Chapter 3: li-love-ly

“HEY, LILY!!!” God shouted.

A young girl, no older than 19, spun backward in surprise, swinging with her right hand.

“What the heck?!?” Lily yelled, covering an ear with her left hand.

Her right hand gripped a sword that was now lodged in a wooden pole, which she promptly removed.

“I recognize that voice. You freaked me out for a second. I almost had a heart attack.” Lily said, putting her hand over her heart in relief.

“You’re the hero, you can’t get heart attacks anymore,” God said.

“...It’s an expression. I didn’t mean it literally. But that’s not important right now. It’s been years since you’ve spoken even a single word to me. What do you want this time?” Lily asked.

“Nothin much. What are you up to?” God asked.

“I’m training. Didn’t you want me to get stronger?” Lily asked, turning her head upwards.

“Actually, looking at the sky right now, it’s probably already past 7 pm. I’m done for today.” Lily said, relaxing.

She leaned on a wall next to a straw dummy, throwing the sword she was holding to the ground, and picked up a small canteen of water.

It was lukewarm.

“Gross. Let’s see, ice magic, ice magic...ah. Here we go.” Lily said, holding up the pouch.

She pulled up a screen that seemed to float in midair. It had numbers, symbols, shapes, and colors. She navigated to a section that had a very long list of words in an ancient language.

She tapped one.

Frost coated her hand and slowly began to creep down the now glowing canteen.

“That's better. Anyway, isn’t training what you wanted me to do? To grow stronger as a hero?” Lily asked.

“I don’t care about that right now. I’m bored with it.” God said.

“Okay, then? What are you here for? Other than interrupting my training, that is.” Lily asked, picking up a towel and wiping the perspiration off of her face. She screwed the cap off of the canteen and put it to her lips.

“Do you remember someone named Dale, who you grew up with, by any chance?” God asked.

Lily started to choke, sputtering the ice cold water she had just taken a sip of.

“Whk-ack!” Lily coughed.

Stolen story; please report.

“Heeeeh? Why so surprised, Lily? Is something wrooong? I only asked you a simple question” God asked mockingly.

“*Ahem* Why do you ask? And why does god care about an easily forgettable background character? If you came here just to mess with me, I’m going back to my training.” Lily said, reaching for her sword.

“You seem to still remember him. Is he really that forgettable?” God asked.

Her hand stopped.

Lily blushed.

“I’m the hero, it’s my job to remember stuff like people’s names,” Lily argued.

“What’s the name of the man you met two nights ago at the party, the one with long pink hair? The guy who was trying to hit on you. His name is clearly written, in bold, on all of the love letters he keeps sending you, isn’t it?” God asked.

“.....That doesn’t count!” Lily insisted.

“Fine. Name one other person you grew up with. Not Dale.” God asked.

Lily crossed her arms in thought for a few seconds but failed to come up with an answer.

“Arggghhhh!!!” Lily shouted in frustration, kicking the training dummy.

The dummy went flying and hit a brick wall, smashing a large hole in it.

Lily flinched, wondering how much that would cost to repair. She shook her head to get the question out of her mind.

“....Fine, I give up. What do you want from me?” Lily said, annoyed.

“First, I have a question. How old were you when you reincarnated, again?” God asked.

“Ugh. Why do you always ask such pointless questions? 22. You already knew that, though.” Lily said.

“I forgot.” God replied.

“Yeah, right. And paradoxes are solvable.” Lily laughed.

“That isn’t important. You, a 22 year old, fell in love with a child. A random mob character, at that. Wouldn’t you say that’s pretty important?” God said accusingly.

Lily scowled.

“...... I can live my life however I want. It’s not for you to judge.” Lily replied angrily.

“But you can’t live however you want, can you? Isn’t that why you like Dale? That’s why you fell in love.” God said.

“You envied that. You just wanted to be with him to live a normal life. You thought that maybe, just maybe, if it were him, you might finally be happy. Right?” God asked.

“What’s that matter now?! This is my duty! Just like how I had to carry the burden of being perfect in my last life, I have to do so here, as well. There’s no difference!... Well, this is the only time I ever fell in love.” Lily said, trembling.

“Didn’t you say that you could live however you want?” God asked.

Lily sat on the ground, her body sliding down the wall she leaned on.

“Shut up! I can’t do this anymore. I try and I try, but all I get is god coming over to bully me.” Lily said, a tear rolling down her cheek.

“Lily,” God said.

“No! Just go away! Get out of my head!” Lily shouted.

“I’ll find some kind of reason to get back up. I always do! I don’t need your help, and I don’t want it. It’s just gonna take me a minute. I’m not some fragile doll you have to coddle.” Lily said, pounding the floor with her fist and gnashing her teeth.

“...What do you really want, lily?” God asked.

“Isn’t it obvious?! To no longer be in the spotlight! To no longer be the center of attention! I want to be able to dedicate myself to what I want to do, not what others want me to do. I want to be selfish, for just once in my life.” Lily shouted.

“Perfect. Lily, I have an offer for you. I’ll let you leave allllll of this behind, pass it to someone who wants to do it. I’ll let you live a normal life. If you want, you could even go find…..Dale. Whoops.” God said

Lily stopped trembling.

“What?” Lily asked, looking up.

“Ah whatever, this is good timing. I’ll let you think about it for a little while I go fix the situation with Dale.” God said

“What? Wait, what situation with Da-“ Lily asked, before being cut off by god’s disappearance