When Ecolo offers to take Arle & Carbuncle back to their home world, they find that it's in much worse shape than they left it in. Maybe they can save it? Reuploaded from Archive Of Our Own.
It was a beautiful day in Primp. The breeze was nice, the sun was perfect, perfect for Arle and her friend, Carbuncle, to go out for some adventuring.
"How about we find a new dungeon in the area to explore?"
"Gugu guu!"
Arle was, as usual, anxious to go on another adventure in a dungeon. It wasn't even for the treasure, she just loved to explore dungeons. Perhaps it reminded her of her old home, the Madou World, which had far more dungeons than Primp. Sometimes Arle wondered how, despite dimension hopping all the time, she'd never ended up back home after that fateful day she appeared in front of Ta-Toon-Da Castl-
"Hey Arle! Wanna go back to your old world?"
"Ah- Ecolo!"
"GU! Gugu!"
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The one who'd suddenly appeared in front of her was Ecolo, a space time traveller almost nobody could remember. Sure, she didn't have as good a memory of him as Ringo and Satan, but she remembered him a lot better than most other people. That sort of thing tends to happen when someone possesses you and uses your body to almost drown multiple planets...
"You just appeared out of nowhere! Do you always do that to Ri- wait what did you say?" Arle said, slightly slow in realising what he just said.
"Yup~ Satan just told me where your world is located! I can take you there!" Ecolo said cheerfully.
"Y... You're serious?" Arle said, cautiously. Arle (somehow) didn't hate Ecolo or anything, but she, of all people, knew that Ecolo wasn't exactly the most trustworthy person.
"Of course I am~" Ecolo said, with a genuine smile. "I heard how you wanted to go back home, and I wanted to help you!"
Arle stood there for a few seconds, stunned at what he just said. Suddenly, tears of happiness started welling up in her eyes. Ecolo was taken aback, as he'd never seen her cry before. He was even more taken aback as she walked up to him, and hugged him, though he didn't feel it because he wasn't solid.
"Thank you," Arle said, tears still coming down her face. "Thank you, Ecolo."
"How did you get Satan to tell you where my world is?" Arle asked Ecolo a few minutes later. "He never answers me when I ask. He just changes the subject."
"Well..." Ecolo started to say. "It was earlier. I remembered how you wanna return home. So I decided to ask gramps where your world is~"
"Hey, Gramps~" Ecolo said, in the flashback.
"Ecolo!" Satan said excitedly. "Just the guy I wanna see. I've been thinking about getting a tan. Wanna help me enlarge the sun-"
"Do you know where your original world is?" Ecolo interrupted.
"The... Madou World?" Satan said with some dread in his voice.
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"Yeah, that one~" Ecolo replied.
"No," Satan said. "I'm not telling you. You'd just tell Arle, and I CANNOT have her knowing."
"C'mon! I won't tell," Ecolo said.
"No offense, Ecolo," Satan said, "but I don't trust you. You'd tell Arle immediately."
"None taken, gramps," Ecolo said, used to hearing the same from Ringo, "but I won't tell her! Piiiiiinky promise?"
Satan saw right through Ecolo. His blank eyes had the impression that he was fully planning on telling Arle. But maybe he could convince him against it.
"Hmm... fine," Satan said. "But before you even think about showing Arle or anyone else, you go to my old world yourself. Go there, and then think about if Arle wants to see it."
"No," Satan said. "You have to promise me you will go alone first."
"Sure, I promise," Ecolo said.
"NO," Satan yelled. "You HAVE to mean it!"
"I promise and I mean it," Ecolo said unenthusiastically.
"You don't mean it at all!" Satan yelled.
"Then he started telling me to repeat this oath after me," Ecolo said in the present.
"I will not tell anyone, especially not Arle, until I have gone there myself," Ecolo said, his eyes finally looking truthful.
"Hmph, fine. I guess I believe you," Satan said, pulling up a map of all of the multiverse he knew. He pointed to an unremarkable universe close to Primp.
"THAT is where our old world is," Satan said. "So go there by yourself, got it?"
"Yeah yeah, I got it the first 30 times," Ecolo said with a grumpy look. "See you! I'm DEFINITELY off to the Madou World, and I'm DEFINITELY going alone!"
Ecolo then opened a portal, and left Satan's castle. Satan stared at the wall Ecolo used to be for a couple seconds. "He's going to tell Arle, isn't he."
"And that's that!" Ecolo said.
"How long ago was all this?" Arle asked.
"Right before I appeared in front of you," Ecolo proudly said.
"And how did you know that last part?" Arle said. "That was after you left."
"We don't need to worry about that," Ecolo said, brushing it off. In reality, he just guessed.
"So are you ready to go?" Ecolo said.
Arle suddenly started thinking. "Wait! Should I bring anyone else? Would Amitie like to see my world? Does anyone else wanna come ho-"
"Maybe we should just go on our own~" Ecolo said. "If Satan found out we brought a crowd, he'd kill us."
"You," Arle corrected him. "He'd never do anything to me."
"Let's just go alone~" Ecolo said, slightly panicked.
"Sure," Arle conceded, picking up Carbuncle. "But we're also taking Carby!"
"Gu gu gu!" Carbuncle agreed.
"Sure, he can come," Ecolo said, before suddenly opened a portal. "If I'm right, this should be your world~"
Arle stared at the portal. Everything, the friends she'd left behind, her family, her home were finally in front of her.
"... thank you so much, Ecolo," Arle said again, smiling, wanting to make sure Ecolo knew she was thankful. She was so excited to finally see everyone again.
"No problem! Now, let's go!" Ecolo said, as both of them went into the portal.
Satan suddenly landed nearby, and stared at the portal that was now closing.
"Ecolo, you idiot," Satan said, not surprised in the slightest.
