Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Angela had given all the abnormalities a choice. They could stay in the Library or explore the Outskirts and make their own lives for themselves. The Knight of Despair thought that was a foolish idea. So many of them had killed her favored agents. However, she would be a hypocrite if she ignored the deaths that she had caused. Nevertheless, she had her mind set that she and her sisters would do the opposite of what the Jester did.

"I think we should go!" Argued Queen, "There are innocent people out there we can protect."

Knight ignored the hidden statement of, "That will give me purpose."

"I agree. Perhaps we could look for the remnants of our kingdom. Maybe rebuild it," King concurred.

"I want to regain what I lost."

"I would like to meet some new people," added Servant.

"Maybe this time they won't betray me."

Her sisters looked expectantly at her. She knew no matter what she said, it wouldn't change anything.

"I'll go. Besides, someone has to watch over all of you," Knight said with something almost resembling a smile.

Queen reached up and grabbed her blackened hands, "Hey, this time, we'll do better. We can be better."

Knight tried to believe her as she saw the Jester of Nihil slip through the doors of the Library and into the Outskirts.

As it turned out, all of the abnormalities wanted to leave. Some of them merely ran off into the distance, like the Big and Will Be Bad Wolf (someone had to restrain Little Red from bolting after him) and the Mountain of Smiling Bodies. Others formed small groups and went off together, such as Punishing Bird, Big Bird, and the Bird of Judgement. Knight and her sisters ended up forming a larger, stranger group of the more humanoid abnormalities.

The Jester was, luckily, one of the ones that went out on his own. The ruined half of her face burned when he gazed at them before going.

The Outskirts weren't kind to all of them, and their more vertically challenged members sometimes fell behind. Luckily, Queen had plenty of room on her staff for Servant. None of them knew what they were looking for, they were simply trying to find something, anything they could claim as their own.

Der Freischütz had been the first to spot it through the highly unnecessary scope on his rifle. A shabby, yet mostly intact town lay ahead of them. It was no kingdom, but it would do.

"King, I think we should take this building. It has enough rooms for all of us." Queen said, pointing out one of the less shabby houses.

"Oh, I don't know," she shook her head, "There's holes in the ceiling and gaps in the walls."

"Beggars can't be choosers. I can try to fix it." Servant spoke up. She held up her little hammer to show that she could do it. Just like the old days. King and Queen would squabble and squabble. Servant would always try to act as a mediator. It was all on good fun, they could always meet in the middle. Something pricked at the corner of her eye .

"Knight, you get a say, too," Queen turned to face her, "Oh, Knight, what's wrong?"

Knight knew exactly what was wrong. She just couldn't get the words out. Tears streamed from her eye. Memories flooded her mind. King giving freely to those that had less. Queen helping someone up after they had fallen. Servant helping her train the guard. The Jester showing up and promising that things will only get better.

The thoughts stopped when King wrapped an arm around her quivering shoulders. "Hey, everything will be alright. You were thinking about back then, right?"

Knight bobbed her head up and down before wiping away her tears. "I was supposed to protect you. I should have been able to protect you. None of this should have happened," she choked out.

"We all failed. None of us could fight against nihilism," said Servant, tugging at her dress.

"But that's what I was supposed to do," Knight whispered.

"That was then, this is now. Those days are gone, and our hearts are worse for it. But as long as we have each other, we can do anything," Queen grabbed her hand and tugged her along, "Now come on, Funeral is eyeing this place."

Surely enough, Funeral of the Dead Butterflies was staring at the house. Or he might have been staring at them. It was hard to tell due to the butterflies and lack of eyes. Though he probably understood what was happening. They had breached together a few times, and he seemed to understand sorrow as deeply as she did. He simply adjusted his coffin and walked away.

Knight let herself be led into the house, King giving her approval of it by allowing this to happen. It was vaguely furnished, though most of the fabric in the room was in various stages of mold and rot. This was all due to the fact that there was a massive hole in the ceiling and roof. It was large enough to see the slowly darkening sky.

"Yeah, I could fix this," Servant said, patting her hammer.

"We can fix this," Queen corrected her. She slowly started to ascend the stairs, stepping around the rotted boards. Once she made it up, she vanished around a corner.

"I better follow her, keep her out of trouble," Servant told the others as she went up the stairs, too.

That left King and Knight to explore the first floor. They were mostly silent as they went through the remains of someone else's life, save for the occasional sniffle from Knight. Most of the furniture was beyond repair, so they piled the destroyed stuff up in a far corner of their house. The salvageable things were placed on the other side of the house.

King was hovering over a picture frame when Knight found her again. Four figures stood together, beaming as they held each other.

"Do you think we can ever be this happy?" Whispered King, "Do you think I can be this happy again?"

"If you guys can forgive me for failing to protect our kingdom, I think you can be happy," Knight admitted. King just gripped the picture harder, gold-painted wood crumbling in her grip.

"But can we be happy? Will there be a day where you don't cry?" Her eyes filled with black tears. Knight carefully cupped her face and wiped the fresh tears away. "If I can't be happy, how could anyone else be? I'm the King of Happiness! I was the King of Happiness." Her voice faded away.

"King, we all used to be different people. I used to stand for justice no matter what. Now, I've fallen to despair," she gestured to the corrupted half of her face, "But we were given a second chance. Maybe we can turn things around this time."

King sniffled, "You've always known what to say, Knight."

"Hey, guys! We found some intact blankets up there. It'll make sleeping on the floor more comfortable," Queen threw them all down the stairs and jumped onto the mound she had made. She yelped when she still firmly hit the ground despite the cushioning she had.

"I don't think we found enough blankets for that to work, Queenie," Servant sighed, making her way down the rotting stairs.

"You think?" King said as she quickly wiped her face and went to help Queen with the blankets. Queen simply jumped up as if nothing had happened.

"Well, Knight, any ideas on where we could sleep? Upstairs is a no go." Queen stated, vaguely gesturing to the massive hole in the ceiling.

"Well, we could sleep just under the hole. There's nothing left there to fall on us, and we get a nice view of the sky." She quietly explained.

The girls were silent for a moment, thinking it over. "That's a pretty good idea," Queen admitted. She took her pile of blankets and started to spread them out on the floor, with King following suit.

It didn't take long to assemble a makeshift bed. They put the rattiest blankets and towels on the bottom, and the most intact ones on top. Knight laid down first, after all, she was the biggest. Everyone else placed themselves around her, using the folds of her dress to cover themselves.

She watched the stars as the others drifted off to sleep. Her hair still mirrored them, even after all these years of containment. And maybe, just maybe, she could go back to being herself after all these years, too.

Chapter Text

Knight woke up to hammering. She opened her eye and saw that the hole in the roof was a bit smaller than earlier.

"No, no, no!" Queen shouted from above, "You have to put the board this way."

"If you say so," Servant complied, accompanied by the sound of scraping. That scraping became a clatter, and the clatter became a bang as the wood fell right through the hole in the ceiling and landed next to Knight. Two faces peered down at her from the roof.

"Maybe, I might have made a small error," Queen admitted sheepishly, "You good down there, Knight?"

"Perfectly fine," she replied, getting up and smoothing out the folds of her dress. She picked up the board and waved it at them, "Doing a bit of maintenance?"

Servant scoffed, "Trying to."

"Hey, you don't know any better than I do," Queen deflected, hopping on her staff and descending down through the ceiling. She took the board from Knight and started to ascend again.

"So, you all have been hard at work while I've been sleeping?" Knight asked incredulously.

"You were sleeping so peacefully; we didn't want to wake you," Queen admitted.

Knight heavily sighed. So this was how it was going to be. She nodded and went up the stairs to help them do repairs. She lifted herself through the hole in the roof and onto the broken shingles.

"So, we now know that's not how to position it, what if we try this way?" Queen said, putting the board back in the exact same position that Servant originally had it.

"Yes, that'll work," Servant stated and pulled out some nails. "Knight, you have more reach than we do, can you hold it in place?"

Knight held onto the wood as Servant got to work on securing it. Queen was busy getting the next set of boards ready. There was just one person missing…

"Say, where's King? I haven't seen her around?" Knight asked.

"Oh, she's getting more supplies for us. Out of all of us, she looks the most human." Queen explained, gesturing to her almost caricature-like anatomy as if it proved her point.

Panic shot through Knight. King was out there on her own? She knew that King was more than capable of taking care of herself, but it still concerned her that she wouldn't be able to protect her if needed.

Queen was carefully watching her face, "Don't worry, she's not alone. Little Red went with her. She's one of the only other human-like ones. Bugman and that devil stick out too much."

That, was a relief. Little Red Riding Hooded Mercenary was reliable and carried enough of a presence to dissuade anyone from trying to mess with them.

"So, you're saying this necklace is only worth one piece of wood." King asked, mock incredulity coloring her face.

"Listen, listen," a small, scowling human by the name of Wesley said, "If it were in better condition, I could maybe give you one and a half."

"Hmm, it's pure silver. The little bits of tarnish on it means it's still good. And useful." King lightly nudged Little Red to get her to say something.

"Say, you don't have Blood Fiends in this area, do you? I've heard that they have a strong aversion to silver," Little Red casually stated.

Wesley blanched at the mention of Blood Fiends. He gulped and said, "Alright, I can give you one and a half boards for it."

King grinned at him, "No, I think this is actually worth two boards."

Little Red chose that exact moment to stand at her full height and reach over King to tap at the boards.

"This wood appears to be of low quality. Look at all the knots and the cracks starting to form in it." Little Red said grimly.

"There is nothing wrong with my product!" Wesley argued.

"Are you calling me a fucking liar? Or do you think I'm too stupid to realize we're being cheated?" the mercenary shouted, backing away and hovering her hand over her axe.

The little man opened his mouth to protest, but King held up a finger to silence him.

"I can look past this little incident, if you add a few more pieces of lumber to the pile," Wesley nodded, "And you get a few things for my companion over there."

"Fine! Fine! I'll do it. Just get your friend to back down." Wesley was desperate to get on a better side of the crazy woman in red.

King gave him a small, mean smile, "Thank you for being so understanding, Wesley."

Little Red took that opportunity to approach him with what almost seemed to be a shopping list. As he read it, his eyes just got wider and wider. He looked up at Little Red. She glared back. He turned away and started to collect some of the items on the list.

They didn't get everything they asked for. Some things simply don't work out perfectly. Still, Little Red was pleased as punch to get a new whetstone. King pretended to not notice the bottles she carefully shoved in her bag. They gathered up their bartered goods on a utility wagon they had also somehow bartered for, and headed out. They weren't going to take the long way again; they didn't have to. Now that King had a connection to where they were going, all she had to do was open a portal. But they still wanted to get far enough away from the town so that no one could see her cast the spell.

"So, I never knew you 'magical girls' were such good negotiators," Little Red stated, testing out her whetstone.

"Oh, the others aren't. I only learned to be good at it to protect my kingdom," King said. That was mostly true, at least it was on the beginning. Before avarice gripped her soul. "You aren't half bad at it yourself."

Little Red laughed hoarsely, "If looming over others until they reconsider their life choices is negotiating, then it's just part of the job for me."

"It's a valid strategy. And it worked. You pretending to get mad at him helped us get what we want."

"That wasn't an act."

"Oh. Well, I think we're far enough away to where I can open a portal to get us back." King declared.

She reached within herself and found a light. It had been long buried, but her experiences as a book helped uncover it. She siezed it in her mind and felt it's warmth.

"I want everyone in the whole world to be happy!" The light cried.

"But what about me?" A much darker part of her asked. She managed to momentarily shove the dark away and pull the light out of her. Her left hand felt much heavier as her gauntlet encased it.

"Road of the King! Road of Gold and Greed! I command you to open before me! Gate of Amber reveal yourself to me! Aperta porta aurea!" King chanted, casting her spell. A shimmering golden gate appeared before her.

"Huh, you didn't used to chant all that," the mercenary stated, shifting the wagon from her left hand to her right.

"That's because I didn't care where I ended up. Now, I have somewhere I need to be." King stood to the side as a way of telling Little Red to go first. She got the hint and marched forward through the gate.

King adjusted her footing into a fighting stance: right side forward, left side back and ready to charge. There was no harm in going on a little gold rush. She took a deep breath and sprinted through, the portal closing in her wake. Suddenly, she was back in front of the rickety old house that would be her kingdom.

King quickly doused her light and buried it back within herself. The gauntlet vanished.

Knight was standing on the roof, looking for any sign of her sister. They had all done what they could with the supplies that they had. The hole was a bit smaller, but still very much there. Queen was busy doing who knows what inside the house. Servant was peacefully sitting next to Knight, grazing her fingers over the pages of one of her many books.

A familiar portal opened in front of the house and Knight felt a wave of relief wash over her. King was finally back. She descended the roof and waited in front of the gate. Her face fell when Little Red walked through instead of her sister.

"Wow, don't get too excited to see me. It's not like I'm hauling all your stuff." She remarked, yanking on the wagon behind her.

"Oh, sorry. I've been waiting for her to return," Knight managed to simplify all her nervousness into one neat sentence. The mercenary just rolled her eye and kept moving.

The gate glimmered and King came running through, a familiar, adrenaline-driven smile adorning her face. She looked like she had all those years ago. But the gauntlet vanished and everything returned to the present.

"Guys, I'm back!" King called, rushing over to help Little Red unload some of their goods.

"I'll take it that your mission was successful?" Knight picked up some of the lumber and set it next to the door. At least they had enough to patch their roof and some of the second level. They didn't take all of it, though. Others in their town probably had their own repairs to make.

"Successful? It went great! King's a shrewd businesswoman." Little Red stated, pointing to the wagon.

"Truly, it was nothing," King humbly shrugged off the compliment. She knew she was good, no one had to remind her of that fact.

"If you say so," the mercenary shrugged, grabbed the cart, and turned away. "I better get back. The bastards of the 'gun club' are probably wondering where their stuff is."

"Thank you for going with King," Knight called.

"It's no problem. Just make sure to tell me if you see a wolf," the glint in her eye told Knight that it wasn't a request; it was an order.

"I will. Farewell, Red." Knight waved at her. King had already gone back inside to see her sisters.

"Yeah, yeah. See you around, Knight." Little Red waved her off and walked away.

Knight went back inside to see Queen in front of a pile of dead rats.

"I found some of the vile creatures that tried to wreak havoc on our home," she said, grinning.

I… see." Knight said. She certainly did. There had to have been at least a dozen of them. That explained what Queen had been doing in the house all day.

"These villains won't be disturbing us again!" She stated with a flourish of her wand. She continued to talk about the evil she had destroyed while Knight stared at the rats.

Many of them were old and gray, probably just doing their best to survive. They were simple creatures of habit that fought tooth and claw to just live.

"Well?" Queen looked at her expectantly.

"You did a good thing. Let me just dispose of these evil-doers," Knight knelt down and scooped up the rats, "How about you go find King and convince her to tell us about her trip?"

"Okay!" She exclaimed, bounding away, her staff following close behind.

Knight went back to the door and shoved it open. They'd have to replace the hinges on it eventually. She didn't quite know where to put her handful of dead rats. She settled on going a few steps away from the house and lightly setting them down. They weren't truly evil. That was just a concession she had granted Queenie to sate her. No, these creatures weren't evil. Perhaps they had just gone astray.

A commotion in the house dragged her thoughts away from the rats.

"If you let me start my story, you'll learn all about the humans I met," King shouted, presumably to Queen.

"I was just asking a question!" Queen shot back.

"How about we wait for-" Servant started.

"A question that interrupted my flow!" King continued, cutting off Servant.

Knight shook her head and went back inside. They weren't astray. Perhaps a little lost, but certainly not astray.

Chapter Text

It took them a long time to patch up the roof. To be fair, a lot of that time was spent arguing amongst themselves on how to do it. Most of the time, Servant was right. Knight mainly supervised and held things in place. Just another advantage of her height. King and Queen did the lion's share of arguing, but it was all in good fun with no real malice behind their verbal jabs.

"How do you think the other abnormalities are doing?" Queen asked on a whim one day.

"Based on my talks with Red, not very well," King stated. She had been spending a lot of time with Little Red on their supply runs.

"Why's that?" Queen implored.

"Well, a lot of them are alone. They don't like or don't know how to interact with others," King explained, a hint of sadness in her voice.

"Well, who else came with us?" Servant asked.

"Hmm, there's Little Red Riding Hooded Mercenary, Funeral of the Dead Butterflies, Der Freischütz, Today's Shy Look, and Laetitia," Knight counted them off. She made sure that none of the people following them were extremely dangerous. Or, in the case of Little Red, they could at least be reasoned with.

Queen furrowed her brow and thought hard. She was a good person. Her sisters were good people. Good people help others. Unfortunately, their "neighbors" weren't necessarily good people. But, she had an idea. If she helped them, maybe she could make them good people.

"How about we visit some of them? Maybe help them if need be?" Queen suggested.

"Good idea, Queenie. I wouldn't mind spreading some joy," King said with a smile. It was the first thing they had agreed to in days.

"We can do it, I would like to meet some of them," Servant added. She didn't really know any of the other abnormalities. She was in a different facility and never got the chance to meet them.

Knight looked down at her sisters and bit her lip. King would be fine, she never had any major issues with others. Queen varied, if she determined that they were good, everything would be fine. Servant could be an issue. She could connect with them, but friendship would be a problem. Knight didn't want Servant to fall back into her old habits of getting used and calling it "friendship."

"Oh, alright. But I'm coming with you. Someone has to keep you guys out of trouble," Knight said lightly, reaching down to pat Queen's head. She just batted her hand away and attempted to bite it.

The four magical girls left home to wander around the newly un-abandoned town. Many of the houses had completely collapsed, others were burnt out. Something very bad must have happened here. The first few houses had no one in them. They kept exploring until they found bloody footprints.

"These look fresh," King stated, kneeling down to study them.

"Any idea on who those belong to?" Servant asked.

"I would guess that they belonged to Today's Shy Look," King replied, dusting off her dress as she stood up.

"Let's follow the path!" Queen exclaimed, marching alongside the footprints. Her sisters fell in lockstep behind her.

The footprints went all the way up to a door. Now, the house was a small little thing, only one story. But it was in surprisingly good shape. Someone had even put flower pots in the windowsill.

"Hello! Shy Look! It's Queen of Hatred and the other magical girls. Are you home?" She shouted, banging on the door. Knight almost flinched at her calling herself "Queen of Hatred."

Muted footsteps could be heard from inside the house, halting at the door. A woman in a long, bloodstained dress opened it. Her face was obscured by a mask made of skin, its expression perfectly neutral. The visible parts of her arms and legs were completely stripped of skin; blood occasionally dripped from them. Ah, that explained the bloody footprints. Wide, white eyes gazed at them.

"Hello? What do you want?" Shy Look asked, shoulders slumped.

"Oh! We just wanted to check in with you. You live all alone, so we wanted to make sure you're doing all right," Queen quickly explained.

Shy Look was silent for a moment, quietly processing all that was said. "Now's not really a good time," she numbly stated.

"Are you in the middle of something? We can help!" Queen assured her.

"No, it's just, I don't have the energy today. Alright?" Shy Look sighed.

"Well, is there anything we can do for you?" Queen pressed.

"Queenie…" Knight started. She knew what was going on. She often felt like that herself.

"What? I'm just trying to be good," she replied, putting her hands on her hips. Shy Look's mask looked like it was about to shift.

"Queen," Knight firmly said, "We aren't needed here right now. Let's let Shy Look continue with her day."

Shy Look's mask shifted into a small smile, "Thank you, Knight. I'm sorry, I really appreciate you all visiting. I just can't deal with visitors right now. But you can stop by some other time. Or I'll visit you guys."

"Alright, I guess we'll leave now. Bye," Queen waved. Shy Look gave her a slight nod and closed the door.

The sisters wandered back into the street and began their search again. They searched for any sign of life they could find.

"Hey, Knight, what was all that about back there?" Queen asked.

"She just didn't want to see people right then and there. Shy Look was feeling down, and wanted to be alone," Knight explained.

"Well, if she was feeling down, we could have helped her!"

King stepped in, "Queenie, I agree with Knight on this one. You were being a tad pushy back there."

"What?! I was being nice," Queen argued.

"To someone who clearly didn't want it," Servant spoke up.

"You're ganging up on me, too? Fine. Next person we meet, King gets to deal with," Queen stated, crossing her arms.

Knight didn't like seeing her sister upset, but it would be better for her in the long run. Queen had to learn that love could be expressed in different ways. Sometimes it was through doting and a helping hand. Sometimes it was through listening to someone's needs. Alright, maybe Knight saw a bit of herself in Shy Look and wanted to show her sister how to act when she would inevitably fall into a period of despair.

"If you fuckwit actually helped us instead of standing there like a little bitch, maybe this shit would get done faster!" Little Red's furious shouting pulled Knight out of her thoughts.

Ah, they had found three others.

"Perhaps his arms have been weakened from years of doing nothing but hold a gun. If he were to help us, they would surely fall apart and shatter" the softer voice of Funeral called.

The four magical girls had walked into the middle of an argument. Little Red was on the roof of a little cottage, prying off damaged shingles and hammering new ones in place. Funeral was next to her holding a pile of said new shingles. Der Frei was watching them from the ground, surrounded by broken shingles that appeared to have been thrown at him.

"Hey, Red! Need any help up there?" King cupped her hands together and shouted.

Little Red startled, shooting up and angling her hammer back to throw it. She lowered it upon seeing King.

"We got it mostly handled, but I wouldn't mind taking a break with you guys for a bit," Red stated, getting her supplies and jumping off the roof. She did a rolling stop to absorb the impact. The hammer got thrown at Der Frei, who just stepped out of the way.

"That would be rather enjoyable," Funeral jumped off the roof as well and led them to a patch of grass.

The seven of them sat in varying closeness to each other. King and Queen sat with Red, talking about their exploits and sharing their adventures. Knight and Funeral stuck together, the silent thread of sorrow connecting them. Servant and Der Frei were the odd ones out, both of them not quite knowing how to connect with the others but not willing to interact with each other.

"So, Knight, how do you and your sister's fare?" Funeral asked.

"Well enough, I suppose. King's been mostly normal. Queenie's a touch on edge, so be wary. Servant's lonely," Knight said simply.

"Yes, but what about you?"

"Oh, I'm fine. But what about you three? Do you all live together or do you just meet up from time to time?"

Funeral gave a light, tinkly laugh that reminded her of wind chimes, "Gosh no. We would kill each other daily. Or, rather, I would die daily."

"Luckily, my sisters are a touch more hinged than your friends."

"Hmm, was that a joke? I don't think I have ever heard you say one."

"Well, times are changing," Knight said, standing up while plucking the grass off her dress.

"Still, if you ever feel the need to talk, reach out to me."

"I said I'm fine," Knight said harshly, "Besides, we need to get going if we want to see Laetitia today."

The magical girls said their goodbyes and continued on their journey. They could still hear Little Red shouting in the distance when they found Laetitia's home, a surprisingly cheery little place with her name sloppily painted on the front door.

"Well, I think this is it! Servant it's your turn," Queen exclaimed.

Servant walked up to the front door and gently knocked. The house wasn't in too poor a condition, and you could see color sprayed across the walls through the windows. Now, some of them were broken, but the magical girls were slowly starting to realize that their house was one of the more dilapidated ones.

The door creaked open. "Oh, guests! Hello, hello! Come in!" The little girl ushered them in.

"Hi, Laetitia. Do you need any help?" Servant asked.

"No, I'm doing great. Would you like to have some tea?" Laetitia asked, her minute mechanical motions making her sound like a music box.

"That sounds lovely," Servant nodded graciously, following her to a small room with a random assortment of chairs and a table.

It was lovely, truly. All the sisters were given little teacups and small saucers. They were too small for Knight and King, but they made do. Laetitia was preoccupied with Servant, so she didn't notice. The two of them were hitting it off surprisingly well. Laetitia spoke of her friends that she missed and of agents that had cared for her. Servant spoke of their shining kingdom that used to exist, where everyone was free and happy. They spoke until the sun began to set.

"I don't think that it's a good idea to stay out this late," Knight spoke up.

"Right! I have to go to bed," Laetitia said, "Here, Servant, I have a gift for you!"

"For me? No one gives me gifts," Servant said.

"You're my friend. I have to give you a gift!"

"Friend…"

Laetitia pulled out a small crystalline heart and set it in Servant's hands. It shook occasionally, but she shrugged it off.

"Thank you, Laetitia. I'm sorry that I don't have anything to give you," she said.

"Don't worry about it. Bye, now! See you guys around!" Laetitia called as the magical girls left.

Servant gripped the heart close the entire way home.

Chapter Text

King of Greed was late. She was supposed to have been home before the sun started to wane in the sky. But as the sky turned blood-red, she still wasn't back. Knight was fraught with worry.

"If you keep pacing like that, you'll wear another hole in the floor," Servant warned.

"We already have enough of those," Queen added.

"I'm just concerned. She’s never been out this late before,” Knight said, pausing her pacing.

Servant put down her book and sighed, “Look, King is fine. The trades are probably just taking longer than usual. Besides, she’s one of the best fighters I know.”

“Yeah! Remember how she could just plow through enemy units with no issue?” Queen added.

Oh, Knight knew perfectly well how good a fighter she was. They fought side by side on the battlefield many times. King just tended to be a bit overzealous to the point of pushing herself to the breaking point. She would do anything to achieve her goal of winning the fight. That temperament paired with Little Red of all people could only be trouble if things came to blows.

“If it would make you feel better, we could wait outside," Servant suggested.

Knight nodded, "Yes, yes. That will do."

Queen seemed to be the only one that was happy being out there. She was busy chasing down fireflies. Servant was frowning deeply at her book. Something must have taken a turn for the worst in it. All Knight could do was sit on the porch and watch the moon rise.

The insects were happily chirping away when dread settled over her. Queen and Servant immediately stopped what they were doing, apparently feeling the same thing.

"King is…" Queen started.

"In trouble. Focus on her pull, and go to it," Knight ordered, before diving into herself. She ripped through the pit that was her heart and searched for something that glimmered gold. The thread was faint, but she could feel it.

Knight grabbed her sisters and yanked on the thread. A cold, white light shrouded them before collapsing into a singular point. The light released them into a new location: a small, bloodstained town, alive with the buzzing of saws.

"Is that all you've got?" Someone demanded.

King crumpled one of the armored figures surrounding her, the glass container on its back shattering on impact. It screeched incomprehensibly before getting pulled away by one of its companions. Said companion tried to sink its hook into King's side. Queen fired off one an Arcana Beat, distracting it.

"Thanks for the help, Queenie. What are you guys doing here?" King shouted over the din, tossing another armored creature away.

"We felt that you were in danger," Knight said, holding onto her sisters as she made her way to King. Pushing through the crowd was easy enough with her height, Queen and Servant aided by blocking various shots.

"It is our duty to protect each other," Servant stated. Her hammer was dripping acid, the blindfold slipping.

"I appreciate it. Normally these little things would be easy, but all this time must have made me lose some of my luster," King sighed. As Knight got closer, she saw the cuts and scrapes criss-crossing her body. It was tragic seeing her like this, an echo of her old self.

"Good thing we're here! These sweepers don't stand a chance!" Queen assured her, using her staff to flick multicolored stars at the enemy. Occasionally, she would send one at King, lightly healing her.

"There are so many of them. Every time one falls, another takes its place," Servant observed. She was right. The sweepers absorbed their dead, using them as fuel in order to continue their attack.

Knight began her blessing. She had to protect the others using every means necessary. Perhaps she could even summon her sword and shield when she was done. But she had to focus, it took some effort to bless more than one person.

"The stars bless us and keep us. The moon shield us and guide us. The night cover us and grant us grace. Shine upon us stars. Nos protege, astra!" Knight called, raising her hands to the sky. A shimmering veil of stars descended upon the four of them, absorbing the blows of the sweepers.

“Now that’s more like it! Thanks, Knight,” King said, clobbering another.

“What happened to Little Red? Shouldn’t she be helping you?” Knight asked in turn.

“She said if I got too close, I would just be collateral. I was able to fight on my own well enough.”

“Hmm, if you say so.”

They were fighting extraordinarily well together, moving as one unit as they tore through the sweepers. King was pummeling them with her gauntlet, Queen slung stars at them, Servant dissolved them with acid, and Knight was… Not doing that much. She occasionally shifted the constellations to absorb more of the impacts, but that was it. She couldn’t feel her shield at her side. Her sword was just beyond her reach. She was a knight relying on nothing but a prayer to protect her charges.

“Let’s put a stop to these villains! Knight, cover me while I prepare my Arcana Slave!” Queen ordered, an excited glimmer in her eye as she scurried in between the sweepers, trying to find the perfect place for her shot. Which was apparently far enough away from the others that Knight had to follow her. Her blessing stretched thin, so she dispelled it from herself. The others needed it more than her.

Some of the armored creatures must have caught onto their intentions and began to follow them. Queen couldn’t fight them, not while she was preparing her spell. Knight didn’t have any sort of weapon available to her. All she could do was twist the stars into whatever shape was needed to protect. They were starting to blink out. The blessing could only hold for so long when it was this spread out.

Knight dove within herself to search for the stars she held within. She had to get her sword. It could pierce through anyone that seeked to harm her sisters. It wasn’t there. The more she grasped for it, the more unbearable her empty hand became. Perhaps the justice inside her had truly faded away.

“Knight! They’re breaking through!” Queen shouted, momentarily taking her focus away from her staff.

There were no stars for her to grab. No crystals of peace that would fix things. Nothing but a hole for a heart. There was no justice in this world. She had truly failed. It was hopeless. They were helpless.

She was worthless.

There was nothing left to hold onto but that misery. Knight embraced it, and it returned the gesture like an old friend. The ruined half of her face didn’t even hurt as spikes pierced up through it. Her dress became a mockery of the armor she used to don. Sorrow became the only sword she knew how to wield.

Her rapiers danced through the air, piercing the hearts of all that dared stand against her. They would feel the despair she held. Some of the attacks didn’t kill her targets right away, so the swords came back to them like a needle through cloth.

Knight barely noticed the pink light that enveloped her. It was warm and should have been comforting. She just looked for more targets. Justice has to be upheld somehow.

“Knight! Knight, that’s enough! They’re gone,” Queen called to her.

“I… Couldn’t protect them,” Knight rasped.

“You protected me just now! Please, Knight,” Queen grabbed at her dress.

“Knight of Despair! I am your king! I order you to stand down,” King approached her.

“I’ve never been able to protect anyone. What good is a knight without a will?” she wailed.

“If you are worthless then so are we. I am merely a servant that can only give and never take,” Servant said softly, reaching up to grab at one of the swords.

“I am a king that stopped caring about her kingdom,” King said, taking a different sword.

“I’m a queen that became the villain,” Queen whispered, taking a third sword.

Knight’s sobbing stopped briefly. Her sister’s were holding her swords. She was supposed to be the one wielding them. They were only supposed to be used by her. She grabbed the final sword.

The spikes shattered like glass and the three swords the other magical girls held faded to smoke. Her tears became diamonds. The knight fell to her knees and clutched her sword.

"What's wrong with me?" She rasped.

"Nothing. You've just changed, we all have," King assured her.

"Yeah! Besides, you did protect us. Your blessing allowed us to keep fighting!" Queen added.

"You aren't useless. No one is," Servant released Knight's dress from her grasp.

"Let's go home, alright? Let's just go home." Knight whispered, picking herself up off the ground. The sword she held dissipated, the stars falling and joining the ones on her dress.

"We can do that. King?" Queen asked.

"Let me retrieve Little Red, and then I can open the Road of Gold," King went off to find her companion, who they all managed to forget about in the heat of battle. She was kneeling on the ground, digging through guts and gore to find some spent shell casings. It was an easy way to pretend to ignore what the others were doing.

"Did everything go alright for you guys?" She asked nonchalantly, picking bits of flesh off her cloak.

"We figured it out. Now let's get going, it's late."

"As you wish, your majesty."

"Don't get snarky with me. I'm the one that barters for your bullets."

"Alright, alright. I'm going, I'm going," Little Red said, putting her hands up in mock surrender.

Knight was looking off into the distance as King cast her spell. She refused to meet anyone's eyes, she didn't even deserve that dignity. Servant and Queen kept trying to interact with her, but she just waved them off. They were too kind for their own good. No, the knight instead kept gazing into herself. Not at her well of corrupted magic, but at her missing heart. She already knew that cutting herself off from the others would do it no good, but she couldn't help it.

Queen carefully led her through the portal and all the way to their home. Over the past week, it started to look less and less in shambles. The second level was even (mostly) usable. Queen sat Knight down in one of the comfier chairs and laid a blanket over her. She then sat on the floor in front of her.

"We need to talk about what happened out there," Queen said with a level of seriousness that was highly unusual for her.

"Nothing happened out there. We vanquished the villains, right?" Knight dully laughed, no heart put into it.

"You sound like me. What actually happened?"

"I couldn't call upon my sword or shield."

"So? You still protected us with your blessing."

"A knight is supposed to have a sword, shield, and armor. I couldn't call upon any of those even when you were in danger."

Queen opened her mouth to say something, but King and Servant walked in. King looked at Knight with an almost pitying look. Servant was frowning. She hated it. A knight was supposed to be the strong one. She didn't feel very strong now.

Knight abruptly stood up, grabbing the blanket, "I'm going to bed."

"I agree, we can wash everything in the morning," King flopped down on their makeshift bed in the living room.

Knight approached the stairs and frowned, "I think I'm going to spend the night by myself."

"Knight…" Queen said.

"Let her go, Queenie," King warned.

"We all need to be alone sometimes," Servant added.

Knight ascended the stairs and went to one of the intact bedrooms. The windowsill was rotting and the curtains were moth-eaten. The bed was utterly unusable, but she was used to sleeping on the floor. It was as much as she deserved.

She wrapped the blanket around herself and settled on the floor. She could hear muffled voices beneath the floorboards. No doubt they were talking about her. It was to be expected. A part of her yearned to be with them, but that part was smothered my despair.

Perhaps being alone was just an inevitability.

Chapter Text

"Hello, Ms. Queen, I request the presence of one of your sisters," the finely dressed man stated.

"I have three of them. Which one?" she grumbled up at him.

"It's me, I think you know which one," Funeral wings flapped with exasperation.

"I know. I just hoped that your first visit would be for a happier reason."

He adjusted his coffin, uncomfortable with the fact that this was the first time he'd been to their house. There was just no reason for doing so, earlier. He wasn't afraid to admit that he had issues socializing outside of "his group."

"So do I. But life simply isn't perfect," Funeral explained.

"Fine," Queen opened the door for him, "You may as well come in. King would call me a horrible host if I left you out here."

"Much appreciated," he bowed his head and stepped in. Now, he wouldn't lie and say it was nice. But it was mostly whole, it was almost clean, and it could almost be considered a proper home.

Servant was sitting on a reupholstered chair, grazing her fingers over a well-worn book. She didn't even acknowledge his presence. King was somewhere out of sight and hopefully out of mind.

“You’ll have to try to drag her out of her room,” she explained, leading him up the stairs, "None of us have been able to for the past few days."

Their second floor was surprisingly finished. The walls were worn and bare, but Funeral was confident that with every footfall he wouldn't tumble through the floor. King was on the ground, leaning on the wall next to a closed door.

"Funeral, what are you doing here?" She asked.

"I'm here to have a talk with your sister," he stated, flicking his wings.

King sighed, pulling herself off the ground, "She's in here. Has been for a few days. We’ve tried to talk to her through the door, but nothing has worked.”

“Yeah, we didn’t want to try and force it, either. She deserves some privacy if she wants it,” Queen added.

Funeral shook his head. This would be much harder than he would like. Guess he would have to call in a favor or two, “I would still like to talk to her. I have my own means of asking her.”

“Take a jab at it, but don’t be disappointed if it doesn’t work," King walked towards the stairs, dragging Queen away with her.

"Hey, Funeral?" she called.

"Yes?"

"Thank you. Good luck."

He looked away, sending a shimmer of butterfly scales falling across his suit. He wasn't doing this for them. This was just a favor, from one being of despair to another. Funeral simply didn't like seeing someone in such a sorrowful state.

He squared his shoulders and knocked on the door.

Someone was knocking on her door. It didn't matter, though. Nothing did anymore. Maybe it was one of her sisters offering her some water. She ignored it and stayed on the floor.

The person knocked again. Knight rolled onto her back, picking splinters off of her dress. This person was persistent. Probably Queen trying to save the day with the power of love. Knight would never tell her how much she appreciated the thought but hated the act.

"Knight of Despair, this is Funeral of the Dead Butterflies. I would like to have a conversation," he called through the door.

Now, she was far too mature to shout something like 'Go away!' So she simply stayed silent; he would walk away eventually.

"Knight, I truly believe we need to talk. Will you let me in?" He spoke again.

She didn't get up. He would walk away, soon. Or at least he'd stop shouting at her. Nobody seemed to understand that it just made her feel worse. God, how pathetic.

"I don't like doing this, but I guess I must. Knight, I call upon your intrinsic honor. Do you remember True? When she died you were so heartbroken. I let you properly say farewell to her soul before it joined the kaleidoscope."

Oh, Knight remembered True. While she didn't need protection like Maximin, she was still near and dear to her. True bore her armor and even her gift, but it wasn't enough to keep her alive. Knight went to Funeral that night, and asked to see her. He obliged, despite the fact that he could have easily turned her away.

Knight pried herself off the floor. She knew what he was doing. For every deed, there must be a price. He was finally using his favor for something like this. If he was one of her knights, she would be proud of such a noble act.

She opened the door enough to gaze at him, "Is a conversation all you want?"

"Yes, but I would prefer to do it at my house," he explained. They could at least have some privacy, away from curious ears.

Knight sighed and fully opened the door, "If that is the favor you ask for, I shall fulfill it. From this point on, I owe no debt to you."

"Thank you, Knight. I'm sorry I have to do things like this," he bowed his head.

"You have simply invoked a knight's honor. Nothing more, nothing less," Knight said bluntly. She could at least fulfill that duty.

Knight briskly descended the stairs, listening as Funeral fell in line behind her. The only sister in the entryway was Queen, who stared like she was witnessing a miracle. Which, to be fair, she was. Knight simply turned her head away and left, Funeral gently closing the door behind her.

"Well, lead the way, Funeral. Lead the way," she stated, wincing at the sunlight.

He, of course, obliged.

His house was nothing fancy. It was simple, had one floor, and many windows. The most noticeable thing was the innumerable pots and planters full of dead flowers, every single one withered. Though, it looked like someone had attempted to pull out the weeds and trim the brownest parts. Despite that, they would likely never bloom again.

Knight followed him inside, which was just as unremarkable. The few pieces of furniture were plain and damaged. There were scuff marks on the walls near each one, indicating where Funeral set his coffin.

"Please, have a seat at the table," he said, gesturing to a large dining table, lined with mismatching chairs.

Knight chose the biggest one, which was still unfortunately small for her. Perks of being so tall. Funeral disappeared into an adjacent room, leaving her alone with her thoughts.

She knew he was going to lecture her about her actions, everyone did. He would give her a scolding, she would go home, and eventually she would pick the pieces back up all by herself, eventually. It hurt a lot. But she was used to it.

Funeral set two glasses on the table, filling them with a clear liquid. She took one and sipped it. It burned. She wrinkled her nose and set the glass back down. King would have probably liked it, but not her.

"Ah, not to your liking. I understand. I grabbed this from Red's collection, and she seemingly makes it her personal mission to find the worst drinks possible," he laughed, sitting across from Knight.

She frowned at the glass and looked in Funeral's general direction, "You brought me here to talk, so what do you want me to talk about? How much of a failure have I been recently?"

Funeral shook his head, wings sending off scales, "No, nothing like that."

He didn't elaborate, instead opting to extend a proboscis and drink. One of his auxiliary hands absentmindedly tapped on the coffin, like he was reassuring it of his presence.

"Knight, have you ever been truly happy? Have you ever experienced happiness that was unmarred by sadness?" He asked abruptly.

Knight sighed, "I think so. Perhaps when I was very young. Before the kingdom fell, before the invasion, maybe even before I took my oaths as a knight."

"Hmm. Can you think of an incident that tipped you over the edge?"

"Finding Queen in the ruins of a town she destroyed with no memory of what she had done," Knight stated. That had truly been a terrible day, but she never told Queen. She could protect her from that sadness. But, it wasn't the worst day. She kept the memories of that day in her empty eye socket.

"Are you sure that's when it started?" He asked, leaning forward.

"I'm not sure. I've always had days where I could barely get up. When swinging my sword in the name of justice seemed meaningless."

"I see. Knight, I believe we are cut from the same cloth," he said, relaxing his posture and leading back.

"What do you mean?"

"I'm a person who was made out of pure sorrow. I only exist as a requiem for the dead. My misery is a burden that I bear for them," he gently patted his coffin.

Knight cocked her head to the side, not seeing his point.

"You are also created from despair. It may not have always been known, but it has always been with you."

"That's not possible. I've had to have been free of it at some point. When I was a child, perhaps. I had nothing to despair over as a child," she shook her head.

"Can you think of a single moment of pure joy? Do you even remember what it feels like?" He pressed.

"I...I can't. But it doesn't matter, I've been able to live without that."

"Have you been living, or have you been merely existing from day to day?"

Knight slammed her hands on the table, "I've been doing fine, alright? Everyone asks how I am and I am just fine. Sure, I struggle, but that doesn't matter. If I didn't struggle I would die!"

Funeral set his glass down, quietly thinking her statement over. It was rough. She was hanging on by mere threads. Hell, Knight probably didn't fully realize how dire her situation truly was. Or if she did, she didn't care.

"Knight, what does that last statement mean?" He asked lightly.

"Well, there's this pit of despair inside of me. I constantly have to fight it for control. If I could cut it out of me, I would," she explained, taking a sip of the bitter drink. She still didn't like it, and pushed it away.

"So, you are constantly fighting a part of yourself every day?" He continued.

"Yes, I don't feel like I have a choice. If I let it exist, it would destroy me."

"Tragic, truly," Funeral turned his full attention to his coffin, opening it just a crack, "Have you ever thought of embracing it?"

"What?"

"You heard me, despair is a part of you. You frankly won't beat it, as it can't die," he gently coaxed a butterfly out of the coffin, its white wings a stark contrast against his gloves.

"I know that. But what if it overwhelms me? You've seen me in such a state before," she said. What was he thinking, giving her that advice? Knight scowled, displeased with how this conversation was going.

"Is it despair, or is it self-disgust at being unable to be the best you can be?"

"Those are the same thing."

"You coming to me to ask about True was an act of sorrow, and yet you didn't lose yourself. But when faced with the prospect of being unable to fulfill your purpose-"

"Stop, please," Knight weakly interrupted him.

Funeral carried on, "-you faded away. You hate that weakness so much that it whittles away at you-"

"I said stop it!" She cried, "I know how little I am worth if I can't protect the ones I love. You mustn't remind me of that. What's this have to do with embracing that part of me?"

Funeral sighed, a small flutter of the insects in his hands. They tittered about without a care in the world. How he sometimes wished that he could be as oblivious! Alas, he was made for more.

"You hate your despair, and that hate drives you to madness. If you accept that despair as a part of you, the hatred will sting less," he explained.

"How? How do I just accept such despair when it makes me so vulnerable?" Knight demanded.

"You acknowledge it as a part of yourself, and you live with it by your side. Don't push it away, it will only make that creeping feeling of self-disgust grow stronger."

“And that’s it, I just live with it?”

“No, you survive with it for a while, and then you live. Though, I must warn you: It’s neither quick nor easy, but nothing worthwhile ever is,” he stated, slightly shaking his hands to encourage the butterflies to take flight. Some of them did, others chose to stay.

Knight carefully let one of them land on the tip of her finger, “I will consider all that you’ve said. But how do you know so much about this?”

Funeral grimly laughed, “I’m death granted life, a grave that walks. And no matter what others think, death is still a tragedy. So, I carry that sorrow with me. Always.”

“I suppose you would have to learn to live like this, if it’s all you’ve ever known.”

“It’s because I have no other choice. I could fight it, or surrender to it. But embracing it like an old friend has been the only thing that’s ever worked.”

Knight stood up, startling the butterfly away from her hand and onto her crown. She faintly smiled at it, such innocence. Everything seemed so much clearer now. The hole in her chest felt less empty. The sadness persisted, but it stung slightly less. It was just another piece of her. She was still tired and still wanted to lay on the ground and do nothing, but maybe that's not such a bad thing. It was just something she did.

"Funeral, I thank you for this conversation. I don't think my mind has ever felt clearer," she assured him.

"Why, you're very welcome. I hate seeing others in such a way," he said, leading her to the door.

She opened it and let the bright sunlight hit her. The strongest star in the sky warmed her damaged face. Just before she left the porch, Funeral called out to her.

"I need you to remember, what I've said won't fix you. There's nothing broken in the first place"

Knight smiled and embraced the light, the little butterfly flew away.

Chapter Text

The first thing she did at home was clean herself up. She had gotten quite dusty from laying on the floor for days on end. The second thing she did was find her sisters and apologize. They were easy to find. King was there, no supply runs were necessary, yet. Servant wasn’t at Laetitia’s place, so there was no other place for her to go. And Queen never truly left.

“I would first like to start off by apologizing for this past week. I’m sorry that I cut you off, but I won’t lie and promise that it will never happen again,” Knight started.

The other magical girls stared at her from their places at the table. They knew it would happen again. But they would simply have to get used to it.

“It’s alright, Knight, we understand. We can’t change anything about what happened, but we’ll try to support you better in the future,” King assured her.

Queen scraped her fingers across the table, leaving light gouges in it, “Yeah, besides, I need to learn how to be less of an overbearing bitch.”

“Language,” Servant scolded.

“You’re younger than me,” Queen grumbled. Something was ticking her off. She didn’t quite know what, and the others summed it up to Queen being Queen.

“Anyways!” King interrupted, dragging everyone back to the topic at hand, “What we’re saying is that we’re here for you, alright?”

“Alright, and I’ll try to control myself better in the future,” Knight agreed, looking down at her folded hands. The past battle had been a horrendous experience, but, somehow, holding her sword again was worth it. She couldn’t remember the last time it had happened. The sword was supposed to be lost, a symbol of her inability to protect. And yet, the blessed, cursed blade was still there. Perhaps, despite everything, Knight was still Knight.

They sat in silence, not quite sure what to say anymore. Everything that needed to be said was said. Queen kept picking at the table; Servant added to the scratchy melody by thrumming her fingers against the solid wood. Somewhere, something dripped. King flung her head back and stared at the ceiling. Nothing more to say…

Knight frowned. Was this all they were, now? A collection of people that could barely interact? Sure, scars of the past sullied their memories, but they didn’t used to be like this, right? They would talk for hours on end about nothing; build blanket forts in the dark. Queen would paint their nails and Servant would rant about the horrible choices her favorite book characters were making. In the background, King would insist on them trying a new cocktail she made. Sometimes it would actually be good, other times they would choke and sputter about how bad it was. Knight braided everyone’s hair, carefully choosing styles that she thought fit their personalities. Jester would- something cracked in her mind, splattering the memory with ink and blood.

“Are you alright, Knight?” King asked, gazing at her from across the table.

She nodded, eyes closed, sighing, “Yeah, I’m fine. I was just thinking about what we used to do.”

“Hmm, remember that one time Queen forgot she was boiling something and proceeded to nearly burn down the kingdom?” King said, amused.

“It was one time!” Queen shouted, slamming her hands on the table.

“Yes, all the servants were in a tizzy. I didn’t even know pasta could turn that color,” Servant pressed.

“Hey! At least I didn’t get declared missing for a day because I was reading in a cupboard,” Queen snapped back, jabbing a finger at Servant.

“That’s because it would get too damn loud,” argued Servant.

“Language,” Queen chided.

“Girls, let’s not fight and forget the time King planned a grand celebration and then forgot to invite anyone,” Knight butted in, putting a cautionary hand between the two fighting sisters.

“You’re right! How could we forget throwing the doors open to the public at the last minute to make sure nothing went to waste?” Servant nodded.

“Yes, and how King was tossed into a group of children to teach them how to dance?” Queen giggled at the memory. King was caught so off guard at the time, she ended up just having them all hold hands and spin in a circle.

“It was adorable, our fearsome King playing with children as if she were a child herself,” Knight smiled and shook her head.

“Tsk, tsk, so the Dame Knight of Launching Tables out of Windows has an opinion,” King said, the corners of her frown trying to turn into a smile.

“Don’t pluralize that, it was only one table,” Knight corrected her, smiling back.

“One very large table through one very large window,” Servant reminded.

“You’re right, and I’ve never, ever lived it down,” she broke into a laugh, throwing her head back. Sometimes, she indulged in dramatics and fought with flair instead of ferocity. Leaping across the room in a display of acrobatics, or tossing chairs as a distraction. That night, however, she kicked a table with much more strength than intended. Directly through a window.

King smiled warmly, “And we won’t let you forget it.”

They fell back into their steady silence, all of them much happier than before. The memories were embarrassing, no doubt, but they were fun memories. They didn’t feel like bloodshed or pierced flesh.

“What if we could relive the past?” Queen suggested, jumping up from the table and grabbing King.

“Huh?”

“Oh, you know. Have a classic girls night! We can chit-chat, I have some paint and hair ties. There are plenty of blankets. We wouldn’t have anything to eat, but we rarely need to do that anymore,” Queen rambled, tugging at King to pull her up.

“Alright, alright. We can do that. Any objections?” King asked.

“This sounds fun,” Servant stated. Knight nodded in agreement.

“Great! I’m going to grab the blankets; you guys find a spot to build a fort,” Queen ordered, bounding off to the living room.

The remaining sisters looked at each other, Queen's suggestion ringing in their heads. To “relive the past” sounded horrifying, at first. After all, there was a dark shadow cast over much of it. No matter how many times they could set the table for four, it would always feel empty without their fifth. But, they could make do. Sometimes, you must carry on even though it hurts.

“So, I think the living room where the blankets already are would work best. I don’t think there’s a better spot,” King admitted.

“I agree, and upstairs there isn’t a large enough space for all of us,” Knight added.

“Let’s go stop her, then,” Servant stated, grabbing them and leading the others into the living room.

Queen was currently grasping at a bundle of blankets, her eyes dark. Something in them seemed off, but the fog drifted away upon seeing her sisters. A bright smile overtook her previously blank frown, “I might be on the fritz, thinking that there was anywhere better than here for a blanket fort!”

“We thought the same, Queenie. Now, hand me some of those so that I might build a castle worthy of us,’ King commanded, holding her arms out to catch the pile that Queen tossed her.

The four of them began to build their fort. Queen insisted on putting the softest of blankets on the floor, and the others could see no fault in her argument. Servant carefully draped blankets over chairs at the instruction of King. Knight held up the blankets and pinned them to the walls when necessary. It was a group effort that was going surprisingly well.

"Well, I'm going to grab some supplies. Servant, start talking about your books," Queen ordered, crawling out of their fort.

"Oh, alright, but you guys asked for this. Prince, Princess, and Peril is a phenomenal story that I wouldn't recommend to anyone," Servant started, opening her book and rapidly flipping through the well worn pages. She occasionally stopped to figure out the page number before continuing her search.

"So, why is that?" King asked, "If something's good, why wouldn't you want others to read it?"

"Hmm, well, I think others should read it, but it's not for everyone," Servant said, "I mainly like it because it's nostalgic. A fantastical kingdom with magic and swordplay."

"Hmm, are there any knights in it?" Knight asked. She still had a soft spot for them despite everything.

"Well, the princess wants to become one. Her father, the king, didn't support her. But the prince courting her seemingly does," Servant explained.

"Does she become one?" Knight asked.

"Ah, no, she doesn't, actually. She becomes queen, but it doesn't satisfy her. She wished so much to be free enough to wield a blade. And yet, the more she broke out of her mold, the more she fell into another one," Servant explained quietly.

"Oh," Knight whispered softly. It seemed that even fairy tale knights didn't get happy endings.

"Wait, back up a minute. The prince seemingly supports her?" King asked, quickly changing the subject.

"He does everything he can to gain her trust, but he's secretly sabotaging her at every step."

"Why?"

"Because-" Servant started, before getting cut off by Queen.

"I'm back! I only have a few colors of paint, but they should work fine." Queen stated, throwing some brushes and bottles of paint into their fort before crawling in herself.

“Careful! You’ll get paint everywhere,” King warned.

Queen scoffed, “This isn’t my first time doing this. I made sure the bottles were fully sealed this time.”

She organized her bottles by color and got her brushes ready. None of her supplies were made for the task at hand, but she could make do. Her brushes were the worst off. Many of them had uneven bristles, while others were far too big for painting nails. Queen frowned while examining her smallest brush.

“If you want, I can see if I can get some proper painting implements next supply run,” King offered.

“Oh, you don’t need to do something like that for me. These are fine for now,” Queen said, putting the end of the brush in her mouth. She rotated it for a few times until the bristles were all lined up. Once she was satisfied with how it felt, she set it to the side. Yellow paint would be the best to start with, but the pink was such a lovely shade. Making her decision, she uncorked the pink paint.

"King, hands, it's your turn," Queen ordered. King complied and laid her hands out for her to paint. Queen gently held her hand and began painting. Her left hand was soft, with barely a callous adorning her skin. Her right hand was much rougher, probably because it was left bare in battle. Queen didn't know why she chose pink for King, it just felt right for some reason.

"So, the prince has been leading everyone on. He encourages them to do the wrong thing so he can swoop in and be the hero," Servant continued.

"Ah, reading about how one man leads everyone astray?" Queen didn't bother looked up from her painting.

"I- I suppose so," Servant said.

"Hmm, I guess clinging to the past can be comforting," Queen mumbled. She wiped the excess paint on her arm before putting the pink paint away. Yellow would be next.

Queen grabbed Knight's hands and felt them over. They were cold and dark, with long nails that were sharpened at the ends. But they were so soft, like they had been empty for too long. Well, they had been, hadn’t they? Knight refused to meet her gaze. She carefully started spreading yellow paint on her nails.

“And so the princess had fallen into the trap, her sword shattered against the blow of the villainess’s ax,” Servant continued.

“Why did her sword break? It wouldn’t do that normally, right?” Queen asked.

“The prince switched out her sword. Instead of her normal one, he gave her one that was already cracked. No matter what she did, the blade was destined to break,” Servant explained.

Knight instinctively tried to curl her hands in at the story, but Queen steadied them and forced the fingers straight. Perhaps blue would have gone better with Knight’s overall appearance, but some contrast was needed from time to time. Servant kept talking about her book, Knight and King kept listening, and Queen lost herself to the simple, repetitive act of painting nails. But her task was over all too quickly, so she wiped off the excess yellow and picked up the blue.

“Servant, it’s your turn. Can you talk about your book without holding it?” Queen asked.

“Oh, yes, I’ve read this thing so many times I’ve practically memorized it,” Servant assured her, carefully setting the book to the side.

Servant’s hands were the roughest out of the four of them. Not only did she wield her hammer in battle, she also had to use it to rebuild their home. Servant stepped up and freely took charge of that part of the construction. She always gave so much of herself. Some of them quietly wondered how long she could keep burning the candle at both ends without melting herself away entirely. But, based on the state of her books, she had found a suitable escape.

“Despite desperately wanting to forge her own path, the princess still has a strong sense of duty. She would do anything for her kingdom, even at the expense of being unable to follow her dream of becoming a knight,” Servant continued.

“So, she would sacrifice her well-being for the sake of others? How noble,” Queen stated.

“Isn’t there anyone else that would take her place?” King asked.

“No, she is the heir-apparent for the kingdom. The princess isn’t willing to sacrifice her people,” Servant explained.

Queen hummed appraisingly as she painted Servant’s short, chipped nails a rich shade of blue. Once she was satisfied with the hue, she wiped off the excess paint and pulled out the last color, green. She could do it herself, but painting with her offhand would get messy. Servant wouldn’t do well at the job. King was never that good at doing it. Knight…

“Hey, Knight, would you mind painting my nails? It’s hard for me to do it myself,” Queen asked sweetly, holding out her brush and paint.

“I wouldn’t mind at all,” Knight said softly, gently taking the supplies in her hand. The brush was a bit too small for her grip, but she could make it work. She carefully dipped her brush in the paint, holding Queen’s hand with her off hand. Her nails were short and even; her palms were slightly rough. Knight lightly held her much smaller hand, occasionally rotating it to get a better painting angle.

“And so, the princess sits on her throne numbly, her dreams crushed and her heart broken,” Servant concluded her explanation of her story.

“And that’s it? Nothing else?” Knight asked.

“That’s all. The story ends with the princess as a shell of a person, carrying on only for the sake of others,” Servant said, shaking her head sadly.

King pursed her lips, “No happily ever after at all for the princess?”

“None,” Servant confirmed.

“Well, that’s not a very happy story is it?” Queen added.

“It’s not, but it’s not supposed to be one, either,” Servant said.

“Some stories just don’t have happy endings. But then again, does real life? Afterall, here we are, echoes of our past selves stuck living in that past!” Queen exclaimed. She tried to throw her hands up, but Knight held onto them too tightly.

“We know that, Queenie, but we can’t change that. We don’t know how else to live, yet,” King tried to explain.

“But we’ll fall again! Greed may not have gripped you yet, but it will. Servant will find a way to get used again, she always seems to find the best people to do so. Knight hasn’t even changed, she’ll just cry more every day!” Queen shouted.

The sisters stared at her in silence. King’s previously gentle smile turned into a frown. Servant crossed her arms. Knight’s grip on Queen’s hand tightened, her sharp nails digging into her skin.

“I haven’t cried today,” she whispered faintly.

“What?” Queen asked.

“I said, I haven’t cried today,” Knight said, slightly louder, “I haven’t cried once today, even when I really, really felt like it.”

“Great, you’ll fall much later, then,” Queen grumbled, trying and failing to pull her hands away.

“What is wrong with you, Queen? You can’t just say things like that,” Servant said.

“I’m speaking the truth! I can feel the weight of your evil, and I know when it will surface!” Queen cried out, her voice rasping at the edges.

Knight tightened her grip, small drops of red pooling at the tips of her nails. Her face was a mask of calm, but it was betrayed by her shaking shoulders. She didn’t know how she felt. She was angry. She was sad. She was worried.

“Queen, are you alright?” She whispered.

“I don’t know what I’m supposed to do! I want to cling to the past, but it’s not the same. There’s no hope,” Queen admitted, slumping forward.

The sharp thoughts at the back of her mind cut their way to the surface. Ah, no wonder Queen was having a breakdown. They were reliving the past while missing a vital part of it. Him

“I know you miss him. I know you wish we could have him back just like how it used to be, but he’s gone,” Knight whispered. She let go of Queen’s hands, instead opting to lightly rest her hands on her shoulders.

“Is that what this is about, Queen?” King asked softly.

Queen vigorously nodded her head. Stray tears softly landed on the blanket. Hiccupping sobs escaped her, and she quickly withdrew her hands to cover her mouth.

“The Jester of Hope,” King winced as she said his name, “is gone, but we still remain. The past has left its mark on us, but we aren’t completely lost.”

“Hope isn’t gone because he is,” Servant said. She sat down next to Queen and leaned on her shoulder.

Queen took a deep breath and swallowed thickly, “Do you feel the pull of evil?”

“Constantly. Every time I get supplies, I always feel like asking for more and more,” King admitted bluntly.

“I don’t, but I’m afraid of talking to the others. What if I make the same mistakes?” Servant said, pressing more weight onto Queen.

Knight just made eye contact with Queen, a silent understanding passing between them. Her eye closed as Queen reached up and grazed her hand across the damaged half of her face. It was sharp and too cold to be comfortable. Her hand drifted to the side and she ran her fingers through her hair, the stars in it shifting as they got jostled around.

“Knight?” Queen asked tentatively.

Knight hummed, signaling for her to continue.

Queen took a shaky breath, “Could you braid my hair? Like you used to?”

“Of course, turn around, Queenie,” Knight said softly.

The girl complied and pulled her heart-shaped charm out of her hair. Knight ran her fingers through her hair, gently untangling knots as she came across them. Queen sighed contently, the shaking slowing to a stop.

“Servant, what do you think happens to the princess after the story?” Queen asked softly.

“I like to think that she adapts to her new position. She learns to dream of new things, eventually. Her heart, broken by the prince, slowly pieces itself back together,” Servant explained.

Knight’s hands deftly wove Queen’s hair into braids, with not a single strand out of place.

“Hmm, I like that ending much better,” Queen sighed.