CHAPTER 35: REN AKARI P8
~35.8~
*****
“I’m so happy that you finally came here. We can talk as much as much as we want now!”
“You are us?”
She shook her head. “Yes, but no. Each of you is half of one soul, but you are also both your own individual. You have your own personalities, you have your own priorities, but you also share much.”
“All this time, I thought the memories of our time as one were truly ours,” Sanae said.
She shook her head. “Not quite. When I split myself, the two of you were born. You were heavily influenced by my memories, but those memories are not yours. The memories you gained after that, up until now, and for as long as you stay separate, are yours.”
“Then, are we not Elysia Alexandria?”
“You are not, no. And until I split myself, the name Elysia Athas also belonged to me. But then, one of you inherited that name from me, and the other inherited Alfia, coined from Alpha.” She smiled wryly. “The Alpha Worldline is not the reason you inherited that name. It was simply a coincidence that you adopted to explain it before you understood it.”
“What about Elysia Alpha, Elysia Omega, and so on?”
“Those are simply monikers to describe which worldline the memories attached to those names are from.”
“What about you?” Kye asked, giving her other self a piercing glare. “Are you here to take your soul halves back?”
She shook her head. “No.”
Her answer took Kye aback. “No?”
The woman stepped over to Kye and wrapped her hands around her. “No. I don’t want to do anything that puts either of you in jeopardy. I have grown very attached to both of you. You see each other as sisters and have since the very beginning. I did as well, but I couldn’t be a part of it. I still can’t. Dreams like this are the only time we can meet.”
Kye didn’t know how to react to the woman’s answer. Neither of them knew there was a third sister watching over them.
“You want us to stay separate, then?” Sanae asked.
“I do,” she answered without hesitation.
“What can we call you?”
She pulled away from Kye and placed a hand on her chin. “There is no shortage of names… Elysia is one we all share in some form or fashion.” She made some obvious ‘thinking’ sounds, but then shrugged. “I haven’t thought about it until now. I never thought this would happen.”
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“Will it happen again?” Kye asked. There was a slight hint of desperation in her voice.
“If you want it to happen, it will. For it to happen at all, there was at minimum a subconscious desire from both of you for this to happen.” She smiled. “I say subconscious because you were not consciously aware of me, but I’ve always been there. Now you can consciously desire it and it will be easy.”
“Then…” Kye looked at Sanae, and they nodded at each other. “Every night?”
“Every night.”
The elder of the three smiled. “To think you two would want to see me as much as I want to see you.” She shook her head as she replied. “But you can’t do this for long each night. You are not resting while in this state. You must get proper rest. Your souls are resilient, but your bodies still need sleep.”
“Now you sound like Mom,” Kye giggled.
“Maybe.”
Kye smiled, but her smile quickly turned into a frown.
“What’s the matter?” asked the elder girl.
“What about Mavel and Maya? If Sanae and I are able to see you like this…”
The older blonde smiled. “Always thinking about our lovely pink-haired companion. Don’t worry. Just like how the two of you can see me, they can see their prime as well. And we can see each other.” She giggled. “It’s very cute that they ended up mother and daughter.”
Kye smiled at her response, but her smile didn’t last long. She grimaced as she thought about something, about what meeting her other self meant. “You can’t come out into the world, can you?”
Sanae had the same thought in her mind, but she was hesitant to ask.
The elder blonde shook her head. “I can’t. No. I can’t exist in your reality at the same time as the two of you.”
“What do you mean by that?” Sanae asked, her eyes narrowed and her brows furrowed. She had an idea, but didn’t want it to be true.
“But it is true. What you are thinking is true. I can come out into the world, but if I do… both of you disappear. And I don’t want that. I choose anything before that.” She reached out and pulled two two into a warm embrace. “My dear little sisters, I love you very much. Please don’t ever sacrifice yourselves for me. I know you are thinking now that I have been robbed of life, but that’s not true. I chose this for the sake of Elysium. And while I stand by that choice, Elysium is no longer my priority. My loved ones are. That’s you, that’s Maya, that’s Adele, that’s Adara, and so on. So long as you are living happy lives, I am content only watching. And if it makes you feel better, Maya is always with me, and she feels the same. We want both of you, Mavel, and Alethea to live happy lives.” She patted their heads and then pulled away. “We can talk more another time. You need to sleep.”
Her body glowed with rainbow energy, and she quickly wrapped it around her siblings.
“Sleep and become rested. I love you. Feel free to call upon me any night. And if you want, you may bring Alethea and Mavel. Bye for now.” She snapped her fingers, and the scene disappeared. The two woke up, and the sun was coming up. After their elder self forced them to rest, they slept soundly until daybreak.
When they woke, they shook Alethea awake. “Mmm, good morning, loves.” She smiled at them. “Did you sleep well?”
Both nodded and Sanae said, “Love, we had a shared dream.”
“Oh? What was it about?”
Kye said, “Have you had a dream with Mavel? Not about, with, where you met your origin? We met Elysia Origin.”
Alethea’s eyes widened, and she quickly rose up, hugging both at once. “I’m so happy for you!” She woke Adele and Michelle from how loud she was.
*****
Revision: 2024-21-2