3 Talk in the forest

The situation was so much worse than he thought it would be. Of course, he didn't notice immediately. They first encountered a small problem.

"I'm already dead tired!" Said Gilly. "Can we take a break?"

Blaze had worn his usual clothes which were perfect for this kind of things, he wore steel toed hiking boots, good pants, a shirt and a vest. This wasn't the case for her.

She wasn't really suited for exercises to begin with and her clothes weren't either. This was the primary reason he did not want to bring her at first. She truly had an enormous brain but, and this was an important but, she had a hard time setting appropriate priorities. That day had been his birthday, and since he had been utterly blind to her charms until now, she had decided to go at it with everything she had.

She was currently wearing tall tight leather boots with heels, knee high pink socks, a mini skirt and a corset on top of some kind of frilly sleeveless shirt revealing most of her cleavage. It was sure enticing but not really made for traveling, or running in the woods which was what they were about to do.

The other thing to note about her relating to this situation was that despite the fact that she was wild and energetic almost all the time, she did not have the muscle strength nor the stamina to back it up. She was in her element behind a screen, in a shop, or maybe even at exploring a big city. Her formidable mind let her escape any trouble before they even appeared but here, in the wild, she wasn't worth much. Blaze felt like he had just brought the cheerleader on the football field and placed her alone in front of the other team.

They had only been walking for an hour and she was already dead tired. He had known from the start it was a bad idea to bring her along but how could he resist his girlfriend? He never had a girlfriend before. He would have felt terrible leaving her behind while he ran around the region without much hope of getting back home any time soon.

Also, and this was the main point, he had a hard time thinking without her around. She was like an auxiliary brain for him. If an operation took too long, he just delegated part of it to her to maximize his speed.

While he was thinking about that, He noticed that since this morning, neither of them had been using their brains at all. They were just stuck in a panicked state and never took the time to just sit down and think.

"Yeah, you're right, we should take a break and think about all this for a minute." He answered her.

"Let's get out of the road in case someone pass by."

He nodded and they entered the woods on the road's side. They did not go too far in it, the point was only to not be visible from the road. With his knowledge in survival techniques, he made their tracks disappear, no one would know a couple of teenagers left the road there unless they were really paying attention. They found a suitable tree to sit down on and Blaze being a true gentleman, at least to his brand new and very precious girlfriend, got a blanket out so Gilly could sit on it.

"Oh tank you" She said with a beaming smile. "You're so much more kind than usual."

She sat on the blanketed log crossing her legs while ignoring his stiff smile.

"I should have wore pants today, I think I cut my leg on a twig over there."

"That is not the only thing you should have wore today."

"Well, I chose those to seduce you. Is it at least working a little?"

"Oh I'm seduced all right."

She was pleased by his answer and had the urge to tease him but had him turn around instead to change into a more appropriate set of clothing.

Blaze had his heart beating like a war-drum as he imagined Gilly changing behind him. He had never paid any attention to it before, his brain never registered it properly. He always thought of her as just Gilly whatever she was doing or wearing. But now, she wasn't just Gilly anymore, she was a breathtaking women who was also his girlfriend that happened to be named Gilly.

To change his mind from what was happening behind him, he told her his honest feeling.

"I'm really sorry I never looked properly at you before but I can swear, this is never going to happen again. I'm sure you will look fantastic whatever it is you wear because no clothes can hide your shine."

She giggled and pushed at his back a bit to protest against his nonsense.

"I am really glad to have you at last, even if you speak nonsense and even if you blew up an atomic bomb." She answered.

"Is it selfish to want you by my side even if it puts you in danger?"

"It is, but there is no way you can get rid of me, whatever you do, I will definitely go after you."

"That too is selfish, and also bordering on obsession and mental issue."

She punched him in the back for this but he didn't feel much of it, it just made him laugh. She snorted and proceeded to explain in detail why she was putting on each and every piece of clothing.

Like often, it sounded more like she was praising herself and her choices than praising the clothes themselves but Blaze didn't pay attention to it. As long as the new set was more appropriate for the task, he didn't care.

"All done!" She finally said, hand on her hips. "Is it still good enough? Am I missing something?"

Blaze turned around to see that she had put back on her previous pair of boots, those with heels.

"Are you sure you want to keep those boots?"

"Yes, I don't have another pair, I only have heels and sandals besides them."

He was tempted to tell her to wear the sandals but since the boots still offered a bit more protection than the sandals, he put up with it with a sigh.

"Ok then, we're gonna have to do with them."

"Worst case scenario, you'll have to carry me." She said with a mischievous smile.

"I could, but not with all those bags." He said as a matter of fact.

"You're no fun."

"That has nothing to do with being fun or not, it's just too heavy! There no way I can!"

"I know, I'm just teasing you. Let's start thinking about all the things we need to do. Should we do a list?"

He thought for only a second before answering.

"We should but I don't have paper. I will have to get my laptop out. We should just find a safe place to stay tonight before we lose the rest of the day doing this."

"Right, lead the way then."

Choosing to leave the road, he advanced deeper in the forest with Gilly following. He suddenly thought that he had never admired her walking before. Was it not something boys did a lot? Watch girls walking? He had never thought about this before, he was now very curious of what she looked like while walking. Was it as interesting as novels and TV show said? In his previous life, he was too focused on work to care and in this one... Well, he had no excuse, he was just plain blind.

The other thing that came to his mind was that he had a really hard time to think straight now that Gilly had successfully charmed him. Had she always dealt with all those parasite thoughts? Would he still be able to think as fast as before if he reserved a small part, no, let's say a big part because he couldn't do otherwise.

What was he thinking again? He felt like the question he had formulated in his mind was incomplete. He felt his mind struggle with too many thoughts at once before the question finally reappeared in his head. He thought that he already found the answer, no, he wouldn't be able to think as fast if a good half of his mind was occupied by Gilly.

He didn't want to not think about her though, how would he fix this, was it something people got better at over time? He hoped it was so as he progressed into the woods.

They were lucky enough to not encounter a single monster until they found a good place to raise a tent. They managed to get his tent up just in time before sunset and Blaze put up a small fire in front to light things up a little while they talked. He got his laptop out of his bag and they both sat side by side, leaning on each other's shoulder as he opened a new text document.

"So, what are all the things we need to do?"

They talked for a small while and in the end their list looked like this.

1. Check if that Chesspawn is still alive and feed it.

2. Follow the news and see if they are really pursued and how bad it is.

3. Call their families to make sure they are fine and tell them they are well themselves.

4. Make the inventory of all they have, all they need and make a plan to get what they lack.

5. Find a way to undo this mess.

6. Find and beat up his dad.

7. Find out what is actually going on.

8. Train their monsters, establish a team plan, look on the internet to find the monsters they wanted and try to catch them. All the monsters related stuff.

9. Tell Gilly what was going on with his head and all about the participation thing.

10. maybe assemble the sniper rifle.

11. survive ten years.

12. Find a name for their first kid. (Added by Gilly of course)

"Do you think of anything else besides the kid stuff." Blaze asked with annoyance.

"No, not for now." She said, still grinning.

"Ok, so which one do we do first?"

"If we have a girl, I would probably go with a name like Ember, it would be good right? It matches with yours, you would make such a good pair!"

He felt a little exasperated with her priorities but kept his calm like usual and exclaimed as loudly as possible.

"Why even think of starting with that! Could we not please start with something more pressing like feeding the chesspawn or checking if we're in danger?"

"Right, we still have at least nine months or so for that."

"Absolutely not! Who would be stupid enough to have a kid while they are on the run!"

"Haaaaa! Your father is ruining my perfect plan! Oh well. It's fine, we still have thirty years or so for that. There's no way we will still be on the run in fifteen years right? Surely in two years tops we will all be fine."

"..."

"Oh come on! Why do you always disagree when I start a sentence with 'there's no way'! Am I also cursed! Here let me try something."

She straightened her back, took a deep breath to calm herself but kept her annoyed face before saying.

"There's no way we're going to be rescued by an extremely rich person right?"

"What kind of hope is that?" Asked Blaze, disturbed.

"Well... why not? I wasn't about to ask for the police to help now, was I?"

He had no argument against that. She had won this round.

"Changing subject." He said without skipping a beat. "I should probably start by getting this one out of the ball. We could use the time to eat with it and your dog as well. Who knows when was the last time that thing had a meal."

"Don't call it a thing! That poor chesspawn."

"But I don't know if I'm supposed to say she or he yet."

"Summon it and then we will know."

She got her own pearball from her pocket and called on Houndy at the same time Blaze made his Chesspawn appear.

Blaze thought that her demon-dog was a strange one. It seemed disinterested and angry to be here in his general demeanor but it's tail was wagging every time his mistress looked his way.

Looking back at his own battle monster, the Chesspawn was a male. He seemed a little thin, no doubt because of his lack of food. Once again, Blaze was amazed at the difference between the cartoonish rendition of his old world and the monster in front of him.

It looked somewhere between a mole and a foot tall prairie dog with a soft red shell on its back and a crown of long spines for hair. He had a pair of sharp claws on each feet and small paws.

For now, he didn't look like much, but he clearly remembered why he had chosen him in the white space before he was born. He did not want to spend all his choice points on his first battle monster so he had chosen one of the classic starters.

Since his mission was to survive, he had chosen a grass type because of all their utility moves and incredible regeneration powers. A fire type was useful to cause mayhem and he preferred their style in general but they were not the best of all protectors.

As for the water monsters, he felt they were too specialized, he had no intention of fighting on the seas and they were at a disadvantage everywhere else. Then, out of all the grass type starters, he had a really hard time choosing between shellsap and chesspawn. They were both on his list because he wanted an unkillable tank that would be able to keep him safe no matter what.

In the end, he had chosen chesspawn because he had a bigger number of different resistances once evolved. The only thing he would have to remember was to never send him against a flying creature. Finally, even though he did not want to spend many points on his monster, he still made him shiny because his color pattern was so much more in Blaze's taste than the normal one, he just felt warmer in red.

And for all those reason, he had the perfect name for him.

"You, small chesspawn. I will be your master from now on. I'm really sorry the guy who caught you is a real idiot and sent you here by mail without food. We are about to eat but before that, I would like to name you. Are you ready to hear your name?"

The chespawn threw an hungry look at him but still nodded.

"Good, I promise it won't be long. You will henceforth be known as the Dawnshield, warm as the morning sun and unbreakable like a steel shield. As your trainer, I promise to help you become strong and take care of your food and injuries. The only thing I want in exchange is for you to help me protect my lady."

"What is going on Blaze? Henceforth? Your lady? Are you trying to turn him into a knight? Also, Dawnshield isn't a name, it's more like a title." Protested a face-palming Gilly.

"Well I never said I was good at naming things. And I do want to turn him into a valiant knight. The mission of a knight is to serve and protect, unbreakable and loyal, their honor and bravery shines through the night and brings hope to those they help. So, Are you willing to accept the title of the Dawnshield, first of my knights, and serve by my side for justice and glory?"

The speech of blaze seemed to have awakened something in the chesspawn, something far more important than his own hunger. He was born to be a knight in shining armor. He felt the strong desire to follow this man who had understood him at first sight. Of course this had all been a coincidence but no one really cared for the reasons behind this event. The chesspawn bowed to its lord.

"See, he likes it. Do you vow to take the sacred mission of defending my lady however much dangerous it may become and put your life on the line for her safety and the glory of her protection?"

The Chespin hit his own chest with its paw to signify he was ready to do so under the incredulous gaze of Gilly.

"Good, I accept your vow and determination! You will now be known as Dawnshield, may you bring honor and glory to your house and name!"

"You know, you are both really silly..."

Dawnshield had a small tear rolling down his cheek as he stood as straight as he could. Meanwhile, Houndy felt it was his mission to defend his mistress, a mere squirrel shouldn't overstep. He sat straight in front of Gilly's legs and took the proudest stance he could to affirm his dominance. Dawnshield paid him no mind at all and awaited his lord's orders.

"Now that this is done, let's eat, he's about to starve and we walked all day long. It's easier to think on a full stomach."

To be honest, they had not thought that far about food. They only had a bunch of wrapped snacks and a packet of beef jerky that Blaze always kept in his backpack. They still ate greedily with a certain enthusiasm, pushing their problems away with food. After their meal, they were finally ready to discuss all the other important matters.

The sky had become dark and only their small fire provided light. Blaze asked himself if it was risky to be discovered by using a fire but discarded the idea quickly. They were not the only ones using a fire in the woods and no one knew they were there.

"So, what's the next topic?" Asked Gilly

"We should probably check the news first. It's going to influence all the rest after all."

"Will it really have changed since this morning?"

"I guess we'll find out."

He opened the internet browser and went straight for the news. It was much worse than he thought. They had spread a picture of him. <Suspect named Blaze Sherwood, son of known terrorist Craze Sherwood, age seventeen, armed and dangerous, wanted dead or alive, last seen in Kloro town entering the north road towards Wolfington city. He possibly has a hostage with him.>

"What the fuck! How do they even know about the sniper!"

"Yeah, that's weird, you never had a weapon before and that gun was in an inconspicuous case the whole time. And who is the hostage?" Gilly commented more calmly than him.

The hostage was probably herself but he chose to keep it silent until it was confirmed. He quickly read the details bellow with Gilly. The information had apparently been provided to the police as an anonymous tip by the son of local mayor Russ Astra.

<That guy has always been terrible. It doesn't surprise me at all he would do something like this. If only I had known earlier I could have stopped him. I know for sure he has a big knife he could use as a weapon. He probably used it to force Gilly to come with him as an hostage. There's no way in a million years she would willingly follow him. I saw him drag her on the north road from my window. He shouldn't be hard to catch, he doesn't even have a battle monster.>

"That asshole! What is wrong with him! How is this even an anonymous tip if your name appears there! I will slap him so hard it will be like he never even existed!"

Gilly was incredibly angered by the treachery of their neighbor Russ. Blaze on the other hand wasn't surprised at all and felt relieved that the armed and dangerous part was referring to his utility knife instead of the actual weapon he had. Gilly swiftly took out her peargear and ragefully started typing a text to him.

Blaze thought it was a good thing they were not in his old world where they could have tracked them with their phone signal. He had never heard of such a thing in this world. They probably should have thought of a way to do it by now with all the people going missing in the woods but they had not.

<HEY! YOU FILTHY PIECE OF SHIT!> She typed. <THIS ISN'T AN ANONYMOUS TIP AT ALL IF YOUR NAME IS ON IT!> Blaze wished he had some popcorn while watching his girlfriend being as angry has she ever was. He felt really glad it wasn't directed towards him, and even more so that his annoying neighbor would get the brunt of it. Just to put fuel on the fire, he read the next part of the article out loud.

<When our journalist and the police came to interrogate Mrs. Linton, mother of local beauty and presumed hostage, she was drowning her sorrow with alcohol. We could not get much information from her other than the worst possible outcome had happened and the town was apparently in grave danger. She was shortly taken to a psychiatrist to appease her and get more information from her. She was so incoherent and drunk she thought we were here to ask her about the new boyfriend of her daughter. Mr. Linton hasn't been found yet and his thoughts remain a mystery for now.>

"They did 'what' to mom!" She yelled.

Her phone rang and Russ's response appeared on the screen. <Is it really you Gilly? How do I know it's really you and not that guy? wait a sec I'm calling.> Gilly was literally fuming with rage now. Her face once again beet red, but this time, it wasn't enticing at all like the time she was embarrassed. Even her own devil dog was scarred of her and went to hide behind a grinning Blaze.

Meanwhile in town, Russ was with the police.

"Whoever pick up the phone, keep them talking so that we can track the call. Don't say anything too controversial so that the girl won't be harmed. Got it?"

Russ nodded and made the call. The phone rang twice and then, was answered.

"Gilly is that you?" Russ asked carefully.

"OF COURSE IT'S ME! WHO ELSE WOULD ANSWER MY PHONE FUCKING RETARDED SON OF A BITCH!"

"What?"

"YOU WHAT! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU FUCKING SELLOUT DUMPSTER TRASH. WHEN I GET BACK HOME I WILL SLAP YOU SO HARD YOU'LL THINK THAT A HUNDRED THOUSAND TOREAU JUST DANCED ON YOUR FACE ALL NIGHT!"

Russ did not understand what was going on and the cops where as flabbergasted as him.

"HAVE I NOT BEEN CLEAR ENOUGH ALREADY! HOW MANY TIMES DID I TELL YOU THAT YOU DISGUST ME! WHY DID YOU EVEN THINK THAT I COULD BE AN HOSTAGE! I will tell you just this once but you better listen well. My Blaze is NOT a terrorist WE JUST GOT TRICKED BY HIS FATHER!"

"We?" Russ mumbled.

"OF COURSE WE, I'M ALWAYS WITH HIM, ALL THE TIME BECAUSE I LOVE HIM! OK? I WAS RIGHT THERE WITH HIM WHEN HE CRACKED THE DAMN CODES, I HELPED HIM DO IT!"

In the background, they could all faintly hear Blaze panic and say. "Gilly, shut up, you're putting yourself in trouble too!"

"I DON'T CARE!" She screamed even louder than the rest. "AND THEN YOU FUCKFACE TELL THE COPS WHICH WAY WE WENT AND TELL THEM HE IS DANGEROUS. WHAT DO YOU THINK WILL HAPPEN WHEN THEY FIND OUT I'M AN ACCOMPLICE IF THEY WANT TO SHOOT HIM ON SIGHT! I WILL GET SHOT AT TOO! Oh I just want to help, if I help her she will fall for me at last!" She imitated. "WELL DREAM ON, YOU'LL NEVER GET ME AND YOU'RE JUST MAKING EVERYTHING WORSE! DON'T CALL BACK! BADBYE!"

Blaze thought it was a miracle she didn't destroy her p-gear because of how mad she was.

By the end, her voice was breaking by all the screaming. She was destroying her own vocal cords in the process of venting her anger. Everyone present on either sides were deeply shocked. Russ felt each angry word she threw at him like a punch from a punchamp. His peargear slipped off his fingers and he collapsed on his seat with an empty look in his eyes. The police could only sympathize with the poor man and erase the hostage situation from the list of possibility.

Moreover, the call had been too short and they could not find out from where it came. Their only guess was that they had indeed followed the north road since the girl had been angry at the mayor's son for revealing where they went. With an anger so thick you could beat someone with it, there was no way it was a setup.

Meanwhile since Blaze did not want to get screamed at too, he didn't say a word and just silently passed an arm around her shoulders.

"What a dick." She finally said after a while. "Now my throat hurts because of him."

"Well he did deserve it but I'm not sure it was worth hurting your cute voice for it."

"You think my voice is cute?"

"I think all of you is extraordinary and sweet, including your voice."

"Thanks." She answered unusually meekly with a smile.

It worked, she smiled, mission accomplished. Now that she was a bit less angry, he could say something more serious.

"But now, I'm even more scared that something might happen to you." He said with worry.

"They would have found out soon that I'm no hostage anyway. It doesn't change anything. Plus, I have you to protect me so I'm fine."

How could she say something like this as if it was perfectly normal! How was he supposed to protect her from the cops! Even the international police was probably after them. His concern must have shown on his face. Gilly started giggling.

"Don't worry silly, we'll be fine. You are really strong and have a super computer in your head. We also have a small knight and a guard dog.

Even if they are to go look for us, they have the whole forest to look trough, and even then, they will probably check in Wolfington first. By the time they notice they are on the wrong track, everyone will know we had nothing to do with this."

"It might not go as well as you plan." Said Blaze with a little guilt and sorrow.

After all, they were dealing with the authorities, not some thugs.

"Why not?" Asked Gilly. Curious as to why he was making such a face.

"It's about my dreams..."

She was smart enough to understand about the problems of going against the police but she had no way to know about what was really going on behind all this. This was the time to tell her.

"Is it the ninth point of the list? The participant thing, what does that even mean?"

"Well you know I make two kinds of dreams right?"

"Yes, the nightmares and the plainly strange ones."

"It turns out the plainly strange ones weren't dreams at all, I think."

"What do you mean?"

"They are memories."

"Memories? The memories of who? Why would you even dream of the memories of someone else."

"No no, they are mine. Memories of another me."

"I don't get it."

Gilly wasn't taken aback at all by what Blaze was telling her, she wasn't even thinking he was crazy, she was just plain confused. She had known him for all his life. In the entire world, not even his own mom knew him better than her. But right now, she had a hard time following him.

"I'm not even quite sure myself but listen to what I think I know first."

"Ok, tell me."

"In the first set of memories, I was living in a world where there was no monsters. I was quite an ordinary man. I lived as an ordinary salary man until I turned twenty five, I never had a girlfriend and I played video games to pass the time."

"That somehow feels like you alright, besides the salary man thing I mean. You're much better than that, and it's way too boring for you."

"What do you have against the salary man?" commented Blaze before moving on. "Then one day, I was going at my normal ordinary life like usual when I suddenly appeared in some kind of white void. There was absolutely nothing but a voice sounding in my head. The voice wanted entertainment and I was chosen to provide it said entertainment."

"What kind of entertainment?" Said Gilly, a sense of deep dread seeping into her. "I don't like where this is going. Did you cheat on me?"

"Of course not!" Snapped Blaze. "And it wouldn't be cheating it would've been rape! Also, that me did not know you even existed remember?"

"I feel much better now, please continue your story."

He felt really dispirited but still told her the rest.

"He told me he would send me into another world where I would have to survive for ten whole years but to do so, it would grant me boons and advantages. I chose abilities for myself that I thought I would need to survive and some really useless one like the constant music following me."

"Wait! Hang on!" Said Gilly suddenly realising where he was going with this. "You can't possibly mean..."

"Yes, mhn how should I say it. I chose to be reborn instead of appearing out of nowhere and the voice decided that my 10 years of survival would start when I turned seventeen."

"So you are saying that everything that happened today was destined to happen from the moment you were born?"

"At least that is what my second set of memories led me to believe. And not only that, it's also the reason I did not get a battle monster earlier, why my dad had a sniper rifle even why you are here, I willingly chose all those things."

"What do you mean why I'm here?"

She frowned and leaned towards him, asking for answers.

"Don't be mad at me, I will tell you. Since I chose to have a savant's brain at a huge cost, I remember everything very clearly. When I chose to be reborn here, I had many choices. I went for the small town and it's description started like this: You are physically fit and have a small group of very close friends (One of which has a crush)."

"You think I love you because a voice in a white void decided so?"

"All of the rest of my other set of memories match with this, everything happened as it was supposed to."

"I'm about to get angry again but before that, you said it was the start of the description, what was the rest of it?"

Resigned to get screamed at, he followed through with the description of the small town.

"You don't have a lot of wilderness experience besides some camping and you don't have much city experience either. You were raised by your mother in the first town of your region. Your father had to work a lot, so you never saw much of him. The air is clean, the neighborhood is safe, and you have a tight circle of friends whom you would trust with anything. You have lived a very balanced life, and you are very healthy and physically fit. You decide to go on a journey like many children your age, with your friends joining you along the way. You bring along the monster companion your parents gave you that you grew up with over the past few years. That's it, that's the whole thing." (1)

Gilly took a deep breath and started to talk calmly with a hurt and displeased look.

"First, I am angry that you think that I love you only because a voice said so. Love isn't decided by god at all! It's about compatibility, trust, the good times spent together and effort. It can't force me to love anyone! What's more, it said that one of your friends had a crush, not that she loved you! It doesn't even specify on who that friend as a crush or if it's a girl or a guy! And it never said my name at all! The most it could do was put you in my way knowing you would grow up to be my type!"

"Maybe..." Blaze said thinking about it. It was indeed true that the wording was quite vague.

"Don't maybe me! I tell you, I do love you! My feelings aren't just for show and I will definitely love you until the skies falls! I absolutely forbid you to say otherwise. I love you because you are you not because a voice that may not even really exist decided it would be so! I love you because you are smart, because you are good looking, because you have a blazing personality like your name, because you never lie to me, because you always listen and never get mad at me even when I go overboard, you are always there to fix my mistakes and you always shared your everything with me. You love my cooking, you have interesting opinions, you always complain but you still follow my lead anyway, you always fix the things I break, you make the best origami birds..."

As she went on and on about why she loved him, a smile slowly formed on his lips. He decided to interrupt her to tell her that she was right before he died of embarrassment.

"Ok, enough, I get it already. You are right, I feel much better now, I won't ever doubt your feelings again. Also, I would like to point out that you said I fix your mistakes twice."

"I make a lot of mistakes! Now then, tell me you are sorry for making light of my feelings, I feel really hurt." She said, crossing her arms.

"Fine, I am really sorry, as an apology, I will do something even more embarrassing. I will do the exact same thing you just did.

"What?"

"You are right, someone who has a crush on me doesn't mean I have to share the feelings. It absolutely had to be you for me to fall in love."

"Ok, don't do it, I accept your apology. Stop."

Blaze didn't listen to her desperate plea.

"I love you because when you want something, you never give up on it, because you are wild and energetic but still can be serious and use your brain for the important stuff. You study with the same passion you do everything else and you make the best food, you always look the best you can possibly be and always make sure I do not look like an idiot myself. I love how you get angry at the most random stuff and always say crazy things to cool down a heavy mood or a serious situations. I love that you always think of what is best for me even before I do it myself and how you can make quick decisions on the spot while I freeze thinking of the best way to do things. I love how you accept all my crazy and nightmares, how you always forgive me even when I am the biggest fool in the world or when I hurt your feelings. I love that you aren't scared of anything and that even if you are passionate about fashion and looks, you can still put it aside when you must. Most of all, I love that despite all my bad, you see only good in me and you were willing to wait for me all this time I was blind. I am most definitely the luckiest in the world to have you. Will you please forgive me once again Gilly?"

Both of them had small tears flowing at the corners of their eyes from trying to not laugh. She hugged him with all her strength and he immediately did the same.

"Of course I forgive you Blaze. My feelings are way stronger than this. I certainly did not endure all this time to break up at the first idiotic thing you'd say. As long as I will be me and you will be you, I will love you."

"You are the best girlfriend Gilly."

She hit his back lightly in protest.

"Silly, don't say that on the very first day!"

"But I feel like we've been together for a really long time without me noticing. It would be impossible for you to not be the best girlfriend at this point."

"Yes, it was really hard to keep my cool all this time. It's a good thing you finally noticed. I want a big payback, it's my turn to be selfish and spoiled now!"

"Right, I will do my very best, like no one ever has."

"That is a weird way to put it." She said, a bit lost.

"That is a stupid joke you can't possibly understand. Maybe I will become even weirder than before now that I have twice the memory you know? I'm not sure If I was reincarnated, rejuvenated or if those memories where just plugged in me and aren't even real. I feel like they are mine, but I also fell like they aren't. Both sets of memories are me but not the same me, does that make sense?"

"No, not at all." She answered honestly. "Does it make a difference? You just have to be you, no? Whatever these memories contain aren't related to the you now are they? As you were speaking of that other life, you did not seem passionate about it, you didn't lose anything, Just enjoy the present, worry about what will come next and let the past go, be it real or not."

"That is valuable insight. Where did you read this?"

"Is it not possible that I came up with it myself?"

"Nope."

"Fine, it came from a TV show..."

"Knew it, still... Thank you."

"Should we stop the hug now?"

"Nope, let's stay like this."

"I feel the same, I hoped you would say that."

"Then are we ready to talk about the next thing?"

"No, not yet, I still have some questions."

"What is it?"

"At first you would think that all you just said about how your life should play out is right but in fact it's not! You do have extensive experience of the wilderness, you wanted to go on a journey but you couldn't, you haven't passed years with your monster and in the end, your friends were working for your dad and the only one that went with you is me. The whole thing is wrong, this proves that the voice has no control at all!"

"That is not a question." Stated Blaze.

"It is, if the only thing he asked of you is to survive ten years and it has no control over anything, doesn't it mean that you can resolve the issue in way less than ten years?"

"Maybe, I don't have the answer to that."

"It's okay, I will choose to believe so." She said resolutely before asking about the next thing on her mind. "Then, the thing about me being two years older not being a big deal anymore, is it because of your second set of memories?"

"Yes, it's confusing for me but I still have the feeling of having lived for way longer than I actually have. I'm not sure anymore if I am supposed to consider you older or younger than me."

"Then let me choose, let's go for equals." She intervened as fast as lightning.

It made him laugh and because of their hug it made her shake as well.

"Got it. He said, let's be equals."

"Then next, the most important question of them all. If those memories are true, what happens after ten years?"

"I am sent to the next world with all that I have... why?"

"...Am I yours?"

He just then realized what she meant and he froze, all tensed up. What would happen to her in ten years? Would he be able to bring her along? Would a copy of him stay behind? Would she just forget he ever existed? Would she simply stop existing? When this had all started, he didn't want to be alone so he took the invitation letter but it only worked on another participant. She wasn't a participant. Was there a trick to bring her along? What was he supposed to do? How could he fix this? He had no idea how this worked at all! He didn't know! He didn't know...

"I don't know what will happen... There must definitely be a way."

Because of the hug, he couldn't see her face but he felt her grip tighten. He tried to change the subject to bring her mood back up.

"There's no use thinking about this now, it's like a children's name, it's too far off. For now there is nothing I can do about this at all, there was no mentions of companions at all in the participation point shop. If there is a way to bring a monster out of here, there must be a way to bring you too."

Since she did not answer fast enough for him, he squeezed her harder and buried his head in her hair.

"Don't, you're going to break my glasses again..."

"Then don't be sad for a thing that might not even happen. You know I will never willingly leave you behind right? In this life at least, I need you to function properly myself. Like the saying goes, I have found a missing part of me, I'm not willing to let it go."

"OK, fine, I get it already, geez."

"Then say you are sorry for making light of my determination, I feel really hurt."

"Don't make fun of me!"

he had said almost the same thing as her earlier.

"Wrong answer!" He said while squeezing even stronger.

She squealed and capitulated.

"Fine, fine. She said with a sight. I am really sorry. As an apology, I will do the same thing you just did."

"Please do go on." He said with a smirk.

"You are the worst... But I won't leave you behind either, I will do my best to stay with you and nothing will ever break us apart. Be it time or god himself. You're not just a missing part of me, you're like a good half of me, a part of my soul, I'm not willing to let you go even if I have to overturn death itself."

"Wow, that seems extreme."

"But it's the truth."

"I know because I feel the same but it still sounds childish when said out loud."

"I know! It's you who forced me to do it silly."

"Yeah, because it warms my heart."

"Hmm."

They kept their hug for a while more in silence before Gilly finally broke it.

"You know, I think if we stay like that any longer, I will fall asleep like that."

"Should we talk about the rest tomorrow?"

"Is there something we absolutely need to do tonight?"

"I don't think so, we should do the inventory but it's going to be a pain in the dark."

"Then let's go to bed. I feel like I haven't slept in a week."

"Don't forget to leave your glasses in your bag, I could break them again in a nightmare.

"I know, it's not the first time I sleep with you."

They separated and Gilly quickly went over to her bag to store her glasses as Blaze closed his computer and put out the fire. They chose to leave their small monsters outside of their balls to act as guards while they slept. Even if they were also sleeping, it would still be less surprising to hear a panicked scream from those two than to suddenly wake up with something in their tent.

***

(1) I do not intend on rewriting every single power of drawback they get in the story, this one was just necessary to do.

() Not only is this a really long chapter but parts of it had to be cut or reworded because I thought they were too... sketchy?

I wasn't sure I wanted people to read that and since they weren't contributing anything important to the plot, I cut them off. They can still be found on my Patreon behind a patron only wall. there really is nothing to complain about, it was pretty dumb and non-useful. Only relationship stuff. Not worth becoming a Patron over.

() As a reminder, if you get lost with the new names or want to know the rules I follow for this or a list of powers and drawbacks the characters have, they can be accessed freely and easily by the way of a google spreadsheet on my patreon. It's now a featured tag with only one post in it.

avataravatar
Next chapter