7 'Personal Time'

Ai followed behind Amari further into the forest. Ai was sweating nervously while gripping her tattooed wrist. She started walking slowly trying to put some distance between herself and Amari. Looking up, she noticed that Amari was no longer in front of her.

"Oh no you don't." Amari's cold voice rang out right next to Ai's ear.

"Eeep!" Ai jumped forwards a few feet.

Amari sighed, rubbing her forehead. "This is far enough. Aiya, we need to talk."

Ai gulped and nodded.

"Listen, sis, somethings been bothering me since I found you and brought you back. That little kick shouldn't have hurt you that badly." Amari frowned staring at Ai with sadness in her eyes.

"What happened to you sis? You're level one again and..." She takes a deep breath. "Your name changed to Ai. Are you really my little sister?"

Ai looked down in the ground, not entirely sure where to start.

"Well, it's like this..." Ai dug her nails into her tattooed wrist, causing a small amount of bleeding.

"I'm not, Aiya, at least, I don't think I am. I have some bits and pieces of memories, like growing up with you, being raised by papa, trying to break through the level 20 limitations with you, but nothing really specific beyond that."

Amari looked down to the ground, a single tear fell to the ground.

"My freshest memories are from another life, I was both a man and a woman, Paladin of Vengeance and Eldritch Warlock respectively. I remember mostly his side, his journey to becoming a powerful hero to protect the world, then the woman, who became his wife, betrayed him and stole his power, it didn't really work right and now here I am. I thought initially that I was a reincarnation of both souls but, now I'm not so sure about that, I have my own personality separate from them, not that I've actually had the time to develop and understand that... I..."

She tried to continue but didn't know what else to say.

"Amari, what class was I when I was Aiya?"

"Hn? Well, you were a mage, much to my disappointment, but you had proven yourself when you beat me, so I really didn't care that much anymore." She wiped a few tears from her face.

"Any specific type of mage? Please, it's important to me." Ai was trying to stay calm, but the nervousness was overwhelming, what was Amari thinking? She knew that this had to be hard on Amari basically hearing that her sister was gone.

"Aiya was one of those mages that could create stuff, she built all the huts in the village, we usually migrate and with your, er, Aiya's magic, you would damn near instantly build and destroy the whole village in an instant with your storage space thingy."

'storage space thingy?'

"Anyways, we would have been somewhere north of here by now, but you went missing about a month back. I decided we had to stay and look for you, but Mata insisted on moving on, now knowing about the Blood Plague, I understand why he wanted to move on." She bit her lip and clenched her fists hard, causing some blood to drip from her hands.

Ai's heart melted. "Amari, I'm sorry. I-"

"Stop. Just stop, please. Sorry, I just need some time to process this. My mind is made up, I still love you, you're still my sweet little sister, but I just need to think." She turned away, blood and tears dripped down to the dirt.

Ai just nodded with a sorrowful expression. 'I really am sorry, Amari.'

Suddenly a memory flashed into Ai's mind, and a small smile appeared on her face.

"Amari."

"What is ---" she turned to look back at Ai.

'[Prestidigitation]' Ai chanted in her mind.

Small orbs began to rise in the air and explode into a miniature fireworks display, the orbs exploded one after the other, yellow, white, blue, all sorts of colors were shown.

"I remembered, when we were kids, I would do this and you would get so excited." Ai chuckled, a single tear trailed down her cheek.

Amari started laughing. "Haha! You idiot, its the middle of the day, it's not the s-same..." The tears started flowing once again as Amari continued laughing.

One of the orbs flew up higher than the rest and exploded out spelling out 'Aiya and Amari' followed by another one that spelled out 'Strongest Sisters' followed by a last, 'In The World'

Amari dropped her head and stayed silent.

Ai didn't say anything and just stared at Amari with a warm smile.

"Tch..." Amari clicked her tongue, tensed up, and leaned to one side, her image blurred and in an instant, she was gone.

Her smile disappeared and so did any facade of strength, memories started rolling in of everything they had accomplished together, all the times they shared together in this world. The tears would not stop, the emotions would not stop, the pain clutching her heart right now was deeper and more painful than shattered ribs, more painful than being stabbed by His love, more painful than dying over and over again. She couldn't take it anymore, from the depths of her gut, from her soul, she let out a scream that shook the very earth beneath her feet.

----------------------------------------

An hour had passed as Ai came to accept the memories and emotions that came flooding into her mind like a tsunami of despair.

Ai smiled as she looked at where Amari was standing earlier.

"Sorry big sis, sorry I failed you, sorry I disappeared when you needed me."

Through all of the despair that had crashed into her soul, she realized her purpose in this new world.

This new life was a gift, a second chance for more than Him and Her, but for Aiya too. Aiya, like Him, wanted to make a difference in the world. To do something about the coming days of darkness. To shatter the expectations of the world and forge a bright future, where Amari, Papa, and everyone else can be safe.

"Amari, I hope you decide to join me. I think I will need you, now more than ever."

The Cycle for this world was coming too, and Ai knew what she needed to do. So with her newfound resolve and the strength and will of three souls to never stop growing, she marched on, back to the Stoneheart Village.