Having finally ran a fair distance away from the White Monster, they were faced with a new opportunity. Before them stood a clothes shop that was offering its wares to them. As the rules go, they are all permitted another article of clothing as it was the new cycle.
"Do we go for it?" Elegy asked, "I'd like to ask for a proper belt to hold this scabbard."
"We don't have time." Hats shook his head, "If we take too long, the Monster will catch up to us."
"...So what? It won't take even 5 minutes, there's like 2 people in line." Sorbet smirked.
It was 2-1 in favor of standing in line, and so the majority vote prevailed. Hats was quite averse to the idea of dawdling as they were, but when it came down to it, this really was just picking up your daily free loot along the way. They can always discard the items they don't like, but they Materialize items they chose to skip out on.
"Don't worry, the lady working the till looks stylish." Sorbet reassured them, "She definitely knows what she's doing."
This... wasn't a lie, actually. He was right on the money, she knew how to match the style of each customer perfectly. The only issue? She would spend way too much time picking the perfect article out. In fact, it was more like a tailor's appointment than a simple apparel drop off point. Despite there only being two people in line ahead of them, it took the first guy 10 minutes to leave.
"Ugh, we're behind schedule!" Hats panicked.
"Yeah, screw this. Let's just leave." Sorbet nodded.
Elegy, however, didn't find the idea appealing.
"...Just a bit more, we already spent too much time waiting to just give up."
"Majority vote prevails, you know the rules sucker!" Sorbet put his foot out of the line.
"Hey, stop." Hats pulled him back.
"Ugh, what now?"
"Well, let's just wait a minute or so more." Hats shrugged, "He's right, the Beast should be pretty far away still, and lugging the sword around in his hands could be detrimental to us if Elegy gets tired before a big fight."
Hats trusted Elegy, but Elegy was pretty obviously in the wrong here. In truth, he just learned from Elegy what FOMO means, and really disliked the idea of leaving a free item giveaway without getting anything. Sorbet couldn't even argue, because as it stood, he was now the one in the minority.
"Gah, that lady's taking forever!" Sorbet fussed, "Come on, we don't got all day!"
"Shut up, I came here to get the perfect hat!" The customer in front pouted, "It needs to match my overall outfit!"
Almost all the extra time they had made with their previous marathon sprint was used up because of this mistake. The White Monster could arrive any minute and they'd be sitting ducks, so it makes sense why Sorbet lost his cool a bit.
"I ought to stick a match under your outfit...!"
"Hey, calm down." Elegy chuckled, "Take your time, lady. Please, excuse him."
"Tch, that's exactly what I intend to do!" The posh customer rolled her Eyes.
"What are you doing!?" Sorbet cried out.
"Waiting in line, same as you." Elegy smiled.
At this point, Sorbet could only laugh deliriously at the absurd reply.
"Oh, haha, I get it!" He cackled, "This is your way of getting back at me, eh!? You said you were gonna help us reach the Shrine, but you're just stalling until the White Monster shows up to send us all back to the start!"
"I have no clue what you're talking about." Elegy shook his head, "I'm just waiting to get myself a proper belt, that's really it."
At this point, the stylish shopkeeper called for Elegy after the posh lady found herself a good hat.
"Next!" She would shout.
"Seriously, everything is your fault!" Sorbet couldn't take it anymore.
"Hello? Next!?"
"From the very start, you've been screwing me over time and time again...!" Sorbet cussed him out publicly.
"Sir, next!"
"And even now, what the hell are you standing there for like an idiot!?" Sorbet finished it off with a tearful query, "Go, dammit! You're next in line, so quit stalling!"
"I was..." Elegy awkwardly inhaled, "I was waiting for you to finish speaking. It'd be rude if I just ignored your feelings."
"Ah."
Sorbet questioned his every move leading up to this moment. Never before was he so regretful of choosing the path of revenge than now. In truth, he understood that this thorny path was one built by him and only him. Had he chosen to let Elegy's actions go unpunished, he could've still been in his perfect home, chilling under and over thousands of pillows, cranking 90s on his GS5. By now, he figured, the reset had fixed both his TV and controller.
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"You..." Sorbet uttered.
But he couldn't let go of that anger. The pain, the betrayal he felt that day, when Gale tore off his hard-earned wings just to come back tomorrow having lost them. There was no forgiveness for such a transgression, and he knew from the start that this plan was never going to be easy. Of course, he showed his cards to Elegy, so it's obvious that he would try to counter them as best he could.
"Okay, sorry. I'll go get the belt now-" Elegy turned around.
"Here." Hats tossed a brand new, sturdy leather belt to him the moment he did.
"E-Eh?"
"Hats?" Even Sorbet was left speechless.
It appears while the two were bickering and being overall useless, Hats took the initiative to cut in front of Elegy and order the belt himself.
"Sigh, you're both acting way too carefree for someone getting chased by the White Monster."
"Chased by the White Monster!?" The shopkeeper panicked after she heard that, "Shoo! Get the hell away from here, then! Don't bring it to me, you idiots!"
"Right, sor-"
Silence. It's here.
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***
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" "
"!?..."
" " The White Monster spoke, " "
As soon as they felt its presence, the three boys shut their Eyes tight and grabbed each other's hands. That being said, they were highly disoriented, and given how the Monster was practically in front of them, this time Sorbet couldn't even peek out to find out where they should go.
"Shopkeeper, can we jump inside!?" Elegy pleaded.
" "
"Crap, it got her!" Sorbet fussed, opting to choose a random direction and just straight booking it, "Let's go, come on!"
"H-Hey, wait! We don't know if that's the right way!" Hats argued.
"Right now, getting everyone to safety should be the number one priority! We can always realign ourselves once we can open our Eyes again!"
Despite their quick thinking, the ambient silence never stopped. They ran and ran, far longer than it should have usually taken them to evade it, but this time it just wouldn't leave them be.
"Urk! It's not letting go!" Elegy began to worry, "What do we do?"
"...Open your Eyes!" Hats ordered suddenly.
"Huh?! Are you crazy?" The other two turned to him, Eyes still firmly shut, "That's suicide!"
"Just trust me!"
As his voice echoed throughout the silence of their surroundings, the two tensed up before opting to listen. They at first squinted their Eyelids open, spotting his familiar golden arms. After that, just as they began to open their Eyes wide...
"Tcha!" A powerful being slammed Hats deep into the ground, "You guys alright!?"
"Hats!" Sorbet shouted.
"You asshole, why did you...!" Elegy pulled his sword out, only to pause the moment he recognized the being, "Eh? S-Sheep...?"
As it so happened, this was around the time Sheep got flung back to his shop. He still had the wings on him, so he opted to power through his injuries and immediately head back for the Shrine. It didn't take him long before he spotted a terrible sight from up in the sky—His two friends, Sab and Gale, holding hands with a White Monster Apostle.
"The shopkeeper!" Sorbet recognized him as well, "H-Hold on! For now, we gotta make sure Hats is okay-!"
"Stop!" Sheep swooped them up, taking them high into the sky where no White Monster could reach them, "If you're talking about the guy with the golden arms, he turned into a goat skull."
"What? You're kidding...!" Sorbet gasped.
"...T-Then, you need to take us back down!" Elegy tried wriggling free.
If the White Monster already put Hats to sleep, then it's only a matter of time before it comes to pick him up so it can take him back to his home. Leaving him all alone down there would most certainly amount to that.
"Hey, stop that! I'm trying to keep you two safe!" Sheep kept them within his embrace.
"...Y-Your hand!" Elegy noticed it was missing.
"I'll explain everything, but let's first get you to safety." He explained.
"No! We can't leave Hats behind!" Elegy remained firm in his stance, "We don't know where the guy lives, so we can't let them take his body away!"
"He's already asleep, fool! His memory's wiped!"
"No, it isn't!" Sorbet shouted back as well, "He can retain his memories too!"
In a surprising twist of fate, even he couldn't sit there in silence while Hats was potentially getting taken away by the White Monster. Though this wasn't a change of heart or Sorbet leaving behind his revenge plan, as he was just way too curious about the story behind Hats' memory retention.
"What the hell...?" Sheep could hardly believe it, "No, but if that's the case, then that's all the more reason to let him go!"
"Please, Sheep! We need him with us!" Elegy begged.
"You're wasting precious time, idiot!" Sorbet as well, "Here, we can use my clothes as a blindfold! Until he turns back to normal, we'll just keep him like that, so come on!"
"Dumbasses. We have our own issues to worry about!" Sheep shot back, "Vastoria is on the brink of death, and Migu's fighting a psychopath."
"What?!"
The news was hard to hear, and even harder to dish out. Both of them were shaken up by this sudden report, but that wasn't all the bad news they had to hear.
"Wait, what about Throne?" Sorbet gulped.
"Throne? Hey, how do you know...?" Elegy questioned "Sorbet's" knowledge.
"...He's dead." Sheep looked away, "I killed him."
"You...!" Sorbet held his rage in for the time being, "Tch, serves him right."
"Sheep..." Elegy, however, was quite disappointed.
"Don't look at me like that, Gale. It was either that or he killed Migu. In fact, it's thanks to you that we managed to extend our investigation this far."
In shielding her from the White Monster, Gale managed to uncover Throne's true motives and simultaneously put a stop to them. The remaining members of that party learned that Sab was the next in line to face soul destruction, and in them refusing to pull the trigger, they became accomplices as well.
"Investigation?" Elegy tilted his head.
"You lost your memories of that cycle, so I don't doubt you have your questions, but now's not the time." Sheep shook his head, "For now, I need your help to save Migu."
"...Your injuries." Sorbet sighed, "It's a miracle you're still breathing with them.
"I'll probably die the moment I enter the Shrine's domain." He revealed, "But I don't mind doing that if it means protecting Migu."
At this, Sorbet could only mockingly laugh at him.
"Heh! If that's the case, moron, then you're gonna need proper manpower to fight for you."
"Huh? That's what I said!"
"Yeah, so in that case..." Elegy smirked, following Sorbet's lead as he pointed down to where Hats was, "We got this one guy who can bend the border bars with ease lying just down in that hole over there."
"You two..."
Begrudgingly, he had to accept defeat this time and go on a little detour before helping Migu. It was risky to go toe-to-toe with a White Monster, especially just to rescue an Apostle of all things, but in his heart he knew just how riskier it would be to go to Energy unprepared. In truth, of their group they only had Elegy to match his strength, but if they had someone capable of even bending the unbendable border bars, then...
"That psychopath won't stand a chance!" Sheep smirked confidently, swooping down to reach the ground as soon as possible.