post unknown-together AU where the voices wake up stuck, bodiless, occupying a space(?) inside the entrance rooms of their associated cabins (which are all within the folds of the Shifting Mound), unable to move until someone else comes along for them to accidentally attach themselves to.
For most of the voices, that someone else just so happens to be their chapter 2 princess counterparts. Since this AU takes place within Shifty herself, it wouldn't make much sense for the princesses to still be chained up, so most of them are able to simply walk on out of their basements from the get go (keyword: most, looking at you Cage, Den, and Wild).
Also, each cabin is still isolated in its own little "world" (although this time, surrounded by Shifty's minis instead of a sky). The woods still exist in chapters where the woods are physically different. But, if that chapter’s woods were unchanged by Shifty's influence, all of Shifty's minis will sit right up against the door and windows, like we see inside Shifty's heart. You reach each "world" by walking into the pile of minis and letting them pull you across the Shifting Mound to who knows where. This is a willpower based transportation system, so if you don't direct/will the minis in any direction, they're just gonna decide for you and drop you off at a random station <3
Individually, I've got a couple ideas for how some of the voices and princesses would start off. I’m only going to bring up a few of them because this post would be wayyyy too long otherwise (end note: mission failed), but here's what happens with some of them:
Hunted wakes up only to immediately get scared shitless by Beast. He's now stuck inside the head of someone who did HUNT HIM DOWN AND SWALLOW HIM WHOLE, so poor fella's going to be stuck mortified in Beast's mind for quite a while, and there's not much either of them can do to help (not that Beast wants to help. Hunted might be prey out of reach, but that doesn't mean he can't still be toyed with). Maybe once they find a certain silent friend, that'll calm things down a bit (and... also wind down the threats from Beast's end).
Contrarian gets to be a part of the Stranger group chat™. Stranger's doing a lot better than they were at the end of their chapter, but that's not to say they're without issue. They're definitely not in pain anymore, but they're also not as put together as they would be in the Strange Beginnings ending (which didn't happen in this AU). Now they get to work out their identity crisis with an extra friend, who's also got some extra self worth issues of his own.
Witch and Opportunist are not having a fun time. They're going to have a pretty big argument when they meet face to not-face, so they’re both going to be on guard like no tomorrow. When they're out of their cabin, chances are Witch is going to steer clear of most of the other vessels for as long as possible, so by the time they interact with a larger group of people, everyone else has pretty much figured out what's going on with the voices by now. But still, that doesn't mean they don't have their own fair share of adventures before then. I’ve got a BUNCH of ideas for this duo, although I might hold off on sharing those ideas until I’ve got something more of substance to share.
There's only three exceptions to the 'Chapter 2 princess with chapter 2 voice' rule that I can think of which are Cheated + Razor, Hero, and Damsel + Smitten.
Razor doesn't pick up Cheated because although she gets bored waiting around inside her basement, instead of walking up the stairs she thinks it'd be more entertaining to climb up through the broken window on the roof instead, as she can very clearly see all the minis hanging out right above her head (It's a bit high, so the minis help pull her up. She does stab a couple though). So yeah, Cheated's going to have to wait a bit for someone else to visit him (not sure who, yet). Razor didn't even know Cheated was upstairs until somebody tells her later, which takes a bit as most people assume Cheated was stuck with Razor. Of course, not many people are willing to risk walking within stabbing distance to confirm this.
Hero is stuck isolated in the final cabin until everyone is able to find him. Shifty's heart is quite far away from all of the other cabins, so it's not until everyone finally figures out how the Shifting Minis Bus™ works that they're able to finally reach him. He ends up being out of commission for a Very Long time because of this. He's the last voice to finally be located, so at that point, everyone's pretty much figured out the whole "voices attaching to whoever comes first" thing so, after a bit of debate over the volunteers, they agree on PatD entering first because favoritism <3 everyone agrees it would probably be best for both of them. PatD is most familiar with having the long quiet in her head, and she also knows Hero personally. Also, hero would probably appreciate living with her the most.
Damsel and Smitten are also an exception, because in Damsel’s chapter, both of them have a very strong sense of what they're "supposed" to do, and how things are "supposed" to play out. Akin to a story book, Damsel stays put inside the basement, because she believes her role in this story means her dashing hero is going to rescue her at any moment! The how these types of stories are supposed to work after all! And trust me, Smitten is trying very hard to reach her. He just can't. So yeah. Someone's going to need to go and rescue them both. (and yeah, this is partially an excuse to have Smitten NOT be a voice whispering sweet nothings in Damsel's ear because oh boy we DO NOT need that happening again.) I don't know who exactly would end up picking up Smitten, but it would be interesting to find out what HEA would feel about another princess having that same voice in their ear as she did. (spoiler alert: very bad.) (definitely need to workshop this more, but I have Ideas) (evil ideas)
Side note: in this AU, Smitten has absolutely no recollection of what he did in HEA because that instance of Smitten is absolutely 100% dead. Sorry, that shadow is dead as hell and there is nothing you can do to convince me otherwise. The only way he would be able to find out what he did in HEA’s chapter is if someone were to tell him directly (wink). The amnesia is mostly the same for any other voices that didn't make it to the mirror in a route, like in Unwound Fury or stabbing Apotheosis' eye or turning around post-Chapter 1. Although, that's more like involuntary heavy repression, and although unlikely it's still possible for those memories to come back, although only faintly through deja vu (everyone still remembers Razor though, because reasons). A lot of the princesses also have their own memory shenanigans, as they'll only remember the routes which end with that specific princess being taken by Shifty (so, Witch remembers all the staircase betrayals, but not being handed the blade or being crushed).
WOW this post is long. Hell, this is probably the longest thing I've ever posted on the internet (and definitely the most fleshed out AU I've ever made). If anyone wants to talk about anything related to this, feel free to send me an ask. I love fleshing out details and filling in plot holes. I might even write a thing or two for this, but no promises! (I don't wanna get anybody's hopes up)
