6 Andrea Again?

It felt like it was only a dream, especially when she found herself inside a hospital room when she opened her eyes.

A pair of light brown eyes scanned the private room.

"What the hell?" she questioned. "I thought I died? Didn't Celan stab me with his sword?"

The needle of the IV drip that was attached to her hand suddenly caught her eyes. Her eyes widened at such a sight. She glanced around the room again and took note of the familiar apparatuses she was very sure not found in Vastia.

The door suddenly opened and a familiar figure entered.

"Andrea!"

When she heard the name, she just sat frozen.

"M-mom?"

"Are you okay? Do you feel uncomfortable? Let me check on you."

Andrea was too shocked to notice what the woman she just called mom was doing. She was a bit confused at what was happening. When she regained her stupor, she immediately grasped her mother's arms and asked;

"Mom, what year is it?"

She saw the confused look of her mother but answered her anyway.

"Why… why am I in the hospital?" she asked again.

"Don't you remember?" she shook her head. "You fell down the stairs. You've been in a coma for a week already."

"WHAT?"

She tried to remember… When she was nine, she fell down the stairs of her elementary school and was in a coma for three days…

"Does that mean I'm nine?" she muttered. "Mom, did you just say I have been a coma for a week?"

"Yes."

"But, it was supposed to be only three-"

All of a sudden, Andrea heard a ringing sound and she felt like her head was about to split open. She clutched her head because of the pain. Of course, the person with her panicked at this and immediately asked her what was wrong. But Andrea couldn't hear anything as the pain was getting unbearable. A few seconds later, she passed out.

Andrea gasped and let out a shaky breath. She then tried to catch her breath but her attention was diverted to her surroundings; a familiar open pavilion that was surrounded by blooming cherry blossom trees. She inspected herself and saw that she looked just as she remembered as Euka; hair as black as night itself, red nails, a black dress and nine black fox tails with white fur at the tips behind her.

"I'm usually a smart person but I'm really confused right now." she muttered to herself, since nobody seemed to be around. "I'm dead right?"

"Not exactly."

She stiffened and glanced at the direction of the voice which happened to be beside her. It turned out that it belonged to Lyga.

"Lyga?" she called. "Wait, but you're… you're gone."

"Ah, you must be talking about the 'me' in Vastia right?"

"Pardon?"

"I am also known as Lyga, but I'm the goddess of transmigration in this world."

"This world, you mean… Earth? The one in my first life?" the Lyga lookalike only nodded. "But I've never heard of-"

"You've never heard of me, right? I'm usually not recorded in any legend, mythology or folklore. After all I don't belong to one. At least I'm not supposed to. Anyway, I am here to inform you of your situation." she said.

"Oh yeah, what's going on?" Euka asked when she realized it. "I remember dying back in Vastia, but somehow I woke up inside the body of my nine-year old self."

"Lyga, Vastia's Lyga that is, asked me for a favor." Lyga sighed. "It feels strange to call my name as if it's another person. Anyway, she asked me to give you a second chance."

"I thought living as Euka was my second chance?" she asked.

"You died unjustly in both lives. In your first life as Andrea Fuentebella, you were a caged bird that died with many regrets, as the fox goddess Euka you died because of a conspiracy among the gods, and as the Black Sovereign you died because you chose to be a villain for the sake of Vastia."

"How did you-"

"Deities that govern transmigration know a lot of things, but we usually don't interfere with the world that we oversee. It's against the rules."

"And now?"

"Now, we're giving you a second chance, no it should be the fourth one, at your life as Andrea Fuentebella."

"But why nine years old?"

"Well, you died the first time so I can't really bring you back at that time, the local gods would notice. I need an instance in your life where your spirit almost faded and insert the current you."

"I fell down the stairs when I was nine and I was in a coma. I guess my spirit went flickering that time."

"Yep."

"What am I supposed to do now?" Euka asked.

"You figure it out. I can only give you the opening, the rest will be up to you." thunder suddenly rumbled in the sky. "That's my cue. I should go back. Euka, no, Andrea Fuentebella, you wanted freedom right? You should find a way yourself."

Lyga disappeared in a blink of an eye. Euka was confused, but then she realized it, what she should do…

***

It had been a month after she woke up as nine year old Andrea Fuentebella and she did her best to live her life as normal as possible. But somehow Andrea found it a little hard.

Why?

First of all, even though her body was that of a nine-year old, her mind was that of a fox goddess who has thousands of years of experience, not to mention she used to be the demon queen. Second, she had the memories of two lives, or was it three? She couldn't really decide. And lastly, with those two in mind, the kids around her just seem to be annoying.

Those who knew Andrea found it weird. Despite being a silent girl who only focused on her studies, the people around her knew that Andrea was a friendly little girl, but somehow, after her accident, she had changed. Even her parents found it strange. After being discharged from the hospital, she asked her parents to let her train in taekwondo. She also quit her piano and violin lessons, and every night, whenever her mother would check if she was studying her lessons, she found Andrea studying a foreign language instead.

A day after the periodical exams, Dr. Victoria Fuentebella received a call from Andrea's school and told her to come over. She was then informed that Andrea got an almost perfect in all of her exam papers.

"You think my daughter is cheating?" she asked, but she felt uneasy. She had never seen her daughter study her lessons the past few days.

"It's not that Dr. Fuentebella, we are just a little surprised at Andrea's performance." said Andrea's homeroom teacher.

"Hasn't she always been the top of her grade? What's wrong with that?"

"Well, only one mistake on all her exam papers seems a bit-"

"I'll retake the exam then." Andrea voiced out. She was getting annoyed at the debate the 'grown ups' had been dong in front of her. "I can take it right here right now with all of you watching. What's wrong with getting such a score anyway?"

Andrea sighed. If this was back in the demon kingdom, such an argument would've been thrown out the window, as well as the one who reported it.

Her mother, the principal and the teachers agreed to let her retake the exam on all subjects. They were even more surprised when she perfected all of it.

What a scary child indeed.