I woke up choking on sand.
Again.
The heat hit me first—a dry, suffocating blanket pressing down from all sides. My tongue felt like it had been left in an oven. Blinking against the glare, I saw the same endless desert, the same cruel sun.
How many times now?
Then—
A shadow fell over me.
"You really like making me come find you, huh?"
The voice was soft, amused, but with an edge that made the air around us thrum. I turned my head, sand sticking to my cheek, and saw her.
Ame_ree.
Her hair—those impossible strands of lavender and peach-pink—framed a face that shouldn't exist. One second her eyes burned red like dying stars, the next they pulsed violet, warping the very air around her gaze.
That oversized blue jacket swallowed her whole, sleeves covering her hands. The scarf around her neck—peach and blue, impossibly soft-looking—brushed my arm as she crouched next to me.
I tried to speak. What came out was a croak.
She rolled her eyes—literally rolled them, the colors shifting from red to purple as she did—and pulled a canteen from nowhere. "Drink first. Whine later."
The water was cold enough to hurt my teeth. I didn't care. When I came up for air, she was watching me with that unreadable look again.
"You still don't remember," she said. Not a question.
"Remember what?" My voice sounded raw.
Instead of answering, she stood and nodded toward the horizon. I followed her gaze—and my stomach dropped. An gateway
The moment I looked at the gateway my memories hit me like a truck.
Flashes of chaos. Nyanners' manic laughter echoing through some neon-lit battlefield. Ame_ree—standing in front of me, hands glowing violet as she screamed, "REWRITE: SYSTEM REBOOT!"
Then—nothing.
Just sand.
Just this.
I doubled over, clutching my head as the migraine spiked. The desert blurred. My stomach revolted.
Ame_ree—this Ame_ree—just watched. Her scarf fluttered in that unnatural wind.
"You remember now, huh?" she said. "By the look on your face."
I barely managed a nod.
She sighed, crouching in front of me again. "Let me explain," she said, her voice quieter now. "I'm an Ame_ree from a different timeline. Better said—a different universe."
My breath hitched.
"I'm not the same Ame_ree you just fought alongside," she continued. Her eyes flickered red, then purple. "And yes. She's dead. I felt it the moment it happened. That's why I came to help."
The words punched through me. Dead. My Ame_ree was—
She must've seen my expression, because her ears (dog ears, I just now noticed) twitched. "Didn't expect Nyanners there, though," she muttered, almost to herself. "That complicates things."
I finally found my voice. "What—what happened?"
She crouched in front of me, her oversized sleeves brushing the sand. "I used a Reality Reversion spell," she said, her voice calm but heavy. "But here's the thing..."
Her purple eyes pulsed as they studied me. "You're not from this universe. Not even from this timeline. That's why the reversion only brought you back this far." A faint, knowing smile touched her lips. "Interesting, isn't it? How reality bends differently for outsiders?"
Before I could respond, reality itself screamed.
A hand tore through the air like shattering glass, fingers clawing at the fabric of space. The desert split apart, and Nyanners stepped through as casually as someone walking through a doorway.
"Running away and changing reality..." Nyanners tutted, her voice dripping with mock disappointment. "Such a coward move, doggirl."
Ame_ree was already on her feet. When I looked up, both her eyes burned hellish red, the air around her shimmering with heat distortion.
"Astro," she said, her voice now layered with something ancient and furious. "When I say run... you run."
Nyanners grinned, cracking her knuckles. "Oh this should be fun~"
Nyanners' grin stretched impossibly wide, her form flickering between humanoid and something...else. "And doggirl fighting an eldritch goddess?" She licked her lips, eyes glowing with cosmic hunger. "Let's see who wins~"
Ame_ree didn't hesitate. "ASTRO, RUN NOW!"
Her left eye blazed violet as she tore open a swirling purple portal with one hand. Her right eye burned crimson as she intercepted Nyanners' ice beam mid-air - the frozen death shattering against her palm in a spray of glittering shards.
I stumbled backward toward the portal, the heat of Ame's power searing my skin.
Just as I crossed the threshold, the portal began collapsing. My chest tightened.
"DON'T DIE, YOU HEAR ME?" My voice cracked with something raw and desperate.
Through the closing rift, I saw Ame_ree turn - just for a heartbeat. Her usual cocky smirk softened into something real. One last smile, warm as sunrise, before violet light swallowed everything.
The portal snapped shut with a sound like breaking glass.
Darkness.