“Still...think I’m selfish?”

“Hang…hang on!” I run like a madman towards that voice.

It can’t be…but please…please, let it be true!

Beside a crumbling girl-sized hole punched into the wall, there are two figures. One is a quietly snoozing, unconscious Demi-Cat. Natalia is alive, though her breathing is unsteady. The other figure is a woman. No…not a woman. Just a girl pretending to be mature. I bend down besides her, and shudder as ice spreads through my veins. There’s so much blood. But I want to believe that it wasn’t just my imagination. That I really heard her voice-

Could she really…be alive?

Meera’s eyes open as my shadow falls upon her. Her eyepatch is missing, blown away somewhere during the battle. She grins up at me weakly. There’s no color left in her face. The black and white floor tiles are dyed crimson by a puddle of her spreading blood. My vision turns blurry with tears as I take in the damage. No matter what Meera did before…no matter how mad I was, this changes everything. She came back, even when she didn’t have to. If Meera hadn’t jumped in front of the Stranger’s blade, Natalia would be dead for sure. But, now…it is her life that the reaper desires instead.

Oh God…how is she even conscious?

Meera giggles.

“Hehe, I know you said never to show my face again…ugh!” She coughs violently, and blood oozes from her lips. It runs down her colorless cheeks like a river. “But I was hoping…for more of a reaction. Can you at least…pretend to care? I’m really dying here, Boss…”

“M-Meera?” My tears spill out seeing her struggle to speak. “You really came back. Even after everything I said. Just for my sake you…damnit, Meera! Why?” Waving my hands over her, I get angry. This shouldn’t have happened. Not with the Meera I know. I growl at her, “How could you…do this? What happened to the selfish b*tch I hired?”

“That’s more…I like it.” Meera’s good eye struggles to stay focused on mine. Her eyelids keep fluttering, and each time my heart shakes a bit. “Sorry, Boss. I thought you didn’t like that selfish b*tch. So I got rid of her for you…don’t think…you’ll see her again.”

She’s alive. Meera’s right here in front of me. But I’m losing her. No. I won’t lose her. I can’t. Not like Kisa…

An awful image flashes through my mind. A Demi-Cat in a jail cell. She’s beautiful, but the sight of her drives me to despair. I can still see her smiling face. That peaceful expression, glassy eyes blank and devoid of all the wonderful things that made her…Kisa. Even in my mind, those black metal bars keep her from me. She was so close yet so far. I couldn’t reach her before she…died. And if I don’t act now, Meera’s going to slip away from me just like she did.

“You want to leave me too?” I shake my head gently, and crouch over Meera. Putting my hands out, I concentrate. “No way…not happening!”

Sorry, Elina!

But whatever the cost, I’ll gladly pay!

My mouth opens and forbidden words come out-

[Memory Of My Eternal Heart]

Meera thinks I’m bluffing.

“Myrr...stop. I know you can’t heal people.”

She puts her hand on my mouth.

“I’m not afraid to die, Boss!” The assassin’s lips manage to make a smile. But her scared eyes give away the lie. “You don’t have to pretend for my sake.”

I’m not the one pretending.

This is a real spell.

Gently, I pull her fingers off my face and keep chanting.

“Myrr…really, it’s okay!” Meera pokes my nose. She tries to make her smile confident, but the corners of her mouth keep trembling. “Stop. I made a beautiful mistake. But I would do it again. You’d never forgive yourself if Natalia died. But someone like me…you can forget. I’m useless and selfish…your worst employee. Everything I touch…blows up like an Icebomb. I…I caused all of this. Natalia wouldn’t have even been here if it wasn’t for me. I deserve this-”

[That Shining Monument To What Was]

“-Will you stop chanting? Aren’t you the one who told me that people die? It happens.” She sighs as I ignore her and continue casting. “You know, I never told you. Janus and I…our engagement was arranged by the elders. When they died…our marriage was annulled.”

[Akashic Record Which Tells Of A Better Time]

“Master always said I had to marry…for the good of the Sect. But you…freed me from that. It was almost worth losing an eye.” Meera grins cheerfully. As if the memory of being blinded by my magic makes her happy. “Heh…I never dreamed I’d get to choose...”

[Come Forth Again]

“-Are you listening, Myrr?” She asks. Meera frowns as I keep spellcasting. “Whatever…you’re always like that. It’s probably why I like you.” She watches me work for a little bit. Her lonely eye wanders my face. “After the Trials, I could’ve chosen to be with anyone. But the funny thing is…I kinda still wanted to help the Sect. Those idiots…they’re all stuck in the past. Killing…killing…and more killing. That’s all they know how to do. But you…you wanted to take over Merekeep. And change our path. It was so…different.”

I keep chanting. But my eyes flicker to her.

“Honestly…” Meera notices my gaze. “I’m sure you’re the only one that can save us. No one else thinks like you. But you don’t even like the Sect.” She sighs, and her head falls back limply. “Maybe this sounds stupid, but…I…I wanted to be the reason you did it. If you really found a way to make us more than just assassins, I wanted it…to be because of me. So, yea. I’ll admit it. I tried to make you like me. But everything I did just made you hate me more. That’s okay though…at least I tried.” Her voice breaks for a moment.

“Meera.” I stop chanting. “I don’t-”

“No, don’t lie!” Meera closes her eyes and sniffles. “I get it. Nobody likes me. But, you’ll remember what I did, right? Promise you won’t…forget me? Or the Sect?”

…

She blinks. “Myrr, please, I just…really need to hear you say it…before I go…” The girl trembles, and it seems like she might go at any moment. “You won’t forget us, right?”

I answer without thinking.

“Of course I won’t forget you…hang on!” My eyes go wide as my heart pounds. Something doesn’t seem right. Beneath me, Meera’s trembling body abruptly freezes like a scared rabbit. I think out loud, “Don’t forget you…or the Sect? Why do you keep bringing the Sect into this? Unless…wait a minute…you know I don’t give a damn about the Sect! But if you conveniently died while saving Natalia, I’d definitely be traumatized-”

Meera keeps her eye closed. But her breathing quickens. She moans, “Nnn…promise me quick! I don’t think I can hold on-”

“I don’t believe this!” Looking at Meera in disbelief, I realize what she’s doing. “Are you trying to guilt trip me into leading the Rainstoppers?”

“Hehe....caught me.” The little minx’s eyes open and she lets out a satisfied giggle. “I mean…I wasn’t planning on dying obviously. But you don’t love me…and I’m a useless employee. So I had to find another way to convince you. And it just kind of worked out like this. So let’s call this…Plan B-”

Meera…

“-Still, even if you figured out my evil plan, what are you going to do about it?” Meera pulls a dirty smirk even as her hands reach out for mine. I hold onto them tightly. Her slender fingers are ice cold and shaking. I can feel her frenetic, slowing heartbeat through them. “I’m going to die. And you’ll never…be able to forget…that my last wish was to…save the Sect. I know you, Boss. Every time…you look at…Natalia…you’ll remember me!”

“You’d go that far, Meera?” I ask. Some of my tears fall on her face. “You’d give your life for those idiots?”

Her hands squeeze mine in a deathgrip. But her smirk softens as she whispers back, “You once asked…if I had to choose between you and the Sect…who would I choose?” Meera smiles happily. “Well…I choose both! I suppose…maybe if it came down to it...I would have chosen you. But lucky for me…I don’t have to make that choice!” The scheming assassin giggles once more, her chest heaving, “Work hard now, Myrr. Be a benevolent Raingod. I’m sorry I tricked you...well not really. I’m pretty happy…to be…the reason you save us. Ugh…why is it getting so…cold…”

Oh, Meera. I wait for her to finish talking. This might not work. So I don’t want there to be anything left unsaid. But the truth is, I won’t be letting my employee have the last word. Not this time. After all…my spell is just about ready. As Meera falls silent, and her eye closes in satisfaction, I give her my response-

“Very nice speech. Great plan, my number one employee!” I announce grandly, “But you’re forgetting something!”

Meera’s eye shoots back open.

“Huh?” She blinks rapidly, not understanding why I sound so cheerful. “What?”

“Don’t worry. You win.” A manic smile crosses my face and I shake my head ruefully, “I will help the Sect walk a new path. But, it won’t be because of your death.”

“Myrr…stop it. You have to let me go.” She hasn’t realized it yet. “I’m dying…you can’t change that.”

“Is that what you think?” I chuckle. “Oh, Meera, did you forget already? When you decided to join me, I already told you. Once you decide to become my woman…then you’re mine.”

“…What are you talking about?!” Now she’s starting to realize something’s up. Too late.

[... … …]

“Myrr!” Meera shrieks, but it’s too late. “What is that spell!?”

“Did you really think a little thing like death would save you?” I’ve already woven the mana. Now all that’s left is to say the final words. My foolish employee weakly reaches out and tries to seal my mouth. But I dodge her clumsy hand easily. “It’s pointless trying to stop me. Remember, I don’t have to chant out loud.” Grinning, I release my forbidden magic into the world and laugh as it cascades through time and space. “But with a spell like this, I’d prefer not to make any mistakes!”

Not this time, Meera.

I’m not watching you die too.

God…Yuel…Lissandrei,

I don’t care what anyone says!

You’re staying with me!

And so…

I let out the last words-

[TIME REVERSAL]

…

…

*Ssssssssuuuuuaaaa*

At first, Meera starts to bend. It’s like I’m watching her through a warped piece of glass. At times she stretches out…then sometimes she collapses in…

My employee opens her mouth in a silent scream.

The spell isn’t a comfortable one.

But I concentrate and focus on what her body once was.

Guide her cells to realign and heal that gaping hole.

The edges of her torn skin come back together…

It’s working!

*Crack*

Pillars of space flare, an invisible storm.

*KACHA KACHA KACHA*

*KACHA KACHA KACHA*

*KACHA KACHA KACHA*

Fractured space, cracks in time, reality itself bends.

Everything shatters.

What used to be right.

Becomes all wrong.

Just like that branch I once tried to heal.

Meera’s face turns white.

No! Please no no!

Little jagged lines, splits in her skin, appear.

The girl who barely cried out after almost dying…

Starts screaming in slow motion-

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHH—------------------------------”

I’m losing her!

My head throbs.

Mana recklessly explodes everywhere.

Noooooo!

I lose control-

Something breaks…all around us, I can feel it snapping.

Gravity goes crazy, and bits of me twist apart.

It’s like I’m melting cheese in God’s hand…

Stretching in some places, compressing in others-

I can’t move. My whole body is frozen.

Finally, my ultra-slow eyes open enough that I can see it-

We’re…inside a hole.

Reality is crumbling away and…

Meera and I are being sucked in along with it.

I’m coming apart...it’s all coming apart.

We’re being…

Undone-

[Stop touching...time...

I...can’t...hold...

Do...you...want…

To...destroy...everything?]

Rawrrr!

A feline howl of pain comes from my left. Something fuzzy smashes into my side. I’m sent flying out of the fractured space. Drifting in slow motion through the air, I look back in shock to see Natalia taking my place besides Meera. She…shoved me out? But I don’t make it all the way out. Part of me is still inside the fractured space. I’m half in…half out. My head exits the strange vortex, and I feel my thoughts slowly phasing back into reality. I can’t tell what’s real…and what’s not. But I can see my lower half still inside. My legs are becoming translucent. Little bits are disappearing and turning see-through. It burns like all hell. Every nerve on fire, time shattering to pieces over and over again, an infinity of frozen pain and torment. My heart shudders, as if someone is tearing it out. The pain of being torn apart and shredded, small pieces of me phasing in and out of reality…it’s indescribable. The only thing I can say is it feels…wrong. Like being ripped apart and tossed in a blender with jagged blades. But then…more of me crosses out of fractured space and time starts working again-

*Thud*

Natalia’s push sends me skidding out of the crack in reality.

I slam my head on the floor, and my connection to the spell is broken.

Though the flow of mana stops, the nightmare doesn‘t stop.

Rather, it accelerates.

Now, Meera is not the only one in trouble.

Somethings wrong with Natalia as well!

It starts with the paw she used to push me out. An ashy white color spreads across her orange fur. It keeps spreading and spreading, until she’s basically an ivory statue, frozen mid-yowl. Then just like Meera, black cracks begin to spiderweb over her body. She’s splitting apart before my eyes. In a moment, just like the branch I tried to heal…both of them will surely crumble.

“No...NO!!! STOP! NOT HER TOO!”

[Your heart is troubled...

Oh...I see...one of hers...and mine…

It all comes back to...him…

Your friends are being erased…

I told you not to touch time.]

“Please…Please! Help me save them! Can you hear me?! I need your help!”

[I can’t...save everyone…sorry…

But…perhaps…if you could choose one.]

“Y-You want me to choose?” My eyes drift to Meera, her pained face already starting to crumble into pieces. And then flick to Natalia, whose own destruction is also not far behind. The fractured space won’t hold. It’s just getting worse and worse. There’s no time to decide. But I can’t choose. “I…I can’t! Please save them both!”

[Ahh…I see…

Just like him…

You love so much…

But I have not the mana…

Time’s running out, Dreamer…

You must choose!]

“No! Don’t make me do this!” I scream, but my lips are frozen. All is locked in the distorted grip of fractured time. “Why…why did you bring me here? Just to suffer…?”

[No…never to suffer…

I see…you cannot choose…

In which case…

Perhaps…I can do this!]

The cracks reverse.

Natalia comes back together!

Ashen white fur becomes real again.

It’s like time is flowing in reverse.

Her yowls start to make noise.

I hear her again.

She cries out as the frozen time is shoved back into reality-

“MYRR!”

…

Behind her, I think the same thing is happening to Meera.

It’s hard to tell though.

“Yes…yes! Thank you! THANK YOU!”

…

[Now…you don’t have to choose…

But…I’m sorry…I can’t hold on…

Beware...my...sins…

They...will...devour...you…

Save him…forget me…

And if...you...ever...have...doubts...

Remember I chose you!

Goodbye-]

The voice winks out as the last of the fractured space closes.

Unexpected tears well up in my eyes.

I’m sad.

I don’t know why.

But it feels like I just lost something important.

No...not something...someone.

But who?