We were all in the living room. There were only a few days left until the carnival began. I did some more research. Apparently, a legend of a "daughter of light" who would rule like no one else in all of history was circulating in the country. But it was very convenient that, just when we had the government cornered, they suddenly announced that they had found the supposed daughter of light. And what was worse, a supposedly democratic government was going to become a monarchy. Apparently, even while fleeing, they wanted to annoy the inhabitants with an incompetent girl and, probably, her equally incompetent children.
While thinking about that, I received a message from Celia. Apparently, she had sent the same message to both Axel and me. It read: "I need you to come. There are some things I want to tell you since I met you and, since we might die in the next few days, I want to leave knowing that I didn't hide anything from you." Thinking about the message, I felt that this could explain her behavior. At first, when we met her, she was very distrustful and found it difficult to socialize. Although Nadia is similar, it was noticeable that she enjoyed it, but Celia at first always asked if what we were doing was the right thing, if we weren't the same as the people we were killing. Her face, when doing simple tasks like rescuing people from trafficking, or burning money from illegal businesses, didn't show joy. It showed confusion, as if she didn't know what expression to make. She might have been a little similar to Axel; perhaps she also didn't know very well what was right and wrong. Anyway, these were just conjectures. If she was going to tell me something, better today. Or never.
A few hours later, it was nighttime. In the back of the house, it was just the three of us: Axel, me, and Celia, who seemed too nervous.
"You may have thought my behavior was strange at first," Celia said. "The reason is that... it's that... I'm sorry, friends, could you promise me that, even if I tell you what I'm going to tell you, our relationship won't change?" As she said that, some tears could be seen welling up, but Celia didn't want to look at us. Instead, she looked down, as if she considered herself inferior.
"Hey, calm down," Axel said, with his typical smile. "I promise you nothing is going to change between us."
"Celia, I don't know what you're going to tell us, but I'll do my best to see you as I always have," I said, putting my hand on her head.
"Okay," she said, wiping her tears. You could tell she was sad, but she was more stable. "I have memories of a past life and I'm very sure it was me."
Auren and Axel remained silent. They had an indescribably confused expression.
"And in that life, I did terrible things for a simple revenge," Celia continued. "Many people died because of me, and to this day I deeply regret what I did. That's why, at the beginning, my father, the leader of the resistance, Specter, instructed me on these values that we all follow. For some reason, I became more conscious and less blind about right and wrong. That's why I asked a lot if what we were doing was the right thing, because I didn't feel worthy of even being a good person," Celia said, her voice breaking.
"So you're saying that life after death exists and, besides, you were a bad person in your past life," I said, with a calming serenity. "Can you please tell us your previous name?"
Celia hesitated.
"I... I'm sorry, but I don't think I can say it. I'm very sorry," she said, bowing in apology.
"You weren't a mustachioed painter from back in the ...?" Axel said in a humorous tone to lighten the mood.
Celia interrupted him immediately.
"No, of course not! If I had been him, I would have had a major depression that I wouldn't have gotten out of. And besides that, in my previous life I was also a woman. But that's in the past now. Please tell me if you can keep the promise," she said with a look of concern.
Auren and Axel hugged her.
"Please, everything will be as before, don't even doubt it," they both said.
"The important thing is how much you've improved as a person," I told her. "You're a thousand times better than your past self. You should be proud, Celia."
In the middle of the hug, Celia, with a smile full of tears, said, "Thank you for being my friends. Seriously, thank you."
At that moment, it felt like those nostalgic school days.