In the dead of night, midnight exactly, a woman with black, silken hair with pink skin sits in her room in the JB bunker. She is sobbing lightly, so lightly that her face doesn't even show it. Just a few hours ago she was officially allowed back into the JB by Raphael and June, but she still feels like she shouldn't be there, not after what she did. Even though a Demu was in control of her body, she was still able to see everything that it did. Raphael's words still ring in her head. “It wasn't you, Sherah. A Demu was controlling you and there was nothing you could have done. Me and June have forgiven you and that's all that should matter. You're still one of us.” Raphael told her after reinstating her back into the JB.
She wipes her eyes with her shirt sleeve and lightly says “Do I really belong here... after what I did....” deeply, she sighs and speaks again “I need to go see someone tomorrow... alone....” She lays down in her bed, and goes to sleep.
Sherah is now at a town where all of the buildings are made out of a thick, grayish wood. Moments ago, she had stepped through a portal leading to this town surrounded by trees. She still remembers telling Marinth, the lead portal tech in the JB, to send her here and for him to not ask her any questions. He obliged, although deep in his mind he was thinking that she should be kept on a much tighter leash.
She takes a deep breath before walking into a crowd of people with the same pink skin as her. A person out of the crowd notices her and immediately takes a deep breath and yells out “Oh my God! Everyone, Sherah's back!”
The crowd immediately turns, looks at Sherah and they all start cheering. Sherah doesn't care about it in the slightest, she's too downtrodden by what happened to allow it to get to her at the moment. Right now, all that matters is going to the town church. She walks slowly through the crowd, lightly muttering to herself that she wants everyone to leave her alone.
Eventually, after a long walk through the cheering crowd, she arrives at the town church. The minister sees her enter and, while walking towards her with open arms, says “Ah, so that's what all the ruckus outside is about. It's a pleasure to see you back in town, Sherah. What can this humble minister of God do for you today?”
Sherah, her head down, slowly mutters “I-I wish to make a confession....”
The minister has a surprised look on his face. He wasn't expecting Sherah, a town hero and whistler prodigy to have something to confess. “Is it about... no, I shouldn't ask that here. Please, come with me to the confession booth. We will talk there.”
Sherah nods at the minister's request. That's what she had come for anyway. She is soon in the confession booth, her head tilted down. The minister slides the blocker between the two confession booths open and says “Under the eye's of the lord, all may be forgiven. Speak, my child, and you shall find your peace.”
“Bless me father, for I have sinned....”
“Speak, and all shall be forgiven....”
Sherah sighs deeply, and then begins to speak. “... Ever since I was given the responsibility of adopting and defending the Key, I have felt something trying to take control of me, but I never knew what it was. As I'm sure that you know, the Guardian of the Key had surfaced a few weeks ago. After we found him, the Key began taking a great deal of interest in him....”
“That... is understandable. The Key and the Guardian are soul linked. It would make sense that she would be drawn towards him.”
“... As the Key began taking more of an interest in the Guardian, I began having a feeling of resentment towards him. As the days went on, that 'thing' that was trying to take control of me began getting closer and closer to taking my body. When I went to strike the Guardian one day over a slight, the Key shoved me into a wall because of it, and that resulted in it getting full control of me. By the time I realized what happened, it was already too late, and I was almost completely possessed by that time. I could see what I was doing, but I had no control of my body. I remember waking up and looking at the claws that had grown out of my fingertips, and then the Demu that had my body laughing in my voice. I went right through the defenses that the Guardian had set up and kidnapped the Key, the Demu controlling me trying to get her behind enemy lines. Raphael, the Guardian, was able to stop me at the last second before I got June too far. The Demu fought him using me, but Raphael was able to exorcise the Demu from my body. However, I killed him in the process....”
The minister gasps. “Are you telling me that another Guardian has-!”
“No. The Key used one of her powers to revive the Guardian after I killed him. Although I almost destroyed the organization that the Guardian had built, he still accepted me back in, along with the Key. That is what I have come here for today, father. I killed the Guardian and nearly caused the loss of the only hope this universe has for this generation, and for many others. Father, I beg you for yours and God's forgiveness....”
The minister sighs from his side of the booth. After a few seconds, he says “My child, it was not your fault. The Demu know that you are the adopted parent of the Key, so you would be a viable target. We all have our times of weakness, and this was one of yours....”
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“That is not what I meant!” Sherah says, raising her voice slightly. “I'm asking your forgiveness for feeling jealousy towards the Guardian. It was that jealousy and envy of the one that the Key cares so much about that allowed that Demu to gain control of me. What I wish for is that you forgive me for my envy and jealousy....”
The minister remains silent for a few moments with his head tilted down. He points his head up and then says “You are forgiven my child....”
“Thank you, father.” Sherah then opens the door to the confession booth and leaves. The minister remains in his booth, wishing to reminisce about what he had just learned. He remains there for a few minutes, well after Sherah has left. Through his meditation on the subject, he has decided to keep the town in the dark about what he had just learned, knowing that this possibly could turn the town against her.
Sherah exits the town church, and it seems that the crowd that had followed Sherah earlier has dispersed. She shuts the door and then leans her back against it with her head tilted downward, thinking. After about a minute of thinking, she gets back up and begins walking to her right. “I need to go see him....”
After about a half-an-hour of walking, Sherah has finally arrived at the place she was looking for at the edge of town. It is a small, one floor cottage made out of the same wood that makes up the rest of the buildings around town. The forest that surrounds the town borders the cottage's backyard. She walks up to the door and takes a moment to gather herself before knocking on it.
Sherah remains outside for a few moments, waiting patiently. Eventually, the door cracks open and the pink-skinned face of a man Sherah's age peaks out. Almost immediately, the man gasps and shuts the door. The door flies open moments later and the man grapples Sherah in such a forceful hug that he nearly makes her topple over. “Sherah,” he nearly yells. “thank God you're back!”
For the first time since she has been back in her hometown, Sherah smiles. She pats the man on his back and says “Ulen! I'm happy to see you again too!”
“My God Sherah, it's so great to see you again! I've been living alone in our old house since you left, it is amazing to see you again! What brings you back? You know what, it doesn't matter, your back now and that's all I care about! Come inside, please!” Ulen says in pure happiness.
Seeing her fiancee again has brought a smile to Sherah's lips, despite how she was moments ago. She slowly walks into the house, with Ulen shutting the door after she is inside.
“It's great to see you again, Ulen. It's been murder without you! How long has it been? Seven years? That's way too long for us to be apart.” Sherah says, sitting down on the sofa with a cup of coffee. “You're probably wondering why I'm here, aren't you?”
“No, not really.” Ulen says, taking his seat next to her on the sofa. “I figured that you came back to see me or to see your hometown again.”
Sherah scuffs lightly at Ulen's response. “I'm sorry about that, I really should have kept in better contact with you over those seven years. I left you here all alone, just telling you that I was going out to protect the universe from the Demu. That is still no reason for me to not remain in contact with my fiancee. Heh, you probably have already found someone else....”
“Again, not really. I've said it before and I'll say it again, you're the only one for me, Sherah.” Ulen says, wrapping his arm around Sherah's back.
Sherah suddenly begins to cry. She wraps herself close to Ulen and lightly says “Ulen, I've done something horrible....”
Ulen holds Sherah close to his chest as she starts crying even more. “You don't even have to tell me what it is, I already know that it's not your fault. And if you need to know why, it's because I love you and there's nothing in this universe that could make me think otherwise.”
Sherah's tear-trodden eyes look upwards towards her fiancee, but she looks away a moment later “... What I have done... what could have happened because of it... I will be making up for my entire life. Ulen, you have no idea how badly I fucked up...!”
Ulen pats Sherah on her head, clear amounts of understanding coming from his movements and mannerisms. “Sherah... whatever it is, I will always be here for you, no matter how bad. Besides, you said what 'could' have happened, that means that everything turned out okay, right?”
Upon those words, Sherah's tears begin to be drawn back. She mutters out, through a shaken voice “It.. it could have been much worse... you're right.... If anything had gone differently... but it... didn't.... I can... I can... atone.” A resolve begins to form inside of Sherah, a resolve that can only begin through a realization of what one in her situation must do. “I... can make things right! I can prove myself to them, all of them! I can make up for it all!” She grapples Ulen in a hug, her tears no longer falling “Thank you, Ulen!”
Ulen chuckles, giving Sherah a hug back and laughing in the process “Glad to be of help, Songbird!”
Sherah pulls away Ulen for a moment and then leans forward, kissing Ulen on the lips. A few moments later, she pulls back and says to him “You know, being a parent can be tough, and lonely, in certain ways... maybe you could help me with that....” Sherah suggests with a wink.
“Oh, I believe I can!” Ulen picks Sherah up in his arms, and he carries her to their bedroom, shutting the door behind him.
The night goes by, and the woods are quite loud for that particular evening.
The next morning, Sherah steps out of her fiancee's cabin, now feeling a lot more relaxed, and with a new sense of purpose. “Raphael, June... I will make up for what I have done, I promise.” She looks towards the sky above “God.. I will redeem myself. I promise to fight the Demu to my dying breath, or until this war ends, I solemnly vow.” She looks back towards the village “And I will make this village proud once more.”
A portal begins to open in front of her, the disruption in space clear. “Looks like the ride back home is here.”
The portal opens, June and Raphael on the other side. June yells to Sherah “Sherah! We've been looking all over for you! Raphael wants to talk to you about a mission he wants you to be apart of!”
Sherah looks back towards the cabin for a moment, saying “Wait for me, Ulen. I'll be home soon enough!” She then turns back towards the portal “Of course, June, I'm ready to go!” To which she runs forward towards the portal, now prepared to redeem herself, no matter what.