follow.

Escape, and true escape at that, was only brought to her through a guarantee. This guarantee being that she could find a way out of the Train Loop (as she’d dubbed it), and that this way worked every time. No matter what happened she would always appear back at the Train Loop. Kindle figured this much. So, even if met with real death, she could technically come back here. Then all she had to do was find the guaranteed exit and continue the journey of reclaiming her memories. Of course, there were flaws.

Kindle hadn’t died before being transported back to the Train Loop. Danger Kindle’s dagger never hit her. Maybe she was in limbo, but who knew. This being said, ‘so, even if met with real death, she could technically come back here’ was not a valid point. She could certainly die still. Just… in the case she came back to this loop— that was what she meant.

Secondly… a guaranteed exit might not exist. The exit might come in a million years. 1,255 years was long enough. 961 thousand… or… 916 thousand…? Was long enough…

Third. It was all speculation.

Fourth. Consequences.

Fifth.

How long could she last?

So there it was. Lots of flaws. The best thing she could do was make sure to not repeat the same mistakes. History’s mistakes exist to be an example for the future. The past determines the present and future. There was a lot to learn from the past.

On the bathroom floor that day, Kindle’s new goal was to preserve her current memory and learn from the past— in any way she could.

 She stood up from the bathroom floor, not bothering to wipe her nose once more, and made her way into her room. There had never been anything to do there, either… so she barely went inside. Maybe once every hundred-thousandth loop. She’d forgotten what it looked like.

But it was still the same room. Just like everything else was— everything stayed how she left it. Everything changed in the time she’d left it, though.

The voids were still there… the waterfalls still cascading into the depths and glittering with unknown light… her steps illuminated by translucent and delicate flowers whenever she walked to another room… she began to wonder why she bothered to use the Train bathroom when she had her own. Maybe 1,255 years ago there was a perfectly good reason. She couldn’t remember that reason for the life of her now.

If she could go back in time, she’d use her own bathroom more. Only because she missed it— how tailored everything had been to her needs… the perfect style and perfect shampoos, perfect brushes for her hair… she guessed, at least. The products were all scents she figured someone like her would like. The brush and toothbrush seemed like a perfect fit for someone of her… oral maturity and hair thickness. She hadn’t used them in forever. She also hadn’t taken a bath in 1,255 years. Hm.

Yes… if she could go back in time, maybe she’d pick up that piece of toilet paper. She blamed that thing. When she thought of it, she always woke up on the floor, injured because she slipped on it, or in the med bay. Maybe… because she…

A pain in her head grew. She remembered that. The pain. She couldn’t remember… why… but… she knew not to probe into that previous thought. Strange— it was at the tip of her tongue— the word and the familiar pain. That wasn’t good. She had to keep remembering. Then again, how long had it been from the last time she was with QD and the other one?

Kindle had counted every resetted day, somehow sane enough to do so and with a good enough memory to remember the number without writing it down… though now she was forgetting how many times she went through it. Now she could only remember the number “1,255” in relation to the years. Kindle looked down at her bracelet. Given by… Zachary. Maybe carbon dating or something would help. The bracelet was a constant item in the loops, and she figured it stayed the same, like she did.

Nevermind. Too many tangents.

When did she walk into the bathroom, anyways? Kindle looked at herself in the mirror. A girl with a bruised, purple, black and blue, bloody nose looked back. Blood on the collar of her shirt. Lots of Kindles, hm? Lots of Kindles… and she wished to be any other one of them. Wished to see herself as “I” and not “her”. If she could manifest “I”… that still wouldn’t be enough to help her here. But… if she could manifest “I”… that would be enough. Enough for her. Enough for Kindle— this Kindle, I Kindle. Kindle with an I— the Roman numeral for one. Obviously.

Kindle One. First one. The only one. The only one separate from the looping and looping of life. Because at least Danger Kindle wasn’t here. Hadn’t been. She forgot to remember that.

Kindle One… in math, you never say “one x”. You say “two x”— coefficient two. 2x. But “one x” was redundant— just x. Kindle. I Kindle. One Kindle. Kindle One. Then just Kindle.

The eyes of the girl in the mirror crinkled at their corners. Still odd, all that being said— the girl smiled at the same time Kindle did.

Kindle walked out from the bathroom and pulled out a notebook from her desk, somewhere in a void a few steps away. A pencil… eraser…

Drawing was never her forte. And it had just occurred to her that she forgot how to read and how to write, at least at an acceptable speed and quality, somehow… so… even if she wanted to constantly rewrite and read her written memories— in order to preserve them better— she could not!

Time to learn from the past. Or whatever the hell she was talking about when she was still disoriented from hitting her head.

***

Kindle remembered how to read!

Unfortunately, it was still a little too late to remember how to write Zachary’s name.

She could replay the scenes of her brief escape out, still… that was enough. She picked up her cello for the first time in 1,255 years and played a bit. Kindle found she was a natural at this. She picked up everything old and used it and… cared for it. It reminded her of what Goddess QD was like. She sometimes tried to make puzzles and mazes, and even did some busted puzzles she found hidden away in QD’s room. Doing this… made her… feel a little better. Pushing herself to do what she normally didn’t— but to challenge herself gently and exercise her memory and do good for herself… that… that would’ve been a 1,255 years well spent.

If, of course, she lived everyday with the last— which she did— why not cram time into her life? People often wished for time to slow. Time repeating was the same. People wished for time to speed up, too. And yet, the essence of speed was a prolonged moment.

Time for thought.

All in all… she used her time in a useful way. That was enough to make her okay and to avoid consequence.

Well… not entirely. She thought of ‘consequence’. Consequence has a negative connotation. But that’s just a connotation. The dictionary definition— “a result or effect of an action or a condition”. Where in the definition did it say “negative” or “bad” or “mistake” of any kind? In math once more— the consequences of theorems, or corollaries, didn’t necessarily mean anything bad. The corollary to the Triangle Sum Theorem was that the acute angles of a right triangle were complementary. Obvious. The sum of all interior angles in a triangle had to add up to 180 degrees. If one degree was 90, the others had to add together with it to make 90. 180 - 90, the right angle, is 90. Adding up to 90 meant complementary. Of course. The Triangle Sum Theorem produced other consequences. As long as you had the measure of two angles, you could always find the third. In any triangle. Obtuse, acute, right, equiangular (though the angles of an equiangular triangle were all always each 60 degrees)— that was a consequence of that theorem. Though, not necessarily bad. The consequence of studying for your geometry test could have the outcome desired, which is usually an A or a good score. A good consequence.

After having drawn triangles and proving them, Kindle’s mind had wandered off into math and logic, using those to prove something about literature— a subjective thing. Strange that everything in the world and life, a fake one or not, led to each other. Connections. Connections to a memory or connections to a subject in school… all the same. Of course. The world was a circle of connectivity. The world, a circle… ending and starting at the same point if traced. Circles, always round and round… the beginning led to the end. End to the beginning. End of the beginning, beginning of the end.

Thinking deep and using time made Kindle feel somewhat stronger. In every way. She just had to come to acceptance with the fact that her life was now this until hope came along. Or some change. Change… never to be brought on by her being.

She drew what she remembered of the girl in the mirror. Bloody, bruised nose… the most prominent part. A face like hers, hair like hers, the same shirt and pants she had, always…

Kicking her feet back and forth, laying on her bed, drawing… like always. She asked herself if it had invariably been this way— the Train Loop. If she hadn’t just forgotten the little things that were now so easy to forget, replacing them with an attempted-to-be-sane thought. Through the malice and somewhat human feeling (she had no idea what the word for all of her friends would be— humanity? But some weren’t human.), it was easy to get lost. She did… just find yourself, she thought again. No matter what.

And her friends… connections. She loved her friends. She knew that. She loved people and being connected to them. But… that’s because she had been acting as it seemed everyone remembered her acting as. She did it to avoid suspicions— at first. A funny, stupid, whimsical, annoying little girl. That was all she was. Now that’s all she knew. An annoying, little girl who always teased… surely, like a quirky school girl? She should love her friends. When she thought of the stereotype, it was surely who she was. This time— instead of assigning herself a value, she knew it. Inside, it was who she was. Not who she was outside. That was “I”.

Why’d she hurt everyone? It made her feel worse. It was like a drug. High in the moment… then terrible for her afterwards. Her livelihood, too.

She loved her friends.

Kindle rolled on her back and crumpled the paper she was writing on with her head. She lay in the comfort of the soft, fluffy blankets and various pillows. Since Danger Kindle, her shoulders had been bruised. It was a little annoying… but she learnt how to live with it.

“Ahh…” She found herself speaking aloud. “…good day… more tomorrow… what fun.”

Secretly, Kindle figured if she didn’t care that she was in a time loop anymore, the time loop master god would go ‘awh, shucks!’ and free her.

Not the case.

After some simple subtraction and carbon dating— with the cautionary help of Myst… she found out that she’d been here for 7 years.

Fine.

***

Kindle was drawing QD’s face and replaying her retrieved memories over and over again. A different QD, too, baking a cake with her. A different Rhine… doing… whatever it was that she did. Strange. She remembered more Rhines. Here, that meant nothing. Back to thinking, closing her eyes. She thought of good and bad today. Not necessarily good and bad things— but more of the words themselves and their meanings. Kindle came to the conclusion that nothing was inherently bad or good. Just as everything has pros or cons that don’t necessarily apply to some (example— an over-the-top legendary no drawbacks killer weapon that an army uses has no cons to them, only pros— the cons go to the enemies. The cons don’t apply to the users of the weapon, only the pros), the notions of good and bad were simply just thoughts and opinions. What you did was determined to be good or bad by yourself, others, society, the outcome… she often thought about a world where bad was good, and you were congratulated on your terrible deeds. In this world… those deeds would not be terrible. Only good. The best. So, the idea of goodness and badness melted away to her. Words were just words, but in the way they were used, they became feelings and actions and results. That was what she’d concluded.

And in doing so, she had opened her eyes to a new place. This wasn’t the Train.

She was laying down on a somewhat soft bed in a cottage of some sort. It smelt of fresh cedar, and it seemed that the wooden walls were just recently set up. This place was new. And the window, slightly open, blew a sweet breeze that pushed the light and gentle curtains up in the air. The scenery the window held, viewable from the bed, was a lush and flowering forest. Teeming with life, a soft sun and fluffy clouds in the colorful sky above. Sunset.

Someone opened the door. At the end of the bed. Kindle had only just noticed it. It reminded her of the medbay-wake-up.

“Are you awake?”

It was a man with the fluffiest richly brown hair Kindle had ever seen in her life. Something about him gave her the word “dad”.

Dad walked over to Kindle in a manner that took in the setting and radiated even more gentleness and softness, somehow. He sat next to her on the bed and put a hand on her cheek, giving her forehead a kiss. Dad ran a hand through her bangs.

“Did you have a good day?”

Kindle nodded, entranced to respond. “Mhm. I had a wonderful nap.” She leaned into him as he ruffled her hair.

“I’m glad. Do you want to sleep some more? Or should I give you another lesson?”

Lesson. “Lesson. Our last one was very intriguing.”

Dad chuckled. “You’ll never stop, hm?”

“I will not. It’s my responsibility.” Kindle looked up at him. “I have to learn. I have to know.” I don’t want to fail you.

“Ambition is good. Hold onto that.” He kissed her head once again and stood up with a smile. Dad held out a hand to Kindle, kindly inviting her to the living room. “No time to waste, hm?”

Kindle nodded. “Absolutely none.” She stood up and reluctantly grabbed his hand.

Dad’s manner seemed to shift.

Another mistake?

…right, don’t get too attached. If they take Dad… and it’s you or him… you mustn’t. Cry. Don’t feel. Don’t. If. You…

Just thinking about it made her want to cry.

She loved Dad.

“Don’t get sad.” His voice became stern.

Dad… so nice, so mean. Surely, he’d get angry if she couldn’t do the simple things he asked of her. If she couldn’t remove her attachment… or once again couldn’t swing a blade… she didn’t deserve to be his daughter. Only the best for Dad— Dad, the best. Dad was the best.

“I’m not sad.” Kindle spoke with a clear voice. “Why should I be?”

Dad grinned again. Something else in his face. This was doubt. This was remorse. Obviously. Dad now underestimated her. Hadn’t he always? Whatever the case, she could read his face clearly. Another successful scan.

“Just don’t get too attached to me.”

Dad…

“I won’t, father.”

I won’t, Dad.

“You’re sure?”

“When have I not been?”

I’m not sure. Please stay. Don’t make me fight and leave you alone. I need you, you need me. Don’t I brighten your day? Dad? Please?

“I’ll take your word for it.”

I’m lying. Know I’m lying. Like you always do. It’s so easy, dad. Please?

…he’s sparing me…

Kindle lifted her head. The paper it was on crinkled a little more.

…what was that?

***

aloe vera

A meaningless fight led Rhine to shoving Kindle against a wall. Hitting it with such a tremendous force led Kindle’s reality to shift, finding herself lying on the floor, half dazed, with Zachary looming over her.

“Kindle! He scooped her up from her lie-down on the puzzled floor and hugged her.

QD ran to Kindle’s side. “Damn! We thought you died!”

Kindle’s nose hit Zachary’s shoulder when they hugged. “Hey— my doze.”

Zachary pulled away. Immediately, Kindle’s nose popped and drained blood.

She held her hands over the source of the spilling. A little bit got onto Zachary’s armor… “oh… szorry.”

“It’s okay!” He laughed it off with a certain lightheartedness. He knew she’d be alright.

“What the hell happened?! We drifted off— then we saw you and Danger Kindle about to kill each other!”

“That was one sideded.” Kindle wiped her nose with her hands, leaning away from her already bloody shirt. “She’s gone?”

QD nodded. “Mhm. It was kinda easy. She’s bad at fighting, like you!” She teased.

Kindle stopped herself from rubbing her blinking and fizzy eyes. Bloody eyes now would not be a good idea. “Haha. Very funny.”

“Still… ‘You okay?” QD put a hand on Kindle’s shoulder, a deep concern expressed in her eyes.

“Now I am.” Kindle smiled bittersweetly. “I juzt got sent back to da dime loop.”

Zachary chuckled. Then he realized it was probably not a joke.

“…oh…” QD looked down, something about the way she did made it look like she considered it her fault. “…that’s so terrible. I can’t even describe…”

Kindle slowly nodded, wiping away the last drops of blood clogging her nose.

Putting a hand on her head and ruffling her hair, Zachary spoke softly. “How long?”

“Somewhere around… I’m guessing 9 years.”

QD reeled back. “Shit!”

“Still quite a long time, hm?” Kindle’s sadly smiling face beckoned the question. “It didn’t feel like too long, though. Instead of being… bad, I was good. Even though bad and good have no inherent meaning.”

“What do you mean?” QD leaned in.

“I didn’t ‘experiment’ on my friends to find a way out. I kinda just… lived life. And I re-learnt lots of things I’d forgotten how to do. Like… playing the cello. Or doing math. Or reading. Or writing.” She shrugged. “I couldn’t believe I had actually forgotten those. 1,255 years, hm? And I went back to my room for the first time in forever…” Kindle’s voice trailed off as she suddenly remembered the important thing that had happened a while ago. She’d written and rewritten the contents and every detail she could absorb from the memory— now she was sure that it had been cemented.

“I was somewhere else. I got transported. There’s lots of different things I’ll share later— but I was in some cottage. The interesting thing was that I was not in control of the things I was feeling and saying. Like… the memories. Only, I lived through it completely. Not like what it usually is, watching it play out. I felt the person… living it.”

QD’s notebook had been scribbled in intensely as Kindle lifted her head from subconsciously lowering it as she spoke.

“At least it wasn’t a repeat of last time.” Zachary added.

Kindle agreed with a little nod. “I’m proud of myself, actually. It was hard to get up and force myself to relearn… but I figured, with all the time in the world, why not cram it in as much as I could? I’d have to start eventually.”

“Good mindset…” QD continued to scribble. “I could never be able to, hehe.”

“Hey— wait.” A lightbulb in Kindle’s now slightly larger and probably even more rotten brain flicked on. “How long did you guys wait… for me to wake up…?”

Zachary thought for a moment. “5 minutes… oh, yeah, 9 years?!”

Kindle’s face went pale. “9 years in 5 minutes. What if 1,255 years was barely even a month?”

“What’s the math for that.” QD’s face also went pale as she looked from her notebook up to Kindle and Zachary, back down again, and back up again.

“Every day was twelve hours. 9 years but every day is 12 hours… just convert a year into an hour regularly, multiply it by 9, but then divide by two— so really, 4.5, then use those hours to—“

“‘Too dumb. I’m writing 9 years to 5 minutes.”

Zachary laughed. “Well… are we ready to go? Sorry if I’m pushing it.”

Kindle nodded furiously. “Oh, for sure. I used to think about what would happen if I ever escaped the loop— and now that I know— I wanna get it over with. Let’s find the door.”

The three stood up and looked around.

“Y’know… maybe I should’ve brought bandages instead of a notebook.” QD frowned as she eyed Kindle’s face and collar, then at her sashy bandage crossing over her chest.

Zachary shrugged. “We’ll just use my cape again.” He grinned as if it was nothing.

“Uhhh.” QD tried her best to smile back. “Yeah. I don’t wanna destroy it more than I have, so… uh…”

“I’m the one tearing it up. You’re fine.”

“Zachary I don’t want your cape bandages”

“Why not?”

“they suck”

“What do you mean?!”

Kindle grinned. Secretly shaken, she reveled in the sounds of Zachary and QD’s voices. She didn’t know— but, yes, she was back. Taking it, surely, she was sure, it was real. Don’t let this be a trick. Don’t let it trick me.

Even if it took forever, even if her brain was still rotting, she wanted to stay in the puzzle land. Maybe redirect the others— keep them here. In a new little wonderland. Stuck, lost, confused… but together. Confused and lost and stuck together. Walking together. Confused to walk… no way…

Zachary had tripped on a loose puzzle piece and accidentally formed a door in front of them.

Kindle smiled.

***

They found themselves back on the bus.

QD sat down and invited the others with a pat on each of her shoulders. It was certainly going to be a while until they got to their next predetermined destination.

Kindle snuggled up next to her and got comfortable. With QD, there was no danger. She was sure Zachary could handle his fair share, too. Closing her eyes, she drifted off into a sleep.

Something came back to her.

“…a bus to New Neo City…”

Zachary?

“It’s where my sister lives! I’m sure we can ask her for help!”

A tinier Kindle in the same clothes. How she realized these fit tighter now.

“Got it!”

Friends’ faces. A rock, somehow. A rock with legs.

A painful memory. So sweet, sheerly innocent, like a grinning face of the dead— unknowingly dead. Once, she told this to someone. This story. This journey. The emotions radiating from it… human feelings… one day, she’d learn this story again.

Her mind drifted off into meaningless sleep, laying on QD’s shoulder.

***

The bus stopped! Finally!!! Kindle had woken up hours ago— and by “hours”, two minutes— and the bus still hadn’t stopped! She was very impatient for something to happen. Suddenly, time began to blur together, ever since realizing the true length of the loops.

That, too, explained quite a bit. After the first loop, she realized some aspects of it were slipping away from her… like a dream with so much thought into it that the details began to blur and drop from her memory completely. Lots of time was compressed into another tiny bit of time. Yes, the essence of speed— prolong the moment. Stretch about 5 minutes into 9 years. What a quick and meaningless loop repeat!

It still came with its benefits, however. Kindle still had the knowledge she gained… and secretly, somewhere deep within her, she wished for more.

”get off. Guys. Get off me.” QD muttered, batting away Zachary from her shoulder. “Time to wake up!!! Let’s get off at this stop!!!” she stretched her voice sassily, resorting to tougher shoving with Zachary.

Zachary flopped to the other side. “Five more minutes…”

“The bus will not be stationed here in five more minutes.” QD’s indignation bounced along her words like throwing a skipping stone over a lake.

“Yeah, Zachary. It won’t be here. Get up.” Kindle teased, even though she herself was still chilling out on QD’s shoulder.

Upon hearing this, QD frowned. “Hey! You too, y’know.”

“Wuagh. Fine.”

They stepped off the bus and were met with an ocean floor. Expansive, full of tropical corals, colors, and funny looking fish. There was a mass of… floaty blue stuff. Not water. Not seaweed. Glistening… hair.

The hair turned around to reveal a head. A blue person!

“Hey.” The blue person grinned.

Zachary, a blue goober but not to this extent, stepped back in submissiveness (?).

QD blinked. “Vera?”

“Oh. QD…” her eyes softened. “…your hair. It’s… all even.”

“Yours is longer, too.” she smiled.

Zachary coughed into his sleeve. How was anyone here breathing under water.

Vera returned a smile. “Hm… seems like we’ve been away from each other for too long, haven’t we…”

As if snapping out of a trance, QD’s face went neutral. Maybe even disgusted. “Hey— but— we’re not together. Remember?”

“…huh?”

“oooh” Kindle teased.

“Wait, what do you mean?” Vera did a complete 180, facing QD. She looked like she was wearing the same style of clothes as QD was. “I mean… it was never like that, wasn’t it?”

“No. But… I just… don’t…” QD seemed to realize she wasn’t in a dream place— but was surrounded by Zachary and Kindle. “…forget it.”

“Wait, QD, push her to her limits! I wanna see what happens!” Kindle whispered almost instinctively.

Zachary frowned, giving Kindle the hint.

Kindle blinked. “I mean… just…” her face burned. Right… treat people like people…

“No.” Vera took a step closer. “No— keep talking. What do you mean?”

Swallowing hard, QD seemed to shudder. “I mean… Vera… we’re not even friends anymore.” Slightly leaning into Kindle’s suggestions, QD spoke as if Vera knew what she was talking about.

Vera’s face went blank like QD’s had earlier. “…not even… friends…?”

“Yeah. You’re not exactly a nice person.”

“…but… I’ve been trying…! You know that!”

Standing her ground now, heavily playing into those words, QD stood a step forward. “Not hard enough. You’ll never change.”

“…uh…” a little noise came from Vera, who seemed to be shaking. “…I can. I’m— changing. I promise. I’m doing it! For you!”

QD crossed her arms, turning an eye.

“I swear!” Vera was a messy batter of angry, confused, worried and sad. “I’m trying my best!” Her voice was bitten with tears.

Still ignoring him, QD began to slightly turn away. “Mhm. Where even were you this whole time? I was waiting for you on the Train, but you never came. You promised me.“

Kindle had been living the same day over and over again, never knowing the context of the day before— but she was so, so sure that Vera and QD had never made a promise. Also because Vera had been on the Train the ‘day prior’. No such thing as the promise. Her heart quickened. This was interesting.

Vera’s face gave off the impression that she now had to fake knowledge of a promise that was extremely important to QD. A fake promise. Oooh… “…I.. I know I did… just…”

“‘One more chance’? No thank you.”

A momentary pause.

“…for real?”

“Mhm.”

Vera’s head slowly tilted downward. Her face held an expression of pure disbelief.

“Now… My friends and I are trying to get through here, so… move out of the way.”

Vera stood still.

“Move?” QD beckoned her like a dog.

Kindle and Zachary’s faces widened, quickly turning to the other’s.

“No.” Vera shook her head slowly. “You can’t leave.”

QD sighed. “Ahhh, just walk away, QD…”

Vera’s hand reached and grabbed for QD’s. “Don’t leave me.”

This was new. QD blinked. She didn’t think Vera would do this.

“Ooooh! Fight, ladies!!” Kindle cheered on.

Vera’s face burned. “I’M A GUY!!!”

Zachary and Kindle shared a look again, but Zachary didn’t seem to be as surprised as Kindle was.

Vera grinded his teeth. He yanked QD’s hand to bring her closer to him and then he wrapped his arms around her.

QD blinked. “Uh— Vera!” she was swept off her feet. Literally.

Vera was now princess carrying QD, grabbing onto her like the last pair of Versace shoes on some twisted Black Friday sale. “You’ll never leave me.”

Zachary and Kindle were, once again, looking at each other dumbfoundedly.

“And— you two! Stay the fuck away from us.” Vera warned, sliding his foot in the colorful sand and sending a large spike of ice towards the two.

Zachary— the other Blue Icey Boy— countered the attack and formed his sword. By the time the bubbles cleared, however…

Vera and QD were gone.

“…this is a classic Mario situation.” Kindle added nonchalantly, her urges now pleasantly fulfilled.

***

Kindle was singing some made up song as she and Zachary followed a nicely laid out path of ice and charred coral. A tinge of sandy glass, too. Zachary was being awfully quiet.

“Heyyy, why don’t you sing with me?”

“…sorry, I’m thinking.”

“Alright.” Kindle smiled at him as she walked on. “At least keep up! We gotta go find them!”

“You… do remember this isn’t a game, right?” He looked at her with saddened eyes.

Kindle blinked. “Of course. It’s just… hard to treat it like anything else. These days can be redone… and with getting out of the Train Loop, I feel so much more energized and excited to continue. My thoughts and the words I say may make it sound like otherwise, that’s all.”

“…really?”

“Mhm!”

“Please… just… do what you say.”

“Got it.” Kindle smiled. “There’s something else on your mind, hm?”

Zachary nodded slowly. “Just… what Vera said. Something small. Vera’s… a guy?”

“Well… this one is. Not the Vera we know.”

“…we…”

“What? You know a boy Vera?”

“No. He just looked like a girl here.” Zachary added, confused.

Kindle giggled. “You don’t know anything about being gay, hm?“

“Guess not.”

They kept walking until the coral began to die and the light shining into the shallow water became grey and desolate. In the distance, the blue hair calmly floating in the water and the figure shaped like QD next to it came into view.

“Look! They’re there!” whispered Kindle, hiding behind a conveniently placed rock.

Zachary hid along with her, and the two peeked out of it like super secret spies together. Kindle reaallly honed in on her hearing.

“…”

“…”

“…”

“Zachy. ‘Hear what they’re saying?”

“…Z…Zachy? Why’d you call me Zachy…?”

“It’s a nickname. Are you really that clueless?”

“Nuh-uh.”

“Hey! Answer my question! Can you hear ‘em?”

“NO. Because you’re WHISPERING TO ME.”

“uggghh fine.”

Slowly, Kindle made out what the two little lovebirds were talking about.

“…and she didn’t even say anything after that! She just ignored me!”

“Wow. She sounds like a dumbass.”

“I know, right?!”

“Well I would never ignore you.”

“Mhm… I can tell… hey, sorry… for the misunderstanding. I just wanted to mess with you.”

“Nahh. It’s fine. It was funny, anyways.”

“Really? It didn’t look funny.”

“In hindsight it was funny. So— tell me— am I the better Vera?”

“Definitely. Even though it’s only been twenty minutes and thirty… six seconds since we’ve met.”

“That’s because I have a natural being better than everyone else element to myself.”

“Hehe…”

Kindle and Zachary glared at each other. Yeah, weren’t these two just fighting a second ago?

“ALRIGHT. Break it up. And by break it up I mean break up.” Kindle emerged from behind the rock as if this was entirely planned out with Zachary, which it was not. “QD. Let’s grab the memory and get out of here.”

Vera’s face grew so hot that steam started to emerge from the water around it. “HEY?! What the hell are you doing here?!”

Kindle frowned. “If QD hasn’t told you, we’re on a mission. Very important. My life at stake. So get off of QD and let us continue, please and thank you.”

“Oh, yeah… the mission…”

“YOU ALREADY FORGOT?!”

QD giggled nervously.

“Wow. Even I don’t forget that easily…” Kindle shook her head. “That doesn’t matter, though. Zachy! Come out!”

Zachary stayed perfectly hidden behind the rock— until he slightly shuffled out and stood next to it. It seemed he was more embarrassed than Vera was.

“Let’s go, QD. Nice meeting you, Boy Vera. Goodbye.” Kindle had already begun to walk when Vera stood up, holding onto QD’s hand and making her stand with him.

“You can’t just take QD away! She has to say what she wants. Right, QD?”

QD blinked, face going red.

“Kindle, should I just stand here, or…?” Asked Zachary, still next to the rock.

Kindle sighed, waving a hand around to dismiss Zachary but not at all answer a single question of his. “QD, you’ve gotta come with us. You already promised!”

“Uh… I can promise for a little while, so…”

“ARE YOU SERIOUSLY GOING WITH THIS WEIRDO VERA?!”

“HEY!”

“SHUT UP!!!” Kindle wildly pointed at the retorting Weirdo Vera. “QD! REALLY?!”

QD blushed. “I like him.”

Weirdo Vera blushed along with QD as she spoke.

Kindle’s face contorted. “B—but! My… memories! We have to do this together! We said— we made promises! All of us! And our wishes… you want to see the world! How can you do that with him?!”

“That’s easy.” QD shrugged. “Just… go. Look… I wasn’t really that helpful in the first place, I just kept a journal. That’s all. And you can have that journal…”

“C’mon! Are you giving us up for a boy?! Are you giving us up that easy?!”

QD frowned. “…he’s just like our Vera. I mean… we’ve already talked… he knows a QD— I know a Vera— so we’re not missing out—! I just… our Vera wasn’t the best person, y’know?” she ran a hand through her hair. “Of course— you just reduced her to some little toy.”

Kindle’s face went blank.

“But… I still loved her! And now… it feels like a dream come true— to have a Vera I love! A Vera who loves me back!”

“You can’t just—“

“I have a choice, don’t I? And… I kinda wanna go with Vera.”

Vera grinned.

QD wrapped her arms around him. “Sorry.” She shrugged.

With a look mixed with murder, dread and more, Kindle glared at QD. “Apology accepted. Now let me show you how exactly I feel about that.”

Zachary coughed very loudly from the rock.

Everyone else looked at him as if he was unwanted in the conversation.

“Can’t we take Vera with us?” He suggested like it was plain and simple… which it was.

Kindle’s murderous face washed away.

QD lit up.

Vera frowned.

“Oh! That’s a really good idea, Zachary!” QD beamed. “Why didn’t I think of that?!”

Giving a smug smile and a shrug, Zachary’s overall charisma increased by 150%.

“Yeah. Fun. All… four of us.” Vera grinned. “Sounds like a plan. Real good time.” Yeah, this guy definitely wanted him and QD to be alone…

“How’s that sound, Kindle?” Zachary gave her a look.

Kindle blinked. “That’s a good idea. Yeah… I didn’t think of that, either…”

“Good! I thought of it earlier, but I figured you would sort it out— and then you didn’t. And then you sounded like you wanted to fight QD, which I knew would end up in you embarrassing yourself, so I—“

“Let’s LEAVE.” Kindle grinned wide.

The three who had previously been in the group looked around.

“How…?” QD scratched the back of her neck.

Vera’s face lit up. “Ahhh! I almost forgot! I’m supposed to fight you guys!”

“What.” Kindle blinked.

“Mhm. I was told… I had to fight. And just generally be myself. So… uh… let’s fight.”

Zachary raised an eyebrow. “Okay, two things— one. How is this gonna help us leave? And two, told by who?!”

Vera shrugged, already stretching out his arms. “To answer your stupid questions! I was told that I got to leave after I did so, and also I forgot who told me this!”

“What if this mysterious sponsor of yours is untrustworthy…?” Zachary crossed his hands and raised an eyebrow like this was an obvious question.

“Nah, lie to me? That’s gotta take some balls.”

“…does fighting you also take balls…?” Kindle grinned as she set up a perfect segway.

“For sure.”

“I don’t have any, so~! And neither does QD~! So… Zachy! You go!”

Zachary began to sweat. “Me? Fight?”

“Yeah. You have the balls, don’t you? Not a pussy?” Vera chuckled.

“…of course I have balls. Are you two— uh— lovely ladies sure you don’t also have balls.” Zachary dryly grinned at QD and Kindle.

Kindle shrugged. “I don’t.”

QD’s face shrunk into itself like she’d just eaten the world’s sourest lemon. “yeah me neither.”

“I somehow don’t believe that, QD, but OKAY.” Zachary shook himself out, then patted his cheeks and pulled a tin of breath mints out of nowhere and popped one in his mouth and stood there.

Vera frowned. “Do you want me to wait for you to finish that mint, or…?”

“Yesh pleash.”

QD and Kindle took their seats on a nearby rock to await the show and spoke about how they’d never leave each other for stinky men ever again. Just like two high school girls. Ah, how the time flies!

With one last stretch and sigh, Vera smiled as he summoned his greatsword. “Alright, ready, baby?”

“Wh-. What. Why’d you call me baby.”

Vera sweeped the ocean floor with his sword and created a rolling cloud of dust around the imaginary battlefield.

Zachary summoned his icy sword and cut through the dust, met with Vera who swung his sword onto Zachary’s and shattered it. Zachary stumbled back and summoned a wall of ice from the ground to protect himself as he thought of a new plan.

Vera swung his sword at the wall, only nearly breaking it. He then stepped back, push kicked the wall and kept his foot on it. He sent a large wave of heat at it, creating steam and softening the wall easily. It crumbled as he stepped down into it and looked over Zachary.

“YOU COULD’VE JUST GONE AROUND IT!” Zachary whined as he swished another spray of ice into Vera’s face, then quickly got to his feet and stumbled back even more.

“ZACHY YOU FUCKING SUCK!!” QD commented from the rocky stands.

“YEAH GET BETTER LOSER GO VERA WHOOOOOO”

Absolutely distracted and confused, Zachary cried. “WHAT?!” he couldn’t even say what he wanted properly!

Vera broke through the ice and scared Zachary so badly that he fell right back down again. He pointed his greatsword, with one hand, down at the pathetic little face.

“Awhhh, how sad. You couldn’t even stand for half the time.” Vera laughed as he pulled the sword back. “Pathetic! Maybe I should just kill you and spare you future embarrassment, especially if you try to pull this lame ass thing again…”

Zachary looked down. “I wasn’t ready. You called me ‘baby’.”

“Ppfft, so what? You gotta learn how to be gay and fight. Otherwise, what’s the use of fighting?”

“He’s so right.” QD was on the edge of her rock seat.

Kindle blinked. “Okay I don’t follow but whatever makes you happy.”

“What about you?” Vera pointed at Kindle. “Wanna fight?”

“Oh. Sure!”

Zachary frowned. “NO. KINDLE. DO NOT. You will EMBARRASS YOURSELF.”

Kindle stood with pizazz and tossed her hair around. “I totally got this.”

Laughing once more, Vera pulled his sword back from Zachary and let him escape. He readied himself to fight this little Kindle. “Don’t worry, I’ll go a little easier on ya’.”

“You don’t need to! All I ask is for a little handshake before we start.” Kindle waltzed up to Vera and held out her hand.

“Hm. You’re gonna trick me somehow and then I’m gonna lose, yeah?” Vera suspiciously eyed Kindle’s hand.

Kindle shook her head. “A battle should begin with a handshake, not end with one.”

“Okay you’re totally gonna do that— but y’know what?! I don’t care! I’m gonna win anyways. And also I’m getting very curious.” Vera grinned as he took Kindle’s hand to shake it.

Kindle sent a wave of electricity up Vera’s hand.

Unfortunately, being in the water and also touching Vera, Kindle not only electrocuted herself— but everything else within a reasonable proximity.

Vera and Kindle both fell back and onto the floor. Zachary was also shocked— and the least affected of all was QD, who just continued to sit with an amused look on her face.

Slowly, Vera sat up, groaning. “uAgghhhhh. WHAT THE FUCCCCCK.”

Kindle giggled. “I win.”

“NO YOU DO NOT!!!”

A periwinkle crystal came from the watery sky and sunk onto Kindle’s face with a little stab.

⟣

            Okay… Smash or pass… Jay!”

“Definitely pass. I’m open to it, but he’s just kinda old.”

“Stars above, can’t you do this somewhere else?”

“Nope! We’re doing it right in front of the people we’re asking!”

“It’s part of the fun. I wouldn’t expect you to know. Being old.”

“I’m not that old! I still look young.”

“Yeah, that’s why I’m open to it.”

“You are seventeen.”

“Okay, Kindle, smash or pass Jay?”

“Pass. ‘Cus he’s old.”

“Don’t play this game. It’s inappropriate.”

“Ooh. Smash.”

“KINDLE.”

“Let’s go ask QD!!!”

“No— not QD!!”

“Why not?! QDDDDD!!!!!!!”

“SHHHH—”

“Hi guys!”

“QD! HI.”

“VERA! SMA—“

“VERA, GODS BELOW! WHAT THE HELL?!”

⟣

Kindle sat up. She looked at QD— then Vera. Then back again and again. “…you two!”

QD looked at Vera and chuckled incredulously. “Yeah… but I looked so much more different!”

Vera nodded. “Kindle, do you remember?”

“Now I do— but— what do you mean?”

“Me! Do you remember me?”

Kindle looked down. She pieced together Vera. One memory spiraled into more— a memory of how she had gone around with this Vera and made jokes and poked fun— walked into… yes.. wait, Rhine… that memory opened much so many more— and Goddess QD…! Angry German Lady was Rhine— Goddess QD was obviously QD… just… the QD there, in that memory… now, who was that guy who looked like Myst? But, yes, she remembered! She remembered Vera! And QD, and Rhine—! As if she’d always known them! These weird, demented versions of them— but them nonetheless…!

Then she began to think about the Train Loop— no, those were the people she knew… and yet, she knew nothing about them. It seemed like all her memories of them were fake. They wouldn’t be memories if they were all the same day. Right? Kindle thought back on it. What about that cottage? The place she was transported to for about a second. Was that a memory? Was that the same day? What were these memories, anyways? What if they weren’t even her own?

“…yes, I remember you.” Kindle looked at Vera, who now extended a hand down to her to help her up. “But… it’s so weird… I swear I remember you more than the Vera I know.”

Vera shrugged. “Maybe you never knew the Vera you thought you knew in the first place. She sounds like a bitch to me.”

“Yeah! Always keeping secrets.” QD added from the rock stands. “I like you a lot more.” She turned to This Vera Right Here and smiled.

He smiled back, pulling up Kindle as she grabbed onto his hand.

Kindle nodded her thanks silently and small. “That’s great and all… but… now I’m nervous. What if… I’m just taking someone else’s memories back? Like we said? I don’t think I could’ve forgotten… y’know… much, right? I just… kinda went insane over the course of 1,255 years. And forgot how to be nice trying to look for a way out of the loop. Then forgot about getting out of the loop at one time all together.” She thought even harder than before to even try to add some useful information. All she found were feelings, like usual. “I dunno. I don’t wanna replace my memories with someone else’s. Maybe… after all I’ve gone through… I’m not okay with just being a hollowed out shell for someone else to fill. I guess this is my life no matter what…”

“How insightful.” Vera added nonchalantly, and almost like he didn’t have a care in the world for what Kindle had said. “The Kindle I knew would never say anything like that.”

“You knew a Kindle?” Zachary echoed. “It’s this Kindle, isn’t it?”

Vera nodded. “I mean… she’s still wearing those stupid clothes she has in her closet, rotting away. I’m guessing she thought that you guys were going on some ‘Everlasting Journey’ like she always says, then put on this nostalgic piece of shit to better fit ‘the vibes’.”

Kindle stared at Vera in a sort of angry disbelief.

“So… yeah. I knew this Kindle. From what I can see, it’s her, and she has also completely lost it. And now she’s different. But still a dumbass all the same.” He added lovingly.

QD stood up from the rock and walked over to Kindle, putting a hand on the top of her head. “Maybe these are your memories, after all. Can you tell us a little more about what you did when you just got sent back to the loop? Any specifics?”

Zachary nodded eagerly, tapping QD on the shoulder to remind her to pull out her notebook.

“Well… sometimes, I would be transported to… an empty Train, where the stars around were all red. Like… what Myst says will happen if there’s ever a Rip. I would kinda just reappear in the old setting for the loop when it was over… but I was there instead more often than not. And I dunno… I just relearned everything I forgot. Like how to read… write… I refreshed my memory of what we had done before I’d been transported back so I wouldn’t forget…”

QD nodded, scribbling this down in bullet points. “…if you ever need more writing practice, my hand gets really tired writing down your rambling, y’know…”

Kindle sighed with a smile. “Okay… that’s about—“ not about it. There was more. “—wait, something else! There was this one day— only one— where I was taken to some sunny little cottage. And… I had a dad, which was weird…”

She told them the ins and outs of this day to the fullest. She had made sure that she had never forgotten this one.

“Huh… interesting…” Zachary thought. “Pfft. Sounds like a Danger Kindle memory.” He crossed his arms. “And by ‘pfft sounds like’ I mean ‘no it most definitely is’. I get that vibe from her a LOT. Whatever she wants from us… I feel like thinking on that day will surely tell us.”

Kindle nodded. “Mhm. I agree. We have to find out what she wants. Her weakness will surely follow— then we attack that weakness and get her down once and for all.”

“Hold on, I can’t write that fast…!”

“Hey, Kindle.” Vera looked down at her, somehow a thought occurring to him. “You had a dad. You actually had two dads.”

“Zachy, take notes. You need these gay lessons.” Kindle pointed at him.

Zachary frowned. “I’m fairly sure I know what being gay is now—-“

“—-agree to disagree?”

“Kindle. Shut up. Let me finish.” Vera gently kicked the back of Kindle’s shin to get her to shut up. “You also have two moms.”

“That’s a polyamorous relationship! I know that one!” Zachary pointed to nowhere, but with much passion.

Vera frowned, and he reached out a hand to warn Zachary that if he didn’t also shut up, he would grab his stupid, self-cut, chopped with what seemed like a butcher’s knife bangs and pull them to the ground. “What I’m trying to say is that Kindle somehow lives a double life between Earth and her home world. No clue how it happened and how she— you—“ he moved his extended hand out to Kindle, “—managed to keep up with that. Still confuses me. Either way… I don’t recall either of your dads seemingly acting like this. Not from what I’ve heard from you.”

“That’s right.” Zachary pointed out, able to speak again. “Kindle, your homeworld father is an adventurer, like your mother, and your Earth father is an accountant.” He added like the stark contrast was not at all exciting and rather disappointing— which it was.

“I don’t think that either an accountant or an adventurer would keep their daughter from getting attached to them. Or even be a teacher.” QD added. “I mean… accountants are smart… but they’re really boring… probably not involved much with the law, either— I assume the dad in this place or memory was running from the law…?”

Vera shook his head. “Okay, I think so too, but I’m also sure that accountants are the most likely to commit tax fraud. I dunno what accountants do, actually, because I don’t care. That’s just my guess.”

Kindle rolled her eyes. “Sure… still… anything else?”

Shrugging, QD summed it up reading from her notebook. “Nope. Here’s the current thought, though— we’re pretty sure that it’s a memory from Danger Kindle.”

“It can’t be a memory, right? Wasn’t it just a day that Kindle had gone through?” Zachary turned to Kindle to confirm.

“Yeah. I’m pretty sure it was just a day. We can ask Little Kindle once we get back. Probably through that door.” Kindle pointed to the door that appeared out of the sea floor, sand endlessly cascading from the top— even as it had fully unburied itself.

QD nodded as she made some corrections to her notebook. “Got it. Any chance we can bring up Danger Kindle’s dad next time we see her…?”

Chuckling at the thought of trumping Danger Kindle in such a way, Kindle grew a cheeky little smile. “That would be funny.”

Vera grinned wide and clapped Kindle on the back violently. “Hey! You’re still kinda your old self!”

“…think so?”

“Mhm. Probably with getting your memories back… you’ll be your old self again.”

“If these are my memories…” Kindle sighed, thinking about if and how it would happen. When it would happen.

Zachary’s eyes crinkled at the corners. “What if they’re not…? What if you… aren’t the Kindle we know…? Or if you are— and you get replaced?”

Kindle looked at Zachary.

“I wouldn’t want all our precious memories to be gone. If you forgot them— I would be the only one left to remember. And… if it was just me to remember, who says I didn’t just make it all up? Would our memories still be real?”

“In the larger sense… I don’t think so.” QD shrugged with a sorrowful look on her face.

“What’s the larger sense?” asked Zachary.

She was quick to respond. “What everyone else thinks. Y’know. Old Man Zachary, back to believing his play-pretend was real all along.”

Vera shrugged. “Either way, in a hundred years, no one remembers you anyways. You’re obsolete in the grand scheme of things— life as a whole. Not life as in our lives. What would be the use?” He shrugged again, with a frown that could care less.

“Pfft. You forget everything in about 20 years, tops.” Kindle added from personal experience. “Anything and everything. Unless it’s some important crap. After 50– don’t even bother.”

Zachary and QD looked at each other and stifled a smile.

“Hey, anyone else think that they’re the only real people here?” Vera raised a hand. “I think you two are manifestations of Kindle’s time loop.”

QD blinked. “Awfully rude.”

“What’s so rude about it? I think you’re a wonderful manifestation.” Vera pointed at QD.

“…okay.” QD grinned herself silly.

Zachary had kept quiet for as long as he’d liked. “I think I’m real.”

“Really? But— if Kindle is remembering what she lost— and the people she thought she knew were being replaced with us, the people meant to represent those in her memories to help further her recalling of them, then are you sure you’re real?”

“We exist at the same time.” Zachary began to sweat, having zero shareable evidence. “And also— ‘I think therefore I am’.”

“The Billie Eilish song?” QD, dumbfounded, asked.

“René Descartes.” Kindle answered. “I believe he was a French philosopher. Look, I got something out of 9 years. Congratulate me!”

Vera clapped. “Well done.”

“Still.” Zachary grabbed Vera’s attention. “I’m real.”

“Sure. In that larger-sense-grand-scheme-of-things—“

“—I am still real in that.” Zachary added with a defiant, somewhat threatening air.

Vera rolled his eyes. “Alright, Monsieur Descartes,”

Zachary frowned.

“Let’s just go through the door already? I’m tired of standing around.” QD stretched out her legs and ran a hand through her hair.

Nodding in agreement and taking tighter hold of the crystal, Kindle kicked the sand, bored. “Mhm. Let’s get going… hopefully the door does take us to the Warehouse, and it doesn’t suddenly switch up on us.”

“Jinxing it already? And I haven’t even been to this place, yet…”

Zachary thought for a moment as the other three went on. He paused them. “Oh, Vera. Can you answer something for me?”

“Sure.”

“You said you’re supposed to represent who Kindle knows as real in her old memories? Or whatever the hell you were talking about?”

“Mhm.”

“Okay— why did no one but me question this?” Zachary turned to QD and Kindle with a frown.

“Dunno. I’m used to people being smarter than me— and I also thought I just spaced out during some important conversation when no one complained. Also I was looking at Vera’s face.” QD shrugged as she explained.

“You, Kindle?”

“I don’t know what’s going on anymore.”

“Fair.” Zachary pulled his gloves on tighter. “So, now that we’re asking— how do you know this?”

Vera shrugged. “I dunno. See— I got a little voice in my head telling me to kill everybody once, and whenever I don’t need it, it doesn’t leave. I can talk to it. As long as I break… y’know, reality. The fourth wall. And bring it in here. That’s how I know this. Also, I’ve been specified to do this… I’m not so sure about whoever else you’ll meet to get back the real versions of us. They’re probably classic, reality-blind pawns. If you asked them, they’d respond like normal, sane people and call you crazy.”

“…thanks for that.” Zachary frowned.

“Mhm. Can’t wait to see who you’re replaced with.”

Zachary got unreasonably angry. “Okay— do you even know who the other real versions are?”

“Nah.”

“Then you can’t say I’m gonna—“

“Yes I can. I can say anything I want.”

“But you’d be wr—“

“Nuh-uh. Right and wrong don’t exist, only in logic. Right, Kindle?”

“Yeah,”

“See? Kindle gets it. And reality here seems subjective— not in the traditional sense you pair those two words together— so logic doesn’t apply.”

“Logic is—“

“Walking away,” Vera said, walking away.

QD giggled.

“Hey! QD, what about you? Aren’t you— angry— or scared to be replaced?”

“Nope.”

“Why not??”

“Kindle knows me anyway. She still knows me, even after we met Goddess QD.” she smiled. “I wasn’t replaced. Kindle just knows me— but twice, and different.”

Kindle nodded.

“Why do we have to fight about being in Kindle’s memory, anyways?” QD shrugged.

Vera grinned teasingly. “Yeah. What, wanna be Kindle’s ‘only one’? Aren’t you 19? Kindle’s technically 3–“

“I am roughly 1277 years old.” Kindle corrected.

Vera frowned. “No. What?”

“I was in a time loop, if you’re out of… the loop.” Kindle made a pun. She held out a fist, ready to be bumped by anyone.

QD fist bumped her with a grin.

“…ah. I thought you were 3, still…”

“Maybe about 1264 years ago, I was.”

Vera shrugged. “I’m still limited— as Ammi says, hm?”

“Ammi doesn’t talk.” Zachary corrected.

“Your Ammi.”

QD raised an eyebrow. “No— Ammi talks.”

Zachary’s eyes widened.

“Oooh, Zachary’s from somewhere else!” Kindle teased.

“Oh, I could’ve sworn she didn’t talk?” Zachary’s face looked weird now.

“Nope. She talks.”

Kindle shrugged. “Before, she didn’t. I got out of the time loop once she did. When I went back, she stopped talking again.”

QD thought. “Hm. That’s strange… I’m from the day you got out of the loop, then.”

“Maybe from the reality?” Vera asked.

Zachary sighed. “Okay. Whatever. Let’s go through the door for real this time. We’re too mixed up in all these thoughts… confusion and uncertainty…” he mumbled as he stepped ahead of the others, opening the door to reveal the Warehouse. Sand was still falling over the door, curtaining it.

“Careful. Sand.” Vera said, taking off his jacket and putting it over his head and QD’s as he grouped back with her and held her hand. “If it got in my hair… I’d never get it out.”

Kindle looked at the two love birds with an apathetic frown— not at all surprised. She pulled the tulle train of her skirt over her head like it would help in any way.

They walked through the door as Zachary held it open for them.

***

QD wasn’t holding anyone’s hand once she walked through the warehouse. She didn’t even have the person’s jacket still over her head.

Kindle wanted to laugh, since Vera didn’t also give her a hand in passing through sand-free, but that wasn’t nice. And it also wasn’t necessary. And QD was sad anyways.

“…I thought he would come with us.” QD explained, disheartened. “I thought he… would be able to. Maybe that was stupid of me.”

Zachary patted her back. “Don’t worry. We can always view that memory of him. And— Kindle, do you remember him entirely?”

“Yeah. Basically. There’s lots of stuff we did that I remember now.”

“See! Kindle can tell you all about Vera now. That way, you won’t have to miss him. It’ll be like he’s right here with us.” Zachary smiled at QD warmly.

QD shrugged. “It won’t help to… hear… I… like touch.” she added quietly, like she was ashamed of it— or like it was her little secret.

“Kindle can touch you.” This did not sound appropriate, but Zachary said it and provided it as a solution anyways.

“I’m 17. Kindle is 1,277. We’ve already talked about this.”

“…oh no— not in that way.” Zachary’s face reeled back as he thought of his words. “Uhhh. Cheer up.”

QD nodded slowly. “Y…yeah… I know I only knew him for— like— an hour, I guess… But I could tell I loved him. Not just infatuated with him. Can you ever feel like you love someone truly, even if you just met them…?”

Kindle hummed in agreement. “Mhm. I believe it’s possible.”

“…okay… I’m not crazy, then.”

“Hey. Just because the majority doesn’t like it doesn’t mean you’re bad.” Kindle added. “Ask me all about it. You loved him— that’s alright. That’s wonderful, actually.”

QD nodded slowly once more. She didn’t speak.

Zachary leaned into QD’s view and smiled at her.

“…I’m never gonna see him again, aren’t I…?”

Kindle and Zachary shared a look.

“There’s always the memories,” Zachary brought up again.

QD hid her face in her hands. She made a little noise, squatting down to sit and to feel less overwhelmed by her surroundings.

“Don’t cry…” Zachary got on his knees next to her. “…we’ll totally find him again. Maybe when… Kindle gets back to the real world. You can visit.”

Kindle thought, what real world? Is this not it? but she soon thought otherwise, and saw Zachary’s reasoning.

Zachary wrapped his arms around QD as she cried in her hands.

***

SHE’S SO HOT HOW CAN I REFUSE!?!?

“It’s not your memory. But… now that you’ve experienced it, it technically is. Like watching the same video as someone else a world away filmed. You don’t have their memory of what happened in the video. You have your own. You just experienced it. Get what I’m saying? It’s a memory now that it’s in the past.” Little Kindle said, examining the new crystal. “If you want to show the others, you can tap it and show ‘em. It’ll all be as you remember it, though. Not Danger’s memory of it.” Little Kindle finished forming the crystal, extending her hand to suggest it be given to Kindle— if she took up her offer.

“Sure.”

⟣

“Ah… I imagined it much differently.” Zachary commented. “Like… a different forest and room.”

QD silently nodded in agreement.

“Welp. That’s okay. Not much changes.” Kindle said, handing Little Kindle back the crystal. “It’s better to see it the way it actually was so that we have a better understanding of the scene. Therefore, better conclusions we can draw to our thoughts!”

Zachary agreed with a nod, much more enthusiastic than QD’s. “Yup! This being said… that’s definitely Danger Kindle’s memory. And this is a key weakness. Attached to her dad because… I’m guessing he raised her, like a parent would do… but she can’t show it. And she also doesn’t want to fail him. She has to prove herself to him. Perfectionism, maybe?”

“Mhm. I think so. That’s the best we can get.” Kindle thought as Little Kindle wandered off into the shelves somewhere to put the two new memories away. “We should bring it up the next time she comes around. She definitely won’t stop until I’m dead…”

“Like a bounty hunter.” QD suggested. She was writing in her notebook.

Zachary nodded again. “Yeah. What do you guys think she’s gonna do? Her plans to catch us next? Is she gonna do some cartoon trap…?”

Kindle shrugged. “I mean… I guess I’m the right person to ask. But I honestly have no idea. I think she’ll try something entirely new this time.” She reasoned.

“Mhm. She doesn’t fight very well… but she can predict attacks with extreme accuracy. Also, she’s like a track star. Have you seen the way she runs? So fast…” Zachary added, feeling his gloves between each other— probably in some sort of attempt to remember how Danger Kindle fought. “She outsmarts us. But she doesn’t outfight us. In the end, however… All she needs is to be smart.”

“If only we were smart.” Kindle sighed. “By we, I mean you guys.”

“Thanks a lot, Kindle.” Zachary frowned.

QD scratched the back of her head. “I mean… no time to waste, right? Let’s go ask Little Kindle for some bandages if she has any, then get out of here to move onto the next place.”

Hearing an idea she liked, Kindle’s energy improved by one thousand percent! “Mhm! My nose is still hurt… I’m surprised it isn’t too badly damaged… and then… we can go out, hopefully get Danger Kindle away from us for good… and go back to peacefully collecting my memories. Err— the memories.” she shrugged. “‘the’ just in case…”

QD nodded, turning to Zachary. He smiled at her.

“Let’s go get bandages, then.” He ruffled Kindle’s hair and led the way.

It took them some time to find Little Kindle— as she wasn’t responding to anyone— but once they did, they got her directions to follow the arrows on the floor, then found a stash of bandages and a good quality backpack.

Kindle picked up the backpack as QD opened it and dropped the bandages inside. She held onto a few.

“We should probably use some of these before we go on, huh…?” Zachary looked at the bandages. “QD, you’re still cut, and Kindle, you’ve still got a broken nose.”

QD shook her head. “I’m fine now. Vera helped me earlier.”

“What.”

“Yeah. He had actual bandages. And he was very good at wrapping them up, too.” QD smiled, more tauntingly than in a sorrowful remembrance of her boyfriend-for-two-seconds.

Zachary rolled his eyes and slightly elbowed QD. “Awh. Really?? Look— I’m gonna fix Kindle’s nose as best as I possibly can! And— it’ll— it’ll be even better than what that stinky Vera can do.”

Barely even a minute later, Kindle was sitting on a upside down, floating crystal flower, surrounded by Zachary and QD. Zachary was frantically applying bandages to her nose.

Zachary grinned at Kindle weakly. “You look better already!”

“She looks like a failed paper mache project.”

“What? Really? No— look—“ Zachary moved Kindle’s nose to the side and applied more bandages.

“OW. OW. THAT HURTS. DON’T PUSH ON MY NOSE LIKE THAT.”

“Relaaaaxxx! It hurts for, like, two seconds!”

“Her nose looks ten times bigger.”

“Wait— I wanna see what I look like now!”

“Uhhhm… in a bit…!” Zachary smiled nervously, hurriedly applying more bandages to Kindle’s nose.

QD frowned, watching the fiasco ensue. She finally had enough. “Okay— give those to me. Now. Now!” she extended her palm and bent her fingers back and forth. ‘Gimme’.

“Uuuggh. Fine. Only because I feel bad that you’re not practicing how to properly dress a wound!” Zachary turned his nose up to the air and scoffed, handing QD the bandages while refusing to look at her.

“We don’t have much— OUCH— QD!!”

“Hey, I wasn’t even pulling that hard! Calm down!”

“No, you TOTALLY WERE!!!”

Soon, the votes (vote) were (was) in. QD had done a far better job than Zachary had. This conclusion was Kindle Approved.

Like they always had done while in the warehouse, they followed the arrows once declaring they were looking for the door to presume pursuing memories.

***

Another bus ride, another opportunity to sleep.

“…anyone else really hungry…?” Zachary mumbled, leaning against QD’s shoulder comfortably.

Kindle, unmoving from her fluffy pillow seat of QD’s other shoulder, spoke softly. “…now that you mention it… I am starving.”

QD jolted up. “Oh, gods. I am too. I swore I felt so full…!”

“Wow… yeah, me too…” Kindle sat up now. “I’m so hungry… it feels like I’m dying…”

Zachary sat up, too. He leaned into Kindle’s view. “Really? Did you eat enough cake?”

“That was nine years ago.”

“Oh— yeah— right.”

QD groaned. “Ugggh… I feel like I’m dying, too... I ate enough cake, though… surely…”

“We’re gonna need to eat something soon…” Kindle rubbed her eyes and laid back down on QD’s shoulder. “Once we get back to the warehouse… I’m pretty sure there’s everything in there.”

“Everything that you can remember,” Zachary added as he leaned onto QD as well.

Kindle chuckled, closing her eyes and trying to ignore the painful hunger.

***

The bus stopped once more. Once the three stepped off, they were in a place that looked much like the crater of the moon on Earth. Rocky, dull and grey mountains surrounded them with nothing but the starry universe behind the horizon the mountains had created. Around were ruins of some building made entirely out of the stone they walked on and of which made up the mountains. Broken pillars, crumbled walls, smashed stairs…

In the far, far distance was someone sitting in lotus, floating a few feet from the ground. Their back was turned to the others, but it seemed that they were very young and most likely insane— noted by their messy and tangled hair.

“…looks like Ammi. Where’d she learn how to float?” Kindle squinted and tried to spy on the figure in the distance.

Zachary shrugged, the shifting of his armor and clothes unusually quiet. “I dunno. I guess we all lea—“

The figure turned around, spinning to their feet and sweeping their arm across the three.

This gesture promptly sent a large block of crumbly, powdery wall to the targets and definitely breaking their bones and killing them instantly.

***

“Damn—! My head! What the fuck?!” Zachary rubbed the left side of his head, which had been it, and sprung from QD’s shoulder.

Kindle slowly rose up like the living dead. “Now you know how I’ve been waking up for about 970,000 days.”

“Wait, when are we?” QD asked suddenly. “Like— when.”

Suddenly alert, Kindle eyed the women’s restroom. “…okay, cover me.” She stood up, walked to the restroom, and checked inside for anyone.

No one there.

“Angry German Lady? You there?” Zachary called in, eyes pointed to the ground rather than the open door. What a gentleman!

“Not here…” Kindle responded, shutting the door and walking back.

QD rubbed her eyes. “…hey… let’s go outside. That’ll give us a clear idea.”

The three woke themselves up sufficiently and walked out of the bus.

The same place they were before they died.

“…why here? Not complaining, but…”

“I think it’s whenever I sl—“

***

“…sleep…” QD muttered. Sleepily.

Kindle rubbed her eyes and forced herself to wake up. “Ugh… that’s right… whenever we sleep— we set our ‘respawn’ point.”

“Or maybe we just wake up whenever we go to the bus.” added Zachary.

Kindle’s face burned when she realized why her idea might be the case. First— to refute Zachary, because that was always fun. “No… I think sleeping with QD is our spawn point.”

QD’s face also turned red. “D-don’t say it like that.”

“It’s true! In the first iteration of the time loop, whenever I tried to live to the next day, I’d always have a sleepover with you. You were the only person who had yet to kill me. But, still— everytime, I died. I tried to stay awake, but my brain felt like it would melt and my organs churned and popped… either way, it remained the same— you, QD, never killed me. And so I felt safe. And the last day of the loop… I slept with you. The rest is what happens now— I made it out.” Kindle shrugged. “What I’m trying to say is— you are definitely the save spot. The safe spot. I feel safe with you… and… this place is definitely some form of my thoughts and mind manifested… so… safe spot.”

Zachary slumped back in his seat with an accepting nod.

Groaning, QD turned from Kindle. “Really? I don’t care about you. You’re kinda annoying sometimes. Well— you were— BUT THAT’S NOT THE POINT!!! I don’t like you! At all! Not even as a friend. I’m just stuck with you ‘cuz I wanted to see everything outside of the Train. And the Sea. That’s it! Don’t take this the wrong way!” her face burned. “Moron!”

“…woah, tsundere much??” Zachary teasingly grinned at QD.

She promptly clocked him in the face.

“OUCH.”

“You shut up, too! I didn’t ask you!”

Zachary and Kindle giggled to themselves as they prepared to leave the bus.

“…oh, by the way, how are we gonna get the memory from this…?” Zachary safely asked from inside the bus.

Kindle thought for a bit, giving QD a computing glance. “Hm… I think that whenever we speak, we get killed. It’s been a bit delayed, though.”

QD looked out the bus door’s window. “Looks like there’s pillars and walls kinda laid around. Maybe it’s like that… what, that one show? Little girl turns around and kills you if she sees you move? Oh, it’s Sq—“

“—SHHH! We don’t have the budget to say that!” Kindle waved her hands around QD. “Do we still have to pay them if we only say the first two letters?” She looks at you with a raised eyebrow. “I didn’t study copyright laws…”

Zachary tried looking at you, but he totally missed. “What? Where’s the point of view?”

“You guys are weird.” QD frowned at them. “Anyways… let’s just… go.”

“Mhm! Let’s all make sure we’re completely hidden behind a wall or something before she turns around.” Kindle nodded, then looked at everyone to see if they were ready to open the doors.

Then they were off!!! They ran for pieces of the wall and waited until the Ammi-like figure turned around.

…it never did.

Zachary, being our classic risk-taker, ran for another block of wall. He successfully hid behind it and was in the lead of the race he had just started.

QD shortly followed, with the logic of ‘now or never’.

However, Kindle waited, with her own logic of ‘sooner rather than later’— as in the Ammi figure would turn sooner rather than later.

The other two waited for a while. Kindle was still in hard calculation, looking at the Ammi figure every once in a while. Finally, she took her chances and made it ahead to Zachary’s rock.

“Do you think she ever turns around…?”

“I dunno. I just make a run f—“

The wall collapsed on them.

QD watched this happen with wide eyes. Okay. Zachary and Kindle died.

***

“I THOUGHT SHE WOULD TURN AROUND!!”

“But she didn’t.”

“Yeah— but I thought— she would!” Kindle pouted.

QD shrugged. “She still didn’t.”

“Then why did we die…? We were behind a rock— she didn’t turn around—“ Zachary rubbed his temples.

Kindle’s eyes blinked rapidly. “Ohhh, we spoke.”

“So, does speaking get you killed? Like that one movie, where you’re supposed to stay silent? What was it… Silence Area? Oh, no, it was A Q—“

“—AGAIN. NOT WITHIN THE BUDGET.” Kindle put her fingers on the bridge of her eyebrows, sighing.

“Yeah. Not within the budget.” Zachary repeated, frantically looking for the point of view and missing completely.

QD groaned. “AGHH. Whatever. Let’s just… walk to this stupid Ammi. Quietly.”

Zachary nodded, already zipping his lips.

They walked out of the bus, saw the Ammi figure, and quietly walked towards it.

It was definitely working! She hadn’t turned around once, and the three still were not dead. All good signs.

Eventually, their walking led them up to the Ammi figure, who had been on a not-so-steep hill.

The three exchanged glances. They had not thought through their plan this far. Their eyes exchanged glances that spoke the way words would.

‘What now?’

‘I dunno.’

‘Wait, what are we saying? Does anyone know what to do now?’

‘Can you understand Zachary, QD?’

‘What?’

‘No. I think he’s taunting us. He’s making weird faces.’

‘Guys, I can’t understand your faces!!’

‘Just ignore him.’

‘Hello?!’

‘What if we touch her now?’

‘Could work. Try it.’

‘GUYS!!!’

‘SHUT THE FUCK UP ZACHARY.’

‘QD WHAT DID KINDLE JUST SAY.’

‘Kindle, just touch her.’

‘Got it.’

Kindle put a hand on the Ammi figure’s back. It spun around almost instantly and put its hand on Kindle’s forehead.

Kindle remained quiet.

The Ammi figure narrowed its eyes. “You’re still bothering me. Why?”

Kindle looked down.

“You can answer my question, y’know.”

“…Uhhmm… we’re just trying to look for periwinkle crystals. They contain memories. We figured you would… know where they are.”

“Are they memories that aren’t yours?”

Kindle shrugged. “That’s the thing. We won’t know until we get them back, I think. Right, Zachary?”

Zachary looked down like Kindle had.

Waving her hand around, Ammi glared at Zachary. “You can speak,”

“Y—yeah… I think so…” Zachary lowered his eyes even further. “…I’m forgetting if I said this— but I’m pretty sure that… the moment you recover your memories with me in them… I can help narrow it down.”

“See?” Kindle grinned at Ammi. “We just have to try.”

“And if they’re not yours?”

“We’ll return them where we found them.”

Ammi sighed. She pushed her hand off of Kindle. “Alright. You want to know if I’ve found any crystals?”

Slowly nodding, Kindle’s smile faded into nervousness. “That’s right,”

“There’s one up there.” Ammi pointed to a crystal floating through the sky— slow due to a lack of gravity.

“Thanks! Could you get it down for us?”

Ammi narrowed her eyes in disgust. She decided to start explaining what they were to do. “No. Gravity is strangely condensed here. We’re at normal gravity here. However, as you go up, gravity will increasingly work against you. Then it will lessen and lessen until you are in zero gravity.” She folded her hands neatly, getting out of lotus and folding one leg over the other which dangled. “There will be pieces of walls and large bricks leading up to the crystal.”

Kindle glanced at the crystal. There was no such thing.

However, with a wave of Ammi’s hand, there suddenly was. She nodded to the others. “Climb them. Grab the crystal. The rest is anything but my problem.”

“Thank you.” Kindle nodded sheepishly, cowering under Ammi’s ever glowering gaze.

Ammi rolled her eyes. “Don’t talk to me like I’m a god or something. I don’t like it.” She turned back away from the three.

“…can we talk now?”

“Duh.”

Kindle grinned at the others and gave them a thumbs up.

They walked to the beginning of the pathway made of floating walls and bricks. It seemed pretty easy to climb up.

First, Zachary climbed up the first rock, standing up on it. “Hey! It’s super easy!” Then the second was easy, too— he just stepped forward. And the third… then he climbed up to the forth— immediately falling down. “OOF—.”

QD pointed at him and laughed.

“Dude. Zachary. How the heck did you miss that.”

Zachary sniffled, wiping his eyes. “I dunno! It was really hard to climb!”

“IT WAS TWO FEET TALL!!” QD continued to laugh. Maybe a little too hard.

“WHY DON’T YOU CLIMB IT?!”

“When I said you could talk, I didn’t mean you could yell.” Ammi sighed from a few feet away, on her elevated spot.

Zachary glared at QD. “The point still stands.”

“Watch me!”

QD’s results were very similar to Zachary’s. In fact, too similar.

“Ha-ha. See?”

“Whatever. This place sucks, anyways.” QD kicked some dust which then refused to settle afterwards. She frowned.

Kindle looked from Zachary to QD, wondering only now if their contributions to their theories on the nature of this place, memories and things of the like came from dead brains. “…guys. Ammi-girl just said gravity is weird. It’s normal, then heavy, then nonexistent.”

Zachary glanced at QD.

QD glanced at Zachary.

“You two forgot already?”

“We’re worse than you!” Zachary looked down sadly, yet in more of a joking way.

QD scoffed. “We? Just you, Zachy.”

“Really?”

“Mhm.”

“Okay. Whatever. Fine. Let’s just climb this thing.”

Everyone decided to go together this time. At the fourth rock, Zachary pulled himself up with all his might, giving help to QD and Kindle below. They continued to be pushed down by gravity until they made their way higher and higher, where the pushing gradually lessened.

“Phew… that was difficult.” Kindle sighed once she felt the gravity had returned to normal.

“Not really.” Zachary flexed, but under his cape, one could barely see it. What a waste!

QD stretched herself out, eyeing the long pillar they had to walk across to make it to more blocks. “Hey… could we skip a few of those blocks over there soon? With less gravity, we can jump higher. Right?”

“Yeah. Just don’t make it too far from the target, otherwise you’ll never drop down!” Kindle advised with a smile.

“Wait, for real?” QD’s face sunk.

Kindle shrugged. “I actually have no clue. I just logically think so. Each of these places are different.”

QD signed. “Yeah…”

Kindle decided to lead the squad this time, but as she placed one foot on the pillar, it spun under her and she fell down.

“KinDLE—!!” Zachary attempted to reach after her— but she had already gone too far to reach.

She exponentially fell faster and faster, then suddenly fell even quicker and landed on the powdery ground with a thud.

“Crap! We gotta go back, don’t we?!” QD looked down at Kindle. “KINDLE!! YOU OKAY?!”

Kindle gave a barely visible thumbs up from the floor.

“…yeah we have to go back down.”

“Do you think we can stick the landing and jump?”

Zachary nodded with a fearless grin. “Never hurts to try! Plus, we save time!”

“Cool. Let’s do it together.” QD held out a hand for Zachary.

Somewhat appalled (and with a face that grew hot), Zachary put his hand on QD’s.

“Ready?”

“Mhm.”

“3… 2… 1!”

The two jumped off together.

Halfway through their plunge, QD pushed Zachary further down.

“HEY HEY WAIT WHAT ARE YOU DOING THAT FOR QD WAIT—“

She had successfully made Zachary her landing cushion. QD had perfectly landed softly while Zachary landed on his stomach and face.

Kindle giggled as she saw the scene unfold.

“Aww, thanks, Zachary!” QD stood up from her seat of Zachary and rolled her shoulders.

Zachary lifted his face from the ground. “You’re welcome.” he muttered through gritted teeth.

“You guys SUCK.” The Ammi figure— at this point, just Ammi— laughed at them from her spot.

“Just ignore her.” QD patted Zachary’s lifted head with a smile, mockingly assuming that he took offense to that.

Zachary jolted up and wiped the dust from his clothes. “I know!“

“She laughed when you two fell, too.” Kindle added as she teasingly eyed QD and Zachary.

“Really? I didn’t hear…” QD shrugged.

“She did it very quietly,” Kindle pointed out.

The three made their way back up to their old spot, carefully walking across the still spinning pillar.

From then on, each step and block spun in directions impossible to predict and impossible to test. They all fell a multitude of times. And each time Ammi laughed— sometimes harder than the last time.

“Can you at LEAST make the pillars spin less?!” Zachary waved his hands to Ammi.

Ammi looked like she was in quaint, innocent thought, tilting her head slightly up. “Hmmm… nope!” She turned back to Zachary with a bright and perfect-family-picturesque smile. Then she went right back to not facing anyone.

“UGHHH.” Zachary groaned, hands itching to punch something… like all masculine urges amounted up to.

The routine was the same, time and time again… until the last block. They were so close, so sure that this block could be predicted.

“Okay. So. The last few patterns of blocks were… spinning: north, east, north, west, east, south, south, south, south, northeast, southwest, east, northwest, south, west. This repeats for a total of 3 times until we get another pattern that lasts for 2; spinning: south, north, west, southwest, north, north, north, west, east, south northwestern. Therefore, logically, the next rotation—“

“I’m saying west!” QD raised her hand to answer a question not asked.

“Wait! Let Kindle finish! Therefore…!?”

Kindle blinked. “Wait. Three… north, east, north, west, east…”

Zachary elbowed QD angrily.

“…okay maybe it’s west.” Kindle looked at the others blankly.

“See! Let’s g—“ QD stepped onto the block and fell. “FUCCCKINGGGG SHIIIIIITT!!!” 

They continued to have problems with this block until Kindle had seen a speck of dust hovering over the air. It had turned out the block was unpredictable in spinning and that there was an invisible pathway to the crystal.

When that was finally over, they grabbed the crystal. The crystal was covered in rocks, shielded away like a precious gemstone.

The three eyed the crystal. Each of them had a face with a different definition of ‘I’m so done with this’.

“D-do you think we can drop it and get the rocks off…” Zachary jabbed a thumb at the shielding rocks in a dinky manner.

Kindle sighed, trying to tap the crystal and view the memory already. This clearly was not working. “…what if it breaks…”

QD snatched the crystal from Kindle’s hand and swung it (yes, swung) towards Ammi down below in a large motion.

The others watched as it got smaller and smaller, getting further from their vision. Once it reached Ammi, she caught it, and the invisible path they were on ceased to exist.

All three of them fell (count: 396!) and landed on the floor. QD landed on her Zachary cushion once more.

Ammi slinked over to them with a strange, wide grin on her face, hands innocently behind her back. “How was the obstacle course?”

Zachary lifted his head. He wanted to flip her off, but he also didn’t want them to die right when the crystal was in their hands. So, he only sighed.

QD, however, did not think about this. “YOU MADE IT—“

Zachary kicked his leg up and slammed it on QD’s back. This was possible because she still refused to get off of her lovely cushion.

“How was it?” Ammi repeated with a growing grin, leaning in to the others.

“Difficult…” Kindle sighed. “Then again… when was it easy to get one of these crystals…?”

Ammi shrugged. “I’m sure it’s been easier. You have all been here for a total of 2 days, 5 hours, 43 minutes and…” she paused, looking up the way she’d done before in her innocent thought, then smiling wide and blinking back down to the others. “…19 seconds!”

QD groaned very loudly. This would surely make it clear that she was angry.

“Well… uh… those 2 days, 5 hours, 43 minutes and 19–“

“—29. 30. 31…” Ammi corrected, looking up again. Then she looked back down at Zachary, surprised, and waved her hand as if saying ‘Oh, no, please don’t let me interrupt you! Do go on.’.

“…35 seconds were for barely anything. This crystal doesn’t do anything. It’s fake.”

“At that point, it was 34 seconds, but I’m not one to judge…” Ammi covered her mouth with a cheeky smile, pausing to let this action be apparent. “…but, of course. I knew you were looking for this crystal!” She produced the crystal from behind her back, eyeing its rocky and shiny features, paying no attention to the others. “It’s not a fake… only… just covered in this rock.” Ammi knocked on it, then tossed it back to Zachary in a fluid motion.

He caught it, barely even breaking his glare from Ammi. “So… how do we get this rock off??”

Ammi grinned, narrowing her eyes. “Simple.” she motioned her hand to say ‘gimme’, leaning in closer to Zachary.

Zachary carelessly dumped it onto her hand and frowned.

“Thank you,” Ammi chimed, giving Zachary a pat on his hand and standing up straight again.

Kindle sat up now, feeling safer to do so. “…are you gonna break it free?”

Ammi nodded. “How smart!”

“I don’t think that guess had necessarily anything to do with smarts.” QD raised an eyebrow, twirling Zachary’s hair in her fingers as he tried to smack her away.

“She’s smart enough to suggest it, though… I mean, I made that obstacle course for you three with a wave of my hand. Surely, it’s not too much to break a crystal free from a few little rocks…” Ammi crushed the crystal between her palms, the rocks breaking free from it. “…I bet you knew this, and you suggested it because you knew you’d be right? Which— I think is a smart thing to do.” She smiled like a know-it-all and handed the crystal back to Kindle by rolling it off her palm and into Kindle’s lap.

It fell on her skirt, luckily. Kindle still wanted a few words with this Ammi before she looked through the memory. “…uh, yeah, I just guessed. I wasn’t necessarily looking for praise… or being right…”

“No? Shame…” Ammi put a hand to her cheek and sighed. “Now. Go on. Tap the crystal. I wanna get back to work, anyways…”

“Work? You mean sitting down and laughing at us?” QD narrowed her eyes and she finally sat up from Zachary, grabbing him by the back of his neck and propping him up to sit like in the manner one would prop up a chair.

Ammi chuckled and shook her head. “No… I do lots of important things. Like repairing things… building worlds… the like. It’s for the Sea.”

“Is this a world you’re repairing?” Kindle suddenly jolted to life.

“That’s right~!” She nodded with another grin. Will she ever run out? “Aw, you two should guess more!” Ammi teasingly looked at QD and Zachary.

Kindle blinked, turning back to QD and Zachary as well. They were not reacting to Ammi’s comment— but, rather, her answer. She turned back to Ammi, face scrunching up in total confusion. “We—we’re in the Sea?”

“Mhm! We’re on this world, this world is in the Sea, therefore we’re in the Sea.”

Kindle thought for a moment.

QD whipped out her notebook, furiously turning pages. “Wait… but… the angel said— yeah, he said that we weren’t in the Sea, right?”

Ammi shrugged. “Beats me. Now get out of here.” She frowned.

“Okay— yeah…” Kindle quickly tapped the memory before anyone else could speak.

⟣

“This’ll be HILARIOUS.”

“Right?! Wait wait wait WAIT. Can we try them on RIGHT NOW?!?”

“Yeah! I was thinking the same thing!”

“We’re gonna look SO good…”

“Mhm…”

⟣

“…that wasn’t very important…” Kindle blinked, her eyes filling with snow for some reason.

“Nothing has to be important. Everything has a reason, though.” Ammi added. “There’s a reason you saw that. Now, seriously.” she pointed at the ground next to her, a door rising up from the crumbling ground. “Get out.”

“Okaaaayyy, thanks for all your helllpp~!” Kindle grinned as she sat up, snatched the crystal, then made a cutesy little twirl to QD and Zachary and ushered them to the door.

Zachary accidentally was rammed into the doorknob— which he fought back Kindle’s ushering to grab and turn open.

They walked in through the door and left Ammi to peacefully do ‘work’.

***

They appeared in what seemed like an abandoned mall. Abandoned— but still clean and more modern than modern. The moment they began to get a sense of their surroundings, the air around them became stuffy and oddly tearable. Hmmm… I wonder what could possibly happen!

“That was a nice break while it lasted…” Zachary sighed, already crafting a new icy sword and readying himself.

Kindle’s head began to spin with possible situations and outcomes and things that could, would, and should happen. With all of these factors acting upon her, she ran to QD and stuck by her side.

QD patted Kindle on the head and rolled her eyes. “Mhm. It was beginning to get a little too quiet, so… figures…”

The space in front of the three ripped and Danger Kindle emerged, rapier already in hand. Before anyone could do a thing, she closed her entrance and stepped back. Her face was oddly uncalculating— deviating from the norm.

“I’m not here to hurt you.” She declared, still pointing her rapier at the others.

“Really? You were before.” Zachary slid his hand over the edge of his blade and refined it. He narrowed his eyes. “Don’t tell me you’ve changed your mind.”

Danger Kindle’s face softened and yet was still hard. “I’ve only changed my plans.”

QD cracked her knuckles. “Then what’s the plan now?”

With a sigh and knowing grin, Danger Kindle slid her rapier back onto her belt and extended her hand. “I need some help.”

“…okay with what though.” QD repeated.

“Something only she can do.” Danger Kindle’s hand hovered towards Kindle’s direction.

Kindle’s heart raced as she cowered behind QD, thoughts flooding her head until her blood turned to ice and her stomach was cold.

“Which is?” Once more, QD asked as she tightened her fists.

“She and I are the same. We share the same mind.” Danger Kindle’s hand went back to her side. “And I am on a mission. She will most definitely be useful for it.”

Zachary scoffed, rolling his eyes and tossing his sword in his hand impatiently. “Right! So useful you wanted to kill her last time you two met! ‘Definitely buying it.”

Danger Kindle glared at Zachary as she tilted her head down. “I am being serious. I am a very serious person.”

“Then why don’t you just tell us exactly what you’re planning?” QD was already getting tired of this.

“Your reactions might skew her answer to me. If I told you, you’d speak before she would— therefore, she would naturally agree with you rather than agreeing with herself. In this case, her true answer is then skewed and flawed. It is simple.”

“Alright. We’ll shut up. Say what you have to say.” Zachary pointed his sword at Danger Kindle as a warning— or possible defense of things went wrong.

Danger Kindle nodded, then looked down at Kindle. “You. Show me your face.”

“She doesn’t have to it she doesn’t—“

Kindle’s face peeked out from behind QD.

A warm and tired smile came from Danger Kindle. It was for a fleeting moment, as she became serious again. “Since you and I are the same person, naturally our destinies would be the same. Do you follow this logic?”

“…’guess so…”

“Right. My destiny is to kill gods and to become all knowing and all powerful. My destiny is to become a god myself. That is your destiny, too. Help me conquer our destinies together, and we will be gods.” Danger Kindle answered as if this was perfectly sane and reasonable. “I will not betray you and you will not betray me. We will not need to. Killing each other is self destructive— since together, we can overpower any mere obstacles. Obstacles such as our enemies. Killing each other is rather a loss than a gain. With this being said, will you help me kill gods?”

Kindle stared at Danger Kindle with wide eyes.

“Were you listening? I said that my destiny is t—“

“…no…” Kindle muttered as she looked to the ground. “…I was…”

Danger Kindle stopped talking. She paused with a blank face that looked down at Kindle still. “Oh, that saves time. Why don’t you answer me, then?”

“…I just… want to ask you something… first…”

“Go on.” Danger Kindle crossed her arms, though not impatient.

Swallowing hard, Kindle thought back to nine years in the past. “You said I ruined everything.” she managed to get out without a stutter. Surely, Zachary and QD could scare Danger Kindle off. They had done it before. But what if Danger Kindle also spent nine years somewhere off doing something? Nine years and not five minutes? “You asked me if I knew what I was doing. I didn’t. You yelled at me for it.”

Danger Kindle eyed Zachary and QD, cautious of any increasing anger. “Those minuscule details at the end matter very little. I simply said you ruined things because of what I realized.”

Kindle looked at her with fearful intent, asking her to elaborate.

“I realized that you were much, much stronger than I was. Eventually, you’d be able to kill me. That is why I asked for you to join me.”

“…Do you have a dad?”

Danger Kindle’s face did not change. “No. I do not have a dad. I am assuming that you don’t, either? If you had one, if you were born the way fate should’ve given you life, then you would be much more like me. Then the answer here would be obvious. This is another reason— you are wasted potential. You don’t know your destiny because there’s no one to show you.”

“That person being our dad?”

Now, Danger Kindle’s face changed. It was clear she had slipped up. “…yes.”

“So you have a dad?”

“…yes. But that doesn’t matter. I simply did it for security reasons.”

Kindle felt the need for a higher ground. “Okay. Maybe I’ll join you if you stop lying to me from now on.”

Danger Kindle tilted her head up and glared at Kindle. She reached for her belt and threw a fragile, glass potion at the three.

QD had a character arc moment, remembering everything Vera taught her. She saw the potion glimmer in the light— and she parried the projectile with a gust of wind and knocked it back. It flew off to the side and exploded violently.

Sensing Danger Kindle lunged for her smaller counterpart, grabbing her and trying to run off.

“HEY!” Zachary spun to Danger Kindle and sent a blast of ice from the ground to trip her up.

However, Danger Kindle was much too fast, and she traversed the mall at incredible speeds, even with Kindle desperately trying to break free of her grip over her and her mouth.

They made it to a dark, unsupervised and definitely old part of the mall. Danger Kindle shoved herself and Kindle under a futuristic escalator, hidden in the deep shadows of what the underside of stairs and the like look like.

“You have to join me. We’ll be unstoppable. Join me. Or I’ll kill you. Now.”

Kindle shook her head, mouth still covered by Danger Kindle’s hand.

“Fine! Have it your way! Insolent little brat! You could’ve have it all, but you just want to suffer because you’re lazy.“ Danger Kindle dropped Kindle onto the floor, pulling out her dagger and grabbing Kindle’s neck like a butcher.

Despite the weight on Kindle’s neck, she managed to spit out her last words as loud as she could. “‘Daddy say that to you, too?”

Danger Kindle paused. She glared at Kindle. “You’re nothing like me. I am better than you. You are nothing.” She lifted the dagger and tightened her grip on Kindle’s neck.

Adrenaline kicking in, Kindle thought of what she could do next. A quick reality check revealed that she could slide her legs up from under her counterpart, then probably pull a muscle trying to kick up and in her face. That would do. With enough fear inside of her to carry out the action, the need for air, and an instinct only nameable as ‘I want to kick this woman’s ass’, Kindle slid her legs to her chest and kicked up into Danger Kindle’s face.

She groaned in agony, holding onto her chin. “LITTLE— RAT!!”

“Haha.” Kindle taunted Danger Kindle from a few steps away. Then, to alert QD and Zachary of her location, she proceeded to whistle the highest note she could ever have whistled.

Immediately, Danger Kindle covered her ears. “STOP IT!!!!” she turned to the direction that she’d ran from, seeing Zachary pointing right back at her.

Kindle kept screaming, and was definitely enjoying herself doing so.

Danger Kindle gnawed at her teeth angrily, then ripped a space behind her and fled quickly.

The opponent now missing, the Kindle Alarm set off and couldn’t help but laugh after a processing pause.

“Kindle!! Kindle!!” QD ran to her as quick as she could, surpassing Zachary and immediately swallowing Kindle in a hug. “Are you okay?! She hurt you, didn’t she?!” QD pulled back and began to closely examine Kindle.

“Nahhh, I’m fine! Did you guys hear that?!”

Zachary nodded as his sprint came to a close near the others. He breathed heavily but excitedly. “Yeah! What the hell was that?!” Smiling wide, he caught his breath.

“I did it so you guys would come find me.” Kindle claimed proudly.

“It worked.” Zachary folded his arms and gave Kindle a smug grin. “And, hey— QD seems to be all better now…”

QD turned to Zachary. “I am not. I just had to check if Kindle was okay.” She rolled her eyes.

“Really? It seemed like you were smothering her. You care a lot, hmmm?”

“I do NOT! Kindle’s annoying, anyways.”

“Since when?” Kindle apathetically looked up at QD.

“Since— SINCE FOREVER!”

Kindle sighed. “Uh-huh… yeah, I think I stopped being annoying somewhere during that second loop…”

“Oh! Door!” Zachary pointed behind Kindle and QD.

A door, made of the essence of shadows and radiating it, covered in simple green vines emerged from the darkness. It was unique unlike previous doors.

Kindle blinked. “Will this one take us somewhere new?”

“We’ll only be able to find out if we enter.” QD added, now fierce and ready to take on this new challenge— rather than flustered as she had been before.

“Then let’s stop waiting!” Zachary grinned wide. “Hopefully there’ll be food behind that door…

It seemed like everything in the known universe suddenly became aware of its hunger again.

“Oh… yeah… I think my stomach is eating itself…” QD groaned as she walked to the door with the others.

Kindle nodded. “It very well could be. That’s a real thing, y’know.”

“REALLY??”

“Oh, yeah. For sure.” Kindle gravely nodded. A stark contrast from her previous nod. “Your muscles and organs…”

Zachary shook his head to get the heebie-jeebies out. “Eeewwwwokayyy. No more. Door.” He reached for the doorknob, turned it to open, and held out the door for the others.

“By the way, anyone else think Danger Kindle looks kinda hot?”

“QD THAT IS ME.”

“Yeah, but older… and hotter… if she asked me to fulfill my destiny with her and kill gods, I wouldn’t refuse.”

***

quirky white boy busts it down “sexual style”

The bus, which the door had led them to, suddenly had rolling carts of snacks and refreshments running up and down the aisles. This began to convince the three that this was a train disguised as a bus. The reason for this was still unknown.

Zachary ate about three thousand bags of chips (they somehow never ran out) and claimed he could eat three thousand more. QD held him against that claim.

In the end, they all feasted on snacks and diet, specific soda brands we cannot name here for legal reasons. It was a wonderful midnight-snack-sleepover party feast. Everyone’s childhood had been revived. Even Kindle’s… just a tiny bit.

QD stretched out and yawned. “Alright, everyone… save spot time… I think I’m gonna fall into a coma after all that food…”

“Don’t say coma…” Zachary shuddered.

“What? Food coma. What’d you think, I’d actually get a coma?“

“If you keep saying it, you might!”

“Coma. Coma. Coma coma coma coma coma coma coma coma coma coma coma—“

“Pillows are supposed to be quiet.” Zachary knocked on QD’s head.

QD frowned. “I’m not a pillow, dumbass!”

“Neither am I.” with a smile that displayed how proud he was of himself, Zachary cuddled up against QD’s shoulder and closed his eyes with content.

One ‘okay fine’ but in a happy way sigh later, and QD had also closed her eyes and got comfortable enough to sleep.

Kindle, silent this entire time, could not sleep. She stayed awake as the bus lights suddenly powered off and the view from the windows switched to places covered in the night. Kindle remained like this for a good deal of time… until a little rainbow ball that seemed to be made of sparkling aerogel faded into view on the floor.

Blinking sparingly, Kindle quietly sat up to get a better look— the sound of her clothes slightly folding giving her the impression that she was a scared child who had just heard the monster under the bed.

The ball rolled down the bus.

Kindle stood up and followed it.

The ball continued rolling… all the way until it hit the door to the back balcony of the bus where she had jumped from a multifarious amount of times.

With nothing else to do and in furitive, nervous consideration, Kindle eyed the door and opened it.

There, she saw the angel, leaning on the railing and looking out into the flashing scenes of the places the bus never stopped at and only passed through. Someone she hadn’t seen in years. The angel turned back to her with a smile, taking a cigarette out of his mouth, blowing out the smoke and letting it trail off the bus like a second exhaust pipe.

“Hey.”

“Hi,”

“I haven’t seen you in years.”

Kindle nodded slowly. “Same here,”

“How’s it been, hm?” He put the cigarette back in his mouth as he watched Kindle walk to the spot next to him.

She leaned on the railing the way the angel did. “Okay. I did something good for once.”

“Really?”

“Mhm. I was sent back to the loop for around 9 years. Instead of doing… bad things… I did good. I learnt about lots of things I had forgotten. That made me feel much better about myself.”

The angel nodded slowly, repeating the same routine of blowing out the smoke. “That’s nice. All I did was patch myself up from that other Kindle who stabbed me.”

“Danger Kindle?”

“Mmmmhm.”

“I see. Did you smoke a lot, too?” Kindle looked up at him with a teasing grin.

“Duh.” He rolled his eyes and returned the grin. “I only do it when I’m anxious, though. It’s just… well, it’s definitely useful for forgetting what’s bothering you… what’s going on… y’know.”

Kindle shrugged. “Isn’t that how people get addicted?”

“Nahh, not me.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. I’m getting off it. I only do it every once in a while… when I need it. It’s healthier than just flat out quitting.”

“I think I’ve heard that from somewhere once.”

“Have you?”

“Mhm. I can’t remember where, though…”

“Shame.” The angel tapped the cigarette on the railing and let the crumbling ashes from it fall off the bus. “On that note, ‘getting your memories back?”

Kindle softly smiled, turning her face back up to the angel. “Yeah. Two more people than the last time we met. I’m thinking about them now.”

“…that’s nice…” the angel sighed and took in a large breath of fresh air.

“Yup… and… I’ve been thinking. Are you someone that I’ve forgotten…?”

The angel shrugged. “I dunno. I can’t remember you beyond our first meeting the day you escaped.”

“Ah…”

“Sorry about that.”

“No, it’s fine. At least I know I’m not missing anything…”

The angel rested his elbow on the rail and his head on his hand. “Yeah.” His head bounced up as he spoke, since his jaw rested in one spot on his palm. “‘Feel that way with blue hair? Zachary?”

“Sometimes. I think I can tell that he expects me to be the same person… remembering what we did together… then again, QD— I can’t remember much about her beyond the loop. But that other one we met— I can. It’s like she was the only real person… another person we met talked about it, too. He asked Zachary if he was real. I don’t know if Zachary’s real. I think he’d be sad to be replaced.” Kindle sighed, eyeing the stars of the flashing locations they drove through. “…he said so. He got really defensive when the person we said suggested he wasn’t.”

“I get it. Being replaced… completely vaporized from someone’s memory… in general, having your existence wiped… hmm, yeah— how will anyone remember what you two did together if only Zachary can remember it? He’d never be able to even convince the one other person who knows if he was replaced in your memory…”

Kindle brightened with a new thing to say. “That’s the thing, though— they’re not being replaced. I remember both QDs. Both Rhines. Both Veras… and Ammis… it’s okay if he ‘gets replaced’— I know him, still.”

“But not being that one special person to you— that’s tough.”

Pausing for a moment, Kindle thought.

“…he’s not special to me. I barely know him.”

The silence hung dead in the air.

“There’s the problem. He’s alone now.”

“…I don’t know… I think he thinks we’re best friends.”

“Maybe you used to be.”

Kindle stared off into the flashing distance. It took her a while to muster up the courage to respond. “…oh…” she thought more before continuing. “…maybe we were…”

“Mhm. What is Zachary to you now?”

“A tryhard. He’s a little stupid sometimes. Those are charming personality features rather than derogatory ones, actually.” Kindle added, picking at her nails. “We’re definitely friends— if not acquaintances. I think I’m a better friend with QD… although I’ve practically only spent a few days progressing in our relationship together.”

The angel stifled a laugh. “You make it sound like friendship is a calculation.”

“…but serious things like friendship aren’t supposed to be fun. Calculating them is much more respectful, I think. Treating things like fun— like games—“ she paused. No. Kindle was wrong. Before— did she know how to treat things? It became games. Now, calculations. How would she treat things?

“Friendship is about feelings. You can’t calculate feelings.” The angel added with a wave of his hand. “You can feel them— but that’s about as close as you can get.”

Kindle looked at him with a confused face. Most of her moral compass had been crushed just now.

Watching Kindle’s eyes, the angel sensed he had to continue his explanation. “…feelings can’t be connected to logic. Sure… there’s a reason behind everything— but sometimes the reason isn’t logical. It’s… what, feelical? Friendship isn’t math. It’s emotion. Those are two very different things. If you mix them together, I assure you it ends terribly. Apply logic to someone’s feelings and you will end up hurting them. Or, vice versa, apply feelings to logic— and you will get nowhere.”

“…I get it. Just… how do I…? I mean…” Kindle looked down. She became quiet for a moment. “…I… guess… I think I used to think that…” she produced an irritated sigh.

“It’s alright. Take a minute.”

Kindle collected herself in silence and deep thought. “I don’t know… when I’m with friends… I like it. That’s so weird— isn’t it? I like it… but I thought I shouldn’t.”

“Pfft— that’s the essence of friendship! People who make you feel good.”

“I— I see…” Kindle nodded slowly. “I care about them. QD and Zachary and the friends I remember through the new memories… The friendships with them were special. And… in the loop, when I used everyone terribly and drained them of emotion— I don’t think I returned the output of friendship. Make… each other feel good. I didn’t do that. They didn’t do that. But… in the loop… I guess everything was wrong.” Kindle sighed, rubbing her temples. “No… I cared about them. But I made them feel terrible when I experimented to get out. That was… logic and friendship. Logically, there should’ve been an exit found through a new action— and the only way to do that was… ruin feelings…”

The same words came back to her. Emotions and feelings— they could last a millenium. They stuck with her still. The bad and the good… ashaming.

Kindle cared about her friends, but she hurt them for nothing still.

The angel nodded. “Did you think it through?”

“I… think so…” Kindle shrugged. “I'm not entirely sure what I’m thinking… but it’s so hard to see it that way… get it? Calculations— wrong for feelings…”

“Mhm. But you’ll keep working on it, won’t you?”

“I guess.”

The angel sighed and ruffled Kindle’s hair. “Now— you have something to do.“

Kindle looked up at the angel.

He looked over the railing and pointed to the invisible road the bus drove on. “Look, here.”

Kindle did the same. Under the balcony was a door. Positioned like a trapdoor— but a door.

“Go through it. Don’t jump off, though. You’ll fly away from the bus.”

“Oh—kay…”

“Here, I’ll lift you down.”

Kindle managed, with some difficulty as the soreness from the Ammi crystal began to kick in, to get outside the railing, standing on it while the angel held onto her hands.

“Ready to drop?“

“Mhm.”

“Okay.” The angel nodded as he lowered Kindle down while she carefully placed a foot on the doorframe. “…now, see if you can open it.”

Kindle nodded, reaching for the knob as she let go of one of the angel’s hands— then accidentally swung it open on its inside and wobbled about the frame.

“Oh! There you go! Bye bye!” The angel waved to her as she tripped inside.

***

Kindle found herself in a rundown, abandoned hospital. Like the mall— only if you add ‘rundown’. Hospital things of which she didn’t quite know the name of were tipped over, lights above had their bulbs ripped out or their wires (which left very little light left from the working, flickering ones), dirty stains of blood and some dirt on the used-to-be-white walls, and most prominent of all— broken glass and overturned medical supplies.

It occurred to Kindle that she was here without Zachary and QD. Maybe it was the pathway she had to take— if she recalled correctly, which she usually highly doubted, she remembered that there were only four people to remember on the train— well, four people she wanted to remember, anyways. Myst was a definite no. Never remember Myst. With this all being noted, it was clear to Kindle that she was due to remembering more. She possibly had more friends, and she knew she must have a describable family rather than ‘I have a mom and dad’. This could very well be her first steps into people other than the ones on the Train.

She wandered around the hospital with the aim to look out for any of the periwinkle crystals. It was somewhat difficult to traverse, having tons of medical equipment alter a clear, straightforward pathway. Having no aim made it all the more better, however. With nowhere to clearly go, there was no worrying about how she would get there. Kindle was perfectly content.

Until she heard a series of long, dragging footsteps.

Kindle froze in place at the beginning of a fork in the maze of his hospital. A figure walked into view from her right side.

It was extremely tall— but it looked something like a human. It was oddly grinning at her, with a face tattered by cuts and stitched back together again. The figure had thinned hair and looked shriveled, although it might’ve been years younger than it appeared.

The figure and Kindle locked eyes for a moment. A terrorizing, agonizing moment.

The figure lifted a hand and waved.

Kindle returned the gesture.

Another moment between the two passed.

“…hi.” Kindle added to ease the tension.

The figure waved again.