Wait, are you a...?!

Mari blinked, or at least, she would have if she had eyelids. If you've ever heard of a phantom limb, that's what she was experiencing right now, except that instead of feeling a missing limb, she could feel her entire missing body.

Even odder was the fact that she could see, technically, though all she saw was blinding white light from every direction as if she was in a room with the purest white walls which overwhelmed her senses and left her feeling concussed. "If this is heaven, it's awful."

"Don't you know that those who commit suicide are thrown into hell, girl?" came a voice that was speaking as if straight from her own mind, but her thoughts never carried a male voice nor did they have a strange echo that seemed to bounce around her non-existent head. If she could lay down to stop the feeling of dizziness, she would. How did she even feel dizzy without a head, to begin with?!

Mari couldn't help herself, she was so consumed with the voice that she could sense a bubbling sensation of humor and excitement somewhere within whatever she was. "A ROB?!"

"..." the voice was silent for a moment, and while Mari would have gushed over meeting a ROB years ago and surely would have annoyed them with asking anything and everything that came into her mind, right now she had one question.

"So, this is hell? Less fire, more… whiteness, than I imagined." She didn't know what this being could sense from her if anything, but she joked around despite her consciousness panicking. She couldn't be in hell, or in heaven, or anywhere else permanent. She had somewhere to be… Yes!

Nonchalantly, she shared her thoughts. "I have somewhere to be."

"Ah, yes, which is why you yeeted yourself off of the tallest office building you could find." said the voice condescending.

"Did you seriously just use the word yeeted?"

"Ahum. I am trying to speak your… language."

"Yeet is an old person's word. My grandmother used yeet."

Mari could sense the ROB's exasperation growing, finally, he spoke again.

"Moving on…"

"Where am I?" Mari asked, interrupting before the being could speak.

"In your tongue, you would call this plane The Nexus."

"The Nexus? For something so…" the ROB interrupted her. "This is but one area of The Nexus and the only area that you are allowed in and will soon be leaving."

This gave her a spark of hope. "Leaving! Can I choose where and when I'll go?"

"Hum…" she waited until the voice echoed through her again. "You will be able to do so in a way, yes. I have not seen a human as foolish as you in such a long time and yet, your heart is pure. You will not be sent to Hades quite yet."

She hoped that she was transmitting the feeling of relief to the being, as she couldn't nod her head or give them a grateful smile, and yet she also did not want to interrupt, while she enjoyed their banter she only cared about the future right now.

"Who do you wish to be, girl? Where do you wish to go?"

"You already know who I am and what I want."

"I do, and yet, my knowing does not give you any feeling of power over your choices. You must make them and commit to them fully, as only you can do."

Mari understood. What she wanted... Only she had wanted and she could not depend on anyone to make her choices for her, to speak them into existence, or to make them a reality. Not even a ROB. "Wait, do I get a system?"

"..."

Mari would have laughed if she could and she wondered just how much this being knew about the novels she read, she also had a flash of memory of some of her favorite shipping fanfics she had read and she was thankful she didn't have a face at the moment, for she would be red with embarrassment even in her old age. "I guess not…"

"Your guess is correct, however, for your sacrifice and for the reason behind your journey… I will give you something to help you."

"...Thank you." she transmitted to the being as sincerely as she could. "What are you giving me?"

"What you did not have before."

"There was a lot I did not have before."

"What you have always wanted."

"...There is a lot that I have always wanted."

"There is a young woman being operated on right now. The doctors will not be able to save her." the ROB's voice in her head was solemn. "This is her time, but you, girl. Your time was not up yet."

"There was no reason for me to continue that life."

"Hum…" the ROB echoed for a moment and Mari wondered if they were somehow watching the scene they spoke of. "You will be taking over her body and her life, but your mind will stay your own as will your soul. The heart is a powerful organ but the soul is what will guide you."

"To my son…" she thought with warmth and also sadness.

Mari nervously transmitted a question she was afraid to ask. "Will I be able to save him?"

"If I say no, would you still try?"

"Of course."

"Then there is no reason for me to answer."

Mari was not comforted by the being's answer, yet she understood that earlier and even now, they were keeping her responsible for her past as well as her future.

She considered her words carefully. "My wish is to return to Earth with a body capable of achieving what I want and with enough time to do so. I want to prevent my son's murder."

"Now go."

"Wa-" but before her thoughts even finished, Mari had a feeling as if the universe was collapsing in on itself and swallowing her whole as if she was falling into nothingness until she blinked and another white room came into her vision with a blinding light shining so brightly that she couldn't fully open her eyelids, plus there was a heaviness covering her right eye.

"Doctor, she's coming to!" said a panicked female voice. "What?! That shouldn't be possible yet," he quickly shouted to someone. "Rista! The patient is waking up! Give her another shot!"

"Y-Yes!"

The sounds were fuzzy in her ears and Mari still couldn't see, but she could hear the rushed walk of the nurse on the floor and could feel the steel of the needle before the feeling of the drug overwhelmed her and sent her into a dreamless sleep.