Oh, the sunlight was so beautiful today. Everything was beautiful and bright and made Mia smile. The towering glass buildings shone brightly in the sunlight. It was as if the whole city had been carved out of huge glittering gemstones. It was going to be a great day whether or not Mia wanted it to be.
"Good morning, one and all!" Mary called out. "I hope that you are doing well today!" Yes, Mia was doing well. She was doing much better than she had a right to be doing. "Today we will all be using our ribbons again so please pull them out!" Mary ordered. All of the dolls obeyed. Was it Mia's imagination or had her purple ribbon doubled in size? It appeared to be much larger than it was before.
"Please begin tying all of your ribbons together!" Mary announced. Hm, what did she mean by that? Ruby also appeared to be a little bit confused.
"I guess we should just tie the ends of our ribbons together," Ruby muttered. So, Mia held up the end of her purple ribbon, and Ruby tied the ends together. Upon looking around, Mia realized that everyone else was doing the exact same thing all around her. Ooooh, now Mia understood what they were trying to do. They were all working together to make one giant ribbon made up of everyone's ribbons.
"I-I think that this is going to take a while," laughed Mia.
"Yeah, I guess that we should just wait while all the other dolls finish. Hopefully this will be a game where we won't have to fight each other. I want more games like the ribbon game or the marble game where we were all able to work together," said Ruby.
"That sounds wonderful!" Mia called out. Why did she have to sound like that when she was happy? None of this was fair. Mia lost track of how much time passed as all the dolls tied their ribbons. It really was quite satisfying to watch as each ribbon was woven into the huge stand. All of the colorful and shimmery pieces of fabric seemed to melt together into one color. It was a strange color that reflected, the light in a weird way. What exactly were these ribbons made of? They felt very stiff and hard compared to the cloth of Mia's dress. She had also often wondered what material the mirrors were made out of. The glass of the mirrors looked just like normal glass. But the mirror's frames felt soft and strangely sticky. It didn't really feel like metal or wood.
"Please make sure that you tie your knots very tightly," Mary called out. Ruby leaned over to check their knots one last time to make sure that they were secure and stable. How wonderful these knots were; how wonderful everything was! Dang, this was taking forever. Oh, it was taking a wonderfully long time everything was taking. After what felt like a wonderfully slow 200000 years, the giant ribbon was fully tied, and the game could begin.
"Thank you all very much! Now, please hang tight for a little bit," Mary commanded. Yay! They got to spend even more time doing nothing! How wonderful! But then again, doing nothing was better than spending the whole day in a constant state of dread and terror. There was a loud cracking sound that was instantly followed by a painfully bright flash. Mia winced and covered her eyes. These bright flashes were really starting to get to her. Her head was still throbbing, long after the flashes had faded away. Then she noticed that the two red lines. They cut right across the square, splitting it in half. What in the world was this?
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"Please stay on your side of the line!" Mary called out. "Can every doll take hold of their end of the ribbon, please? We are going to be playing giant tug of war!" she called out. So, they would be working against the dolls on the other side of the line. What happened to the team that lost?
"Stay close to me, Mia," whispered Ruby. Mia really didn't need Ruby to tell her that. She was already clinging to Ruby as if her life depended upon it.
"Three... two... one... GO!" Mary shouted out. Instantly, Mia felt herself being tugged forward. None of the dolls around her had hesitated for an instant. Already, Mia's hands hurt from gripping the rope. What was she even doing? She was no good to anyone here. She had practically no strength and was half as tall as the dolls that surrounded her. There was no way that her effort was making a difference in anything other than lowering her stamina. Mia was totally useless here and she knew it. But she had always been useless. How wonderful it was to be useless. Mia gritted her teeth. If only there was a way for her to shut off her own brain. It was very hard to get a sense of how many dolls were on each team. Maybe Mia should just let go of the rope. There was a sudden jolt backward and Mia stumbled to the ground. Pain shot through her leg, and she winced.
"Mia! What happened?" Ruby let go of the rope and was by Mia's side in an instant. "What is it?"
"I-I'm okay. I just chipped my leg I think," muttered Mia.
"Hold still, just give me one second," Ruby whispered. Her hands were glowing with that bright red light. She whispered the words to her spell softly as she pressed her hands to Mia's injury. A gentle and sweet warmth spread over Mia, and she was finally able to relax. "It's okay, you're going to be okay," Ruby was whispering. Mia had seen Ruby heal injuries many times before. But she never got tired of watching it. Ruby's powers were almost as cool as Ivy's powers. But nobody could be cooler than Ivy. "Do you feel okay?" Ruby asked at last.
"Yes, thank you!" No sooner had the words left Mia's mouth than there was a loud rumbling sound. The two dolls spun around to see their team being dragged over the line. A pit had formed at the base of the line and the dolls were falling into it. Without hesitating, Ruby grabbed Mia and yanked her away from the edge of the cliff. Mia watched in horror as their team fell into the darkness below. For a moment, Mia and Ruby just sat in silence, looking at each other. That could have easily been them. If either of them had still been holding onto the rope, they would have been pulled down too. Mia's injury had saved them. Ruby was shaking from head to toe. Unsure of how to comfort Ruby, Mia just gave Ruby's hand a little squeeze. That seemed to pull Ruby out of whatever fearful trance she had been in. Ruby blinked, looked down at Mia, and then pulled her into an embrace.
The two of them just sat like that for a moment, clinging to each other. Mary was talking again. But Mia couldn't make out a word of what she was saying. All that Mia knew was that she was still alive, and she still had Ruby. That if nothing else really was wonderful.