WAKING UP (PART ONE)

Selene lived a life of crime and bloodshed, and she liked it that way.

There was never one moment where she wasn't satisfied by the life she was living. Even as she lay dying, with a bullet in her chest, she didn't regret a moment. She died doing what she loved, anyway, fighting. And she died alongside her best friend and partner, Sophia. Sophia laid across from her, with a matching bullet in her chest, and when she looked at Selene, Selene knew that she didn't regret a single decision either.

So, as you could imagine, when Selene woke up again, she was very displeased.

She died an honourable death, she thought, so to still be alive was something she very much did not like.

It shouldn't have even been possible. She was shot through the heart, there was no way to recover from it, and she was sure her murderers would have made sure she was dead twenty times over.

She woke up in such a strange place, too. It looked entirely to fancy, and medieval. The walls looked like old stone, and the bed she was in was a full canopy, with curtains and everything.

She much preferred her bedroom, with its sleek, modern design, and her very comfortable but reasonable queen sized bed. The king sized bed she woke up on was simply too extravagant, too luxurious for her tastes.

Ignoring that for the moment, she swung her legs over the side of the bed and got up, taking in more details of the room, like the desk and chair in one corner, and the open door that lead to a bathroom. Then she reached the full length mirror propped up against one of the walls, and froze.

The reflection that stared back at her from the mirror was not one that she recognised. The girl looking at her in surprise from the mirror was tall and thin, with long, smooth blonde hair that went down to her face. She even had a cute button nose and lush, full lips. She was the epitome of beauty, except for her startling blood red eyes. Her eyes were an ominous red, a shade that promised danger, so naturally it was her favourite feature.

While she could make peace with the eyes, and the hair, and even the nose and lips, what she absolutely could not stand was how thin her arms were. There were no muscles there whatever! What happened to the muscles she worked so hard on? She spent her entire life gaining those muscles and now they were gone!

Selene felt like crying, and maybe throwing things, and definitely punching somebody.

Was this someone's idea of an awful prank? Forcing her into a new life, changing her looks, and getting rid of her muscles? Selene was going to make sure someone paid for it.

She angrily marched to her wardrobe, frowning at the dresses presented to her before simply picking the most plain looking one and throwing it on quickly. She didn't bother with brushing her hair or making sure she looked presentable, just got dressed and stormed out of the room. Someone better have some answers for her!

Her anger and frustration only mounted when she started to get lost. Why the hell was the house this big? And where was she anyway? In some kind of old mansion? The longer Selene was here the more she began to irrationally hate her surroundings.

Stupid old wallpaper!

Stupid old carpet!

Stupid old windows!

She didn't stop cursing out the house in her mind until she finally came across another room, where there was another girl who looked around her age (or the age of her new body, anyway) sitting calmly on her bed, looking at nothing.

Finally, someone to vent her anger at.

Selene didn't hesitate to burst into the room. "Hey, you!"

The girl didn't react much to her voice other than to turn her head in her direction. She had a calm and kind of scary look on her face as she regarded Selene. "Me?"

"Yes, you! Who else would I be talking to? You tell me what's going on right now! If you don't you're going to wish you were never born! I'll rip that pretty head right off your skinny ne-"

Before Selene could say 'neck', the girl suddenly started laughing. She was laughing so hard that there were tears coming out of her eyes, and she was holding onto her stomach, rolling around her bed and seeming quite insane. Suddenly Selene wasn't quite so angry anymore.

"Oh, Selene, I should've known you would be here too."

Selene could only look at the girl, confused. Did she know her?

The girl started to smirk, and then Selene knew exactly who it was. The expression looked the exact same, even on her new face.

"Sophia!"

Selene jumped onto the bed, throwing herself onto Sophia, accidentally putting too much force into her hug and making them both roll off the bed.

Sophia groaned, rubbing at her shoulder. "You're the same as ever."

Selene grinned sheepishly. "But how did you know it was me? How are we still alive? Where are we? Why do we look different? What-"

"I knew it was you because of your signature threat. Threatening to rip someone's head off was always your thing, Selene. As for the rest of your questions... I don't have the answer to any of them. The best I could figure is that we've been reincarnated, somehow, although maybe transmigrated would be more accurate, as we didn't go through a second birth."

"... Huh?"

Sophia rolled her eyes at Selene's obvious confusion. "We died, and have been brought here, for some reason. I don't know how or why this happened, where we are, or who we are."

"I want to seriously hurt somebody right now."

"I know, but you need to reign it in for now. We need more information. Don't go killing random people until I know for sure what's happening, okay?"

Selene frowned, displeased, but mumbled an "Okay..." under Sophia's cold stare.