Twilight watched as the Purple Wild's (Grape, dubbed as such when the Chain collectively vetoed against him picking Eggplant or Boysenberry as names) Animated-Creature-Thing spun chaotically, slowly chipping through the old stone wall of the dungeon they ended up trapped in together, separated from the others in the Chain along with the other split Wild's.
"How many of those things can you make?" Twilight asked curiously, staring at the Thing mesmerized. It just didn't stop spinning. Like one of those dreidels or tops he's once tried to carve for the kids in his village. "Does it ever stop?"
"I could probably fill a room with all the capsules I have. My Autobuild's would run out eventually but I have enough Zonaite to last me a while and Flora helped me optimize the amount everything took." Grape held out their newfangled arm towards the Thing. It made a weird hmming sound before a stream of green burst from it, and Grape carefully hovered the spinning device closer against the stone door to chip away at it faster.
It lacked any and all dungeoneering or splunkering artistry whatsoever, but by the Three it was efficient. Between the Spinning Thing and the Hoverbike that Grape manifested earlier to skip over an entire infinite pitfall platform puzzle, Twilight could tentatively admit to himself that he was beginning to see some of the appeal in magic. Some of it.
But with the sight of the glowing, clearly unnatural arm sticking out in front of him, Twilight couldn't help but stare.
Something had– or rather, something would happen to Wild in the future that would give him some newfangled magical powers but would cost him a literal arm in exchange. Twilight wanted to know so bad it hurt – but every time their present Wild, Leaf, tried to ask she was brushed aside. He didn't know if he would be any different. He didn't know how much this future Wild still trusted him despite how many years it had been.
Eventually, before the wall crumbles, Twilight works up the courage to ask. "Can I ask what happened to your arm?"
Grape, who was in the middle of yawning, snaps their mouth shut so fast Twilight could almost swear he heard their bone creak.
"You could," Grape says cryptically. "Might not tell you though."
Twilight doesn't wince. "Did it... hurt? Was it so bad that you can't even bring yourself to talk about it?" Twilight has moments – a moment like that. He doesn't want more of that for Wild.
Grape makes a so-so motion with their free hand. "I don't really like thinking about it but it wasn't so bad that I don't ever talk about it. That's not the reason why I won't tell you guys about it though."
"Can I ask why you won't?"
"You could..." Grape smiles back cryptically.
Twilight sighs fondly, returning them with a wry grin. "But I'm assumin' you won't tell me about it though?"
Grape winks with a quick snicker. The wall crumbles and the arms of the Spinny Thing stop when Grape drops it and throws an apple at it, before dispelling the construct. Then they pulled out a sword with a rock fused to it and started swinging. Twilight winced, imagining the scolding Four would give if he knew.
The two of them step through the rubble of the door into the next room only to find it nearly entirely empty. Twilight sighs, and begins to comb the walls for indents and secret levers. Grape follows his lead.
"Have you ever traveled through time before?" Grape asks suddenly, startling Twilight from where he was trying to inch free a section of brick. Twilight bites back a curse before he responds.
"Time travel?" Twilight looks towards Wild curiously. "A little. Why?"
Grape doesn't respond for long enough that Twilight almost goes back to scanning the walls for an exit but his patience wins out when Grape hesitantly speaks, "Apparently there are multiple kinds of time travel. Like time loops or one way trips."
"...Sounds interesting. Does this little incident have anything to do with your new curiosity in time magics?"
"Maybe. A little." Grape shrugs but he's tense in a way Twilight has learned to read as 'not lying, but there's way more to the story than he's telling'. "We've talked about it a little. Me an' Flora. We're not quite sure if this really is time travel– 'cause she says we can't be sure whether the sword actually summons a person from another time or if it just summons a sample of what they're like at a different stage in their life. But we're pretty sure it's the last thing. Especially because Fish doesn't have any memories of going through it when he was Apple though I have memories of when I was Leaf."
Twilight stays quiet and patient, waiting for Wild to continue.
Grape does. "So. It's not real time travel. I'm not really traveling through time and my real self in the future probably wouldn't have experienced this at all. Won't experience it? Iunno." He shakes his head. "That doesn't really matter– I'm just thinking out loud. Anyways, time travel. Sometimes the loop just goes in a circle but sometimes you just get thrown back or thrown forwards and there's nothing you can do. When it loops it kind of bends so it's malleable and things can change in that loop but when it's just. A one way trip... sometimes things Just Happen. And there's nothing you can do to change them no matter what."
He doesn't like how it sounds like Grape has gone through it first hand. "What do you mean?"
Grape Wild shrugged. "Iunno man. Like..."
They sigh. Twilight waits some more.
"Things Happen, in the future. Big things. Second adventure things, y'know? The type of thing that Just Happens and there's nothing you could've done to prepare yourself for how bad it was gonna get and even if you tried you'd've just been setting yourself up for failure and disappointment." Grape turns to him, giving Twilight a full view of his melancholic eyes. "Do you understand? My past self would only drown themself in useless worry if I tried to warn them of what was going to happen. And it wouldn't change anything anyways."
Twilight frowns. "So you're just... not going to tell yourself any of that? Not even if it means there's a chance that things would end up better for you?"
"There's no point." Grape states. "And anyways, I know for a fact I never tell myself it so there's no point in trying to convince me; it wouldn't work. All you'd be doing is giving yourself a lesson of futility."
"Twi..." They return in the same tone, before visibly dismissing him by going back to the walls.
Twilight ruminates on Grape's words for a while until a loud exasperated groan coming from the champion catches his attention again.
"Oh! I'm such an idiot!" Grape smacks themself on the forehead before their hand lights up again with a green glow. He starts to scan the walls through again, and near an area Twilight could've sworn he checked thoroughly, Grape Ultrahand's a spot in the wall and pulls a chunk of it out to open up a hidden doorway. "Hyaa! Take that stupid empty room. Power of a dead goat king's arm! C'mon, let's go see if this next area finally leads us to the others."
Twilight watches as Grape takes off dashing through the hall, resisting the urge to reach out to him. To question him more thoroughly, to scold him for running off, to comfort him from all they've gone through. But Twilight doesn't do any of it.
It's as Wild said it was earlier: a lesson of futility.
