Your Sister Is Alive

<I need you to breathe. Just breathe in deeply.>

She actually follows its advice.

<Now breathe out.>

She does.

<Better?>

"Not really."

<Then keep breathing. Don't stop breathing. Your life is far from over. We will get through this. Believe me.>

"How? My whole family is in danger. My sister's… gone. And me, I'm-I'm stuck here. I'm just sitting here waiting to be killed. How can I believe you? And to think that for a second I thought I could save her, when I won't even be able to save myself."

<Your family is in danger but I believe you're the one who's in the most immediate danger.>

"Is that supposed to sound reassuring?"

<Well, sort of. You have the fear that your sister and parents will be taken from you, don't you?>

She doesn't say anything in response. Of course she is! But she doesn't want to say it out loud. She doesn't want to think of the possibility of them being dead.

<First, your parents said they would be back tomorrow. So let's believe in them. Second, I strongly believe your sister is alive.>

Juno freezes.

Your sister is alive. No one has said it. Not even her moms. Everyone's been saying we'll find her. But, will we find her alive? Or dead?

Only this snake has said that she is still alive.

<Actually, it makes sense. We know our enemy is powerful. It wouldn't be hard for someone like them to kill your sister. So why go through the trouble of kidnapping when it's so much more work? I think the main reason is that this was a warning. Or to mess with your state of mind. Still if they wanted just that then they would just have to kill her and show you her dead body. But they haven't. So there must also be another reason. Perhaps, Mila will be useful to them in another way or they are waiting for the right time. There must be a reason why she has been declared missing and not dead.>

She starts trembling once again. Hearing all of that was not as reassuring as the snake thought it would have sounded.

Juno is just an ordinary girl.

She's the one who's the most scared.

She's the one with everything at stake.

<Sorry, my point being that she's still alive. For now. I don't know how much longer, I can only assume it's until they make their next move. But we can't let them, we have to be prepared. That's the only way we can save everyone, including ourselves.>

"Do-do you really believe w-we have a chance of saving her and ourselves?"

<Yes. As soon as we regain our strength. We'll be unstoppable.>

"And when will that be?"

<Hopefully soon. I can feel my powers coming back but slowly. It's bizarre but this gives me hope that even though our enemy is strong, they're not as strong as us. Since they had to do all of this, they weren't confident they could overpower us. And we still have to wait for all my siblings to reawaken. I just hope that won't take too long. But we still have the help from that girl.>

"Eve…"

<If she is who she says she is, which seems true, then she will be a great help.>

Juno isn't sure how to feel about the whole situation with Eve. Trying to process that someone has been watching 'over' her is not easy. Then again, so is trying to process the fact that there's snakes growing out of her head!

Eve did give her this hair tie.

But is a magical hair tie enough to trust someone?

Doubts in her heart and unrest in the mind. It's all irrelevant because Juno is desperate.

For now she will hope that Eve does help.

"Since we're ugh, stuck together, what should I call you?"

<Asking for my name, finally? You can call me…>

"Yes?"

<My name is Nodoorrr- No wait, it's Noo…dra er- hold on.>

"C-could it be you don't remember?"

It makes a loud hiss that makes her shiver, <Unbelievable! Was it not enough to take my powers and memories!? But now my name as well! Although, names DO hold power. More power than you would think. But when we find out who ever did this, I'm going to rip them completely apart! Nothing will be left! Haven't I been shamed enough!?>

Juno didn't think it could be so violent.

Almost hesitating she asks, "Well, um why don't I call you something else until you remember?"

<That's fine.>

She thinks for a moment before coming up with, "Noodles."

<Excuse me??!>

"It sounded like you were trying to say noodles."

<I was most certainly not?? A food? Is this a joke?>

"Also, for some reason I'm craving them."

<Take this seriously!>

"I am and it's only temporary, right?"

<Right. Fine. Yes. Whatever.>

She lies back down and sighs deeply.

"What can I do now?"

<Not much, just focus on getting better.>

Getting better huh? Juno doesn't want to go back to sleep nor does she want to eat more of this crappy hospital food.

"Can I ask why you showed me those broken memories? Or was it unintentional?"

<I wasn't actually sure if it was going to work. But the first one was my most precious memory, it's of our Lady. It's so precious that it wasn't completely 'erased' but some parts were blurred and hidden.>

"It did feel like there were parts missing."

<And the second one wasn't precious but it was important. It's a creature we've faced before, my siblings and our past… host. I can't remember his name, only some parts of his face.>

//Was that why it felt like I was there but in the wrong body?//

<But this creature was so shocking that even though I can't remember what it is exactly, I know how powerful it is. How terrifying it is. That memory was so incredibly intertwined within me that even our enemy can't completely remove it. Also, out of all my forgotten memories, this one was the most tampered with. The enemy did not want me to know what it was, at all costs.>

"Does this mean th-that this thing is our enemy?"

<It could be. Or it could be being used by our enemy. I don't know which one is worse.>

Juno let's all of that sink in.

<I hope that girl comes here soon, may she has a better idea of what it could be. I only remember the feeling I had back then, I cannot recall the name or what it looks like. I'm out of my element.>

Juno has no idea when she's going to show up but she vaguely recalls her saying tomorrow. All they can really do is wait. She turns on the television but there's nothing interesting on, she wishes she still had her phone.

She finally settles on a show to watch but doesn't really pay much attention, she's too focused on thinking about everything that has gone wrong in her life. She's startled out of her thoughts when she hears a light knock.

"Hello? May I come inside?"