Beginning notes:

oh diggity hot darn it's in Smart Yellow' POV now

Unrelated, but eyyyy the new AJR song came out and it's a bop :D

Anyways, this idea was suggested to me by @Rover012 (on ao3)! It's basically the last chapter but with more background information and in SMart Yellow's POV. It's been giving me brainrot for the past couple of days, so here you guys go-

Also, in case there's any confusion, Yellow is Smart Yellow in this chapter, and Other Yellow is the... well, other Yellow (it's because of the POV please bear with me).

Hope you enjoy!

It was dark in here.

Yellow was back in the black void again. It always happened after every loop ended and his counterpart took over his own body again, but that was at the least of his worries.

The last loop needed examination, even if nothing had gone awry. As usual, on what he referred to as the "last episode", he'd been switched into his counterpart's body and had tried to fix everything without getting Red and Duck too suspicious. After he went up the staircase and retrieved the book from Lesley, he walked down to the small platform on the third floor and stayed there, poring over the book and trying his best to continue deciphering the rest of it with the notes he kept hidden in a specific pocket (that, for some reason, was never affected whenever the loop was rewound).

He knew he'd have to eventually go downstairs and get his batteries taken out again, but moments like these helped him come closer to breaking out of whatever hell they were in right underneath that woman's nose. He had no idea if more people were controlling them as well, but once he figured out the book's secrets, he'd have one chance to create a plan and try escaping with or without his friends.

That's why he made sure to examine every loop, even if they were normal. He needed to try and find some clues for his escape, even if they didn't exist in one loop.

Yellow had assumed he'd been stuck in some infinite, black void inside the Other Yellow's head until he was brought out, but now, it appears he was wrong. Yellow blinked, looking up from where he was staring at his notes from the book to see an oval-ish view of the house's dining room shimmer into existence.

He narrowed his eyes at the apparition, standing up from the floor that had manifested underneath him and tracing the edges of the oval with his right hand. His brow creased in confusion as the surface remained rigid underneath his touch, feeling almost like a pane of glass.

He looked through the glass, seeing Duck chatting up a storm while Red guy ate his breakfast peacefully and Other Yellow, having only eaten half his bowl before being tugged into a conversation, remained invested in whatever Duck was saying before the two stood up and started walking towards the TV room. Other Yellow fidgeted nervously, flicking his gaze between his own bowl of cereal and the two leaving the dining room before picking up the spoon and finishing his meal.

Yellow's gaze softened slightly at the sad sight, but knew it probably happened every loop anyway. He didn't need to be pitying Other Yellow right now, though. He had a chance to contact his counterpart before Episode 6, and he was going to try and exploit the hell out of it.

So, when Other Yellow finished his breakfast and had started walking towards the TV room, Yellow slammed his fists against the window as hard as possible. Other Yellow turned around, looking understandably surprised before starting to quickly walk towards the mirror.

Upon arrival, Yellow pressed his hand against the glass, and Other Yellow did the same. They dropped their hands back and studied each other for a moment, before Yellow decided to ask, "Can you hear me?"

Other Yellow's face contorted with confusion, before replying, "ɔɐn--ɔɐn ʎon... nɥ..."

A pause. Yellow waited patiently for the other to speak, fiddling with his fingers as he watched the other's eyes glaze over briefly.

"ɔɐn ʎon sdǝɐʞ 1ıʞǝ ɯǝ? I pon'ʇ ʞnoʍ... ʍɥɐʇ ʎon'ɹǝ sɐʎınƃ."

Well, that didn't help. It almost sounded like Other Yellow was speaking an otherworldly language with how twisted his words were.

Yellow thought for a moment, squinting at Other Yellow before an idea popped into mind.

"Let me try something," he said, stepping off to the side and willing paper and a pencil into existence. He'd figured out how to create object in the black void a couple loops back, and while he had no clue how it worked, it did him big favors whenever he was bored or needed things he technically had no access to. However, whatever item that was created by the black void never carried over into the real world, which was a bit of a nuisance.

Stepping back into view, he wrote something down on the paper before pressing it up against the window. Other Yellow read it (with a bit of difficulty, since neither of them had been well-taught on how to read, and Yellow'd only been able to teach himself because of all the time he had) before leaning back with an inaudible huff. It was obvious he was probably as confused as Yellow was.

With a sigh, he took the paper back and wrote something else onto the paper before holding it up for Other Yellow to see. His counterpart read it and made a look of realization, and they proceeded to stand there awkwardly for a few seconds before Yellow tapped his pencil to the paper in his hand.

Other Yellow made an 'oh' motion with his mouth before nodding and darting off to the TV room, and Yellow waited for him to return while subconsciously starting to rock back and forth on his feet. Thoughts swarmed his head; paranoid questions of if Other Yellow would even return and if this would be the last time Yellow saw his counterpart before Episode 6.

He fiddled with the edges of his piece of paper, shaking his head to rid himself of such thoughts. Being a nervous mess wouldn't help in a situation like this; he needed to keep a level head and remember what he was trying to achieve by talking to Other Yellow so early in the process.

Thankfully, his counterpart rushed back with a pencil and similar sheet of paper a few moments later, and Yellow let a relieved grin spread across his face before quickly writing something down on his paper. After Other Yellow came close enough to the window, he pressed it up against the glass and waited for the other to finish reading it.

Other Yellow backed away slightly, giving Yellow a confused look before making to verbally voice his thoughts about Yellow's statement. Yellow pointed with his pencil to Other Yellow's sheet of paper, and his counterpart did as instructed and started to write something down before pausing.

The familiar glaze came over Other Yellow's eyes, and Yellow waited patiently for the brain fog in the other's mind to pass and for the other to finish writing on the paper. Other Yellow walked over to the glass and pressed the paper against it, and it read (in rather messy handwriting): How can we be the same if we're different?

Well, Other Yellow got him there. With a bit of hesitance, Yellow wrote on his paper, I don't know.

Now they were both confused. Other Yellow seemed to be trying to think about his own question, turning away from the mirror to sit crisscross on the floor and stare at the floor as he thought, and Yellow noticed the glass starting to waver out of existence.

Panicking, Yellow pressed his hands against the mirror and stared desperately at Other Yellow, hoping he would notice his predicament, but to no avail. He didn't even have enough time to bang a fist against the glass before it disappeared under his palms, leaving him in the same black void with his piece of paper and pencil.

He sighed, letting himself float in the darkness as the floor underneath his feet gave away. Hopefully he'd get another chance to talk to Other Yellow, but all that conversation did was give him more questions and no answers for them.

Pulling out the book notes from his pocket, he started reading over them again. He couldn't let that small defeat get in the way of figuring out how to escape, after all.