"She did it again," Dahlia says, exhausted. Just like last time, Lillly is breathing like it's going out of style. How many more times is she going to do this? It can't keep going forever.
"I'm sorry," Viking says. "We just died again too. But by accident."
"You'll never believe what she came up with," Dahlia says. "I guess she couldn't think of a good reason to bring her friends together, so she told them she needs to get her soul back because she sold it during freshman year in exchange for a personality."
"Maybe that's what we did with our memories," Viking jokes, softly, and it's nice, being able to joke when they're in such a dark place.
"We could find out if that's what happened if you stopped stalling us from completing the ritual," Pilot says, and so what if she's being harsh? It's obvious, isn't it, that Lillly's fake story is basically the same as their real story? If Viking really wanted to help these girls, he would be telling Lillly to stop, instead of encouraging her nonsense with jokes. For all he claims to want to help people, he's just as selfish as Pilot. It'd be nice if she could make him realize that.
"Don't stop yourself from recovering your memories on her account," Dahlia says. "She told everyone I was her girlfriend. And somehow they believed her."
If one looks closely, the differences between Dahlia and Lillly are even more obvious tonight. But they still look like twins. Certainly not like girlfriends. Maybe Lillly's friends just think she's so self-absorbed she would only be able to date people who look like her. No, that can't be true. The regular Lillly must be a mix of Lillly and Dahlia. Anyone who's part Dahlia would have to be nice.
Lillly told everyone Dahlia's her girlfriend? So that must mean these two don't have to share a body. That's so unfair. "We're stuck in our old body," Pilot says. "How are you two different people?"
"It's because she's not me," Lillly says. "Shouldn't you be grateful that I let you be seen? You put up such a fuss last night about that, and I couldn't come up with another reason for you to be around."
"So you picked girlfriend instead of, I don't know, cousin?" Dahlia asks.
"Nice to see you again," Viking says, and finds he means it. Sure, Lillly's not as pleasant as Dahlia, but he still likes her for some reason. Probably because he suspects they really are the same person.
"All right," Pilot says, grabbing Viking's sleeve. "You've made sure they're both fine. Now let's go."
He shakes her off and turns to Dahlia. "Good luck with next time," he says, pulling her closer for another hug. None of the other Dominioners are much into hugging. The closest they really come is when Fixxitt rides on someone's shoulders. He misses hugging when he's with them. If he could hug them, that would make it so much easier to have to let them go someday.
"Thanks. You too." Dahlia hugs him back, enjoying the feeling of being held by someone so much taller. It gives her hope that everything will work out, eventually. Even though she's fairly certain Viking and Pilot aren't supposed to be able to be in her world. But this isn't her world, is it? It's a seemingly endless expanse of darkness.
"Dahlia." Lillly says. "You've had your hug. You've made fun of me for making up a reason to see my friends. Isn't that what I'm supposed to do? Make up excuses to see them, even when I don't technically have to? I'm going to leave."
"You make up realistic reasons to see your friends. Like, oh I can't rearrange my living room without you. Or maybe, hey there, do you want to go grocery shopping with me? Not something you stole from an 80s high school B-movie." Dahlia lets go of Viking to stare at Lillly. "Your story is unnecessarily complicated and put everyone through a lot more stress than you needed. Just invite everyone over for a party, or something."
"I can't," Lillly says.
"You can't, or you won't?" Dahlia asks. "You can, you just aren't ready to spend time with your friends when you're not the centre of attention."
"Go easy on her," Viking says, for some reason he's not quite sure of. He's certainly closer to Dahlia. He should be taking Dahlia's side. But right now, watching Dahlia say such cold things so callously? It's Lillly he feels bad for.
"No, I won't," Dahlia says, and tries to shove him backwards, but he's doing that thing where he's intangible, so her hands just sink into his shoulder. It's trippy, she has to admit. "She's hurting herself far worse than I ever could."
"You done playing the hero?" Pilot asks. "I want to go back. Viking." But he ignores her, as usual. Can't he see that she just wants what's best for their collective VikingPilot self?
"Fine," Lillly says, and hopes nobody can see that she's shaking a little bit. Fear? Anger? Who knows. Who cares? Certainly not Dahlia. "We're never coming back here again."
"So you're going to stop-"
Viking watches Dahlia vanish, even though she definitely wasn't closing her eyes and thinking of home. She was wide-eyed, alert, angry. These two don't seem to obey the same laws as he and Pilot.
"How did she do that?" Pilot says. Lillly dragged Dahlia back to life. That shouldn't be possible. It's not possible for her and Viking, at least.
"You're not doing that to me," Viking says, voice returning to that familiar tone that Legundo swears is scary. It's just his serious voice. "You can't leave unless I want to leave, too. You're stuck here with me."
"Just like we're stuck together back in Dominion," Pilot says, and crosses her arms. "Your friends are gone now. Let's go." She shuts her eyes and thinks of bed, and to her surprise, Viking follows. Good to see he's not too ridiculous. Some part of him must agree with her. Restoring VikingPilot's memories is more important than anything else they could get involved with.