{Month: January}
{Date: 1/8}
{Time: Day}
"...up..." A voice spoke to me, the tone muffled due to my heavy sleep.
"Hey...! Wake up already, girlie!" The same voice yelled out before yanking the blankets off my body.
I let out a loud groan, turning over on the couch I was laying on before opening my eyes and yawning lightly. Once I was halfway awake, I began to take a look around my surroundings each piece of furniture more familiar than the last.
Glancing up, the sight of a very familiar face made me shoot up from the couch, causing the woman to stumble backwards in shock. Unable to contain my excitement, I hurried to the woman, touching her face and arms to make sure she was real.
"T-Tomoka..!" I cried out with thick emotion, throwing my arms around my older sister.
"E-Ehh..? Uh, hey, Risa..~ Are you okay? Had a terrible nightmare or something, sis?" Tomoka asked, lightly chuckling and returning my embrace with a confused expression.
I didn't care much for her confusion, only wanting to hold onto my sister for a moment longer. Finally letting go of her, I took a step back and wiped my eyes with a bright smile. "I'm sorry...I don't know what came over me..."
"Mama told you to stop reading all of these dark stories, they give you nightmares beyond belief! Don't you remember you last nightmare about another massive Kaiju mass destroying New Japan?" Tomoka snickered, holding her arms under her chest with a smirk.
I rolled my eyes at her, crossing my arms and puffing my cheeks. "Hey! It could very well happen! Anything is possible nowadays!"
"Yeah..~ Uh-huh, I'm gonna let Mama and Papa know you aren't dead and were just having another terrible nightmare," Tomoka teased lightly, walking by me and playfully pinching my cheek.
I lightly groaned at her playful gesture, gently pushing her hand away before sitting back down on the couch with a light sigh. I looked down at the book on the floor, leaning down to pick it up and glanced at the cover.
'Dark Queen's Ambition: Dark Rising...I was reading this? I guess I do remember this...' I thought to myself, opening the book to the page I last left off on.
Reading through a short excerpt of the book, I began to notice a few things aligned with what just happened to me. I flipped to the very first chapter, quickly scanning the words on the page, realizing this book matched every event that happened to me as Stella.
"I guess it's my turn to be on the sidelines, great. Trapped in your past. I guess I could hang around here for a while," Another familiar voice spoke from behind the couch, causing me to squeak out of shock.
Quickly jerking back head back to see who spoke, I noticed an ethereal version of Stella leaning behind the couch and looking down at the book in my hands. "Stella..?"
Stella turned her gaze to look at me, raising her eyebrow as if to question why I would be surprised to hear or see her. "What? You invaded my mental... We are one in the same, your memories are my own and my memories are yours to an extent...yet..."
"Yeah, but I didn't physically—" I began, grunting softly as Stella took the book from my hand, catching me off guard that she could touch items as a spirit.
I grabbed the book back from her hands swiftly, holding it to my chest with protectiveness. "Don't do that..! You'll mess up my memories, you big dummy..!"
"Relax, I've lived through these memories a thousand times. Besides, I can't even see the words in the book anyway. Also, I'm just glad we're finally in a different memory..." Stella sighed, glancing around the familiar home, her eyes filled with nostalgia.
"Yeah...me too..." I said softly, leaning back against the couch with a light exhale, taking in the familiar sights as well.
There was a moment of silence and reminiscence, the two of us reliving the same memory at the same time. After a silent minute, I decided to break the silence, glancing up at Stella. "Hey, can I ask you something?"
"You just did," Stella said with light sarcasm, looking down at me with her cheek resting against her hand.
I rolled my eyes a her sarcastic reply and giggled lightly, glancing back down at the book on my lap. "For real, Stella...Is everything in this book true? Did we really go through all of that, or was it all just...a bad dream?"
"It was real...you are truly dead and I am alive. But, I can't wrap my head around that book. It doesn't make any sense to me. How can that book exist, if I am still alive?" Stella replied, gently taking the book from my lap and began to inspect it, wanting to find an author.
"There isn't an author for this book, but it is very strange. I read this book when I was very much alive...and we just relived your story from the first chapter up to the tenth.." I said softly, taking the book back and opening the book to the next chapter.
Stella watched as I read the next chapter, curious to know the contents inside, but could only see a blank page in front of her. "Well..? What does it say?"
"Mmm...It basically says you and Leo recover from your battle against Corvus and Lelitia and begin training to prepare for the rest of the Shadow Messiah. You also supposedly train Saya and Miyuna to perfect their Affinity Control, a filler chapter basically," I said, looking back up at Stella with a smile.
Stella hummed softly, hatching a small idea in her head then stood up straight before stretching. "That's all, huh? Well, I think I can do that...I really don't want to train that loud mouth blueberry though... especially not after what I went through.."
"But, I also have a slight question for you, missy," Stella continued, walking around the couch to sit down next to me and sighed softly. "Why are you even awake with me? Though, not physically, you still feel everything I do. So why not pass..?"
A small smile tugged at the corners of my lips, anticipating the question to come sooner or later. "Well, the truth is...I can't pass beyond. I'm a reincarnation, and the golden spirit I spoke to told me that once I reincarnate, my spirit will be..."
"A continuous spirit. Yeah...I know about it all. We have a few reincarnation, I'm one of them. Apparently, I'm the reincarnation of Lunaris, but I don't believe it. The reincarnation of the strongest Lunar Goddess in Utalia?" Stella said, crossing one leg over the other and looked up at the ceiling.
"I believe it~ I reincarnated into you, and so far you're the strongest person I've ever seen..! The way you move and—"
Stella stopped me with a light smile on her face, chuckling softly at my praises and looked over at me with a gentle expression. "It wasn't just me, Risa. It was you as well, the both of us...but you know our story. I lived through your memories, and I wanted to change so much...but I couldn't.."
"But if I'm alive, and that book exists... that must mean I was killed at the end and was given another chance. Another chance to do things right..." Stella continued, watching as I flipped to the last page of the book.
I read through the final chapter of the book, my heart weighing heavy on the way the story ended, the ending of Stella's story a tragic tale. I closed the book and let out a shaky exhale, shaking my head lightly to regather my thoughts.
"I think...I understand now, but I don't know how we are going to change your future. Everything that's happened in the book, happened in reality. It's like...we are doomed to repeat history," I said in a low tone, looking over at Stella, seeing the determination in her eyes.
"I feel as if I know how it all ends...but at the same time, I just started my journey. Or restarted it, I don't know how many time I feel as if I lived through this, but I want to change it...and that book is our key," Stella said, holding her pendant in her hand and opening it.
I looked at the picture inside the necklace, my heart skipping a beat as I realized it was the same necklace I died in. "Wait..."
"This is your necklace you got for Christmas the day you died...I'm thinking if I was able to take this after being reincarnated...you can bring that book from here to reality somehow," Stella said, looking down at the book one last time.
I looked at the book as well, gently rubbing the cover as Stella's idea sounded crazy mentally, but sound in reality. Deciding to go with her plan, I nodded with agreement. "Alright...we can see what we can do. Hopefully, it doesn't mess up my memories..."
Stella and I got up from the couch and began making our way toward the kitchen, where everyone else was for lunch, the book closely embraced to my chest like a priceless heirloom. At this point in time, it might as well have been our holy grail.
Entering the kitchen, the familiar sights of my family came before my eyes, a wave of nostalgia and heartache washing over me. Keeping my tears inside, I made my way toward the table and took my seat beside Tomoka.
"Well, well, look who decided to join us," My dad teased lightly, chuckling softly as he took a sip of his juice.
"C'mon, Dad...I was just taking a nap. It isn't like I was in a coma or anything," I sassed playfully, puffing my cheeks at his gentle tease, hiding my gleeful smile.
"Just wait until you hear about her latest nightmare tale, I'm sure this one would blow away the Kaiju story," Tomoka added, letting out a light chuckle before taking a bite from her sandwich.
"Tomoka..!" I whined softly, gently nudging her with slight annoyance.
My mom giggled softly at our liveliness, shaking her head and wiping her hands with her napkins. "Alright, you two. Enough ganging up on Risa, alright?~ How about we shift the topic to Risa's upcoming Talent Show! Next week, honey, aren't you excited?"
Stella and I glanced at each other subtly, the two of us forgetting about our talent show. Scrambling to find my words as my family awaited my answer, I blurted the first thing that came to mind. "Eureka!"
Stella facepalmed at my outburst, silently questioning how I reincarnated into her. My dad and Tomoka snickered with each other, trying their hardest to not break out into laughter.
My mom let out a soft laugh, raising an eyebrow at me with an amused expression upon her face. "Well, I suppose I can take that as a yes~ Have you thought about what you're going to do for the Talent Show?"
"Weren't we supposed to do a Magic Show that we completely bombed?" Stella asked, glancing at me with a look of remembrance.
'Yeah, now that I think about it...I was wanting to do magic tricks like pulling cats out of hats and some mock telekinesis,' I replied to Stella mentally, stroking my chin as I began to think about what I was going to do while eating a bit of my lunch.
"I guess...I will try doing my magic tricks for the Talent Show. I've been working very hard to get my cat in the hat trick going, but the last cat we had—"
"Escaped out the back gate, yeah we remember that whole fiasco. We got a bunch of farm cats you can choose from around here, but I don't know if they'll listen," Tomoka said, looking over at me with a knowing smile at seeing my bashful expression.
"That one wasn't my fault...he was just an aggressive kitty. But, this time I will succeed in this and win the Talent Show with my magical prowess!" I declared, manifesting my victory in my mind with a clear image.
"Whoa, speaking as if you've already done this before," My dad laughed softly before standing up from his seat, letting out an exaggerated groan as he rose onto his feet.
"Alright, old man. You don't need to do all of that," I laughed softly, shaking my head at my dad's over exaggeration.
"I think he needs some oil for those old bones, I heard a little cracking and popping from those knees," Tomoka chimed in, nudging me with a laugh.
"Yeah, yeah. You two are gonna get old as well, and you'll have these issues to," My dad retorted, chuckling at our teasing before collecting empty plates and heading toward the sink. "I'll take you by Cat Haven once I finish helping your mom clean up."
"Mmkay!~ I'll be waiting outside!" I beamed, getting up from my seat and grabbing Tomoka's arm. "C'mon, Tomoka! Let's go feed the horses!"
"Alright, girlie, you don't have to drag me!" Tomoka laughed softly as she got up as well, quickly following behind me hastily.
My eyes shined bright as my heart pounded with excitement to even spend at least five minutes with my sister again, my feet racing toward the front door. Swinging the door open, the light from the sun flashed into my eyes, temporarily blinding me and causing me to cover my eyes.
Once the light had dimmed, I uncovered my eyes and slowly opened them, noticing I was back in reality as Stella, my hand holding onto Leo's arm who rested beside me. I stared at him for a moment, my heart weighing heavy once more as I gently caressed his cheek maternally.
I turned over onto my back, looking up at the ceiling of the royal guest room I rested in. The sun kissed against my face, casting a warm glow within the entire room, standing as natures alarm clock for the world. I looked over to my other side, my eyes widening as I noticed the same Book from the memory was now resting beside me.
Before I could pick up the book to inspect it, a loud crash sounded outside, followed by confused and scared screams seemingly coming from Saya and Miyuna. The commotion immediately woke Leo, his body shooting up on the bed and searching around frantically.
"What!? Intruder alert! Intruder alert! Senju, Triple Focus Strike it now!" Saya's animated tone commanded, followed by a half hearted battle cry from Senju.
'I know you hear this. You not gonna say anything about this?' I said to Risa mentally, awaiting for her to respond to me.
"Yeah, I hear it loud and clear and I mean loud and clear!" Risa replied, her tone sounding as if she was running away from something.
I rose an eyebrow at her soft panting, getting myself out of the bed and looked around for my shoes. 'Why does it sound like you're running around? What are you doing?'
Leo looked over at me, noticing I was hurrying toward the door to inspect the commotion as well, his curiosity getting the better of him as well. "Sis..? What's going on?"
"I don't know, but we're gonna find out," I answered, swinging the door open to see a young woman with a cat tail dashing past me to avoid getting attacked by Senju.
"Help me, Stella! You clearly see that I'm getting chased by Senju! Stop him, please!" Risa cried out, huffing quickly as she sprinted down the halls like an Olympic Sprinter.
Leo watched as the young woman ran down the hall as well, raising an eyebrow as he was curious about who she was. "Who was that?"
I grunted softly at Leo's question, realizing everyone could now see Risa and let out a light groan. I didn't bother facepalming, simply pressing my hand against my forehead. 'Fuck...I knew I shouldn't have appeared physically in the memory. Something told me this would happen...'
"One second," I said, reaching toward Leo and gently ruffling his hair before running off to catch up to Saya and Senju before they could reach Risa to apprehend her.
Rushing in front of Senju, I blocked and parried each of his Triple Focus Strikes then countered with a reversal palm strike against his stomach, his belly rippling to evenly distribute the impact and lessen the damage. Upon noticing me, Senju seized all combat and stood down, but Saya rushed forward with a wall jump into a spinning kick.
I blocked Saya's kick quickly then pushed her back, but she rushed back in with a series of fiery attacks, each strike meeting the air as I elegantly evaded each attack. Catching her arm, I twirled her behind me then elbowed her back, causing her to bump into a wall.
Saya put her hand on the wall to catch herself then pivoted into her Blaze Tornado Kick, but Natsume caught her leg before she could generate the flames around her leg, stopping her attack. "Mistress!"
Natsume began to analyze the situation, recognizing Saya as the sole aggressor and used her Water Energy to place Saya in icy cuffs, detaining her. "Alright, troublemaker...I know it was you who stirred all of this up. It's still the first sun rising, how do you have energy like this?"
"I was protecting the castle from this intruder!" Saya defended herself, pointing at Risa with an accusatory finger with a mix of confusion and annoyance.
"I promise to you, I have no idea how I got here, let alone what I'm wearing," Risa stressed, holding her hands up in surrender and looking at herself.
I studied Risa as well with a curious gaze, analyzing her new appearance within my reality. She now had a physical body, but it was semi-ethereal, but still tangible enough to frighten her to run away. She wore an open white hooded cloak with her hood over her head, the hood equipped with two points resembling cat ears.
Behind her cloak, she wore a small black top with a beautiful, lunar pattern skirt along with stockings with a galaxy pattern upon them to resemble my affinity. Attached to her skirt was an emblem opposite to the design of Kuroana, resembling a White Hole.
I cleared my throat and began to make my way toward Risa, placing my hand upon her shoulder with a smile. "Ahem...sorry for the scare everyone. I forgot to tell everyone that I also recruited another member to my army. Everyone, meet Risa Nakagami."
"Hi, everyone... Sorry for just, popping in! Y'know...hehe..." Risa greeted awkwardly, rubbing the back of her neck with an uncomfortable chuckle.
"Damn this girl's awkward, way more awkward than Miyuna when she's around a boy she likes," Saya said, laughing at Risa's sudden awkwardness before raising her hands for Natsume to take her away. "Alright, I'm done here, Ms. Natsume. You can put me in timeout now."
Natsume shook her head, freeing Saya and put her cuffs away with a raised brow. "No need to imprison you for a misunderstanding. Besides, my cells are have better use for people who won't be a straight annoyance to me and talk me to death."
Saya's jaw dropped at Natsume's cool roast, her eyes watching as she left without another word. Immediately flaring up, she pointed at Natsume with a fiery finger. "Hey! Get back here! You don't talk to me like that and get away!"
Saya dashed after Natsume at a heated pace, Senju chuckling at her early bird energy and quickly followed behind the two. Miyuna glanced at Risa for a split second before turning on her heels to join Saya and Natsume, her mind wondering how Risa looked similar to me.
With the situation cleared away, I gently grabbed Risa's wrist and began pulling her back toward the guest room, and pushed Leo inside in the process before closing the door quickly. "Quickly, Risa. On the bed, the book is there!"
Risa gasped in shock and exhilaration in response to my news, turning her head back to the bed and noticing the book. With vibrant energy, she hurried toward the bed and quickly snatched up the book. "Oh my gosh...it actually worked. It actually... worked."
Leo glanced between the two of us with a bit of curiosity, his eyes clearly knowing the difference between me, his biological sister, and Risa, my past echo, but his spirit somehow knew we shared one soul. "Stella...who exactly is Risa? Where did she even come from?"
I looked back at Leo and saw his confusion, a smile slowly curling on my face as I walked toward him and gently hugged him. "This is only for your ears only, my dear brother..."
Leo hugged me back with sincerity, his eyes closing as he rested his head along my chest, just as he always done when he hugged me. "What is it...? Is it that important for you to only tell me..?"
I nodded and let out a soft sigh as I rested my head upon his, my eyes closing as I began finding the words to explain to my brother what was going on. "Risa...Risa is something one would call, a Manifestation. My Spirit...she is me and I am her. We are still figuring it out ourselves, but just know...she is also technically your sister."
Risa listened to my explanation to Leo, watching as Leo turned his head to look at her and felt her body grow still under Leo's protective watch. She held her book close to her chest, her cat tail wrapping around her leg.
"Relax, little brother..~ She's safe. Nothing to truly concern yourself about. Just know, she wields Shiroana as I can't wield both. She shares all of my experience and memories, she's just shy," I said in a comforting tone, chuckling softly at Leo's low vibrations against my body.
Leo nodded and softened his gaze toward Risa, closing his eyes and regarding Risa as his own. "Alright...If she's really the other side of your coin, I'll treat her like our blood."
"Good," I said with a pleased hum, gently kissing the top of Leo's head then began gently pushing him toward the door. "I'll meet up with you all soon, just give me and Risa a few moments."
"O-Okay, Sis...!" Leo grunted, surprised by my suddenly surge of urgency before stumbling forward to my gentle push out the room.
I waved at my brother before closing the door, Leo standing in the hallway with a mix of confusion and amusement. With a light shrug, he began to make his way downstairs to meet up with the others for breakfast.
I sighed softly as I made my way toward the bed and sat down upon the edge, patting the spot next to me for Risa to sit down at. "C'mon. Sit down, you're here now."
Risa nodded quickly, hastily making her way around the bed to sit down next to me and placed the book on her lap. "This is just...all so strange to me. I'm...alive yet at the same time I'm not. Like... I'm me, but you at the same time. This is just all so freaky! I was just taking Tomoka outside!"
"Yeah, so there's a little time limit upon each memory kinda. I spent 19 years reliving the Christmas Memory every other three months and entering a coma. I guess that was you... really saying you didn't want to die," I said, looking down at the pendant around my neck.
"Yeah... I didn't want to, after all, I had just confessed to Aaron, Tomoka came back in town, everything was perfect," Risa began, letting out a soft sigh as she glanced up at the ceiling. "But, at least I can help you change your fate..."
I chuckled softly at Risa's hopeful comment and glanced down at the book, gently taking it from her hand and placing it on my lap. "Well, let's take this one step at a time. And step one for me is seeing what's inside!"
Excitedly opening the first page, I was able to see the contents inside, each word perfectly matching every piece of event that ever happened from the festival incident to now. Risa read along with me, her brow raising as she noticed a few details were changed.
"Wait, the original story...huh?! My name is mentioned! This just happened yesterday!" Risa pointed out on the page, recalling the battle between me and Lelitia within the islands.
She flipped to the next page, the page completely blank for me which killed my intentions to continue looking at the book, while Risa could read the next page perfectly fine. She noticed the details on the page were unaltered, no mentioning of her at all.
"So? Are you mentioned anywhere else? I mean, you did awaken just yesterday. I'm pretty sure in the original, everything was just the same except you weren't there right?" I asked, leaning back on the mattress while Risa grabbed the book from my lap.
"Yeah... everything is the same, but knowing the last chapter was altered...we could very well rewrite our destiny! However, only I can read...the future I guess. Is that alright?" Risa asked, looking down at me with an innocent gaze.
I waved my hand with light dismissal, closing my eyes and exhaling softly. "I don't care all that much, at least we have a starting point. We may not be able to change the past, but our future is ours to take."
"Right!" Risa nodded, a smile of determination playing upon her face at my resolution.