hush"
"shhhhh"
"wake up"
"wake up!!!"
Yueyao let out a gasp, she staring up, eyes met eyes.
"Why am I seeing myself right now?"
Above her is herself, is definitely herself, Yueyao sitting up . "Who are you ?"
It smiling then asked back "I am you.". Their eyes blinking in sync, suddenly it hoding her hands to stand her up and running to nowhere, she following her until the sky light up with clouds and sun. She cover her face with one hand…
"This feel so unreal.."
"Is it?". It smiling brightly. Yueyao can feel that "her" emotions is more…happy than her, she looking around this is so familiar…to her most.
The old mansion loomed at the edge of the forest, its tiled roof sagging under the weight of moss and years. Paper shoji doors hung torn and weathered, their frames warped by damp, while broken lanterns swayed faintly in the wind like hollow eyes. The garden had long since turned wild—stone paths swallowed by creeping ivy, koi ponds drained to cracked earth, and a once-proud torii gate leaning as though bowed in grief.
Yet there was still a hush about the place, an air too heavy to be mere ruin. Faint claw marks scarred the wooden pillars, and in the stillness one might imagine the rustle of tails brushing against the floor. The shadows seemed to linger too long in the corners, whispering of the event that once happened here— a tragic night she just want to forget about it.
Her eyes widen in realize each step she walk through the old building. The "herself" walk with her, talking about her past, her memories, her childhood, is so emotional but is too heavy when in her mind, she know she erased all of it. Erasing all those precious memories she have left.
She clutching her heart, it's hurt, she collapsed on her knees, tears streaming down her cheeks, she let out ragged breath, trying to breathing through her pain.
"I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry….im very sorry….". She clutching her thighs hard, let out a shaking breath that she holding.
"Stand up!".
Yueyao startled look at "herself".
"Why must you cry instead of simply letting it go!". Her voice cut through the air like a whip. She seized Yueyao by the arm and pulled her up roughly, forcing her to stand.
Yueyao staggered, her knees weak, her tear-streaked face pale under the flickering light. Her lips trembled as if she wanted to speak, but the words died in her throat.
"Do you think your tears will save you? Do you think weakness will change what has already been decided?" Her eyes burned with a cold fire, sharp and merciless.
In a flash, she suddenly pulled out a knife and press it on Yueyao palm. She whispered in her ears…
"End me…do whatever you think you need to do, to let it go…".
""To… to let it go?" Yueyao echoed, voice small and raw. "Yes. She is—she is all my memories, if I can make it stop. I can let everything go and live… without the guilt, I can be happy…like her"
Yueyao thinking, but she saw a faint figure like her mother sitting on her favourite chair far away inside the room, she listening to the rustling sound of leaf when she cleaning up the garden, the harmony of these daily moments, these memories..is too precious for her. That's what she have left about herself, her mother and memories.
A deep, resonant voice rose from nowhere, filling the air as if the night itself had begun to speak. "Do you truly believe it so easy—to let go, without a fight?"
The world around her seemed to dim again , shadows pressing close until all she could see was the flicker of fire. Out of that flame stepped a fox—vast, terrible, and magnificent. Its fur shimmered like burning embers, each strand alive with light and smoke, while nine great tails unfurled behind it, swaying like banners of fire.
Yueyao stumbling back, her eyes widen in horrifying, she trying to stand up to run but a chains coming from nowhere gripping her ankle and pull her back.
" You must face it," her voice thundered in her mind , low and inexorable. "Not flee. Will you run for the rest of your life?". The "herself" asked
Yueyao's double—her other self—stood before her, chain in one hand, knife in the other. With a sharp movement, she hurled them at Yueyao's feet. Her gaze was unshaken, her eyes firm, blazing with a strength Yueyao had always buried deep inside. There was no tremor in her voice, no weakness in her stance. She was every shard of anger, every fragment of strength Yueyao had tried to deny, staring back with merciless clarity.
Then the ancient voice rolled through the air, low and rumbling, shaking her bones. "How ridiculous the two of you look," it mocked, a cruel laugh echoing like thunder. "Do you not see, little girl? Submit to me, and I will make them pay. I will give you what you deserve."
The fox exhaled, its breath heavy with power. Yueyao felt it coil around her like a storm, pressing against her chest until her heart raced with fear.
"Make up your mind," her other self demanded, eyes cutting into her. "You are the one who decides. If you choose that beast, the world will vanish in the worst way. Don't trust its lies."
"Lies?" the fox snarled. "All I speak is truth—truth you refuse to face. Truth you cannot accept."
"Please, stop!" Yueyao clutched her head, the voices tearing at her mind.
"That creature only seeks to twist you. Hold firm!" her double shouted. "Don't let it in—don't listen!"
"Stop… stop, no one alive, no one alive!" Yueyao sobbed, curling to the ground, the storm of voices breaking her apart. Tears spilled freely as her body shook.
"YUEYAO! Don't listen to it!"
The clash of voices thundered in her skull until she could bear no more. She buried her face against her knees, trembling, crying out between broken breaths.
"Please… stop… I can't—I can't… It's enough. Enough…".
Yueyao sobbed in silence, arms wrapped tightly around herself as she rocked back and forth. The motion was so achingly familiar. Yes—her mother used to do the same whenever sorrow weighed too heavily. But now there was no one left to hold her. Now, she had to be her own comfort.
"No one alive, no one….no one alive left..".
"Tch…" Her other self rubbed her face, annoyance and frustration flickering in her eyes. This was the worst moment—when Yueyao was drowning in her own emotions. The perfect timing for that creature to seize control.
Dark clouds began to engulf the vast space—thick, churning, alive. Then it moved, lunging at her like an enraged predator. Yueyao couldn't breathe; the weight of it pressed against her chest, smothering, inevitable.
"Submit to me,:and you will have what you truly worth for"
The cloud grabbing her by the throat and pull her up, the fox now is gripping her shoulder tightly and whispered.
"You belong to me, a perfect vessel ever…".
It slowly consumes her, her eyes going dark, there is no spark in there anymore.
"She giving up"
"Giving up"
"Giving up"
"clang!"
A sudden clang of metal jolted her awake. She blinked against a piercing light slicing through the darkness, revealing "herself," reaching desperately toward Yueyao, trying to pull her from the depths.
"Come on!"
Yueyao hesitated, her hand trembling in the void.
"I can't… I can't. No one's alive anymore. There's no point—"
"Then be grateful that you're still alive!"
Yueyao froze. The words struck harder than the water around her.
"If your family knew you were doing this… do you think they'd be happy?"
"You're living! Not merely surviving!"
For a heartbeat, Yueyao was stunned. Then, slowly, almost instinctively, her hands reached out to grasp hers. But the cloud around her writhed violently, tearing at her arms, suffocating her.
And in an instant, "herself" shoved her deep into the water from nowhere. The ocean swallowed Yueyao, dragging her down into its relentless, dark embrace.
""When we meet next time, I hope you've found the strength to give yourself a real chance… and I promise, I'll be there to see it."