I lay on my bed, eyes tracing the ceiling, my thoughts drifting back to my conversation with Isadora earlier after we got back in the apartment.
By her own admission, this single week might have been the most enjoyable stretch of her entire existence.
Given her personality, nothing about her behavior had struck me as unusual. And yet, looking back now, there was something quietly remarkable about those days.
She cleaned without being asked, kept the apartment in order, even cooked for me, as if these ordinary tasks were second nature.
I vaguely remembered her explaining it once, her tone casual, almost detached. She said she felt strangely at peace performing these mundane chores.
Things she had never done in her previous world. Back then, she was always on the move, drifting like a phantom with no destination, no reason to pause.
From the moment of her birth, her life had been a constant journey, following the man who had given her form, moving from place to place, never lingering long enough to put down roots.
And yet, despite the man's unyielding compassion.
His endless attempts to cheer her up even after many years.
She had always been unsure of herself, unable to fill the empty void that had haunted her for decades. Even fragments of Ankh's memories offered no connection to her, no solace.
The only day she had truly shown any slight change, was the day he reached his final moments. Still, he tried to cheer her, his only regret is the unfulfilled wish of seeing the one he had been pursuing one last time.
What followed left her reeling. She felt nothing but disgust, confusion, and anger at herself after committing what she now recognized as one of her gravest acts.
Absorbing the body of a dying man that took care of her just because she desires emotions.
She kept asking herself.
Wasn't she a monster? Wasn't she supposed not to care?
Then why was she crying?
He was just an idiot, an idiot who never knew how to stay still when people were in trouble.
As his essence and memories flooded into her, she broke down. She cried until there was nothing left, until the weight of it all threatened to drown her completely.
For a month, she watched the sea, his words echoing endlessly in her mind.
If there's a hand reaching out for help, and I don't reach out when I can, the regret would make me wish I were dead.
So I reach out my hand, because I don't want that.
Following that, a hooded man appeared out of nowhere. He never gave his name. He simply offered her something she couldn't easily refuse—
Something that stirred the greed buried deep within her.
A sense of purpose
He brought her elsewhere, to a place steeped in darkness. It only began to lighten when she saw a familiar face. Younger. Unscarred. His smile was the same as ever, unchanged from before his journey began.
She watched him become OOO for the first time. Watched him fight the Greeed. Watched him throw himself into danger to save others, even when Ankh refused to give him the medals. Every time he heard the cries of the helpless, he ignored his own safety without hesitation.
Seeing those memories was nothing like merely knowing them. Experiencing them was entirely different.
Even before he wiped out the Greeed for good, he never changed.
He was always the same man.
He even changed a stubborn Greeed, allowing it to experience the very satisfaction it had been searching for all along.
When the hooded man told her she would be sent to another world.
A place where danger lurked at every turn. His voice carried the same weight as before. Once again, he presented the offer, unchanged from the last time.
She didn't hesitate to accept.
After witnessing how that man saved the world, she asked herself a single question:
Would I be able to make him proud if I did the same?
That was the moment she decided to follow his path.
A wide smile spread across her face as she stared down, feeling the warmth of the broken Core Medal resting in her hand.
========
Several days after our visit to Mato, I was back at it again—but this time, in a remote, well-hidden cave. I was currently in my Tatoba form.
"HAAAA!" I shouted, swinging at the spider-like Shuuki crawling above me.
Even after returning to work, I hadn't stopped training myself to get used to the suit. With Isadora watching from the sidelines, the Shuukis simply refused to come near her.
"Try this," she said, tossing a yellow medal my way.
I caught it and saw a cheetah etched into the medal's surface. With a flick of the wrist, I swapped it with the grasshopper medal I'd been using.
[𝕋𝕒𝕜𝕒]
[𝕋𝕠𝕣𝕒]
[ℂ𝕙𝕖𝕖𝕥𝕒𝕙]
Light enveloped me once more, but nothing seemed to change. Except my legs, they were now the same golden yellow as my torso.
Testing it out, I ran at the same pace I used with the grasshopper form. but the speed was several times faster.
I darted around the cave, dodging every attack with ease, weaving through the Shuukis as though I were dancing. They couldn't even hope to catch me.
Having tried most of the medals, I discovered an incredible variety of abilities: the lion medal could summon a blinding beam of light, the gorilla medal granted pure brute strength, and the praying mantis medal summoned sharp bladed weapons in both hands. Each medal added a new twist and lots of possibilities for each situation.
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Author's Note:
Welcome to Derry