Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

       The only thing I felt was cold. Mind-numbing coldness. Everything was silent and the place I was in was unrecognizable, but I could tell one thing. I must be in a bed, judging by the cold sheets wrapped around me. That’s when I got even more confused. I don’t remember falling asleep…. The last thing I remembered was that I was playing Just Dance with my friends, then Wander handed me Discoball, and I realized something seemed really off and then- oh shit. I jolted out of the bed I was in and ran to the full-length mirror on the other side of the room, only to come to a full brake when I saw my reflection. 

        Normal blue space buns, but instead of free-flowing blue hair there were big braids with streaks of purple and different colors. Dark makeup rather than my usual bright/happy makeup. Instead of my normal yellow cropped fluffy jacket, I had black feather sleeves with bright green and yellow feathers sprinkled throughout them. A bright teal/blue translucent skirt tightly hugging my waist, along with unique black tights that only wrapped around some of my legs, having almost a smoke-like design. 

And then I saw it. 

        The bodice. Identical looking to The Night Swan’s bodice, other than a few details being green and blue instead of purple. The events of the last 24 hours slowly came flooding back to me.

        Night Swan tricking me with Wanderlust and Discoball, and capturing me, forcing me to fight my friends.

Wanderlust trying to save me, and failing.

Brezziana also trying to save me, but failing quicker.

Mihaly even brought their Master Panda form, and they were so close! But that didn’t even work. 

And Jack wasn’t even there.

        Night Swan’s brainwashing had given me unbeatable power and strength that even my friends, the same ones who helped me beat her before, couldn’t defeat. I had no control over my own mind. At this point I was just frozen in front of the mirror, lost in my own thoughts. Until a piece of hair fell in front of my face, and my focus immediately changed to that. I looked at the piece of hair in horror through the mirror as a voice in my head creepily whispered “fix it~”. 

        I immediately started scanning the room for any hairspray or maybe a bobby pin or really anything that could help fix it, but the room was pretty bland and empty. A bed with 2 red silk pillows and black bedsheets along with a small bedside table with a used un-lit candle but no drawers and nothing else on it. A dark brown door on the opposite side of the room. The mirror I was standing in front of was as tall as I am and had a fancy purple and maroon frame. Above the mirror was a black clock that slowly ticked…. and ticked…. and ticked…. getting louder and louder each tick…. The whispers in my head got louder, matching the same pace as the clock’s ticking whilst I panicked more about what to do. I decided to just try and put it back with my fingers and see how it stays. 

        Luckily, the whispers slowly went silent as I realized I had fixed it, and that everything was perfect again—— but what just happened? That has never happened to me before, and that doesn’t seem like something that happens to a person who’s doing fine. But looking at myself in this mirror I can tell that I am clearly NOT doing fine. With a sigh I looked back at the clock, it was exactly 4:08 am in the morning. I guess I’ve always been a morning person, on Earth and in the Danceverses. But judging by the dark style of this place, does a sun even rise here? What place in the danceverses doesn’t have a sun? It’s the danceverses after all, it’s supposed to be a place you escape to when you wanna have fun, not whatever this is. 

        I quietly tiptoed to the door, careful not to wake anyone, seeing as it was still 4 in the morning. When I opened the door, a loud creak came from it and I quickly walked out and closed the door. The hallway had brighter lights, but still nothing compared to how bright the danceverses usually are. This slowly started to remind me of the one and only - Eternyx’s Swan Tower. But it wasn’t the Swan Tower, unless Night Swan redecorated it since the last time I was here. I slowly started to walk down what seemed to be a maze of identical looking hallways that had perfect walls without any scratches, perfect lights with not a single one of them flickering, and perfectly clean carpets without a single bit of dust or dirt. I was almost in an uncontrollable trance, searching everything for even a single speck of dust - anything imperfect . I was so deep in this trance that I didn’t even hear the door opening behind me.

        “….Sara?” A soft, quiet voice said behind me. It was familiar, but I was scared out of the trance I was in and turned around with a jump to see none other than who looked to be Brezziana. But that couldn’t be her. Wearing what seems to be her usual orange crop top, but instead of a pink heart on the front, there’s what seems to be a dark pink broken heart. Similar leggings to mine, but they seem to be connected to the top in some way. A darker blue version of her usual jacket, but it only seemed to be more similar to sleeves than to a jacket. Her hair had only one bun on the top of her head, and the rest of her short hair flowed freely down her neck, along with bangs. Instead of her normal bright makeup, similar to mine she had dark makeup. Instead of her normal fingerless red glove, she had two boxing gloves, one red and one black. Tears started welling in my eyes cause of the shock.

        “Brezziana?!?! What happened to you?!?!” I practically shouted.

        “Shhhh~ they’re all still sleeping.” she said with a whisper.

        “What do you mean what happened? We got saved!” she continued in a more excited voice, as a villainous smile appeared on her face.

        “Saved?” I asked. “By who?”

        Brezziana laughed in response, then said “By mother! Who else would want to help save these imperfect danceverses?” A cold shiver went down my spine as soon as she called Night Swan “mother”. There was no way that Brezziana isn’t being mind controlled. But if Brezziana is acting like this, why aren’t I? Also, these “ imperfect ” danceverses? If Night Swan even knew what earth was like, she would think the danceverses were the most perfect thing to exist.

        My thoughts were interrupted when Brezziana put her surprisingly cold hand on my shoulder. “You okay? Why are you up so early?” She asked, suddenly switching her tone from being mischievous to being more concerned.

        “Yeah I’m fine I…. I just couldn’t sleep I guess” I responded, forcing a soft laugh after.

        “Well,” Brezziana started “Let me know if you need anything, my bedroom is over here.” She pointed to the door she came out of earlier. “Everyone should wake up around 5:00 am, and the meetings’ at 6:00am. See you then!” She said excitedly as she went back into her bedroom, which looked almost identical to the room I was in.

        A meeting? For what? A plan to take over the rest of the “ imperfect ” danceverses? If I’m expected to show up to this meeting, assuming the rest of my (maybe Night-Swan-ified?) friends and The Night Swan are going to be there, me acting like I’m for some reason no longer under this brainwashing might not end very well. So I have to come up with a plan, but without me knowing where I am or any way for me to escape this place, my only real option is to pretend like I am still brainwashed. To be fair, this may end just as badly as saying how I’m not brainwashed and that the spell failed somehow, but I feel like there’s less of a chance of that happening.

Chapter Text

        I continued walking down the halls, repeatedly going back into and out of the trance I had been in earlier, until I heard a collection of noises that sounded like multiple doors opening perfectly at the same time. All of them each having their own pitch at which the hinges creaked.

        I froze, while a figure walked past me saying “Looking as perfect as usual, Sara.” I continued walking and directed my attention to the person now walking ahead of me, trying to figure out who it was. Long flared purple pants, what looked liked a corseted top, a feathered cape, yellow glove…. It all seemed familar, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on who it was until I saw a dark purple object fly above my head and over to the person, making a series of beeping sounds. That’s…. Discoball, which means the person is- It’s Wanderlust. THE Prince Wanderlust. The one that first brought me to the danceverses. My legs were almost starting to give out due to the shock, but in an effort to not show any signs of no longer being what I think was mind controlled, I continued walking and decided to follow him while continuing the conversation.

        “You as well, Prince Wanderlust.” I responded, assuming maybe I should go with calling him a Prince, just in case he wanted me to while he was in this form.

        “Haha, very funny, don’t call me that. I’m not his son anymore. But thank you, I suppose.” He responded sarcastically but sharply, with a bit of a mean edge to it. Wander never liked to be called “Prince Wanderlust”, cause he never wanted to act as if he was superior to anybody, but we would sometimes call him it as a joke. He never got mean about it though. But what did he mean by “I’m not his son anymore.”? Not The Traveler’s son anymore? I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t be able to just say something like that when your dad is the literal ‘King Of The Danceverses’.

        “Huh?” I asked, confused, and wanting more of an explanation as to why he decided to suddenly not want to be known as The Traveler’s son.

        “He doesn’t deserve to be called my dad, not after what he did to our mother, the wonderful, perfect , Leda Nox. He also forced me into titles I never wanted. ‘Prince Of The Danceverses’ and ‘The Chosen One’. Honestly stupid to put that pressure on the shoulders of someone as beautiful and young as me.” He said, in a very serious tone.

        I would have never thought I would hear Wanderlust, out of all people, say something like that, being that egotistical about his looks, and renouncing his own father.

        Somehow I managed to keep my shocked reaction in, and I responded with “Understandable. Out of curiosity, what did The Traveler do to mother?” I cringed and felt horrible inside as I called Night Swan “mother”.

        He responded quickly, suddenly going from serious, mean, and a bit angry, to excited and weirdly happy “That’s what the meeting today is about! I’m going to go get breakfast, wanna join me?”

        I hesitated, and said “I’m not very hungry…. I’ll see you at the meeting then?”

        “Yep!” He nodded and walked away. What did I do to deserve this? Nothing much probably, other than stopping Night Swan’s plans. 

        I continued walking around until I heard what sounded like a clocktower. Guessing it was 6:00 am, I followed where everyone else was going, into this big room, a Throne room of sorts. There were four seats, facing a throne much taller than any of the other seats. In the tallest throne, was of course, The Night Swan. Around the room, there were Swan Soldiers standing at control consoles, but what were they controlling? Themselves? My question was quickly answered when I looked to the opposite side of the room, and my eyes met a balcony. Although outside of the balcony looked like Eternyx, we definitely weren’t at Swan Tower, judging by the literal ocean outside the balcony. We must be on a ship of some sort, and that’s what they were controlling. I went and sat down in the smaller throne that vaguely matched my outfits’ colors, assuming it is mine. I started zoning out, lost in my own thoughts, until an eerie voice distracted me. 

“Hello my little treasures~ thank you for coming to this meeting today. As you all know by now, this meeting was called to discuss the perfect plans I have for revenge.” 

        Her voice echoed throughout the room, as my eyes wandered to the thrones next to me. In the throne on my right sat Wanderlust, looking as evil as he had earlier. I struggled to keep myself from tearing up when I saw that he smiled at the word revenge.

“On whom, you may ask?” Leda continued, “On my old colleague, my children. That bitch Si’Ha Nova, along with her wretched husband.” 

        I thought it was just the Traveler, I would’ve never imagined someone like Si’Ha Nova, one of if not the kindest soul in all the danceverses. But I guess that’s just what you should expect from Night Swan. Actually, if these journeys around the Danceverses have taught me anything, you should always expect the unexpected from her.

        “Some of you might be wondering, what exactly happened with them? Well….” She continued talking about it while I slowly got less and less focused. I looked to my left, and there sat Brezziana.

        In just as serious of a tone as Night Swan had been using, she whispered to me, “Sara, are you okay? You’ve been acting sorta off since this morning” I muttered a light “Yes, I’m fine.” while nodding my head. Of course I was lying, but how would she react if she knew how I felt? What if…. No, there’s no way. What if she’s not under a spell, what if she willing went to The Night Swan’s side? But then that wouldn’t explain what I remember from yesterday, with the whole me turning her evil thing.

        I looked past Brezziana on my left, and saw someone in a navy teal Kimono-like outfit, with the hood pulled over their face. I could see that they clearly weren’t listening to Leda, due to them having bright yellow earbuds in. From what I could see, they had messy pink hair with darker ends, and some sort of panda-resembling makeup on their face. Kind of seems like an outfit Mihaly would wear, perhaps- “What’re you staring at, bitch?“ they said, taking out their earbuds and wrapping them around their waist, similarly to a belt, as I quickly looked away and continued with my thoughts, this time without staring at anyone. That’s definitely Mihaly. Even if Mihaly usually wasn’t rude like that, they wouldn’t hesitate to put up a fight with anyone who tried to be rude to them or any of us. 

        “So that’s what happened….Sara! Are you paying attention?” Leda boomed.

        “Y-Yes ma’am.” I said while looking back at her quickly. How long was I focused on my own thoughts for?

        “Good.” The Swan continued. “Nevermore, we need to come up with something to announce to the DanceVerses how you all finally realized what was right! How about we run through the dance you all did last night, and maybe when we get back to Cygnus City we can show it on Swan Tower? Sara, you lead it!” I held a gasp in. I missed the whole entire explanation while I was distracted by my own thoughts. Also what dance was she talking about? The others started to get up and stand in their positions while Discoball floated over to Leda. I walked over slowly with them and stood next to Wanderlust, who waving me over. Music quickly filled the whole room as the minions started pounding their fists on the control consoles to the beat. While the song starts, I’m praying that I’ll end up remembering it, or my muscles will, just like I remember the dances when I do them with my friends usually. The rest of them put their hands above their head and move them to the beat…. Wait…. I know this song….

Sometimes I feel I’ve got to….

I go back into the trance state, but this time, I’m completely aware that I’m in it. I start singing, but I didn’t mean to. I barely even know any of the lyrics….

Run away, I’ve got to….

I start dancing, but it’s not me dancing. I have no control over my body or my words. I feel like I’m suffocating.

Get away, from the pain you drive into….

I try to reach my hands to my throat, but not even my fingers will move unless it’s apart of the choreography I’m supposed to be doing. 

The heart of me. The love we share….

My whole body is numb. I can’t even control my breathing….

Seems to, go nowhere….

Everything is starting to speed up, the music, the dancing, my uncontrollable breathing.

But I’m sorry I don’t pray that way….

While the song was getting closer and closer to finishing, I slowly got control over my hands, my arms, and the rest of my body.

Oh, tainted love (Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh)….

Before I knew it, we were already at the end of the song, freestyling, and I finally had control of my own body again. As soon as the music completely faded out I started trembling. I desperately tried to stop, I didn’t need Night Swan to think anything was wrong with me. 

Everything began going fuzzy, and I heard Brezziana and the others distantly calling my name while everything slowly faded to black.

Why me?

Shh…. Shh…. Don’t worry, you’re safe now….

Chapter Text

What?

Just trust me, open your eyes.

        I opened my eyes to find that I wasn’t on the boat anymore, or at least that I wasn’t in the same room. I was laying down on a hard surface that almost felt like stone. The room I’m in now isn’t cold…. It’s actually surprisingly warm. I sat up and slowly took in my surroundings. The walls were made of dark grey stone, and one of the walls had to big same-colored stone pillars with a stained glass window in the center between them. The stained glass window had a big golden butterfly on it with a teal-ish blue background behind it on the glass. Under the stone pillars was what looked almost like a big stone bench, but it was very solid and didn’t look like it would be that comfortable. The bench was covered in candles, almost a concerning amount, like someone was trying to summon something. Hanging from the ceiling were a couple of lanterns the had blue glass on them, and had butterfly-like patterns on the top. Looking on the other wall, there was a small mysterious arch doorway, leading somewhere dark. Past that to the left, I noticed a lot of similar stained glass windows, except they were much smaller with similar designs to the bigger one. They covered all of one wall and spread all the way to cover half of another one. In the parts of the walls that didn’t have stained glass, there were small shelve-like holes in the wall holding candles. Those were the only candles that were actually lit, all the other ones weren’t, but I could still see that they were there. I looked down to what I was laying on and immediately jumped up and off of it, facing the bigger stained glass window. A coffin. I was just laying on a coffin. A coffin surrounded by candles, which totally gives off vibes of trying to resurrect someone from the dead or to summon something.

        “Hello?” I called out, hoping that the person who brought me here, or the person who was talking to me earlier would show themselves.

        “Turn around~” the same voice I had heard earlier said. I hesitated, what if this is just a trick of Night Swan’s? I really had no other choice then to turn around though, so I did.

        I turned around and saw a tall, beautiful blonde girl with red lips and lots of eyeliner. She had a black choker with a red, gold, and black charm on it. She had elbow-length gloves on both arms, except one of them had a glowing purple swirl on it. Her outfit was stunning, a black and golden bodice with butterfly details at the top, and a translucent black opened skirt with golden stripes and spiderweb details. She was wearing thigh-high golden heels with black lace at the top.

        “Hello!” The girl excitedly called out to me while gently waving. She slowly started walking towards me and I started walking backwards away from her. I don’t even know who this is. This could be another one of Leda’s ‘little treasures’, as she calls them.

        “Look, I know she’s done a lot of horrible things to you, and you have the right to be scared, but I promise my goal here isn’t to hurt you. It’s to help you.” She said, more calm this time. She continued walking toward me as I stopped walking further from her.

        “The names’ Mothigan. I already know yours.” She said, only about a foot away from me at this point, as she put her arm out to shake hands. I accepted her handshake.

        “….You already know my name?” I asked.

        “Sara right? You thought that after you saved everyone in the entire danceverses’ life that no-one would know who you were after?” She said with a laugh that I could hear echo through the room a little bit.

        I guess that makes sense. After the whole ‘saving the danceverses’ happened, it was really hard to just…. I don’t know, do anything without questioning whether or not I had just started going insane. So I kind of started to forget the more obvious things that came from it happening. Wanderlust noticed a couple times when I would visit and said that I ‘seemed a bit distant’, but I just shook it off like I was fine. It’s really hard to explain to them what’s going on since from their point of view everything here is normal and not just a popular video game.

        “Yeah, that makes sense….” I responded quietly, starting to get lost in my own thoughts.

        “Anyways, I brought you here for a reason-” Mothigan started before I interrupted her.

        “Where is ‘here’?” I said quickly, nervous for an answer.

        “….’here’ is called the Dreamscape. Well, technically you aren’t even actually here.” She said as she walked over to the other side of the stone-walled room where she waved her hands over part of the walls and a small table slid out from it. She put her hands a couple inches above the table while purple sparks appeared to start flying out of her hands, and slowly something appeared on the table. A crystal ball.

        “With this, I can see everything going on outside of dreams, well, to a certain extent, but I can mainly see people’s dreams.” She said. “One of the more special things I can do though, is save people. I can take them out of their headspace while they are dreaming and take them here.” She finished.

       “But how is that saving someone?” I asked.

        “Sometimes it can come in handy. Like to save someone from something bad that’s going to happen while they are asleep. Or, and here’s the kicker, to help them communicate with someone else in their dreams. When you are in the dreamscape you have the option to just go back to being in your normal headspace and eventually wake up to whatever you may face when you wake, or you could go into that room” Mothigan pointed to the arched doorway on the opposite side of the room. “and walk up to one of the booths and communicate and sometimes have a direct conversation with someone through their dreams using magic. They’ll be brought here the next day, with the opportunity to communicate back to you. That’s exactly why I’ve brought you here.” She finally finished.  

        “Woah, that’s…. a lot. So because I get an option, I would like to choose to talk to someone.” I responded hesitantly.

       “Great!” Mothigan excitedly said. “When you are in there though, be quiet until you get to an empty booth. No one will be able to hear what you say except for yourself and the person you are trying to communicate with, but there are still other people, so just try and be respectful at least when you are walking to your booth, okay? Once you are at one, you just need to think of who you want to communicate with and put your hands on the sensors and you’ll be able to attempt to talk to them.” 

        “Okay, I think I understand. I’m ready.”

        Mothigan took my hand and walked me over to the arch. “Good luck!” She whispered to me. I nodded and muttered a soft ‘thanks’ before slowly starting to walk through the arch. As I walked through, I could see a dark magic wall slip away in front of me, letting me finally fully see the room. When I was completely in the room I turned around and saw that the magic wall was back up, and proceeded to turn back and continue walking towards a booth.   

        Even though Mothigan had told me to be respectful and not look, I couldn’t resist. It’s not like anyone special would be here, right? 

        There was a girl and a teal blob…. ‘thing’ at the first booth, and they both looked too cute to be somewhere like this where it’s so dark. The girl was wearing a very unique shaped (almost candy inspired) pink, yellow, and purple skirt. She wore bright pink boots with pink and teal striped leggings, and her shirt was yellow with some purple details at the neckline and the bottom third of her shirt had matching pink and teal stripes. Her hair was a pastel pink but still very bright, and in it was a dessert-inspired-looking headband. 

        The teal blob thing, though, was kind of a confusing sight. It had long ears similarly to a bunny, but it certainly wasn’t one, seeing how it was quite literally levitating off the ground and just floating there. It also had very long arms that were a similar shape to its ears. They seemed like they would be a much brighter, happier pair usually, but right now they seemed very grey and sad. Both mentally and physically, as they were both slowly getting less and less colorful and turning more dull. 

        I remember what that’s called, I think…. Mihaly told me about it once when they learned about it from Master Panda, and It’s very uncommon in the Danceverses because it is usually a happier place. When a dancer loses all hope, they will start to lose their color. Usually it takes them a couple weeks, maybe months at least to get sad enough to the point of even starting to lose your color, but they were so lost that I could see them losing their color in front of my own eyes. If it’s only been a couple days maximum that we’ve been under this spell, maybe that isn’t the only bad thing that The Night Swan has done in the past couple days.

        Continuing to walk to one of the empty booths, I spotted another person at a booth all the way across the room. They seemed very mysterious, or at least like they were trying to be, but I don’t think I know a single person in any Danceverse who doesn’t know who wears a long black cape with golden triangle designs on it. It’s the Traveler, of course. Or at least that’s what I thought, until the figure quickly looked behind them and then looked back in their booth as maybe to make sure no one was watching them but and I saw a beautiful blue-skinned girl with pink hair. Not The Traveler, but still kind of shocking to see THE Si’Ha Nova in this place. Maybe Mothigan was right, I should have respected their privacy. I have no business snooping in their lives. Well except Si’Ha Nova’s I guess, since we are both here for possibly similar reasons.    

        Finally I got to one of the empty booths, and when I walked into it there was what seemed to almost be a sort of tech board with two big hand-shaped sensors on it. I proceeded to listen to Mothigan’s instructions. I put my hands on the sensors, and repeatedly said the name of who I wanted to talk to in my head.

Jack Rose….

Jack Rose….

Jack Rose….

Jack Rose….  

        “Jack?” I asked, eager for a response. If this doesn’t work, I might never be able to escape her. “Jack, please answer….”

        “Starboy?” I heard. That must be Jack, who else would it be? But who is Starboy?

        “Starboy? What?- No, it’s me, Sara! You know me! I helped you defeat your-“ I stopped myself before I could call her his mother “I helped you defeat The Night Swan, remember?”  

     “Sara? Wha- How? Where’s Wander? ….I thought she put you guys under a spell or something?” Jack responded.

        “She did put us under a spell, but I guess I got out? I don’t know how it happened, I just know that I’m not under it anymore. Wander is…. still under the spell. I’m sorry.” I answered. I know that Wanderlust and him have been really close ever since we first defeated Leda.

         “No…. This isn’t funny…. Mom, please stop cursing me with these nightmares….” He started sounding quieter and quieter and I could hear the exhaustion in his voice.

Oh shit.

He thinks it’s a trick. 

        “Jack, no. It’s me, I’m your friend!” I responded frantically.

        “I know it’s a trick, please just stop….” Jack responded, and slowly his voice faded out. I knew that we were officially no longer communicating through his dream when a small “beep” could be heard through the machine.

        That’s it. I failed. That was kind of my only chance right now to get out of The Night Swan’s control completely. And just like that, it’s gone. Tears started welling in my eyes, and I began to wonder what I have left to go back to. All my friends, turned evil? None of them would understand why I’m acting sad, so I’ll have to make something up I suppose.

        I slowly walked out of the booth and back through the arch door. It started getting harder and harder to breathe as I started hyperventilating more and more. Mothigan was waiting for me by the door when I walked through. 

       “I saw what happened through my crystal ball.” Mothigan said almost immediately as I walked into the room. I started crying as soon as I heard her say that. I still couldn’t believe it happened. This time, after actually seeing how I looked and my reaction, she started talking again, but this time in a more comforting tone. 

       “It’s okay, you don’t have to say anything if you don’t want to. How about you lay down?” She said while pointing to the coffin that I was lying on when I first arrived in the dreamscape, and I nodded. We walked over to the coffin, and I lied down on top of it, still hyperventilating. Mothigan, who was standing right next to the coffin, started visibly using her magic to summon some translucent glowing gold butterflies that when summoned, went and landed on me.

        “Shhhh, it’ll be okay. Just close your eyes and take 4 deep breaths, okay?” She said. I muttered an ‘okay’ and proceeded to take the deep breaths.

I still can’t believe I failed….

Chapter Text

I slowly started to feel the coldness of Eternyx return to my body. As my sense of touch slowly also returned,  I felt similar cold sheets laying on me as I had felt earlier. Then, after all my senses came back to me, I suddenly became overwhelmed by them. I felt so weak that I couldn’t even open my eyes to see where I was. I heard something that sounded like a machine steadily beeping on the right side of me. I could hear talking, but not clear enough to hear what they were saying or who it was from. I felt something pokey in my right arm. 

The voices of the people talking slowly got louder and a little more clearer, and I assumed they were moving more towards me. The voices both sounded feminine, but one sounded more familiar than the other one.

“Are you sure she’s okay, Nurse D.?” The familiar voice asked.

Wait…. Nurse? Am I in a hospital?

“Yes, Brezziana. She’ll be fine in a couple hours. Is there anyone that I should call for someone to be informed of the incident?” The unfamiliar voice, now known as Nurse D, responded.

“No, everyone already knows….”  Brezziana said. I heard footsteps leading towards me, and then I felt a hand resting on my shoulder. “Thank you, for everything.” She responded.

“Of course dear. Well, I’ll be right outside the room if you or Sara need anything, so don’t hesitate to ask for help or anything” Nurse D. said as I heard a door open and close.

I finally built up the strength to open my eyes, only to find that I was in a bedroom. It wasn’t the one I had on the Swan Ship, but it looked quite similar. The beeping on the right side of me came from some sort of medical machine that I assumed was counting my heart rate. The thing that had felt pokey in my right arm was an IV. Brezziana had turned back towards me from the door that she was previously looking at, and a soft smile appeared on her face.

“Hey treasure, how do you feel?” She calmly asked. Of course she calls me that too.

I struggled to talk because of how weak and confused I was but I eventually found the strength and the words. “What…. happened?” I asked.

“You passed out and didn’t wake up for days. We were all starting to get scared.” Brezziana responded. For the first time in a couple days, I looked in her eyes and saw genuine care and sadness. But it didn’t stay for long.

“We got back to Eternyx, by the way. And you wouldn’t believe who we saw as we were entering the tower, we saw Jack!” Brezziana excitedly said. My eyes widened in alarm. 

“And guess what? We caught him! He’s in one of the dungeons on the basement floor!” Brezziana finished. I struggled to stop the tears reaching my eyes. 

If I don’t say anything, I’ll look suspicious….

“Oh! Uh- that’s great news! I’d like to see him sometime, if you don’t mind.” I asked carefully. 

“Yes! Of course! That’s as soon as we get you out of this bed and this room though, So you should get some rest. I’ll be around the tower for the rest of the day, so just call for me if you need anything.” Brezziana responded.

I nodded and Brezziana walked out of the room. I couldn’t believe what I heard. They got Jack? Really? Why would he come near the Swan Tower in the first place?

I spent around an hour trying to put together the pieces of what happened, when I heard a knock on the door. 

“Who is it?” I asked to the person on the other side of the door.

“Miss. Sara? I’m Nurse D., your nurse for the evening.” Nurse D. responded as she opened the door and walked in. She had bright purple hair that appeared to be in some sort of updo, with a light pink nurse’s hat on top of her hair. She was wearing a similarly colored light pink dress with some purple details on it, along with a slit in the dress on the right side, revealing a similar shade of purple underneath. There were two pink pockets on the front of the dress, with a purple hazard symbol on them, similar to the symbol on the hat.

Nurse D. walked over to a little white rolling table by where the IV was coming from. Sitting on the table was a couple of papers. She didn’t hesitate to start asking me questions.

“The day that you passed out, did you have any odd symptoms earlier that day or the day before?” The Nurse asked.

“I don’t remember anything, really….” I responded quietly. Of course that was a lie, the only thing I don’t remember is how I got into this situation in the first place. It’s all just a big blur of memories.

“Hm. Okay, then…. The only issue we really noticed was that you were very dehydrated. That’s why you have the IV. But, now that you’re awake, we can just have you drink extra fluids instead.” Nurse D. started, while going over to the corner of the room, where there was a dark colored mini fridge, and grabbing a mysterious drink out of it. “Drink this, and then we’ll take the IV out. You should be able to be out of this bed by later today.” She finished, walking back over to me and handing me a 12 ounce plastic bottle of “Night Shine - Eternyx’s Least Toxic Energy Drink”. 

I reluctantly sat up and drank it, and automatically felt like my mouth was on fire. I set the drink down on my lap and shook my head while fanning myself off with my hands. Nurse D. looked at me with pity in her eyes.

“Oh, you poor thing. Sadly, if you want to get out of that bed today, I can’t substitute that for anything else. Sorry!” Nurse D. said. I looked at her with straight-up confusion.

“Is this how people normally practice medicine just in Eternyx? Or is it like this everywhere?” I asked, still panting and fanning myself from the first sip of the drink.

“It’s an Eternyx thing. Actually, it’s more of a Cygnus City thing. Most other parts of Eternyx have practices more similar to how Dancity usually does it.” Nurse D. explained. I nodded and took another sip of the horrible drink. I just need to power through it if I want to see Jack. 

Eventually, I finished the drink. Nurse D. took my IV out, and I tried to stand up and walk. It was easier said then done, though. 

“It’s okay, just hold on to my arm, and we can get you to Jack, okay?” Brezziana said softly. Even with her terrifyingly evil look, she still somehow managed to sound so friendly.

While holding on tightly to Brezziana’s arm, I stood up slowly from my bed. The change in temperature from the already cold sheets on the bed to the even more shockingly cold air didn’t help how difficult it was for me to walk. When Night Swan put me under this spell, she didn’t think about how cold these outfits would be in Eternyx weather. We slowly walked out the bedroom door and started heading down the hallway, when we were stopped by a Swan Solider.

What sounded like angry bird noises came out of it, and I looked at Brezziana in confusion as a look of annoyance crossed her face. She sighed, and then looked at me.

“Night Swan wants to see you.” She said, somehow understanding whatever the Swan Solider had said. “I get that she probably has a good reason as to why, but you just woke up. She should give you some time at least.” She finished. It was then that the Swan Solider grabbed me by the shoulder, its claws stabbing into me, and pulled me towards itself. Brezziana tried to pull me back, saying that she’d bring me there herself, but the Solider didn’t let her. The Swan Solider impatiently dragged me along as my legs almost gave out multiple times. Eventually, we made it to another throne room of Night Swan’s. This one, I definitely remembered. 

It was a spacious circular throne room with shades of gold, black, pink, and purple all over. There was a raised circular stage in the middle of the room, with a couple steps attached to the back of it, which led to a throne, which of course had Night Swan in it. Walking around the room in perfectly single file lines were thousands of Swan Soldiers. Before I had the chance to process any more of the room, I was thrown to my knees, as an insanely loud voice boomed across the room.

“Sara! In what world do you think it’s okay to do that?!” Night Swan screeched. I looked up at her, and her face was red in anger. You could almost see the steam coming out of her ears. 

“M-ma’am I’m sorry….” I responded with a shaky voice. Night Swan stood up from her throne and walked towards me.

“Oh, but my little treasure, sorry just isn’t enough. There is no reason that you should’ve passed out after that. I have no choice but to give you a punishment.” She said while walking towards me. I looked down at the ground in fear of what could happen if I accidentally look at her the wrong way. She got in front of me and slightly knelt down, putting a claw under my chin to lift up my head, forcing me to look at her.

“I was gonna have one of the Minions do this, but maybe if you did it, it would work better. I want you to talk some sense into him before I put the spell on him. And if you can’t, well, let’s just say that you better fucking do it successfully, or you’ll be regretting ever making me look like a fool again.” She said, confidently. I struggled to hold back tears as Night Swan yelled at the Swan Solider that had brought me there and told it to take me to Jack.

I wanted to turn around and fight her, but the Swan Solider was already dragging me out of the throne room. He dragged me all the way through a maze of halls before we got to one that was lined with cells of all shapes and sizes. Some of them were shaped like different card suits, but only three of them. Clubs, Hearts, and Spades. The people in the Club and Spade cages looked very similar, except for the headpieces that they were wearing corresponding to their cell’s card suit. The Heart’s suit cell, though, had a woman with platinum blonde hair, black eyelashes, and red lips. She wore a red latex bodysuit with a large heart-shaped cut-out on her chest, with a large curved skirt and sharp nails. Jagged crystals formed on her left shoulder and right side of her skirt. Her blocky heels were fused with the lower side of her bodysuit. She looked like she was the leader of the three. All three of them were either sitting or lying down on the ground in their cells, seemingly uninterested in me walking by their cells.

There was another cell that I was quite interested in. It was a normal rectangular shape, but the woman in it looked very interesting. It was a woman in an Egyptian outfit. She wore a golden yellow turban with studded jewels as well as a few bracelets on her both arms and a golden necklace. She wears a teal bra as well as a teal flowing skirt with a yellow and red cloth. She also had golden bangles on her ankles. She looked to be practicing some sort of magic, likely to try to escape the cage she was in. When she finally looked up from what she was doing, she looked at me and rolled her eyes, returning to what she was doing.

That’s all I really had time to process before we got to the end of the hallway, and there was a door with a sign that read “CAUTION: DANGER TO ETERNYX - DO NOT ENTER”. There was also a keypad, on which the Swan Solider entered the numbers 7777-9-2-66, which caused the door to open. I walked in, and as the door closed behind me, I saw him. Jack Rose. Except something was different….