Taylor, Abigail, and Linne had almost finished cleaning Hailey’s room when Mk2 rose from the bed. “I think I need...” she muttered to herself.

Taylor turned around, surprised the normally silent girl had spoken. “Are you sure getting out of your bed won’t eject Kait?”

“I believe she would have said so.” Mk2 gently laid her cushions aside to get off her bed, then walked to her dresser.

“So what do you need again?”

“I think that is none of your business.” Mk2 kneeled, then opened the bottom drawer of her dresser. She gently moved aside clothes searching for something, then pulled a black notebook out before reshuffling the clothes and closing the drawer.

“I totally thought you had something else in there...”

“No,” Mk2 responded instantly. She sat back on her bed, unclipped a mechanical pencil attached to the notebook’s binding, then began writing fervently.

Linne finished tieing up a trash bag. “I guess you just got bored.”

“Sure.”

Linne shrugged and held the bag at her side, “Why don’t we leave her to her thing? I’d prefer to leave soon.”

“Sounds good to me.” Abigail agreed. “I think we’ve done everything we can at this point.”

The group left the room while mk2 wrote in the notebook. After finishing her writing, she closed the notebook and placed it back in the bottom drawer.

To Hailey. This probably is written by your double, mk2(ask Taylor about it). I’m probably writing this to tell you what’s been erased from your memory. I don’t know what will happen to us after this, but I feel like it’s my job to tell you. I may not have done this normally, but I think I’m diverging from what I was meant to be. I don’t know what caused it, but I’ve diverged from the consciousness wanted me to be. I don’t want to die.

Before she finished writing, she placed the notebook down and picked her phone from her dresser. After some searching online, she found the number she wanted to call and dialed it into the phone.

A young, male chipper voice came from her phone, “Yo, this is the Kikui residence. I’m the resident professional necromancer in Conifera. Is this an emergency?”

“Can you help me?” mk2 asked.

“With what?”

“I’m sort of Hailey Joul. I’d like if you’d save my life.”

Clera Joul was not expecting to see the local necromancer at her door, though given the nature of her house’s current predicament, she wasn’t caught off guard.

“Yo.” In front of her door was a smiling youth the same age as Taylor, almost ready to graduate high school. He wore sunglasses, black clothes, and an assortment of similarly black hats when on business. He had a black duffel bag at his side. Generally, he wore a lot of black.

Clera, however, was not particularly fond of him. “And to what do I owe your visit to?” she said sarcastically.

“Is this any way to treat a freezing young man?” His eyes looked to the ground, where Clera had subconsciously placed herself between him and the house’s entrance. “I’m only trying to help.”

She had assumed that was the case, but given he’d egged her house two years back and was also a probable, though indirect, cause for Hailey’s personal confinement, she wasn’t happy to see him. She rolled her eyes and moved aside.

“Thank you.” he tipped his hat then walked in. Polite and casual as usual.

Still, Clera couldn’t let her guard down! This was a magic-user she was up against, one wrong move, and her house could be egged again by...spirits or something! “But really, why are you here?” she said bluntly.

“Someone just wanted me to save their skin...wait, they won’t have skin...err, their soul...hmm, welp, anyway, they wanted my help.

“Does this have anything to do with Hailey?”

“It does, but I’d say it has more to do with some...mutual generosity between two lost souls.”

“One more vague comment, and you’re out.”

“Jeez! Jeez! Ok, I gotcha! I’m here to save a reimagined soul from being reincarnated against her will.”

“Ok, get out.”

“I was as concise as I could be!”

“...Taylor!”

A voice yelled from upstairs, “Yes, mom?”

“Did you call ‘the necromancer’?”

“Necromancer?”

“...No, mark 2 called me up.” He put a hand up to his ear and motioned like it was a phone.

“This won’t get my house egged by spirits, will it?”

“If you keep acting grouchy like that, maybe it will.” he snarked.

“Just...do your thing.”

“Sure, sure.” the necromancer slipped off his shoes and walked upstairs.

“Hi,” Mk2 said.

“Heeeelo,” the necromancer said as he walked into Hailey’s room, “New friend!” he said before leaning on the wall to laugh for a few seconds.

“Why are you laughing?” Mk2 said obliviously.

“Because I heard like, the cutest thing anyone had ever said to me an hour ago.”

“What was that?”

The boy observed the room carefully. Then he stepped over Kait, who was laid on the ground, and sat next to Hailey on the bed. “You aren’t the most self-conscious reimagined soul, are you?”

“Sure. I think I lack in many of the traits that make me...full.”

“And yet...” the man said with a sly smile, “You thought you’d make a good friend.”

“...Maybe.”

Mk2 couldn’t see the man’s eyes beneath his sunglasses. “But do you not see how offering your friendship as payment for being saved despite the natural order is...cute as a pink forest!?”

“I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I...” Hailey said, repeating the word ‘I’ over and over again.

“Wow...I didn’t realize my new friend could break so easily.”

“I think I’m not full.”

“Excuse me?”

“I’m hungry.”

“Is that why you bugged out?”

“No, I’m just bred to be nervous around-d-d-d-d-d-d-d”

“You broke again!”

“Yes, I think I did.”

The man coughed, then held out his hand. “Well, anyway, my name is Jaine Kikui. Nice to meet you.”

“I thought I already knew.”

“Yeah, but we haven’t met before,” Jaine said.

“That...you know, I think that’s fair enough.” Mk2 shook his hand.

“You’re a mess to talk to, you know that?”

“Hailey made sure I knew that.”

“Hey, speakin’ of which, what should I call you?”

“I’ve been called Hailey mark 2 / mk2.”

“Lame. Mind if I give you a new one?”

“Sure.”

“How about...well, I’d give you a silly name, but since we are going to be soulbound BFF’s how about I give you, like, a real one?”

“It shouldn’t be a normal name, though, ok?”

“not silly, but not normal...How about I throw...Yhavla at ya’?

“Whatchaacha?”

“Yhavla.”

“Spell it out.”

“Y-H-A-V-L-A”

“Sounds like a type of plant.” that would not be strange, as plant and nature-based names were pretty common in their country. For example, Hailey was actually a reference to hail. Parents often gave it to children born in the winter months.

“Want to look up what it means?”

“Sure.”

“...” Jaine spent a minute searching the name. “Nothin’.”

“I give that name a no then.”

After a moment of searching, he spoke again, “What about Orcha?”

“Like, an orchid?”

“Yeah. Like that.”

Mk2 stared at the wall for a minute.

“Did you br-”

“Shutup, please.”

“Ok...” Jaine whined out.

“...Sorry.”

“Uhh, for what.”

“For saying shutup. I agree with Hailey that saying shutup is a nasty habit of ours.”

“Oh, well, thanks for your consideration.”

“I don’t believe it was ever a problem.”

“So you didn’t feel sorry?”

“I don’t believe you have fully became used to my speaking pattern. Get good.”

“So you meant to say ‘Not a problem?’”

Mk2 nodded., “I think.”

“Got it. So, what about the name?”

Mk2 shrugged, “Let’s think of one more, please.”

“What about...” Jaine navigated through his phone for another minute, “Oh, this one sounds divine! Alchemilla Mollis...apparently alchemists used to use it to gather dew for experiments.” He turned his phone to show mk2 the plant’s picture, with large clover-like leaves covered in dew droplets.

“Sure.”

“That’s it?”

“Sounds good.”

“I mean, I didn’t even suggest a name-”

“I’ll be Alchemia Mollis.”

“Just...outright? Even for your last name?”

“Yes.”

“Why, might I question you, did you resonate with it so much?”

“Because I think Alchemia...is a badass name.”

Jaine shook his head with his ever-present smile. “...I don’t disagree with your tastes. Not one bit, girl.”

Hailey shook her head and stood up, dazed. “O-oh, Kait, you’re back. Erm...I guess you came back to help me?”

Kait was gazing at the bubbles flying overhead and turned to face Hailey when she spoke. “Hey...” Kait said awkwardly. “I got my translation spell working again.”

Hailey scratched her head. “Translation spell?”

“How do you think I talk Tarranian if I was born centuries ago? I cast a spell to translate what you and I say.”

“Figures.” Hailey wasn’t sure why, but she felt vulnerable. She crossed her arms to comfort herself.

“Are you alright? Any headaches? A feeling of loss? An inability to think straight?” Kait walked to Hailey, observing her closely with concern

“Uhh, no. Why did you ask?” Hailey summoned a walking stick with her imagination and leaned on it lazily.

“This place can affect your mind. Those are just...symptoms,” Kait said.

“Well, I’m fine. Now that you’re speaking my language-” Hailey chuckled at the literal metaphor. “...What even is this place?”

“You are inside a portion of your mind that’s been scribed into the consciousness temporarily, essentially putting you inside of a reimagined copy of your own mind.”

“Kait, if you keep speaking like that, I’m going to power word kill you.”

“I don’t know what that means, but if you kill me here, I will die.”

“Oh. Well, good thing saying power word-nevermind I’m not going to risk that.”

“Thank you for deciding not to play Russian roulette with my life.” Kait actually had a way to keep Hailey in check if necessary, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t be hit by surprise.

“But uhh...does that mean you’re risking your life being here?”

“Yep. No day like today, right?”

“Does that mean YOLO?”

“I don’t know. So, any more questions?”

“I had a spirit with me who let me ask stuff, but they were pretty rude.” though they were similar to me in that way.

“Did you hear their name by chance?”

“Nnn...ooo? I don’t think they mentioned it.”

“Well, I hope they don’t want me dead. Anyway, I’m just here to help guide you through your dream realm.”

“Is that what this is called?”

“There could be a better term, but that’s what I called it.”

“‘called’?”

“Yeah, while I was in stasis for four hundred years, I was put into a similar situation, left to explore the nooks and crannies of the consciousness. Not that I got far.”

“...You just implied a lot of stuff about yourself at the same time.”

“Oh, don’t worry about me, time works weirdly in the Consciousness, so it isn’t exactly like I’m four hundred years old. Plus, I forgot most of it once I exited.”

“Sure. So, how’s it going at home? People freaking out because I’m gone?”

“I guess you don’t have any idea what’s going on, do you?”

“No, duh, I thought I was a genius on the supernatural.”

“The sarcasm isn’t appreciated.”

“You don’t say.”

Kait silently gazed at Hailey amusedly.

“Don’t you dare.”

“No need for me to grill you if you do it all yourself.”

“If you were immortal, I’d turn you small then literally chew you out.” Though that’d be a bit gross, Hailey admitted.

“Back to the subject, you haven’t been transported here. Instead, your body went to sleep, and your soul was sent away. Right now, something claiming to be part of you is controlling your body for some reason.”

“Sorry, you lost me on the btw you’re possessed part.”

“I don’t know what btw means, but she seemed harmless enough.” Kait shrugged, “She was super noncommital and never spoke certainly.”

“Urg, her.”

“Know her?”

“Yeah, sure.”

“...”

“...What, expected me to explain?”

“I suppose so. Regardless, no doubt your body is in good hands.”

“No, they are in my hands.”

“Yep. So, show me around this place. I need an idea of what I’m dealing with.”

Hailey spread out her arms, gesturing towards the bubbles floating about the crater. She began to blandly explain the situation, “Well, this place has a bunch of random stuff floating around that I’d almost forgotten about.”

Kait nodded, “Understood.”

She pointed forward, “If we walk that way, we go to a place where every step I view a different memory, and the other way is...an ominous nothingness.”

“Understood.”

Hailey silently began walking forward, not paying Kait much attention.

They walked for some time before Kait spoke. By the time she did, the ground had turned from a blinding white to a dark grey. “So...made much progress?”

“Sure.”

“You know, you aren’t the most sociable.”

“Is that a problem?”

“Sorry, misspoke.”

“Wait, you think I’m actually soci-”

“You’re quite unsociable.”

“I really wish you were immortal right now.”

“If you started torturing me, I’d just duck out. Then you’d have zero help.”

“I still have that one spirit to help me!”

“Oh, I’m sure it’s really interested in helping you. Those guys get paid by the hour, you know, they’d rather see you fail for a month than help you.”

“Are you trying to get on my nerves?!”

“Yes, actually. I was channeling my inner-Hailey.”

“...”

“That’s about how you speak most of the time.”

“...”

“...”

“G...o...t...it...”

Kait smugly poked her ear closer to Hailey. “What did you say? I didn’t hear you. Hehehe!”

Hailey let out a deep breath. “I got it.”

“A-” Kait emoted in surprise.

“What? What’s got you so surprised?!” Hailey said indignantly.

“I didn’t expect you to say that wholeheartedly.”

Hailey muttered, “Has everyone lost faith in me...” inaudibly.

“What was that?” Kait asked dumbly.

“Nothing.”

“Understood.

Hailey paused, and Kait followed. “We are here...but I need to do it all over again...” Hailey sighed and gestured to the cracked ground ahead of her. “My mind really wants to aggravate me sometimes...”