[Kare Kare is that you?] - Rose

Still crying I embraced the flustered slime girl, both my arms pulling her into a hug as my tail instinctually wrapped around her gooey body. It felt surprisingly firm but I didn't notice because my emotions were all over the place.

[Why are you here? Did you die? What happened to Mary?] - Rose

[Wait wait wait! Too many questions! I just want to know...] - Karen

[What Kare Kare? Ask me anything?] - Rose

[Who are you? And why do you know my nickname? You know Mary?] - Karen

Her questions shocked me out of my happiness, at first I felt shocked and betrayed that she couldn't recognize me but immediately after I realized that even I would have difficulty recognizing my current self unless given A LOT of hints. The smile, which had vanished for a second, returned as I was filled with happiness once again.

[Oh right you wouldn't recognize me in my current body huh... Oh I wonder if I'm in your strike zone now! I never thought about that before actually... Hmm that's a bit...] - Rose

[Ahem! I asked a question, gonna answer it?] - Karen

My face broke out into even more of a smile at her expression and how she put her hands on her hips in the same way as she had before. She hadn't changed. Not at all. Well except for the whole "made of slime" thing.

[Sorry sorry! I got a bit off topic there out of excitement. Ahem. Right. Ahh.... how do I say this? It's actually a bit embarrassing now that I think about it. Whew Rose you can do this!] - Rose

[You done?] - Karen

Raising one eyebrow as she watched me trying to psych myself up she crossed her arms in annoyance.

[Y-Yeah... Umm, I may look like this but I'm actually.....] - Rose

[Whew.... I'm actually Austin.] - Rose

[........] - Karen

Whatever Karen had expected me to say it was certainly not that as her mouth hung open and her eyes glazed over in surprise. I could literally see the cogs turning in her brain and the burning rubber that was the only thing left of her thoughts. Emboldened by her silence and wanting to have contact with someone I thought I'd never see again I hugged her to myself tightly once more.

[Heheheh! I missed you so much!] - Rose

[Wait seriously!?! You're Austin? As in Austin Johnson?!? Austin Sauce?!?!!?] - Karen

Hugging her had apparently caused Karen.exe to reboot and she pushed me away while visibly freaking out. I guess seeing your once boyfriend as a cute, if I do say so myself, giant snake girl was a bit shocking as she was having a hard time accepting it. But there was one thing I couldn't accept.

[Hey! I thought I said to stop calling me that! You know it brings back embarrassing memories!] - Rose

[...seriously? The one I came all this way to find is a drop dead gorgeous enormous snake woman?] - Karen

[I-Is that a problem?] - Rose

Worried that I was now somehow disgusting to be around or that I'd done something wrong without realizing I backed away timidly.

[...that's.] - Karen

[That's?] - Rose

[That's amazing! Holy shit you turned out hot! How did you become a super sexy snake thing?!?! Oh what about down there?!?! Are you all woman? Oh! Have you played with yourself yet? Is it better as a guy or a girl?!?!] - Karen

[C-Calm Down! Once question at a time! And why are they all sex questions?!!?!?] - Rose

[I missed you... I missed you so so much... I thought I'd lost you forever... Waaaaaah!!!!] - Karen

Going from full ADHD freak out to full-blown sobbing tears in the span of a minute as she hugged me close enough to nearly pull me into herself she blubbered out intelligible words as I stroked her back like I used to when she cried.

[It's fine... I'm here now, you're here too... we'll never be apart from now on. Never ever...] - Rose

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

[ Really...? Never ever? ] - Karen

[Yeah... I don't know how you got here and how we found each other but I'll never let you go again.] - Rose

Leaning forward towards my face Karen moved like she was going to kiss me and I instinctually backed away with a blush on my face.

[W-w-what are you doing?] - Rose

[Heheheh! You were just so cute I couldn't help myself...] - Karen

[C-c-cute? A-and that gives you permission t-to kiss me?] - Rose

[Oh! Is the little girl embarrassed about her new, cute self? Let big sister Karen make it aaaaall better!] - Karen

[S-Stay away you she-demon!] - Rose

I put on a face of mock horror as I saw her expression shift into her "playing" face as I dodged her lunging hug attack and started laughing, my blush vanishing as joy took the place of embarrassment. Using her partially fluid body she quickly blocked off my escape route, while laughing with me, and I found myself pulled into another hug as her laughter once again dissolved into tears, happy one's this time.

[I'm so happy... When you're signal vanished I thought it was too late! I thought you'd left me again... That I'd be all alone again... I'm so glad I found you.] - Karen

[Me too...] - Rose

Holding her as we both hugged each other not wanting the moment to end I decided to hold off on asking questions until we both calmed down a little.

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[So you've been stuck in this forest for 3 years? All alone?] - Rose

[Well about that I guess, I can't say for sure how long though as there aren't any real seasons here as far as I can tell. I only really started marking the days after the first few months...] - Karen

Showing me the side of the run down cottage I noticed a massive swarm of marks that had been made on one of the walls, obviously to mark the passage of time. Karen actually looked proud of it for some reason. I sighed and face palmed.

[I'm sorry to tell you but in this world you're not even 2 years old yet if you were counting based on our old year.] - Rose

[Wait what? Why?] - Karen

[Well I'm not sure why but the years here are 752 days long and I'm also fairly certain that the days are also slightly longer but I don't have a way to measure that so I'm not sure.] - Rose

[752 days? I'm only like 1 and a half? Holy shit! I wonder if this planet is further from the sun! Oh and maybe that explains the lack of seasons! Are we maybe in the equatorial zone or something! Maybe the whole planet is bigger too! Oh damn I need to remember to ask someone about the size of this planet when I get the chance! So fucking coooool!] - Karen

[Err... Hahahaha...] - Rose

It had been 12 almost 13 years, although it had only been a little over 6 years on this planet, since I'd seen her and during that time I guess I'd forgotten about how much of a science freak she was. Things like black hole's and exoplanets made her nerd the fuck out. I remember I always used to think it was adorable and was happy to see that I still thought her excited nerd face was as cute as ever.

[Well you can nerd out later, first things first we need to get you back to civilization and get me healed... up...? Wait why doesn't my tail hurt anymore?] - Rose

[Oh that? Yeah that paste thingie I made has a localized painkilling chemical in it or something similar at least. Actually if I mixed it wrong you'd be having one hell of a trip right now! Or you'd be dead... One of the two!] - Karen

[Hey! You gave me something that strong! Why?!?] - Rose

[U-Umm... I tried weaker stuff on you while you were asleep but college chem class didn't have a segment on dosage for enormous snake women so none of it was powerful enough. And that was the most powerful one I could find in that book...] - Karen

[Uh huh... And?] - Rose

[A-and I was sure you'd be fine?] - Karen

Glaring at her in mock anger as she visibly shrunk her voice got quieter and quieter. Wait she's actually shrinking! What the hell?!?

[You can change size?!?!] - Rose

[Oh yeah! I can do all sorts of cool things with my body now! I guess I got a skill from a title that let's me control everything from size to density! I can even grow extra limbs! ...and other stuff... hehehehe!] - Karen

[Other stu...? Ew Gross! Do you ever think of anything other than sex stuff?] - Rose

Realizing halfway through my question what she was referring to my face once more blushed a deep red. For some reason thinking about dicks now made me flush just as much as thinking about anything sex related.

I mean sure I wasn't a virgin previously, and I did help out Karen with her bi partner's every once in a while, oh and the time's we did threesome's toget... Wait now that I thought of it why was I so shy about sex now? I mean yeah aggressive women were one of my weaknesses even before I died but I seemed even more easily embarrassed now than I ever was as Austin.

Was I even really him anymore? I mean I still FELT like myself but I'd been here for over 12 years now and seeing Karen again had brought up a lot of memories and with it I could notice some distinct differences between who I was now and who I was in the past.

Suddenly Karen hugged me without any warning, pulling me into her breasts as she stroked my head.

[W-Why?] - Rose

[You got this serious look all of a sudden and started crying while thinking about something... It's the same look I had before I came out to my parents and I needed you to do this for me then. I'm just paying you back for that time.] - Karen

[I was crying...?] - Rose

Touching my face I felt a line of wetness with my finger's surprising myself as I didn't even realize I had been crying in the first place. After letting me confirm my tears I was once again pulled into a hug. Karen's body was surprisingly warm all things considered and I felt my eyes close as sobs wracked my body.

[I don't know who I am anymore! Seeing you like this brought up so many memories. Memories of who I used to be! Memories of who I'm not anymore! I'm so different from him! From Austin! How can I be sure we really are the same person!?!?] - Rose

[So what?] - Karen

[Huh?] - Rose

[So what if you're different than you used to be? Now I don't know how many years you've been over here but I'm sure it's at least longer than I have and in that time you've been living as who you are now the whole time! Of course you've changed! But think about your time as Austin! Were you the same person as a child as you were as an adult? Of course not!] - Karen

[B-But that's different! I was still the same person just older, my experiences...] - Rose

[Exactly! Your experiences since childhood changed who you were while keeping the core of your sense of self safe! Did you think that this is any different?!?! Don't focus on the things that make you different from who you used to be! Focus on the things that make you the same. You're still the man I cared for, even if the outside is changed. Even if your experiences have changed your personality in small ways! None of that matter's because you are still you!] - Karen

[Thank you Kare Kare... That makes me feel better...] - Rose

[Ahem! W-Well n-no problem... h-happy to help...] - Karen

Coughing lightly as her face flushed a deep purple from embarrassment she nervously ended our hug after a few seconds more.

[U-Umm anyway we should think about how to get out of this forest now...] - Karen

[Y-Yeah that sounds like a good idea...] - Rose

Blushing myself as I realized how embarrassing that whole situation had been I turned away from her to hide my red face as much as possible and to give myself more time for the embarrassment to fade away. We needed to focus on getting back to the academy now, I'm sure that Veronica, Malaise and Shade are all frantic at this point and on top of that I could now introduce them to an old friend of mine.

Starting to get excited at the prospect of introducing Karen to them I put a serious face on and got started discussing our tactics...

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