"Please, have you seen this girl anywhere?"

A woman was saying this as she was handing out what looked like some sort of photos to everyone who walked past her as she repeated that same line over and over again, only to be met with a casual shake of the head everytime.

The woman had long blonde hair and she was wearing tight jeans with a long white blouse. Her eyes had deep dark rings resting under them, threatening to take over her slightly distraught face.

After handing out the photos for about an hour, she walked up to a nearby trashcan and opened it.

Inside the trashcan, lay most of the photos she had been giving out. Some were crumbled up or torn, but some were in pristine condition, as if they had just been thrown in there.

The woman sighed and picked up all the photos that she could salvage, giving one of the cumbled ones a brief look before she closed the trash can.

On the crumbled photo, was an image of a young smiling girl with brilliant green emeralds for eyes and slightly messy brown hair. The girl was standing in a small forest, wearing a white sunflower dress, as she did a peace sign with her hands towards the camera.

"Alisa...i can't stand to lose you again...please..come back.."

The woman said quietly with a deeply pained voice, as it slowly started to rain, dark clouds covering the sky in an ominous way.

The woman looked up at the sky, rain drops sliding down her face, some of them making their way to her mouth, except that some of them.. tasted like the sea.

The woman slowly made her way back towards her spot, and continued to give out the photographs to whoever would accept them.

Several hours later, when it had long since passed the time of day when it was safe for a woman to be outside alone in this part of town.

The woman was still there, giving out photographs.

Even when the photos people recieved were crumbled up and thrown away immediately without even glancing at them, or when people told her that what she was doing was meaningless and it was better to give up, the woman kept going, never faltering, never stutering, always standing in that same spot, no matter how hard it rained, she never moved, other than to get more photographs.

Always saying that same phrase over and over again, only to be met with the same response.

"Please, have you seen this girl anywhere?"

"No, sorry i havent"

"Please, have you seen this girl anywhere?"

"No, Get lost."

"Please, have you seen this girl anywhere?"

"NO, stop bothering people, some people have no shame at all!"

"Please, have you seen this girl anywhere?"

"No, she probably ran away when she got a good look at you!"

"Please..."

She tried to speak, but she seemed to have no more strength to spare for even a single word.

And just like that, once she lost her voice, she lost the last thing that had been keeping in motion.

As if she was a doll with her strings cut, she slumped down to her knees, her clothes getting covered in mud and dirt.

Just as she was about give up, she saw a familiar face walking through the crowd that was staring at her.

--

"Jeez... Forging documents should not take several days..back when i had my old body, people would just send me fake passports for free so i could advertise their services to other people..good times..what happened to those kind of services.."

Niko muttered to herself as she walked down the street towards a nearby mall.

"Which was kind of wierd..i guess forgeries are still a business after all..well whatever, lets see..somewhere good to eat..."

She looked around for any noticeable signs that indicated a restaurant.

"He could have just let me order delivery to his office...that stingy bastard...i dont make THAT much of a mess when i eat.."

She continued talking and muttering to herself.

"Hm..? what's with this crowd, is there something interesting over there?"

Niko looked over at the small crowd surrounding someone as she tried to get a better look.

In the middle of the crowd, a young woman was kneeling in a puddle of mud holding some photographs that Niko couldn't quite get a good look at.

'Hm..she looks familiar somehow..do i know her..?'

The womans eyes suddenly went wide once she saw Niko, causing Niko to feel slightly uncomfortable.

"...Hi?"

The woman shakily stood up, her legs wobbling slightly, as drops of mud slithered down her clothes.

The woman walked up to Niko, who was now slowly backing away from the strange woman.

The woman suddenly leapt forward and grabbed Niko into a deep strong embrace that Niko couldn't escape from, no matter how much she struggled.

"Alisa..Alisa..i'm sorry..you dont have to go back to the hospital..please come back...i'm sorry.."

Now that the woman was so close to Niko, she could finally get a better look at the photos the woman was holding.

The photos in the womans hands were of Niko, albeit a slightly younger version, Niko's current body that is.

Niko slowly stopped her struggling as she noticed that the woman was now sobbing into her shoulder.

That was when she remembered the woman at the hospital. The womans face looked atleast 10 years older and her clothes were filthy, but it was undeniably the same person.

"Look..miss..i wont try to run away, how about we get you cleaned up, sit down and talk through some things?"

Niko patted the womans back as she slowly ceased her sobbing, looking up at Niko with slightly red, tear filled eyes.

"R-really?"

The woman asked, her voice slightly hoarse through her sobbing.

"Yea.."

Niko gave her a kind smile as she led her towards a bathroom to clean up her clothes.

The woman silently followed Niko, always keeping an unusually close distance to her, as if afraid she might run away.

Once they were at a public restroom, Niko wet some paper towels and started to wipe down the mud from the womans clothes.

"Miss, could you lean down a little bit"

Niko asked the woman, as the woman was a fair bit taller than her.

"...Hannah...it's Hannah..."

The woman muttered sadly.

"Alright Hannah...i think thats most of it!"

Niko said as she threw away the last paper towel.

"You really have forgotten about me..haven't you.."

Hannah said in a low voice, tears peeking at the edge of her eyes.

"..Look..Hannah, i haven't forgotten about you.. It's just that i have no memory of you to begin with..."

Niko tried to explain in a way that the woman would understand.

"What do you mean..Alisa..how could you forget your own sister..."

Hannah sobbed.

"No..no..look..i'm not really Alisa, that's why...you know everything i said to you at the hospital, that was true.."

Niko tried to explain again, a troubled look on her face.

"Please stop lying!"

Hannah yelled, causing Niko to flinch.

"If you forgot about me, then fine, but please don't lie to me, please...it hurts..you know.."

Hannah said with a voice filled with such deep pain that it made Niko's heart ache.

"No..i'm not lying..i can prove it to you...if you come with me, i can show you?"

Niko asked and started to lead Hannah out upon recieving a very small nod from her.

--

"Gary, i'm back!"

Niko yelled at the top of her lungs as she burst through the office door.

"Well that was fast, i thought you would take your time as usual, oh, yet another friend?"

Gary greeted Niko from behind his computer screen.

"Alisa..why have you brought me here?"

Hannah asked as she reluctantly looked around, and frowned upon noticing the large wall painting of Gary.

"Welcome, welcome, Gary at your service, i hope that my first impression is good enough for you to trust me with all your legal troubles!"

Gary stood up as he greeted Hannah.

"Alisa..how do you know this kind of third rate con-man...i thought i taught you not to talk to suspicious people.."

Hannah lectured Niko, not even bothering to greet Gary.

"Hah! i guess people really do see you for who you truly are!"

Niko laughed at Gary, who was wearing a bitter smile.

"Hannah, this is my laywer, Gary, and this is my current body's sister, Hannah"

Niko introduced them.

"Since when did you get a lawyer, Alisa, you are way too young to hire a lawyer, did he trick you!?"

Hannah looked over at Gary with a furious gaze.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

"Hey hey, i didn't trick anybody, Niko was the one who found me!"

Gary lifted his hands infront of his chest in defence.

"Niko..who is this Niko, i am talking about Alisa here!"

Hannah exclaimed angrily.

"That's me, I am Niko"

Niko pointed at herself.

"The best thief that ever lived, and the best damn sake drinker there ever was!"

Niko continued, with a puffed up chest.

"Alisa, Stealing is wrong, and i hope that you were joking about drinking alcohol!"

Hannah exclaimed in a surprised but stern manner.

"Haa...Shoki!"

Niko sighed and called out to Shoki, who appeared seemingly out of nowhere.

"Yes?"

"Have you figured how to use the sphere yet?"

Niko asked.

"Not really, the most i can make it do is float for a while, but i think thats mostly due to the residual power left over from-"

"Yea yea spare me the details, just make it float!"

Niko rudely interruped Shoki with a wave of her arm.

"Alisa, be more nice to your elders!"

Hannah said as she pulled on Niko's ear.

"AW aw aw aw, ok, ok, i'm sorry, stop!"

Niko begged for mercy as she tried to escape the older womans grasp.

"Look, see that, its floating!"

Niko pointed over at the sphere which was now floating freely after Shoki had released it.

"Alisa, i dont really care for magnetism tricks or whatever it is..."

Hannah sighed and shook her head.

"No, just touch it and you'l see!"

Niko pushed her forward towards the golden floating sphere.

Hannah reluctantly approached the sphere and picked it up, surprised over the weight of it, and the fact that it didn't seem to be held up by any magnetic force, which she would have definately felt.

Instead she felt absolutely no resistance other than its weight when she picked it up, as if she had just picked it up from a shelf.

"How..strange..."

Hannah muttered as she released the sphere and gave it a light push, causing it to lightly float away from her as if it was not affected by gravity.

"You see, that was the thing that transfered me into your sisters body, tell her Gary, Shoki"

She looked over at the pair.

"AH, yes, the artifact here is supposed to be some kind of revival object, which transfered Niko's mind into your sisters body. I also didn't believe it at first, but her personality and the things she knew, were things only Niko would know and do, i am convinced that the person before us is Niko, if not in body then atleast in soul."

Gary said dramatically.

"Whilst i do not know if the person in question is your sister or Niko, since i have not known Niko before, i can however confirm that this is indeed a powerful artifact that can be used for reviving people, which i assume is done by transfering their soul into a new vessel"

Shoki explained, with his usual monotone voice.

"I..still dont quite believe all of this.."

Hannah muttered in a low voice.

"Well how about this, ask me anything that your sister would never know, and see if i can answer it"

Niko propositioned.

"I dont really have any good questions that i can think of..."

Hannah sighed.

"Well then how about i just tell you a bunch of things that your sister would never know, lets see.."

Niko began and explained the process of how to construct a small bomb efficient enough to direct its force into one direction and blow open an opening, in great detail, starting from how to acquire all the materials without having to buy them and leaving evidence and ending with how to safely set it off from a safe distance.

She also explained several methods of how to incapacitate people with a light blow to various parts of the body, one of which was the groin area.

She continued to explain the various ways to acquiring peoples valuables when she was stopped by Hannah.

"Alright..alright..i believe you..my Alisa would never even attempt to learn such vile things... and it is true that your personality is very different from my Alisa's...Who are you..really..?"

Hannah asked, her face slightly pale from seeing her sister explain such things in detail.

"I am Niko, a proffesional thief, and master of shadows, pleased to meet you"

Niko said with a smug smile as she did an elegant bow.

"I am Shoki, i am currently assisting Niko in her quest to acquire her former body back"

He said as he did a light bow, copying Niko.

"And i am the great Gary, best FIRST rate lawyer that you will ever lay your eyes and hands on!"

Gary exclaimed while doing a very dramatic but silly looking bow, and pretending to take off a non-existant hat.

"Right..i am Hannah, Alisa's sister..tell me, if you are not Alisa..then where is my Alisa..?"

She asked, her eyes full of suspicion.

"Well, i have a theory as to why Niko ended up in your sisters body, we came to this conclusion after me and Shoki discussed this for a bit."

Gary began, and Shoki continued where he left off.

"The only reason that the sphere activated so fluidly without anyone using it, is probably due to an empty space that it could easily place Niko's soul in, without an empty space it would have probably been very difficult even for an expert to use it to transfer a soul into another body"

Shoki stopped, and let Gary continue.

"Yea..and the only way to explain such an empty space is..."

"Is if the person is dead..correct..?"

Hannah finished their sentence for them.

"Ah..you catch on quick..correct, that is only a theory however, it is quite possible that you sister is still alive-"

"No...it's fine, the fact is..i already knew..that my sister was dead..she had already been dead for a few years now..her mind atleast.."

Hannah said, her voice lowering, and her speech stuttering slightly.

"Thats why.. i was so happy when she woke up.. i thought..maybe..she was back..but i knew..that even if she did come back..it wouldn't be my sister anymore...but still.. i hoped.."

Hannah began to tear up, but she quickly wiped her tears off on her sleeve, and breathed out.

"Fine then, now that i know that you are not my sister, i want you to give me her body back!"

She resolutely announced.

"Ah..i would love to, but there really isn't anyway to do that..since we dont know how to use the sphere yet"

Niko explained with an awkward laugh.

"Yet...So you mean you are looking for a way?"

She asked.

"Yea, we are looking for a way to maybe transfer souls or to revive people, the reviving people part is mostly for Shoki, but if it is possible i might be able to revive my old body or something like that"

Niko scratched her head and shrugged.

"Reviving...?"

"Yea.. well originaly we thought that the sphere revived people, but now we found out that it can't really revive people if you don't have their soul, probably, so people who have been dead for a while dont really work, since their soul is gone to whatever place souls go to, but if we find a true revival method maybe we can reconstruct my old body and get the soul of the person Shoki is trying to revive as a bonus, makes sense?"

Niko explained.

"So you are looking for a way to revive people...does that mean...Alisa..the real Alisa..could be revived too?"

She reluctantly asked.

"Well i mean, from what Shoki tells me, i guess?"

Niko shrugged again.

"In that case, i'm joining you in your search."

Hannah decided.

"Eh, look i know you want to revive your sister and all that, but if we ever find a revival method, i'l just call you, ok?"

Niko smiled and waved her hand.

"No it's not just that, i also need to keep an eye on my sisters body so she has a healthy body to come back to, which means i'l come along too"

"Look i know you care about your sister, but you should really leave this to proffesionals-"

Niko was interuppted by Hannah pulling on her ear.

"Awa awa aw aw aw, what are you doing!"

Niko yelled in pain.

"I'm teaching a little girl to respect her elders, i'm coming and thats that!"

She said as she tugged on Niko's ear.

"OK ok ok, i'm sorryyyyyyyy!"

Niko cried as she relented.