Around 2014, XeroM52 wrote a number of snips for the overarching Infinite Loops project, specifically relating to the world of the Skullgirls. While his works were entertaining, he could not quite keep up with the quality or speed of the project at the whole and, a year later, vanished entirely. The following is the start of a revamp project-taken what he wrote, cleaning it up, and inserting new snips to cover plot points that were glossed over by the original work. It is the hope of the compiler that this will shore up any inconsistencies and lack of structure in the original compilation. Without further ado: The Skullgirls Encore Loops.

1.1 Masterweaver

[Skullgirls/Neon Genesis Evangelion]

Annie's life had been complicated enough before time started hiccuping. An immortal child, a warrior against the very threat her mother had become, an unseen advisor to rulers and agencies across the world... it didn't help that almost everyone she met assumed she was an actress, or a fan, that the show she had made with the intent of educating the world was regarded as fiction. And then at around the time the most recent Skullgirl had come to light... time seemed to stop, sputtering like a gunked up car engine. She'd assumed, at first, that it was due to the wish the Skullgirl had made. She'd even gone in and demanded to know how the girl had done it, but...

...well, the little girl had seemed utterly nonplussed. Not only that she was real, but at the concept of time repeating itself. Her wish had been vengeance on the local mafia, nothing more. That she was still sane enough to let Annie go afterwards spoke volumes of her willpower.

The immortal child warrior had decided to back off then. She kept an eye on the Skullgirl, of course, and the various people who went after her and the skull heart, and... it varied. It varied wildly. There had been a lot of fights-pointless, countless fights, some ending with death and others with the loser walking away. There had been unusual heroes and unexpected villains, and mostly just greedy fools desperate to regain some sort of control over their life. She'd only intervened once, when the wrestling idiot got himself caught up in a big mess-she told herself it was because he was a man, couldn't become a skullgirl, didn't deserve that fate. But for the most part...

...it was all so pointless. Some of the wishes... most of the wishes were actually genuine. Some of the people destroyed the skull heart. For a year, peace-and then time hiccuped, and back to the beginning, the game playing out again, the pawns not seeing their fate. It didn't matter what their goals were, it didn't matter how good or evil they were, or even if they succeeded. No reward, or punishment, ever lasted. If Annie had been wired to grow, she might have felt it stagnating... but she'd been stuck in her own mentality for so long that her primary response was simply weariness.

Finally, one repeat, she had enough. She approached the church where the Skullgirl resided, dealt with the eldritch nun-a decent fight, one of the few challenges she had had in long years-and walked down to the catacombs. The white-haired Skullgirl tried to speak with her, but she performed her chosen task efficiently. And once the girl had been dealt with, once the Skull Heart was in her grasp, she steeled herself to make her first-and last-ever wish.

"Skull Heart... I want to know why time is repeating. I want to know what has happened. Grant me this, and bestow upon me your curse."

The Skull Heart was silent, for a moment or two.

"...Interesting," it finally replied. "Interesting indeed... a wish that can only be granted by your demise. I know not how I know this, or why it is. But this wish is..."

It trailed off.

"...to grant you this wish is to kill you. To kill you is to stop the next skullgirl before she even rises. And yet this wish is impure..."

"There will be others," Annie pointed out. "Others willing to accept your curse for their own reasons."

"You would know. Very well." The Skull Heart began to glow. "Accept your death, girl of the stars, and accept your answer!"

The light grew blinding, painfully searing through her flesh, her bone, her remaining eye-

-and then suddenly she found herself in an abandoned city, watching a single boy through a window as some great monster launched an attack.

"...what?"

The next few days had been... interesting, to say the least. The pattern was vaguely recognizable-a secret government task force mandated to defend the world against horrifically powerful monsters, using children and experimental weapons to do so-but it was so overblown, so much faster then back in New Meridian, and the culture alone seemed highly different.

And she had both her eyes. Granted, they were red, but...

She wasn't sure if she wanted to follow the commands of the higher-ups, who appeared to have some mysterious plan, but she wasn't sure she could defy them-none of her long-term resources existed here. She was a child at their mercy, and after seeing how they treated the boy she doubted they had any mercy at all.

She considered just walking out into one of the "angel" attacks, but the Skull Heart had said she would find answers here, so she endured.

And then one day, a penguin waddled into her apartment.

A penguin. An actual penguin.

Annie looked at it for a long while.

"...Yeah, I've learned that cute things are rarely anywhere near as harmless as they seem," she finally said. "So, what, do you have the ability to freeze me to death or something?"

"Or something," the penguin agreed.

"Huh." Annie nodded, sitting down on a chair. "I was only half expecting you to talk."

"Yes, well. Don't go spreading it around. I try to keep on a low radar around nonloopers."

"Nonloopers."

"People who aren't looping." The penguin cocked its head. "You are looping, right?"

Annie narrowed her eyes. "...Maybe. What does looping mean?"

"Repeating through time, and occasionally being shunted to other universes."

"Yeah, that... about sums it up."

The penguin cocked its head the other way. "...This is your first fused loop? Your first loop outside your home world?"

"I'm guessing you've never heard of the Skull Heart, so yeah."

"Hmm. I'm going to have to explain everything." The penguin turned around and shut the door. "Fair warning, you and I are the only loopers Awake at the moment... so far as I can tell, so talking to anyone about this will not be having pretty results."

The penguin's explanation was basic, but thorough. A great supercomputer tree known as Yggdrasil, underlying the multiverse, had suffered near cataclysmic damage. The gods who were working on repairing it-and wasn't that an interesting concept, gods that actually cared about the world she lived in-had set up each universe to run through time loops in order to maintain their stability. And in each universe, one lucky soul was selected to be the Anchor-the hard point around which each iteration would revolve, whose mental stability would hold the world together.

Annie had run down the list of other 'stable' people she'd noticed and concluded her own selection was less 'best of the best' and more 'only possible choice.' Which, unfortunately, led to the issue of other loopers from her home...

"Hold on. You're saying that other people are going to join me in this."

"It really is inevitable," the penguin replied. "It's a very rare soul that can survive an infinite repetition alone, and-"

"Well, I guess I'm a rare soul, then."

The penguin looked at her askance.

"I'm an immortal child in my baseline," Annie pointed out, "and almost all the other people that are consistent in my loop are consistently... disturbed. I don't want any of them as my friend-not one."

"...You might not have a choice," the penguin pointed out. "It doesn't matter how crazy they are, if they're emotionally close to you-"

"Then I'll be distant." Annie nodded. "I won't tell them about the loops. I won't intervene. It's a wreck anyway, but at the very least, staying away will keep the mess from getting worse."

"You do realize you might be... sacrificing any control you have over the situation. That some of them could be activated without your input."

Annie frowned. "I'll deal with that as it comes. After all, I fight generations of Skullgirls and can't even spit out a single curseword. I don't see how bad this could possibly get."

1.2 XeroM52

Patricia Watson, also known as the Anti-Skullgirl super weapon Peacock, defeated the Skullgirl once again.

"Show's over… Marie…" she said, almost too sadly for it to be a quip. No matter how many times it happened, Peacock could never change the outcome of this fight. At least her dear friend Marie, was in a better place, away from the pain of been a Skullgirl.

Then, as the script dictated, the Skull Heart appeared in front of her.

Every seven years, it granted a wish to a woman. The wish could be of any magnitude, but it came at a price; if the woman's heart was impure, the wish would be twisted and she would become a Skullgirl.

And as the anti-Skullgirl weapon, it was Peacock's duty to destroy the Skull Heart, again, and again. She remembered the first time she did so; the Heart mocked her telling her that it wasn't over yet and that it would return and yadda, yadda, yadda. Peacock couldn't help but wonder if the whole time loop she was trapped in was caused by the accursed Heart.

Peacock took the Skull Heart in her hands and wondered. Should she make a wish? Maybe that way the loops would end.

"Skull Heart! I'm ready to make a wish!"

"Whatever wish you want I will grant!" the Heart answered, waiting to create another Skullgirl.

"I wish…I wish….I wish for you to turn the world's oxygen into chocolate!" Peacock announced.

"…"

"Hey! What's wrong? Grant my wish now! Chop-chop!" she ordered.

"I…I cannot grant you that wish!" the Skull Heart informed. "Please make another wish."

"Then I wish the moon to be made out of actual cheese!" she decided. "Of every kind that exists and doesn't exist yet!"

"…Can't do that either…" the heart said, getting annoyed.

"Huh? I thought you were supposed to be this artifact with godlike powers that could grant ANY wish! I told you my wish so DO it NOW!" Peacock demanded, rattling the heart as if it was a broken machine.

"I cannot grant those wishes! Please wish for something else!"

"Ok, how about…"

One hour and 45 rejected wishes later, Patricia gave up. "You know, you aren't all that useful, or as powerful as people made you out to be!" How difficult was it to create a blue phone booth that was bigger on the inside than the outside? Or create a peanut bag with no bottom?

"In my thousands of years doing my work, you are the worst wisher I have met, by far," the Skull Heart lamented.

"Oh yeah? Well screw you too!" Peacock launched the heart into the air and blasted it off with her eye lasers from her arms. "That'll teach ya!" She walked away with the intent of painting the streets red with the blood of the members of the Medici Mafia, just for funsies... and to honor the last wish of her best friend Marie.

1.3 Masterweaver

In some ways, it was a release.

Not a welcome one, exactly. Anticipated. Expected. The rage that flowed through her, from the moment she had touched the Skull Heart, finally burned out. In her last moments, she turned to the one that had defeated her, tried to explain, warn her of the rage within...

And then biology caught up with her, ribs exposed to the air, head and arms and legs scattering to physics, it was so much like falling asleep.

Including the part where she woke up.

As if from a dream.

Marie Kobel blinked, staring at her pale hands, looking around the crypt she stood in. She patted herself down-yes, yes there were her ribs, still open to the air, like she recalled. Perhaps this was the afterlife, and she simply had to accept her new form as-

WHAT IS THIS?!

-she nearly stumbled as a blast of unadulterated anger came, not from herself, but from the darkened orb beating within her chest.

What are these memories? Where are they from?!

"I don't know," she mumbled. "But-"

You are too weak to be a skullgirl. You have already been defeated, not by an army but by one fool. I will end this!

The black orb burst out of her chest, wisps of dark smoke dragged from her eyes and mouth and weaving around it, into the glowing eyes as she fell, once more taken by darkness-

Marie Kobel blinked, staring at her pale hands, looking around the crypt she stood in. She took a steadying breath, useless as it was without lungs. "Well, that was... odd."

WHAT IS THIS?!

She flinched, glaring at her chest. "I don't know, but you escaping clearly isn't happening! So don't try it!"

For a moment, there was silence.

Perhaps this is the end. Yes, that would make sense...

Marie barely had time to respond before rage, even more potent then any she had felt, poured through her. A scream tore from her throat as bones rattled, gathering around her body in ever increasing density-she was barely cognizant of the blue veins extending outward, stretching her form even as the roof above her burst, and her thoughts were drowned out by the fires of anger and hatred as her great form swung through the rotten city, crushing heroes with skyscrapers and blood splattering everywhere as she stomped through the realm of mortals, mind darkened by an ancient presence bringing one last apocalypse to a world that should long have died...

Marie Kobel blinked, staring at her pale hands, looking around the crypt she stood in. She took a steadying breath, useless as it was without lungs.

WHAT IS-?!

Then she clamped down on the mind of the skull heart. "No. We've tried your way twice over. You can look through my memories and see it. This time, we're trying my way, and you are not going to defy me."

For a moment, there was silence.

I am a god, you know.

"And I am your prison. Now we're both going to have to deal with it."

After a moment, there came a resigned, resentful grumble. We ask Double about this first. Maybe she knows something.

1.4 XeroM52

Now that Peacock thought about it, this whole thing with the time loops opened up a world of unimaginable possibilities to do stuff she initially never thought of doing. 'Initially' because if she had thought about before this whole shebang started, she would've done it anyways. There was nobody that could stop her then, there was nobody that could stop her now.

She made a cartoonish big evil smile as she approached her first victim.

Peacock neared Fillia, a amnesiac girl with a parasite instead of hair, and pulled downed the girl's skirt.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" screamed a red faced Filia.

"I just wanted to know if the carpet matched the drapes!" was Peacock's response.

Peacock jumped to the back of her next victim.

"Patricia?! What are you doing?!" Big Band asked in surprise.

Peacock didn't say anything as she put her mouth on the sax mouthpiece that was on his back, and blew. Sound came out from somewhere of Big Band's body-to be expected, since he was mostly instruments by now.

"Well, well, well, what do you know?" she laughed as she jumped out of his back. "I CAN play you like a saxophone!"

"Never do that again, you hear?!" Big Band shouted in anger and embarrassment.

Parasoul, the crown princess of the Canopy Kingdom and leader of the Black Egrets, was minding her own business when suddenly she felt a pair of hands grabbing and squeezing her chest.

"Darn it! Just 34DD? Not as big as the Nurse's 36E!"

"Unhand me you perv!" Princess Parasoul screamed as she swatted away the offending hands. "I'll have you imprisoned for life!"

"Well, ExcuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuUuUuUuUuUuUuUuUuUuUUUUUuuuuuuUUUUUUsme, Princess!" Peacock quipped as she ran away.

"Patricia, have you come to put a stop to me?" the skullgirl Marie asked the one who had once been her best friend on the whole world.

"Nope! Sorry! Close but no cigar!" Peacock said. "You aren't yourself when you're hungry, so I came here to give ya some sugah, toots!"

"What are you…?" But before Marie could even finish, Peacock planted a big wet kiss on her lips.

"So, how do you like that?" Peacock smiled, expecting some sort of funny reaction from Marie.

Instead she got something else.

"Patricia…" Marie whispered before enveloping her arms around her dearest friend began kissing her back.

"Wait! Stop! This isn't what I was expecting!" Peacock tried to free herself from the crushing hug that Marie was giving her.

In the end Peacock got her just desserts and then some.

1.5 Masterweaver

WHAT-?!

Marie pushed down on the now-familiar source of her rage, locking it back into place. "I've lived through a good two dozen repeats, no attempt of yours has let an escape, so..."

She paused, ignoring the mental grumbling.

"...actually, I have a question for you, Skullheart."

I have already granted you the power to fulfill your wish, the Skullheart pointed out. I am under no obligation to help you further.

"No, but you're stuck with me anyway. And..." Marie twiddled with her white hair nervously. "Well. I'm... sort of considering, maybe..."

There was a pause.

You are not serious.

"I mean if I'm stuck in this repeat of time, I should... try new things, you know?" Marie glanced down at herself. "And I'm not really dressed to head out."

This idea of yours is ridiculous.

"You're stuck with me, though. So whatever else, I figured you'd at least want to advise me a bit. Even if it's just to sabotage me for your own amusement."

What makes you think I have any advice for this sort of thing?

"How many skullgirls have there been before me?" Marie asked rhetorically. "Even if you have no direct experience, you have to have some sort of echoes, a vague opinion."

For a moment, there was silence.

Then, an aggravated sigh. This is what I've been reduced to. Giving dating tips to a prepubescent girl. Will you at least slaughter somebody on the way?

"Hmm. I'm fairly sure that Patricia would love to join me in ripping the Medici apart."

I suppose that is so. In your case, then, the obvious issue is covering up your ribs. As for the shade of your dress, white hair is best with monochrome clothes, though the exact color of monochrome should be determined by what message you which to convey...

She'd settled, eventually, on a light lavender outfit-there was certainly enough fabric from her mafia-based summons to craft one, though she kept the white lace of her normal clothes out of habit. Her stride out of the church was encouraged by Double and watched carefully by Valentine, though both had interesting reactions when she did not immediately summon the dead to her service and, instead, went about as though it were a perfectly normal day. Perhaps she earned a few looks from passersby-certainly her sunglasses marked her as strange, even without her pale skin and hair. Yet nobody would attack an innocent little girl in broad daylight...

Well.

Nobody alone would attack an innocent little girl in broad daylight.

She paused, tapping her hands together. "Now... how would I find Patricia...?

She's an anti-skullgirl weapon. You could do something that skullgirls usually do.

"No, that would attract attention. Perhaps... I think she likes cartoons."

Obviously.

"So I need to find a theatre that is showing cartoons... and possibly action films." Marie nodded to herself. "I think I know where a movie theatre is, actually. I suppose I'll wait around in there."

The Skullheart grumbled as she continued down the street, eventually coming to her destination and entering. She stood in the lobby, examining the posters curiously.

Something patted at her arm.

"Himm?" Marie turned, finding what seemed for all the world to be a walking plush rabbit. "Oh, hello there. I'm sorry, I'm just... waiting for a friend."

The rabbit flicked an ear curiously.

"I don't think you'd know her. Patricia, she... well." Marie sighed. "Well, if you did know her, you know she's been through a lot. And I'm... I guess... I've been through a lot too. Maybe this was stupid."

It certainly was.

"I just thought I'd run into her here."

The rabbit stared at her for an uncomfortable moment.

"...I'm sorry, I'm being rude. My name is Marie." She held out a hand. "What's yours?"

The rabbit took the hand and shook, holding out a small card.

"Carl?" Marie read out loud. "That's a nice name."

The rabbit nodded, pointing at a nearby poster.

"What? Oh. A new action film showing in a couple hours." She looked over the reviews. "Patricia likes this sort of thing... At least, I think so... it's been so long."

Carl patted her arm reassuringly.

"...You're right, I guess. Maybe I shouldn't give up hope just yet." Marie smiled as he waddled off. "It was nice meeting you, Carl!"

Annie couldn't curse-the limits of the magic that made her immortal forced her tongue to be child-safe-but as Sagan returned she felt that urge rising. "Trinity fudge this whole darn situation. The skullgirl, the SKULLGIRL, is looping. What the hay, Yggdrasil, I thought you were supposed to be against reality falling apart!"

Her plush rabbit familiar shrugged.

"Yeah, yeah, I know, I know." Annie sighed. "And she's got the most 'emotional connections,' she's the darn skullgirl. Of course she would activate."

What to do, what to do... she didn't know how to reverse a looper's activation, if it was even possible. Technically, she should just avoid the girl as much as possible-an Anchor's death meant a loop crash, which meant more trouble in the long run. At the same time, though, the girl could-and frequently DID-destroy the entire city of New Meridian, and that was just baseline. Give her access to the multiverse...

Annie shivered.

"I can't stop her," she mumbled. "I can't contain her. But... maybe I can redirect her."

This skullgirl, at least, was more restrained than the many that had come before her. That was one small, lucky break-that the Skullgirl who did end up looping wasn't one of her depraved predecessors, but an abused little girl with a good and strong heart. She might even still be a person-scratch that, to loop you had to have a soul, so yeah, she was definitely still a person. Although, being in such close and constant contact to the skullheart...

She would need something to counter that. Something she could care about consistently. Another looper.

And, while Annie didn't like the girl, she'd picked up on Peacock looping-she might have been crazy, but her 'experiments' had gotten wild enough to track, and the fact she never repeated them rational enough to record.

"So I guess you're going to get what you want, skullgirl." Annie shook her head. "Maybe you'll be able to keep her in line, anyway."

Patricia Watson-Peacock to her friends-was not exactly stupid. Impulsive, insane, deranged, discombobulated, yeah. But stupid? No siree bob!

She'd heard somebody talking some incredible reviews on that new action flick-it had caught her attention because the speaker sounded like the heroine of her favorite show, but everyone knew Annie was just fiction and besides, the little girl had sunglasses and blue hair-Annie had an eyepatch and green hair. Also she had no sword. So obviously, not Annie of the Stars-even in disguise, Annie would never abandon that sword.

Unless you were reading really, REALLY bad fanfiction.

The point was, the girl went on about this movie, and Peacock had said to herself 'yeah that sounds like a fun time' and wandered to the local theater to buy a ticket. That had been the plan, anyway; go in, get ticket, watch movie, get out.

A plan that was utterly dashed when she saw who was standing in the theater lobby.

Yeah, her dress was a different color than the usual black. And, okay sure, plenty of people had white hair. It was the sunglasses that really gave her away, though. That and the red eyes.

The red, skull-printed eyes.

It didn't take a genius to figure out the girl was waiting for her-the moment those skull printed eyes fell on her, they widened, and the girl stood straighter. Peacock, of course, couldn't exactly meet them; her eyes were gone and she saw through the petal-like extensions on her arms, these days. But she turned her face toward her friend's... former friend?... as she sauntered over. There didn't seem to be any bracing for battle... which was odd, given what they were.

A skullgirl and a skullgirl killer.

She paused, smirking her beartrap smirk, and whipped out a cigar. "So, toots. What's happening with you?"

The other girl frowned, taking the cigar from her hand. "That's not healthy for you, you know."

"Hey look girlie, I don't know if you realize it but I've pretty much run my course on healthy living."

"I..." A sigh. "I know. Look... Patricia... can we talk? I mean, I know you're probably suspicious of me, what with me being..."

She lowered her sunglasses briefly.

"Yeah, maybe a little." Peacock took the cigar back. "Fair warning: you break out bones, I'll break your bones. Nothing personal, just my job."

"No, I understand... more than you know, maybe." She paused. "Patricia... I think something's wrong with the world."

"Plenty of things," Peacock took a snuff of her cigar. "Watcha mean specifics, toots?"

"You see, I've... this is going to sound crazy, but... I've been living the same year over and over."

Peacock choked on smoke.

A cursed lich child and a mutilated little girl sat openly in the park, with nobody taking notice. If that wasn't a sign of New Meridian's staple callousness, Peacock didn't know what was.

"...So, uh. You're the one with the ancient magical artifact." She rubbed the back of her head. "You got any idea why this is happening?"

"No. If it had just been me, maybe-or if it had been me and everyone I fight, I could... sort of get it." Marie shook her head. "But... I don't know what's going on."

"Yeah. This is all weird." Peacock chuckled. "And that's coming from me."

"Patricia-"

"Don't sugarcoat it, toots. I got eyes on my arms and none in my skull, and that's just the obvious." She leaned back into the bench. "You ever wonder what it's like to have a normal life?"

Marie nodded. "All the time," she said, her voice almost a whisper.

They watched the clouds pass.

"...Patricia," Marie said hesitantly. "I... um. In my last repeat-"

"Time loop. Repeat sounds boring, time loop sounds sciency."

"Alright. In my last loop, I, um... I don't know if you remember this, but... well, you came down to the crypt-"

"Yeah, skullgirl hunter, remember?"

"-and, um, we... kissed."

Peacock didn't need to blink, but long disused facial muscles activated out of shock.

"Kissed."

"Well. We... did a lot more then kiss, actually-"

"You, uh. You remember that, huh?"

Marie nodded.

"...kay, so... first of all, that was fifteen loops ago for me."

"Oh."

"Secondly," Peacock let out a slow sigh, "and I ain't saying this is right, but... I thought I was the only one looping, okay?"

"Right."

"And when you go through loops often enough, when you see people just... doing the same damn thing over and over and over again, you start to stop... seeing them. As people."

Marie sagged. "...oh."

"...of course, uh." Peacock rubbed the back of her head. "Thing is. All the stuff I got up to, I got up to it cause... cause there was nothing else to do, you know? It was... desperation, trying to find some reason to live. Any reason. Cause, you know... what I'm saying is, I don't think of you as just not people."

Marie was silent.

"I mean, look, even before all this started, yeah you were the skullgirl, but you were also my friend. And... even after I had to put you down, I decided I'd make sure your final wishes were followed. Kill off the Medici, you know? What I'm saying is, maybe... maybe the kissing stuff didn't mean nothing. Or, I mean, it meant nothing at the time, but that wasn't because of you, that was because I was-I mean, it could mean something. If you, you know, want."

"...I... well." Marie rubbed the back of her head. "I mean... it's... we're both children, Patricia."

The park was silent for a moment or two.

"...were we ever, really?" Peacock murmured.

"...I guess not, no." Marie sighed. "What with me being the skullgirl, and you being..."

"A walking corpse?"

"You're not dead. Trust me, I would know."

"Yeah, you would, wouldn't you?"

"Still." Marie held out her hands. "This. Us. I don't think either of us has any idea how this should go, am I right?"

"Nah. Then again, I have no idea how anything should go." Peacock gave another wry laugh. "Which, given that I'm apparently time travelin', is a real hoot."

"Well, we're in the same boat there." Marie paused. "Even if we're not always on the boat at the same time."

"Yeah, we should come up with a signal for that."

"Yes."

"...So." Peacock let out a breath. "If this is going to be a thing-if it's us, going to be a thing. Is it just, like, cause we're childhood friends, or cause we're both the only ones in this loop, or... is it going to be, you know, real?"

"...The skullheart is an angry thing. But it's also a thing that has lived through multiple skullgirls, most of whom had lives before becoming skullgirls." Marie turned to look at her. "I think, if we want it to be real... we have to understand each other. Trust each other. And then decide that it's real."

"Sounds pretty cliche."

"Well, I am getting advice from an ages old artifact that wants me to tear apart everything, so..."

"Yeah, fair enough." Peacock turned to face her. "So... just figure it out as we go along?"

"I think that's the usual standard."

"Sounds like... well, not a plan, but something I can agree with."

The two of them looked at each other for a bit.

"Hey, so about that 'tearing apart everything' jazz. If we're doing this, we should have some shared hobbies, right?"

"Yes...?"

Peacock smirked, showing off her bear-trap teeth. "Want to go slaughter the Medici clan?"

Marie's smirk wasn't metal, but it was twice as dangerous. "I thought you'd never ask."

1.6 XeroM52

Peacock had eventually realized that these time loops did not necessarily have to be accurate to what she remembered. Sometimes, fights would be won by different people, or some just plain didn't exist.

But this loop was the most different she had ever encountered. The Skull Heart existed, obviously, it never didn't exist; but instead of everyone fighting for the Skull Heart, they were racing for it. Wacky Races Style!

And Peacock loved every single minute of it.

The whole gang of not so imaginary friends were riding alongside her. Andy Anvil would usually be the driver while she relaxed on the back, but this time she wanted to have all the fun. Currently Peacock was on second place, only a few yards behind Marie; her friend was racing on a dragon skull car, in order to defend the Heart and her title as the Skullgirl.

"Darn it! We need to go faster!" Peacock said in frustration. A lightbulb popped out of the top of her hat, and she bared her metal teeth. "We're too heavy! We need to lighten our weight!"

The rest of the gang shut up for just a second... before each tried to convince Peacock to throw out anyone besides them.

"You weigh a lot more than me, Tom!" Andy Anvil pointed out to Tommy Ten-Tons.

"Hey that's just my name! I do not weight ten tons!" Tommy countered. "Besides, Lenny is way bigger than me!" He pointed at the gigantically obese bomb sitting on the back.

"Hey! Lay off poor Lonesome Lenny!" Avery defended. "Don't you see he's depressed lately, especially after the last time loop?"

"Yeah, you're right!" Peacock conceded. "I guess this means poor George will be the one to go!" She picked up a much smaller version of Lenny that could fit in her palm. "Sorry to do this to you George, but we have to win!"

The poor little bomb tried to plead, but he was unable to say anything, because he didn't have a mouth to speak with.

"Goodbye George! We will always remember you!"

Peacock threw George off her car and into Squigly's, which was a coffin of course. The poor bomb couldn't do anything else but explode. "Aaahhh!" Squigly lost control of her vehicle and ended up crashing on the side of the road.

"Alright! We lost enough weight! Let's go!" Peacock said. The car started to accelerate and she cackled maniacally.

High speed racing, explosions, and some vehicular manslaughter; what else could a girl ask for?

1.7 Masterweaver

Marie Korbel was...

...well, she was still Marie Korbel.

It was a shock, really, staring into the mirror at the brown-haired, blue-eyed girl. The girl she had been, before the skullheart. Her hand trailed down her cheek-her still living cheek, blood flowing within and warm in her grasp. The eternal rage of her power and price was... gone. She...

...she was an ordinary girl.

Well, ordinary orphan girl. The war had just ended a few weeks ago-she was seven years younger... Patricia. Patricia!

"Patricia!"

"Huh?" Another girl looked up. "What is it Marie? Is something wrong?"

"I-"

Marie stopped.

Looked into her eyes.

Her... brown, uncomprehending eyes.

"I... just..."

This Patricia was only six years old. Only six, and... she didn't even remember, did she?

"It was... sorry. I just... needed to see you."

"Oooooookaaaaaaaay." Patricia leaned back. "You're kinda weirding me out here, Marie."

"I'm kind of weirding myself out too." Marie admitted. She paused, wringing her hands. "Can... May I give you a hug?"

"Uh... sure."

Marie wrapped her arms tightly around the other girl, trying, and failing, to hold back tears.

"...Hey." Patricia, hesitantly, returned the hug. "We'll always be together, okay? Promise."

"Yeah." Marie sniffed, a small smile on her face. "Pr...promise."

In a little bit, she'd clear her eyes, go to the closet, and pick up a canister vacuum. For the next week she would spend time swinging it around, mentally preparing herself. And when they came-

Oh, when THEY came. There would be blood, and bones, and vengeance.

And Patricia would be safe.

They would both be safe.

But for now, Marie allowed herself to be just one little girl, hugging another.

1.8 XeroM52

Peacock loved warped time loops because she wanted to know who crazy her world could get, even more so than in whatever qualified as the original reality. And this time it was no different, because this time they were all 'fighting' each other …by playing ball.

"Batter up!"

It had been a difficult season for their team, the ASG Labs, because this season their opposing teams had been exceptionally difficult. The Fish Bones had Ms. Fortune, who could hit any pitch no matter if they were meant to be balls. Not to mention her and the rest of the team ability to steal bases was incredible. The Theons had the combined efforts of Fillia, Squigly and Eliza of all people; with the help of their parasites, they were a well-balanced team. The Des Cartes were difficult to beat thanks to their heavy hitters Cerebella and Hubrecht who could homerun like nobody's business.

But the ASG Labs had beat them all thanks to their varied team of misfits brought together by Dr. Avian, an old coach that retired because he grew tired of what the sport had become. Now he was back one last time, and he would show the world how real baseball was played.

Now the team was against the Black Egrets, and if they wanted to have a chance to ever play against the Skull Hearts to win the cup and the prize money for poor lab 8 children who needed their operations, they had to win this game.

"Heh! Those Black Egrets are a bunch of chumps! There is no way they can beat us!" Peacock said. She took a poof of her light cigar as she swung her bat in preparation with the other hand.

Then the Black Egret's pitcher entered the field.

"Holy shit!" She dropped her cigar in shock. The guy was 10 feet tall and had a TANK attached to his arm.

"GO PANZERFAUST! Strike her out!" shouted one of the Black Egrets. "FOR THE PRINCESS!"

The shout prompted the rest of the Egrets to join in, chanting "FOR THE PRINCESS!" over and over. Peacock looked at the behemoth that was going to threw baseballs at her for a whole minute.

"...Finally! A real challenge!" She said, smirking enthusiastically. "Come on big boy, show me what you got!"

And with that the game was on!

1.9 Masterweaver

Marie Korbel had, in most of her lives, hunted down an ancient and terrible magical artifact, knowing full well it was cursed, knowing that its usage had led to the destruction of her home and the murder of her parents, specifically to destroy the Medici clan in revenge for what they had done to her and all the other orphans-Patricia especially.

So discovering herself in a life where she not only served them willingly, and faithfully, but also was apparently madly in love with one of their top members...

Marie took a breath and, very slowly, let it out. She recognized the life she'd been put in, of course-the one girl she could remember from her many fights pure enough to use the skullheart and not become a skullgirl. Not that she had used its power. No, she was too focused on the mission from her... beloved.

A brief look over this life's memories made Marie shudder. The man was old enough to be her grandfather and had practically raised her! How could he treat her that way... and if this was exactly like that girl's life, how could she not have noticed? She must have been completely naive!

"No," Marie said firmly, "I don't think this is something I'm going to let happen."

She picked up the living weapon on the edge of her vanity. For a moment, she contemplated the... uncomfortably exposing dress her reflection was wearing.

"Change of clothes, then break the mafia," she decided firmly.

A thought fluttered across her mind as she went to her dresser. If she was here... who had the skullheart?

"Wow, Marie sure wasn't kiddn' about the rage thing," Peacock quipped.

Your broken mind cannot hold me forever, girl! I will break free, and then-STOP PECKING ME, YOU MANGY PIGEON!

"Oy!" Avery cried. "I'm clearly a bluejay!"

Peacock shrugged, leaning back on her bonethrone. "Eh, I ain't got nowhere to go. Might as well just relax this loop."

1.10 XeroM52

Canopy had always been a kingdom alongside the other countries that conformed the continent, Peacock had known that for all of her existence. So it was really weird for her to hear that there was an election going on to decide the ruler of the Canopy country.

"If you re-elect me as your president, I promise to keep doing the same excellent job my family had been doing for generations in protecting the country and keeping the economy afloat," the 'Princess' of Canopy, Parasoul Renoir, declared on National Television to millions of people watching the Presidential Debate.

"Thank you Miss Renoir," the mediator for the debate said. He turned his attention to the other candidate. "Now we'll hear the statement of presidential candidate, Republican Double."

On the other side of the stage, there was a nun standing on a podium readying her statement.

"Miss Republican Double, your turn."

"I'll only say this. Vote for me! Republican Double, because unlike my opponent I am made of 50% bubblegum and 50% Religion."

After a few seconds of silence, the mediator cleared his throat. "Miss Republican Double, you have 30 more seconds."

"Oh, yeah! I also promise to cut 10% on all taxes and put money on what Canopy really needs….tentacle porn, starring mostly me." Then she look to the side. "And possibly, my Vice-President, Valentine." She pointed out at the nurse whose uniform left almost nothing to the imagination.

This statement caused an uproar from the audience and before anything could be done or say by anyone else, Republican Double took the mike once more. "Now if you excuse me, I'll have to go, there is a party I must attend... A Republican Party. " And with that she made her exit. "Riding on my REPUBLICAN CAR!"

Parasoul looked dumbfounded at the now empty podium. After a moment, she shook her head and declared, "I think we all know who is going to win." After that scene, there was no way people were going to vote for Republican Double.

The day after the election, all over Canopy, people were celebrating the election of their new president: Republican Double.

"I can't believe people actually voted for her," Big Band exclaimed as he read the first page of the newspaper.

"What can I say?" Peocock said to the one man band. "People really dig the whole Nurse/Tentacles Fetish." The ASG weapon lit up a cigar. "A damn shame my candidate didn't win."

"You rooted for Parasoul?" Big Band asked, surprised by the girl's interest in politics.

"Ptff…hell no!" she snorted. "Me, rooting for the stuck-up princess? Nah, I voted for the third party, Beowulf!"

"Beowulf?!" Big Band asked in confusion. "Was he even competing? I never heard anything promoting that wrestler as a presidential candidate."

"That's because all of his promotionals were during his wrestling matches." Peacock explained. "Here, take a look at this one I have on video." She used a remote control to turn on the TV.

"Ask not Am I a Bad enough Dude to save the president?" Beowulf said directly to the camera while he was on the middle of a ring stepping over a defeated opponent. "Ask instead Is the President a Bad enough Dude to SAVE ME!" Then a stinger appeared on screen, with Annie from Annie of The Stars saying 'VOTE BEOWULF'.

"So…beautiful…" Peacock said, a small tear rolling down her cheek.

1.11 Masterweaver

The doors to the crypt slammed off their ancient hinges, sliding across the floor as they kicked up the pews and smashing the statue of Queen Lamia into so much rubble.

The smiling nun standing behind the podium nodded politely. "Lady Marie."

"Double." The skullgirl crossed her arms. "Or should I call you Lamia?"

The nun stepped out from behind the podium. "I'm surprised. The Skullheart wouldn't let that information out easily... but no. I am a cast off form of our goddess... an echo. A double, as it were." Her eyes opened, the habit she wore twisting slightly. "And I suppose you won't simply submit, will you?"

"I've found reason to live," Marie replied, blue veins of power rippling out of her dress. "And I've tamed the skullheart." Skeletal soldiers marched from the crypt. "Why should I follow the will of a dead god?"

"It is through that very will that you have your power." Double's form warped, clothing and flesh merging and ripping as she rose. "You may wish to deny it, but in the end without it you are nothing. You will join its cause, or you shall perish. That is your destiny."

"I was once destined to be nothing more than a slave to monsters. I sought out the power to change it. And now, I have it." Marie rose into the air as well. "You are a pale reflection of your creator, and no destiny will shackle me. You will stand aside."

"All timelines converge!" Double cried, bone and entrails forming a spiked whip. "You cannot escape their grasp!"

"Maybe not," Marie shouted back as she brought forth her vacuum. "But I can bend them to my will and break FREE!"

Two parts of a long-deceased deity charged at each other, the great potency and adaptability of the body facing the gathered power and animosity of the heart. There was little quarter given as bone and flesh battled, shattered skeletons and gouged guts littering the once pristine floor of the church. Double's face, inhuman though it was, grew increasingly and clearly furious; Marie's own expression hardened, bent into cold, unforgiving rage. Neither held back any of their power-neither cared to acknowledge the shattering walls, the terrified screams of the populace, as lich and monstrosity fought and tore for dominance.

The various weapons meant to contain her were brought around Marie-the servants of the laboratories, the black Egrets, the princess of Canopy herself. Even the Medici and other, less evil criminals put aside their grievances, surrounding the battle in hopes of containing it. And for once, Marie ignored them-focused on the ever twisting, ever growing form of Double, she who had promised her power and hidden her purpose. Even as the supposed guardians of the world attacked her, she did nothing to stop them-nothing save force her true foe into their sights.

At last, with the rising of the sun, she smote her foe upon the ground. Her power retreated, and she strode over to the smoking crater; her vacuum swung to face Double's twisted face even as it struggled out of the rubble.

"...No... no skullgirl, has ever, been able to defy me." Double pushed itself up, glaring at her. "You cannot... defy the goddess. The trinity... will have their revenge. This world will break!"

"It's already broken." Marie let out a breath. "Doesn't mean that it's dying, though."

The black egrets rushed into the ruined church, their weapons all leveled on Marie. The princess of Canopy opened her mouth, but was cut off by a roar from the mass of flesh Marie faced.

"You cannot-the Skullheart cannot be tamed! There's no... I am the double! The reflection of Lamia! I will not see her will be subsumed!"

Marie quirked a brow as the modified children of the labratories swung over the rubble. "You are the corpse of a goddess. And I have become the goddess of corpses. You will submit."

"You... are impossible! You cannot do this! You know the darkness of this world-it must end!"

"Yes." Marie looked up, to where the criminal family she hated had just entered the final ruins of the church. "I know the darkness."

She let her gaze fall on Patricia. "But I have also seen the light."

Her eyes focused on her foe. "The fractured timelines are my home, and I will make them livable. The cycle of the skullgirls and trinity's revenge is over. One last time, Double: Submit to me, or die."

"...I follow always... the last command... of the goddess!"

Double lunged at her, claws sharp and jaw unhinged.

Marie simply turned her vacuum on and sucked her from the world.

And... for a moment... there was silence.

"...I apologize for the damages, princess." Marie turned to the still shocked woman leading the army of Canopy. "I assure you this will not happen again. In fact, I believe I shall return to No Man's Land, and stay out of your hair." She gestured toward the Medici clan. "That said... given that it was this group enslaving me and mutilating my friend that led me to pursue this power in the first place, you may wish to look into your affairs more carefully."

The princess stared at the smoking crater. "...Was that really Queen Lamia?"

"...what remained of her, yes." Marie sighed. "Don't let the gods determine your fate, Princess. Make your fate the best it can be."

She looked back at the crater. "Maybe then, this world will heal."

MECHANICS OF THE LOOPS:

One person in a Loop, often the main character, is an Anchor. They are the person who first starts time looping.

There is always at least one Anchor present in a given Time Loop snippet, though it may not be the local one.

The standard pattern for a loop is that the Anchor (and whoever else is Looping there) come to awareness in a loop at a particular point in the story. From there, events will play out as influenced by the Loopers present, acting with the benefit of their foreknowledge, until either a predetermined end point is reached or the anchor dies.

To be Awake is to be aware of the time loops (that is, to have gone back in time this time.)

The Anchor is the only character guaranteed to be Awake. Even after others have started looping, it is mostly random as to whether they will be Awake this particular loop.

Crossovers, fusions, and alternate pasts can also take place. It is perfectly possible, for example, to have the characters Awaken into a loop which conforms to a fanfic universe rather than reality.

Loops do not have to be in chronological order, but it is strongly preferred that they not require a mutually contradictory order (where A must be before B and B must be before A.)

Just about every Looper is very, very stir crazy.

Compiler's Commentary:

1.1: When your only choice of friends is a bunch of crazies, you might well choose to have no friends.

1.2: Peacock, ladies and gents! She's too insane for even the gods.

1.3: Marie has always had a strong will. The loops just give her a chance to refine it.

1.4: Boredom and loneliness can be just as maddening as torture.

1.5: Proof that something can be creepy, and heartwarming all the same.

1.6: Not everything will always be the same for loopers.

1.7: They'll get some unexpected second chances...

1.8: ...they'll get to play some crazy fun games...

1.9: ...they'll get a new perspective on their lives...

1.10: ...they'll occasionally get just plain weird stuff...

1.11: ...and in the end, they're going to get to choose their own path.

And of course, fair reader, should you wish to contribute your own snip, you are welcome to join us on the Indie Games Infinite Loops thread over on Spacebattles.