58 Shopping trip?!

Standing in front of the window, Alaukik beheld the view of the sun rising over a quiet and peaceful city. Taking a deep breath, he smiled, a tiny part of him hoping that this phase of his life would last forever.

It had been a few days since he and Divya began to live with Asha yet neither of them had left the house much. Alaukik had no interest in exploring the city, while Divya was still getting used to a 'normal' life. Thus, Asha, who knew that things would stay the same unless she did something, told Alaukik to take Divya out shopping today;

"She needs clothes to wear, Alaukik. How long do you want her to wear my old clothes? And we need to stock up on food too. So why don't you take her out to the city and do some shopping? Just think of it as helping me out okay?"

Having agreed due to her persistence, Alaukik was now confused as to what exactly he should do. As he was gazing at the rising sun, a thought suddenly came to his mind.

'Wait a second … My plan was to make her dependent on me, so that she would not tamper with my mind without me knowing, but … thinking about it one more time, that's just stupid… That fails in so many ways, I'm surprised I believed it might work. But, if that doesn't, then what else is possible? /Sigh/ I think it's best if I note down what exactly I need, and then try to come up with a solution.'

And so, Alaukik sat down at a study table in his room, a pen and paper in his hands.

'First of all, what do I want her to do? -> Separate my consciousness from OG's.'

/'But why?'/

'How exactly will she do that? -> I have no idea.'

/' Why even bother? We're one person. The faster you accept it, the better it would be for us.'/

'Can she do that? -> I'm 99% sure she can.'

/' She can't. Parts of our consciousness are already fused together. The only reason we're still separate is because you refuse to give up your futile resistance. '/

'Will I be in danger when she does that? -> She will have access to my complete mind, so she might just erase or change my memories, which I will have to be aware of.'

/' Just kill her. While you're doing that, let's kill some other people too. It would be fun to see what impact that would cause to the timelines. In fact, you still haven't killed that military leader that caused us so much trouble. When are you going to do that?''/

'Is there any way to combat that? -> '

Placing his pen down at this question, Alaukik fell into deep thought, trying to ignore OG while also finding a way to solve this. However, nothing seemed to be coming to his mind…

'Memories, memories, I need a way to keep my memories intact. Memories of my past in this world, and the previous one. Memories of the past… Wait, that's it! I got it!' he exclaimed, his feet moving in excitement, a smile on his face.

"I don't need to make sure my memories are intact. After fusing with OG, I can now make contact with the River of Time. Although I am not capable of fully seeing a person's future*, witnessing my own past is an easy task. Divya can only affect my memories, not reality itself. That means that what happened cannot be changed, and will always be constant. That means that I don't need to worry about her changing my memories, as I will be able to realise it immediately upon checking the River. That solves one problem, however, that still leaves another problem… How do I protect myself in case she ever decides to 'influence' my decisions?"

'After all, the reason I need her is to separate my consciousness from OG's. If in exchange for that I put myself at risk of being controlled by Divya, then it really isn't a solution is it…'

Shaking his head a bit, Alaukik decided to stop thinking for now, and went ahead to take a bath. 

While Alaukik was having a mental breakdown by himself, Divya was lying on top of her bed, having not caught a wink of sleep last night. 

Initially, upon hearing she would be going out to the city, she had gotten quite excited. But when Asha told her that it would be Alaukik who would accompany her, all of that excitement vanished, only doubt remaining in her mind. The first thing that went through her mind was whether Asha and Alaukik had finally gotten tired of her, and decided to throw her away for good. After all, she had not been useful to either of them, and nobody kept useless people around them. And so, last night, while eating dinner, she used her powers on Asha without anyone realising. Although she was only able to sense her mind for a few seconds, she was able to confirm that Asha really just wanted her to experience the city for herself. And so, later when Divya returned to her bedroom, she started to feel very guilty;

' Even though they've looked after me, the first thing I did was to doubt her. How horrible of a human am I? To doubt the very people that saved me, am I not the definition of ungratefulness?'

And so, with similar thoughts making her way into her mind, she wasn't able to sleep the entire night. However, as dawn broke over the city, she decided that she couldn't drown herself in such thoughts, and thus started to ruminate on a different topic. 

'Should I go? I do want to explore the city, but …  I don't want to go with him; he's like those beasts from Blanche, only after me because of my powers. But at the same time, I don't want to sadden her either. And it is rude of me to keep wearing her clothes all the time too… but I don't have money, and I don't want to leech off of them more than I already am, but using their money to buy clothes for myself is the very definition of leeching off isn't it ... '

While it might seem to outsiders that the time she spent with Blanche had turned her into a cold and calculating being, it was the complete opposite of that. Although not fast enough to dodge the conditioning they gave her, Divya realised after a while of being there that she could separate herself from reality using her powers. Essentially, she could trick her mind into watching everything that happened to her in a third person perspective, thus preventing her psyche from collapsing into insanity and preserving her 'young girl' spirit.

Curling up into herself, Divya once again lost herself in her spiral of thoughts, until quite a while later, when she heard a voice call her from downstairs.

"Divya! Alaukik! Breakfast is ready! Come down quick or else it'll get cold!"