Chapter Text
You had heard a report of a powerful Sadness in the… room with the big window? And the books that make your head hurt? You’re pretty sure it’s supposed to be used to research something. You’re just… not sure what.
Either way, there was a Sadness in there, apparently. You were fairly certain all the strong Sadnesses had been taken care of by now? It’s a couple weeks after you all beat the King…
Well. Not all beat the King.
Not Siffrin.
…You force your mind away from that right now. Positive thoughts. Just take care of this Sadness and go to bed! You don’t even have any classes left for today!
Cautiously, you open the door to the… weird room. And look around.
Oh! There, in front of the table, you see it. It looks fairly small… kinda looks like the weird ones you had to fight for those crests! Maybe they’re related somehow..?
Quickly, you draw your rapier, and the Sadness notices you,
…and…
…dashes to hide underneath the table?
It’s… just cowering under there. You feel a little bad, actually.
You, rapier still in hand, kneel down to get a better look.
Y’know, with that funny haircut it almost looks like-
...Hang on.
Weird cowlick, left eye missing, that symbol on its chest….
Hesitantly, you glance at its hands.
Two fingers, sharpened into claws.
…It’s Scissors type.
No- No, no.
He’s Scissors type.
That’s- They died to the King they- That has to be-
“...Siffrin..?”
No that’s stupid it can’t be-
…The Sadness perks up at the name.
At his name.
Oh Change that is Siffrin.
OH CHANGE THAT IS SIFFRIN.
What should you do, what should you do-!?
“Siffrin-! That… that’s you right?”
They’re still trying to hide themself under the table…
Oh. You’ve still got a sword by your side. Duh.
You slowly resheath your rapier, and put your hands up to show you’re harmless.
“Hey, see? I won’t hurt you. You know me, right Siffrin?”
He moves forward a couple… steps? He doesn’t exactly have legs- but either way, they crawl closer to you, cautiously.
But they still won’t come out from under the table.
How can you get him to trust you..?
…You remember hearing something from a class you took once, you think it was about animal handling, about how the easiest way to an animal's heart is to give it food.
You’ve got your backpack on right now, you hadn’t gotten a chance to leave it in your dorm, you remember you’ve got some snacks in there.
You feel a little bad thinking of Siffrin as an animal, but to be fair, they are a Sadness right now.
You begin taking off your backpack, startling Siffrin a little (sorry!) Rummaging through the pack, you find a bag of cheese puffs. You guess that’ll work??
You open the bag, pick up a puff, and hold it out to them.
“H-Here? See, I said I wouldn’t hurt you!”
Much to your surprise, this?? Actually works??
Siffrin slowly crawls out from under the table, and before you can question if he can actually eat like this, a mouth seemingly manifests itself onto his face, and they take a bite.
“There. Do… Do you trust me now Siffrin..?”
They stare at you for a second, something akin to fear in their eye, and then… recognition.
He reaches out a hand- claw? You know Siffrin doesn’t really like touch, but he’s trying to initiate it and also his brain is Sadness goop right now so-??
You move your hand to touch theirs. They seem a little surprised, but don’t try and run or anything…
Staring at both your hands for a while, he then turns to face you. You assume, at least. His head is turned towards you but he doesn’t have a pupil so?
…You can’t stay here all night. Someone will walk in and see you. And if you leave Siffrin here, someone will walk in and see them, and that's even worse than seeing both of you, because they’d probably try and hurt them-
…You could always bring him back to your dorm?
Claude is out visiting family right now, she’ll be back soon but right now you don’t need to worry about her.
You’d just need to figure out how you can sneak Siffrin back through the hall without being noticed…
…They’re pretty small, huh?
They’d probably fit in your backpack.
“Siffrin…”
He tilts his head at you.
“Do you… want to come back to my dorm for tonight..? If- If you stay here, someone might try and hurt you.”
You really hope they can understand what you’re saying. They know what their name is so..?
He stares at you for a second, before nodding.
Thank Change.
“Uhm- If… If we just walk back, someone might see you. So…”
You offer your backpack to them, and hope it's not too rude of a suggestion.
“...Do you want to hide in my backpack?”
He steps back a little. That was a silly thing to suggest-!!
But… you don’t have any other ideas, so-
You grab another cheese puff, and wave it above your backpack. This feels mean, but you’re not sure what else to do.
They stare at the cheesy snack, before trying to climb up and grab it, and by extension, climbing into your pack.
Dropping the puff so they can grab it, you take the bag of cheese puffs and put it next to him in the backpack, and quickly zip it up.
Almost instantly, you hear the sounds of a very unhappy Sadness.
“S-Sorry, sorry!! I can’t leave you here Siffrin!! Please, I’ll walk fast so we get back sooner, and as soon as we’re there I’ll let you out, okay?”
You still hear him clawing at your pack and gurgling, but it calmed down a little bit.
Quickly putting your backpack on, you dart out of the room, making sure to act like you’re Totally Not Suspicious And Not At All Hiding A Dangerous Sadness In Your Backpack.
Thankfully, you make it back to your room without anybody noticing. Somehow.
As promised, as soon as the coast is clear, you take your backpack off and unzip it.
Immediately, Siffrin jumps out, knocking the cheese puff bag out with them.
Quickly glancing around, they spot your bed, and MUCH faster than you thought they’d be able to move like this, they dash under it.
“Siffrin-! I’m sorry… I knew you wouldn’t like that…”
“Just… stay in here for tonight, okay? We can try and figure something better out tomorrow… Claude- My roommate- She’s out right now, so we don’t need to worry about her seeing you. Okay?”
You try and reach out to them, under your bed, and they cower against the wall behind them.
You decide to let them be for now.
Sighing, you put up your things, and prepare for bed.
With one final glance at your friend underneath, you climb into your bed, praying to Change that he’ll do what you told him to. You don’t want to know what’ll happen if they get out…
“...Goodnight, Siffrin.”
You don’t hear anything come from him.
Somehow, despite everything, you manage to fall asleep.
…For a little while, at least.
You wake up to the feeling of… something? Next to you?
You open your eyes, in your sleepy haze you think a cat snuck into your dorm or something-
Nope. Only a cat in spirit.
“Siffrin..?” You say, rubbing your eyes.
The little Sadness seems to notice you’re awake, and jumps off the bed, running back under it.
“Ah- Siffrin!”
Was he trying to-?? They were trying to curl up next to you or something-
You get up from bed, and kneel down to look under it.
“Siffrin… You don’t have to be so scared of me. You know me, right? You remember, right..?”
Siffrin was never known for his memory.
They look at you like a stranger. No- not just that. Like a scared animal looking at a stranger.
You just-
You know Sadnesses don’t recognize people they knew in life. There's no records of that happening.
Something in you was hoping-
But deep down you know.
“...You don't recognize me, do you Siffrin?”
“It’s… It’s silly of me to think you would. I just- I was- I miss you, Siffrin. A lot.”
“I’m sure the others do, too. I was really mad at you, back before we fought the King, when you were really mean to all of us.”
“But when I found out you had- you were-”
You can’t help but cry.
You clasp your hands together in prayer.
“I’m sorry, Siffrin. I just… Wanted to believe you could be back.”
“I’m sorry…”
You close your eyes.
…And feel a small, clawed hand, on your lap.
“Mmiiiia. Miia bb- bbel?”
Siffrin is staring right at you.
“Siffrin..?”
They look scared, but-
“Miiiirrrr. Miirrra?”
They… They do-!
“Siffrin-! You- You do remember me-!! You can talk-?? Well- sort of??”
Seeing you happy, their face seems to light up as well.
“Mmm!! Miiii!!!”
“Oh, Siffrin-!”
You try to restrain yourself from picking him up in a hug, but he’s already doing it himself before that thought finishes.
You wrap your arms around them, deciding to not question how open to touch they’ve been, probably just Sadness brain, you think.
…It’s still the middle of the night, however. And you have more classes to go to tomorrow.
“Ah- I- I have more classes to do tomorrow, I need to get some sleep.”
…Might as well offer.
“You can… you can share the bed with me, if you want..? I- I mean! You don’t have to if you don’t want to and-”
Siffrin, immediately, starts making grabby hands up at you, like how Bonnie would when they wanted Isabeau to pick them up.
You smile.
As carefully as you can, you lift him up, and climb back into bed.
Once out of your grip, he wriggles around a bit, making himself comfortable.
“Goodnight, Siffrin.”
They make a small squeak noise back at you.
Despite everything, you’re glad to have Siffrin back, in some capacity.
You fall asleep.