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Some things remain constant throughout the seemingly endless loops Lizzie is forced to endure. Some by fate, others by her choice.
All the Boogeymen are always the same people, in the same order. (It's incredibly easy to rig Tango's game when you lived through nearly every single conceivable outcome.) The seperate factions always consist of the same people.
Lizzie never lives past the seventh week despite all her best efforts.
Bdubs isn't always the one who kills her, thankfully.
(But the number of deaths accumulated by his hand is uncomfortably high, even knowing how easily he'll backstab anyone for a life, for the enchanting table, to cure himself of the Boogeyman's curse, to stay with Etho, to avenge Cleo, even for a forsaken clock!)
Sometimes, Lizzie dies to Cleo.
(The times where Cleo takes her final life and Lizzie has to smile and pretend nothing's wrong - because she wants the Fairy Fort-Castle Alliance to work out for once, dang it - are not the easiest, but she manages.)
Sometimes, BigB is desperate enough to turn his blade on her, even after Lizzie goes through the motions of exposing him as the second Boogeyman to the rest of the alliance and going out with him to find him a victim that isn't Cleo.
(She never bothers keeping him around if he kills someone in the alliance without their express permission first. Cleo never gets any more forgiving after his betrayals, even when the one he killed isn't her. Ren always wants BigB to stick around but is ultimately loyal to her until she turns red. Retribution once BigB turns red is a small price to pay.)
Sometimes, Lizzie dies to Martyn. She's not sure he's loyal to anyone but Ren or whatever the Moon deity thing that whispers in his ears is, but at least seems to feel some remorse for his actions at times.
(One too many times, as a red and not, she has stumbled upon him alone in the destroyed former Southner base; looking more morose than literally any other time she's ever seen him. He doesn't always take kindly to being interrupted during his mourning.)
Embarrassingly, she's lost a few final lives to Joel and Jimmy during some of the lives she felt the need to seek retribution from them.
(At least Joel is semi competent as a red. Dying to the man who's usually the first permadeath, typically without any kills, is incredibly infuriating.)
One time Ren killed her in self-defense because she was desperate to have her knight back and knew he wouldn't be getting down to red anytime soon without interference.
(Despite their ties haven been cut when she turned red and calling her a 'traitor' and 'a filthy red scoundrel' throughout their fight, Ren still cries for her as she dies, which Lizzie is grateful for. At least their bond meant something to him, even when it had been broken.)
Needless to say, Lizzie put a lot of effort into getting better with her firework crossbows. It doesn't always save her, especially on week seven. But most of the time it's more than enough.
Lizzie assumed that things would be as they normally are; it was Ren and BigB's turn as Boogeymen meaning Lizzie would have to expose the second Boogeyman in their ranks to the unaware members of the group.
Luckily she'd mostly perfected a method that wouldn't cause BigB to react by immediately trying to kill whomever was close enough in a desperate panic. Cleo and Ren were surprised, as always, with Cleo being upset that BigB didn't tell her before they arrived.
After BigB apologized to Cleo, they got to planning about how they were going to go about their business with two Boogeymen in their alliance.
As per usual, Ren would set a trap in his tower and lure a victim in (typically Skizzleman). Lizzie and BigB would head out to keep the other alliances misinformed about the state of their villager and hopefully find BigB a victim.
Cleo would do her own thing. Despite still being upset with her housemate, she promised BigB that she'd sacrifice a life for him in case they couldn't find someone for him to kill. ("After all, it wouldn't do to loose a good alliance this far in." was Cleo's reasoning, but it was easy to tell she was scared of loosing her teammate the same way Scar had lost Joel.)
Normally, that was it. They would go their separate ways and meet up at the Shadow Tower when Ren secured a kill.
But this time, BigB was reluctant to accept Cleo's offer. "It doesn't seem fair that you might have to give up a life because I could be a poor Boogeyman."
"Plus we'd probably get people from other alliances trying to come in and steal Cleo from the Fairy-Castle Alliance." Ren added.
Cleo huffed. "Then let them try. If they're persistent enough I'll pretend to agree just so I can steal their stuff."
"I'd like to see that!" BigB chuckled.
"I bet Scott and Pearl would accept you no questions asked if they thought we betrayed you." Lizzie replied, making sure to keep her tone lighthearted despite the truthfulness of her words.
Cleo's expression turned contemplative. "Yeah, I guess they would." she said softly.
"Cleo?" Lizzie asked.
Cleo didn't reply immediately. When she did, her words surprised Lizzie. "What if I did infiltrate their alliance?"
Ren gasped dramatically.
"What?!" BigB exclaimed.
Lizzie was at a loss for words. This had never happened before. As far as she was aware, there was a mutual respect between Scott and Cleo; a respect extended to Pearl. While they didn't always see eye to eye, none of them ever seemed remotely interested in backstabbing one another. When Scott and Pearl got their turns a Boogeymen, they never killed Cleo. Ever. Lizzie never lived long enough to see Cleo get her shot but doubted that the Scottage Alliance would be high on Cleo's potential victim list, being part of said alliance or not.
"Shadow Queen, are you okay?" Ren's worried voice broke her out of her stupor.
"Lizzie?" Cleo asked, sounding equally worried.
"Are you sure?" Lizzie blurted out.
As much as Lizzie would love to get one over on Scoot and Pearl, Cleo going to the Scottage Alliance usually meant the end of her friendship with the remaining memembers of the Fairy Alliance; regardless of whether she turned red or not. What if Cleo decided that she actually liked Scott and Pearl better and turned her back on them?
"I mean, it was just a suggestion. We don't have to go through with it if the decision isn't unanimously agreed-"
"No, it's a great idea! I'm just a bit surprised is all. I thought you were on good terms with them?" Lizzie inquired.
"Oh no, I am! I just really want to cause some chaos." Cleo replied with a gleeful grin.
"If I may, Shadow Queen. As long as both Cleo and BigB are willing, I don't see why we shouldn't go through with this plan." Ren chimed in.
BigB nodded. "I don't go red and Cleo gets to have fun infiltrating another alliance? Sounds fair to me."
"C'mon, Shadow Queen," Cleo spoke with a familiar mischievous lilt in her voice," it'll be fun. They'll never suspect a thing!"
"I suppose so," Lizzie agreed," Fine. Let's do it. But please be careful! Joel still has a grudge against them."
Things had gone well. Better than Lizzie had dared to hope.
She and BigB roamed around until Ren got his kill (Skizz again), then BigB went to meet Cleo at the Shadow Tower to stage the betrayal. Scott and Pearl accepted Cleo with open arms.
And then Cleo went red again.
Lizzie doesn't stick around to see Ren and BigB's horrified reactions. Every time Cleo went red on week four, she headed straight for the villager.
Lizzie didn't even bother moving him. Cleo always ended up killing him or bringing him to the Scottage Alliance after she bought a life from Scar. Instead, she plopped down beside the villager and waited.
Soon, she heard the sound of dirt being dug up. Cleo appeared in front of her not long after, in all her monochrome glory.
"Oh," Cleo said when spotted Lizzie," I wasn't expecting this."
"What happened?" Lizzie asked somewhat hesitantly.
Cleo scowled instantly. "Your stupid husband happened. I was bringing the sand I'd promised back to the Scottage when I caught Joel trying to set up a trap in their entryway. He panicked when he realized he'd been caught and set off an explosion that killed me. Could've at least had the decency to die alongside me." she growled, red eyes shining furiously.
"I'm sorry we made you give up your life for nothing." Lizzie apologized. She had no idea what Cleo was going to do now, so she had to cover all her bases.
Cleo shook her head. "The only person at fault is Joel. We may not be friends anymore but I have nothing against you or the others." Cleo responded,".....But I may still have to burn down the Fairy Fort, just in case."
Lizzie let out a shaky laugh. As much as she'd like to keep the Fairy Fort, she'd long ago made peace with it's potential destruction each new loop.
"That's fine," she replied," You know, I heard Scar was finally opening his Soul Emporium next week. Maybe you could get a life from him if you feel like it."
Cleo's eyes widened. "I'll think about it." she responded curtly. Her eyes flitted between her former ally and the villager.
"Is something wrong?" Lizzie asked.
"Nothing," Cleo replied with a shake of her head," just.... I know we can't be allies anymore.... but thanks for trusting me."
Without another word, Cleo left the nook they'd hidden the villager away in, leaving Lizzie puzzled.
Week five was....surprisingly predictable, to say the least.
After finding out about her conversation with Cleo, Ren urged her and BigB to move into the Shadow Tower with him. They both accepted. (When Lizzie rebuilt her mushroom house, she made sure to keep her secret chest far enough away that an explosion couldn't damage it.) Ren also tried to get her to move the villager but Lizzie refused to.
In spite of it not really being necassary, BigB became Terry in order to keep up appearances.
When Cleo eventually showed up to burn down the Fairy Fort, Lizzie didn't need to pretend to be overwhelmed. She may have made peace with the potential burning of the Fairy Fort long ago but that didn't make the memories of it's first destruction any less traumatic. However, this time Cleo didn't tell them to die for her.
Eventually, the met up with Martyn and properly formed the Shadow Alliance. She, Ren and BigB had debated on whether or not they should inform him of the truth about the previous weeks events, but decided not to since they didn't know if Cleo would become yellow again and return to them. It was her plan after all.
After Martyn left, Lizzie remained in the secret meeting room, staring the list of participant names on her communicator until Cleo's turned from red to yellow.
"Cleo's yellow, Cleo's yellow!" BigB chanted when he noticed the change.
"That's great news!" Ren exclaimed.
"That doesn't mean she'll stick with us. We put her in that position in the first place." Lizzie replied, not looking up from her communicator. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Ren and BigB exchange a look.
"Shadow Queen, please look at me." Ren requested.
Reluctantly, Lizzie complied.
"I know you feel guilty because you decided to let Cleo go through with her plan but there's no way you could've predicted what would happen to her. Heck, you told me that the only person she held responsible was Joel! Everything is going to be fine."
Lizzie shook her head. "I wish I could believe you." she responded.
Ren and BigB couldn't possibly understand. They hadn't lived through countless loops trying to preserve an alliance that didn't want to stick together no matter what they tried.
Maybe next loop she should tell her allies about them.
They were still in the secret meeting room when Cleo arrived at the Shadow Tower. When they came up to greet her, they discovered she'd set Ren's wooden floor on fire.
"Cleo, what the heck?!" Ren cried as he quickly moved to put out the flames and replace the wood.
"Sorry," Cleo giggled," you just had the worst security ever for an alliance that was supposedly under siege from a former ally. I couldn't help myself!"
"Well, please don't don't do it again." Ren requested.
"I'll try not to," Cleo replied with a mischievous grin," Anyway, I'm here to tell you guys that just because I'm not red anymore, doesn't mean you're forgiven."
Despite Lizzie's fears, her words didn't contain a single ounce of malice. They were entirely meant in jest.
BigB chuckled in response. "I'm glad you're okay, Cleo." he said.
"I'm glad you guys are okay, too." Cleo answered.
BigB opened his arms. Cleo accepted his embrace with a smile. They hugged for a few long moments before releasing each other.
"Scott and Pearl think I went to go get my things from Joel's place, so they shouldn't be looking for me for a bit." Cleo said,"How about we all go down to your secret room and fill each other in on our weeks?.......I mean, as long as that's okay."
"I don't see why not." Ren said.
"Sounds good to me." BigB agreed.
Lizzie allowed herself to smile. "Yeah, it does."
The look on Martyn's face when he snuck over to see them and was greeted with the sight of Cleo in Shadow Alliance robes was priceless.