14 Silent Ai

Ai stared blankly at the wet spot on the mattress. No thoughts could come to her mind, no emotions, all of that had passed after hours of unheard sobbing. The only thing that remained was a single sensation, the cold.

The room slowly grew dark as the sun started setting, the random people that had passed by, occasionally stopping to look at the crying girl through the hole in the wall before continuing about their business, grew sparse.

'Stop pretending!'

The girl thought back to what Amari had said, was she really pretending? The emotions felt very real, despite having not spent very much time with Amari. Every single day, one of Aiya's memories returned, strengthening the bond she had felt with her sister.

'You're not my real sister anymore, huh.'

But then, she wasn't Aiya, was she. She wasn't anybody, just a fake husk with other people's thoughts and emotions. She didn't deserve to take Aiya's place in Amari's life.

'Bullshit, pft.'

Her one purple eye had slowly turned back to grey, though now it was a cloudy grey that looked like her eye had gone blind.

"Ah, there you are, Ai. You've been through so much, haven't you." A warm voice rang out in the once empty room.

Ai didn't look up, but in her peripheral she could see a man in white robes trimmed in gold, smiling warmly.

She had no response, her body didn't allow her to do anything, even as the man approached her.

She didn't make a single sound or movement as she was lifted up, being carried like a princess.

"Well, let's get you out of here." The man secured her tightly to his chest and began to walk.

Ai didn't see where they were going, nor did she care, random whispers could be heard as the people in the tavern watched on as the man carried Ai out of the building.

"I'll take you to a safe place and tend to your wounds, everything will be ok, Ai." A certain amount of warmth came from his words.

Maybe he was an angel, come to take her to the afterlife, away from all the pain, that would be nice, but Ai would rather find comfort in the void, sleeping away for the rest of eternity.

Before she knew it, she was laid down on a bed, the man pulled a soft comforter up to her shoulders and tucked her in. He then pulled up a chair and sat next to the bed. Ai felt his fingers gently stroke her hair.

"If Amaterasu could see you now, she'd probably give you a lecture." The man chuckled, sitting back in the chair.

'I don't know you, fuck off.' The first thoughts of Ai surfaced, she had hoped to say this out loud but the words wouldn't come.

A soft, gentle feeling touched her forehead, the man kissed her forehead before reaching for Ai's hand. Ai twitched her hand away.

"I missed you, Ai, and I am sad to see what has happened to you, I know it's not time yet, so I'll leave you be for now." The man stood and walked towards the door. "Time heals all wounds, Aiya, if you can hear me, please help Ai and remind her to find me in the place that we had wed, it will eventually come back to her."

The door closed behind him as Ai's vision began to fade once more.

'So... You're not my real sister anymore, huh.'

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*CRASH*

Aiya's body slammed against one of the few standing pillars, sending cracks throughout before shattering into more debris to litter the hall.

"Tch, the hell is wrong with you?" Aiya swung her bladed whip at her assailant, the individual blades split into different paths, seeming impossible to dodge the sheer number of blades.

The woman with long shining silver hair grinned unnaturally as she twisted her body in an equally unnatural way to avoid the barrage of blades flying at her, a blade was just about to cut her toe when even that snapped at an odd angle to avoid damaging any part of her pale skin.

She kicked off of a small magic circle beneath her bare feet, launching herself at Aiya.

"Numbers 1 through 16!" Aiya shouted out as multiple portals opened up, completely surrounding the woman. Dozens of daggers shot out of each portal at the woman, but...

*CRACK CRACK*

Her body broke in several places to dodge the blades. Strands of silver hair that had been cut floated down to the ground.

*CRACK CRACK*

Her body snapped back together as she continued towards Aiya, killing intent spewing forth, causing the hair on the back of Aiya's neck to stand.

Summoning a massive metal shield to block the woman's path using her creation magic, Aiya prepared several swords to ambush the woman, but then she appeared in front of Aiya in a blur, grinning sadistically.

"Fuck off! Number----Gaaah!" Blood spewed out of Aiya's mouth as the woman pierced through Aiya's chest with her bare hand. The woman leaned in and licked the blood that had splattered onto Aiya's face.

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"Guah!" Blood splattered across the cracked tiles as Aiya coughed.

Aiya limped towards the altar, using her sword as a crutch. She held a hand over the gaping wound in her chest, the blood was now black as the veins around the wound became visible and black as well.

She looked towards the hole in the wall where the woman had suddenly walked out.

"Tch, the hell was her problem." That woman had suddenly changed her expression after licking Aiya's blood and nonchalantly walked away.

Aiya looked down at the shattered altar and began to chant. "I-in view of the divines, just take my fucking fragment." She pulled a small orb out of her chest and placed it on the altar.

Aiya collapsed to the ground, "It's up to you now, Ai, take good care of my big sister, she is an idiot but, *cough* she is a good person."

Aiya's vision began to darken as death slowly embraced her.

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Ai's eyes shot open, her purple eye had returned, both eyes were filled with tears.

"....." Ai tried to speak, to cry out for Aiya, but no sound came.

"....." Ai tried to scream, to cry out for anybody, but still nothing.

Ai clutched her chest as tears streamed down her face. The pain was unbearable, the emotions that she had suppressed before came back up in full force. Sorrow quickly turned to frustration which then turned to anger, she jumped out of the bed and picked up the chair that man had sat in, throwing it across the room.

*CRASH*

The chair and a desk shattered apart into wooden debris.

"....." Ai tried to scream again. She walked towards the window and clenched her fists as though she would punch it, but suddenly stopped when she saw.

Ruby-like eyes stared back at her in the reflection of the window, she saw a beautiful woman with long, well-kept silver hair, soft, luscious lips that curved into a wicked grin. 'There you are.' Ai could read her lips as the figure spoke.

*SMASH*

Before Ai had realized it, she sent a fist through the window, a look of terror in her face.

It was her, the woman Aiya had warned her about. Now she remembered, a soft whimper escaped her lips, her voice was on the verge of returning, she had to say it to confirm that she remembered her name.

"Andromeda." Her voice was back, but weak.

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