#maize can also absolutely do this to herself and yes its how she gets over heartbreak so easily

[hqmillioncorn]

FFXIVWrite Day Three (freeday): insomnia

"Slept well last night did you?" Hades asked Babycorn. He wasn't all that happy that he had to be the one to look for and then fetch their missing companion. "You must be her familiar. If you can sleep in such uncomfortable places like that." Babycorn yawned and kept walking ahead of Hades. Even if she did finally get a good nights rest yesterday she was still a little sleepy. "Thanks for finding me Emmy." she mumbled.

It turns out that there was not much of a difference between Elpis in the daytime to Elpis at night. Babycorn figured that most of the Concepts would be asleep by now but to her disappointment most of them were still roaming about, ready to attack her at any moment's notice.

“Does everyone work all day?” Babycorn asked no one in particular, “Sounds kinda boring…” 

Since she was all alone with no weapon on her, Babycorn made sure to avoid walking too deep into any areas with them. Which was surprising she was managing to do while not really paying to where she was going at the same time.

She had no idea how far she had walked but considering Babycorn could still see the little building she was offered a place to sleep in-she must not have walked that far. 

Babycorn let out a sigh and decided she didn’t walk anymore, she sat down onto the grassy ground and hugged her legs closer to her, leaning her head on them. 

It made sense, she was exhausted. So much had happened today. Traveling to the past, meeting Hades and Hythlodaeus, being tasked with the job of finding out what happened to Hermes. She was so tired. 

Before she knew it, or could do anything about it, Babycorn’s eyes began to close. 

“Mmmaybe…I…”

Darkness slowly began to overtake her vision. 

Unfortunately like the countless other times she had tried earlier today, the peaceful silence didn’t last long. 

Visions of fire falling against a dark sky. The deafening sounds of people screaming all around her. Shadows all around her, calling her a monster over and over and over again. Her own baby brother taking hold of someone and slowly raising them up to their mouth and-

“STOP!!” Babycorn screamed, thrashing her body around violently, trying to fight back against the imaginary enemies in her head. They weren’t real. She knew this. Babycorn paused, just to end up almost crying again. “...Just stop it…Please just leave me alone…” She wanted desperately to close her eyes and drift off to sleep, to forget this whole mess even happened.

Something deep inside her just wanted to take her memory of the whole thing and rip it right out of her. 

“Wow! It’s a beautiful night out isn’t it?”

“WaAAaaAA?!” Babycorn let out a yelp and fell back in shock. “W-Who’s there?!” She was sure that she hadn’t been followed by anyone the entire time. Maybe someone had seen her walking around and decided to follow her?! Hopefully it wasn’t someone bad, she was pretty much defenseless…

To Babycorn’s sorta-relief it was actually someone she had briefly met before. “It’s meeeee!!” the doll said in a high-pitched tone, “Your best friend Sicily! At your service!” A burst of glitter exploded behind Sicily and Babycorn couldn’t tell if that was real or if she had hit her head just a little too hard when she fell. 

Sicily paused her introduction to bend over and help Babycorn sit up again. “Up and at em’! You don’t wanna get any grass stains on your pretty white robe!” She advised. Unfortunately it was a little too late for that at this point for Babycorn but the effort was still appreciated. 

Sicily took the time to dust Babycorn off. Poor Babycorn was too tired to tell her she didn’t really have to bother doing that. “By the way…” She walked all around Babycorn in a circle, examining her from head to toe, “Where’s the outfit me and Venice gave you? You looked sooooooo cute in it earlier!!” Sicily sniffled and though she was incapable of actual tears on account of being a doll, one look at her face at the moment would have you thinking otherwise.

Babycorn hesitated to answer. The truth of the whole thing was that she had taken it off shortly after parting ways with Sicily and Venice. Since they had both told her they would be leaving soon Babycorn had figured there would be no real danger to not wearing it. Besides people doubting her story of being Azem’s familiar but people seemed to believe it with or without the outfit.

“Umm…” Babycorn nervously looked around for anything that could help her in this situation. Ultimately it all came down to her. She nervously tapped two of her fingers together and looked down, “Its cause…These are my pajamas…? It wasn’t entirely a lie. Wearing this robe was really comfy and felt more like wearing a blanket than a usual robe did. 

Sicily’s eyes instantly lit up. “Ooooohh!! And since you’re out here you didn’t want to get your clothes we gave you dirty so you’re wearing pajamas instead!!! Ooooh!! Babycorn!!!” In an instant her ragdoll arms were wrapped all around Babycorn in a tight hug. 

“AAAuHHHauccK?!?!” Babycorn felt herself being lifted off the ground but weirdly enough it wasn’t too tight a hug. It must have come with the whole thing of Sicily being a soft ragdoll.

Sicily swayed Babycorn in her arms from side to side. “You’re so smart!! And so cute!!” she let out another squeal and finally set Babycorn down on solid ground, “I’m so lucky to have a little sister as adorable as you!!” 

“L-Little sister…?” 

Babycorn had heard both Sicily and Venice refer to each other as siblings but she must have somehow missed the part where they called her a sibling too. Maybe she had too much on her mind at the time?

Sicily grinned, “Little sister!! Maize all made us so we’re all family of course!! That’s what she told us!” 

“Oh, cool…” Sounds like something Cherry would-

“And families have to help each other when they caaaan! Which is why…” Sicily sat down and crossed her legs in between each other in a knot. She patted the ground next to her for Babycorn to sit down next to her. “Which is why I’m here to help you!” Her eyes sparkled with a hint of red to them. 

“Help me? With what?” 

There were a lot of things that Babycorn needed help with. But she couldn’t think of any way that Sicily could help with any of them. Unless this doll somehow was privy to some secrets about Hermes or something.

“You’ve been having trouble sleeping tonight!” 

“H-Huh…?!” Babycorn was so caught off guard by Sicily’s correct guess that she didn’t have the foresight to deny her accusation. 

Sicily covered her mouth and let out a loud giggle. “Don’t try to hide it and pretend everythings okay! We can tell! Because I’m having trouble sleeping too!” Sicily stood up from where she was sitting and rested her hand on Babycorn’s shoulder. 

“And we know it's because of you.” 

There was something chilling about Sicily’s voice. Babycorn didn’t like it.

“How do you-?”

“Oh, I can always tell.”

Babycorn heard another unfamiliar voice behind her. As soon as she had, Sicily froze and fell to the ground in front of her. Like a toy that someone decided they were done playing with. Babycorn let out a scream and stepped back, kicking Sicily away from her. Sicily did not react at all, her eyes were blank and she was as still as a corpse. 

Before Babycorn could turn around and run away she bumped right into someone, which caused her to fall backwards right onto Sicily. 

Babycorn panicked and tried to get away, only to trip over herself and Sicily over and over again. Until she felt someone grab her by her foot and lift her up. Even being upside down she could tell who it was that was holding her up. 

Even if they’ve never met before.

“Azem…” 

‘Azem’ smiled at Babycorn. Or did she frown? Babycorn really couldn’t tell from her upside down vantage point. 

“That’s my title! Don’t wear it out!” Azem grabbed hold of one of Babycorn’s hands in an attempt to flip her back up, when she did that Babycorn could finally tell that she was smiling. “But you can call me Maize! I don’t mind!” Maize lowered Babycorn onto the ground and gave her a small pat on the head.

Babycorn struggled to find the right things to say that wouldn’t get her exposed as being from the future and also a part of Azem’s broke of pieces of the future. “Um…? I thought you were supposed to be somewhere else? You know? Being somewhere that isn’t here?” It was something she had overheard Hades and Hythlodaeus talking about. 

That would surely raise no suspicions.

Maize laughed nervously to herself for a bit. “I-I was! But I heard word that there was a new familiar of mine roaming around Elpis! And helping Emmy and Hihi too!” Babycorn guessed that Emmy and Hihi must have been nicknames for Hades and Hythlodaeus. Maize leaned in closer to Babycorn until she was staring down at her, “A familiar of mine I have no memory of creating.” Her stare was pretty damning. 

“I-I-Is that so? Haha…” Babycorn’s days were numbered, she was so sure of it. This was the end. 

But in a move that could both be described as unexpected and a relief, Maize stood straight up and clasped her hands together in a smile. “And so I headed right back because I just needed to see the new cutie I made!! Don’t tell Emmy and Hihi though! They would never let me live it down! Teehee!” 

Creating dolls in her sleep was nothing new for Maize. It just so happened that most of the sleep created ones happened to be more of a nuisance for everyone involved in contrast to the more friendly ones. So when word had reached her of a new doll taking Elpis by storm, she couldn’t resist making the trip.

Babycorn’s relief was very short-lived as it was replaced by a mild panic when Maize suddenly rushed up to her and grabbed hold of her face.

“Mmmmpppph?!?!” Just what was this lady doing?!

Maize ignored Babycorn’s scowl and simply continued to examine her. “Oooooh! Just look at you!! Your cheeks are so cute and full! And are those freckles I see?! How adorable! And your hair has the same color and consistency as Sicily and Venice.” She paused to laugh to herself about something, “I wonder if your hair would taste the same when boiled and covered in spaghetti sauce?”

“Excuse meeee?!”

Was she going to be the one being eaten instead?! 

“Never mind all that!” Maize waved Babycorn’s worries away and turned Babycorn’s head to the side. “Omigoooosh!! Look at your ears! They’re so different!! I wonder why?” Turning Babycorn’s head to face her again, Maize noticed something else. “And…Your eyes…They’re the same color as…!” She let out a loud gasp and covered her cheeks in embarrassment. 

Babycorn decided to ignore whatever her ancient was doing and rubbed at her face. 

“It wasn’t my imagination then…was it? This doll's texture feels like nothing I’ve ever felt before…” Maize continued to mumble to herself, all while walking in a circle. “Almost as if…as if…” 

Babycorn froze.

“As if…You’re not a doll.”

“I…um…”

There wasn’t really anything Babycorn could say in her defense. And running away screaming at the top of her lungs wasn’t a viable option either. There was nowhere to run!

Maize looked down at her, though the ancient was considered short by this world’s standard it didn’t make a difference to Babycorn, she still towered over her. As most things did. 

Babycorn looked up to meet Maize’s one uncovered eye. It was a bright red. Which did not help in making this entire situation any less scarier. 

“You’re alive. A living concept. Just like most things here, aren’t you?” 

Babycorn remained silent. Mostly out of fear rather than necessity. 

“Which means…”

“Which means??”

“Which means you must be me and Emmy’s daughter from the future?!?!” Maize let out a maniacal laugh and twirled around in place, “Kyaaaaaaaa!! You’re even cuter than I imagined you’d beeee!!!!” 

“NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” Babycorn let out a scream so loud that it was almost a shock that it didn’t wake up everyone in the nearby vicinity.  It did scare a couple of birds from their trees though.

As soon as Babycorn finished screaming Maize frowned. “Aww…Guess I was wrong…” She was more than a little heartbroken about the fact that she was not talking to her and Hades’ future daughter but she would get over it. Surely this didn’t mean that they weren’t any less destined to be together.

Maize knelt down to Babycorn’s level and brushed some of her loose hairs down. She noticed that her hair was a mess and the bags under her eyes were worse than her own. Not only that, her eyes were red and puffy, as if she had just been crying. Maize was more than familiar with that look.

Babycorn simply looked right at her. The rush of despair of being called Emet-Selch’s daughter still running through her mind. Coupled with the actual realization that she was face to face with her ancient who wanted a child with Emet-Selch had rendered her completely speechless at the moment.

“You must have been so lonely out there.” Maize gently set her hand on Babycorn’s head. “I’m sorry I created you and left you alone for so long.” Had she known she created her, Maize would have canceled her trip and stayed to shower Babycorn with gifts and affection as long as she could.

“It's a scary world out there. Isn’t it?” 

Babycorn was still quiet, speechless. Though this time it was because Maize’s hand was resting on her head. It was a nice feeling. A feeling that Babycorn always secretly wished that people would give her. 

A warm touch to hold her that everything was going to be okay. 

“To journey out there, to places you hardly know with people you can’t trust, I wouldn’t blame you for being so scared of it all.”

Babycorn raised her hands up and grabbed Maize’s wrist, just to make sure that she wouldn’t let go. 

“Losing people is never easy and it never gets any easier. Then to continue living on for them like nothing ever happened? You don’t know how to do that, do you?” 

Babycorn shook her head.

“Aww, sweetie I’m so sorry! I wish there was something I could have done. But I think it's a little too late for me to do anything…”

“It’s okay…”

Maize adjusted her hand “For now. I’ll just relieve you of your worst one!” 

Babycorn’s hands let go of Maize as her arms fell to her side. In an instant, Maize removed her hand, a long glowing thread was attached to the end of her index finger. It wasn’t too long of a thread but it glowed so bright it looked like it was almost on fire. Interlaced around it was another thread, much longer than the first. 

Maize wordlessly moved the thread around in the shape of a circle. From there she could see the memories stored inside of it, all from Babycorn’s point of view. It was a nightmare from what she could see, but the most confusing thing about it was Babycorn’s sympathy for the monsters tearing people apart. 

“Haha! Ew, gross.” was Maize’s only reaction to the whole thing. No wonder her poor little doll hadn’t been able to sleep. “Let’s take care of this!” With a flick of her hand the string collapsed right into her hand alongside the extra one.

Then in an instant and with a clap of her hand, Maize turned the memories into nothing more than dust that she mindlessly sprinkled into the ground. 

As soon as the memories were destroyed Babycorn broke out of her trance with a gasp, only narrowly missing hitting the ground again thanks to being caught by an awakened Sicily.  

“Got ya!” Sicily set Babycorn down on the grassy ground and stepped back. She held her non-existent breath until Babycorn took a breath of her own. Even if Babycorn wasn’t a doll like her it didn’t mean she didn’t care any less about her than before.

“Good job Sicily!” Maize gave her a congratulatory pat on the head and then walked over to inspect Babycorn. 

Babycorn was sleeping soundly on the ground. She had turned herself over on her side, most likely the position she slept in on her own bed. There was a smile on her face and a tear in one of her eyes. 

Maize smiled, “That should do it!” She brushed a part of Babycorn’s hair away from her eyes and stepped back. 

“I hope Babycorn won’t mind that you did that Miss Maize!” Sicily jumped onto Maize’s arm and wrapped her own arms around her. 

“She won’t mind! If she could-I think she would thank me now that she can finally get some sleep!”

“You’re so nice Miss Maize!!!”

“Oh, don’t say that!” Maize chuckled, “After all, I want to get some sleep too!”