Chapter Text
How did I get stuck between these two? Outwardly, she's restrained by her eldest brother and her slave knight. Inwardly, she balling her eyes out.
"You're a slave, how dare you think you're in a position to teach?"
"My master has asked me to teach her, I am inclined to follow her orders."
The air between them turns frigid, like she's caught in a blizzard. Both Eckles and Derrick's scores blink rapidly above their heads and she panics. "Enough, enough!" She breaks free from their hold with a shout. "If you're going to fight, do it when I'm not around. I'm leaving."
A hand grabs her wrist again, and forces her to stay. She whirls around with narrowed eyes. "Let go."
Derrick's eyes are burning with a cold fury. "No. You came here to learn, I will teach you. Come.” He tugs her arm and tries to drag her away.
This arrogant son of a bitch. "I said, get away!" She uses her entire body strength to yank her hand out of his grasp, then stumbles.
She loses her balance and the world tilts back. Her neck twists back just in time to see a pointed rock.
NO!!
The rush of air in her ears swallows Derrick and Eckles' screams for her name. She's sure the two are rushing to catch her but -
It's too late.
Pain explodes from her head, her neck, her everything. It's hard to tell where the impact of her fall was, but she's certain that it's enough to end her.
There's garbled noises all around her. She's staring at the sky, even though she's sure she was looking at the ground while she fell. Black spots fill her blurry vision.
Of all the stupid ways to end, it's this?! After I was so careful...
She tries to take a breath but her airway is twisted, blocked. There's a moment of panic before the world fades out.
She dies.
And then, she's floating.
She can't move her arms, or open her eyes. She just floats in blissful silence, finally allowed to rest.
Well, if this is what being dead is, I guess it's not so bad. It's better than being in hell with my family, or in that damned game.
She doesn't know how long she drifts, alone and relaxed, when she suddenly feels something tickle her ear. At first, she thinks she's starting to lose it. She's heard of people going insane from isolation, and wonders if this is how real Hell begins. (Even if this was how Purgatory or Hell was, it would never be worse than what she's already lived through).
Then, the gentle tickling becomes more pronounced, until she can just make out a voice.
"What do you mean she's dead?! Do your job and fix her, you damn doctor!"
Her head whips around to empty space. Since when can she move her body again?
From the other side of her, another voice rings out, "Reynold, calm yourself! Penelope is... she's dea-"
"She's not dead! Stop acting like she's gone when she's NOT. She's right here! She's just... she's sleeping! And the doctor needs to wake her up, that's all!"
"REYNOLD!" The Duke's voice booms through the air around her; she can feel it vibrate through her soul, despite there being no source of it anywhere. "Stop with this nonsense, she's gone. Penelope is... Penelope is dead."
Oh. She's hearing the voices of the living then.
"No, she can't be... I..." Reynold's voice, which was usually so assured, cracked, "I can't lose another sister."
Hearing sobs from her hotheaded brother was unsettling, especially when he was this distraught over her. She was almost thankful she could only hear him, she didn't think she could handle seeing that.
Despite Reynold's loud, anguished sobs, Derrick's voice was clear. "I... it's my fault. If I wasn't so forceful and controlling, she wouldn't have... She tried to run from me. I'm her brother and she tried to run from me! How despicable was I that she died trying to get away from her own brother? I'm... I'm so sorry, Penelope."
She took it back, this was a cruel Hell. Why was she hearing these things after she died, and not while she was alive? They never cared about her then, it was unfair to be forced to listen to them care now. Moreover, if she knew they were capable of holding this much affection, she wouldn't have crossed their names off her list in the first place!
She sighed into the darkness. Well, no use crying over spilled milk, she was dead now. It shouldn't matter what she could have done. All she had to do was wait to go back to her world, or float around this purgatory for the rest of eternity. Speaking of which, she wondered how long she would be forced to be here…
The voices had faded away before she knew it, leaving her in still silence. Once again left alone with her thoughts.
She wasn't sure how much time had passed when something pricked at the edge of her vision.
A light... No, the darkness she drifted in steadily grew brighter. The light continued to grow until she clenched her eyes shut to block it out, and even then, it was blinding. There was a ringing in her ears that steadily grew louder until she wanted to scream with it from how painful it was. Overwhelming sensations overtook her at once, and then -
- stopped.
"...Lady. My Lady." Emily was calling her. "My Lady, wake up."
She opened her eyes.
"You are awake now."
Her eyes slid over to the cold voice of Emily, her trusted maid, only to flinch at the uncaring gaze she was met with.
She opened her mouth to demand an answer for her rude behavior, but no sound would come out. Her heart pounded as she shot up in bed, and grabbed her throat. An old, but familiar lightning of pain shot up her arm, and made her grunt. With a sharp inhale, she carefully rolled up her sleeve to find the puncture wounds she had endured at the beginning of the game.
"I have prepared water for you to bathe in, so please go and wash, my Lady," Emily smirked, then strode out the room without a dismissal.
With that, it was confirmed. She was back at the start of the game.
It just never ends, does it?