As Lumi stands in front of us, I pull Yuna onto the bed and lay her next to me. “Alright… are you two ready?”

  Lumi shakes her head. “Asking me if I’m ready? I think the only one who should be asked that is you and Yuna. You’re the ones risking your lives.”

  Yuna is at least encouraging, propping herself up on her elbows to face her. “No… it’ll hurt, but we will make it. I trust Salka’s plan…”

  Nodding to her, I take over. “Remember, it’s simple what we need to do. We try to prove her to be the Revenant. If she refuses, we threaten her with calling the Other into her world, and if we think it is a Revenant, we tell her she’ll never be allowed into our world and stand our ground.”

  Lumi nods to herself. “Because if she were one, she’d leave for other prey, knowing we’re useless. She can’t take over a body if we refuse.”

  “Exactly. And if she isn’t, she’ll stay and most likely break down, but we can handle that without letting her through.”

  Yuna sounds a bit confused. “So… I get why you’re bringing me along, I’m the key to her world… but what’s Lumi’s job?”

  She pouts at that, crossing her arms. “Yeah! I mean… not that I want to deal with more other worlds, but still, I’d rather be there to help.”

  Smiling at her as best as I can… even if it’s a fake smile, I respond. “Well your job is no less important. Make us the best comfort foods you can, a full feast, because one way or another Yuna’s gonna need a good meal after the stress of all this.”

  Her eyes widen. “What?! What if you don’t-”

  Smirking, I cut her off. “Oh, and maybe get a warm bath ready, and the fluffiest blankets, just the whole nine yards for her.”

  Sighing, she just shakes her head and turns away. “Alright alright, fine. You’re not wrong, at least. Now go and get this done, and you better come back to enjoy this food or else I’ll drag you back here myself.”

  We smile, and Yuna nods. “Of course… love you sis.”

  “Love you too, Yuna.”

  As she walks out, Yuna and I lay back in the bed, closing our eyes. “...Schism, Mordret, Kime.”

  Feeling a sharp pain in my chest and head, I pass out, Yuna following suit after me.

  ***

  Opening them, we’re on the bed again. And as I sit up, I hear Salka getting up next to me.

  “It worked… you’re here too!”

  She chuckles a bit, climbing out of bed. “Why does it get you so excited?”

  Following behind her, I shrug. “Well… you get to actually meet her, I guess. At least you’ll have a face to the name.”

  A slight frown appears on her face. “...I already have.”

  Before I can correct my mistake, her expression hardens. “She’s growing impatient, the room is getting smaller.”

  Looking about, I realize she’s right. The ceiling is starting to touch my ears now. Quickly we leave the room and look around…

  The once cozy house feels cold, my tail curling around my leg. “Cold… what the…”

  “Where might she be?”

  Looking about, I sigh. “...gotta be the roof. Where she spent the most time with me.”

  Leading her up, she gestures to the mirrors and dodges their line of sight easily, and of course I follow suit.

  It just crossed my mind… I don’t even know what that spell she had me use did.

  ‘Which… I should be more concerned about it. My chest feels weird, almost hollow, and aching. But… Mira is more important. Some pain in my chest is much less important than our lives… unless it’s a heart attack that claims my life.’

  Climbing out the window and onto the roof, I’m surrounded by an endless void… it’s so big… I can see stars so distant in the sky but not above us… below us.

  ‘Are we above the night sky? Are we in space? Is this what Mira spoke about before she died, the cosmos?’

  Feeling a hand on my shoulder snaps me out of it, making me realize that my breath is frosting in the air ahead of me.

  Nodding to Salka, she nods in return, before I look at Mira.

  She’s sitting at the edge of the roof, dangling her legs over the side casually. As if there isn’t an endless void ahead of her. Something she’d never had done when she was alive.

  “Mira.”

  I can hear the smile in her voice as she speaks. “Big sis~ you brought your friend along~?”

  “Ah, yes. I thought you might like to meet her. This is-”

  Salka cuts me off, her voice deep and professional, as if she were speaking to a boss, not my sister. “I’m sure she doesn’t need any introductions. I’m well aware of who she is as well… Revenant.”

  My heart clenches at that, and I stare at Mira with bated breath.

  Speaking with an annoyed tone, she doesn’t turn. “...hm, I’m Mira. But, you’re right, I don’t need any introduction.”

  Standing up, she wipes off her white skirt, before turning to look at us with a small smile. “After all, you’re big sis’ mate, aren’t you?”

  My heart skips a beat as I freeze, suddenly thankful my tail is wrapped around my leg to hide how oddly happy that sentence makes me.

  Salka surprisingly doesn’t react. Not that I should be too disappointed, she’s spent so much time with Lumi lately, it’s fitting. Plus, it’s not the time anyways. “No, I’m not Lumi’s.”

  That catches me off guard. Aren’t we trying to catch her off guard, be on point? How, if you’re going to talk about your love life and then misunderstand who she’s speaking about?

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Mira seems upset, her tail flicking and eye twitching. “No, I’m not talking about Lumi you dummy, I’m talking about big sis! Yuna!”

  Sal… just smiles politely, the first emotion she’s shown in here, and cocks her head like Lumi does, Mira’s hand tapping in frustration. ‘She’s never been upset with me before… and now she’s fuming with Sal? And why is she smiling, does she want her pissed? She’s still my sister as far as we know, I don’t want to make her mad.’

  I am tempted to intrude… but feeling how the air starts to warm back up, I change my mind. That smile of hers, she must be onto something… wait, I think I get it. If she gets upset, she’ll reveal something!

  “Well, how could I have known? After all, you’ve got one big sis, and one bigger sis. Obviously, I’d assume you were talking about Lumi.”

  Mira glares at her, before shaking her head. “Well answer already, are you dating Yuna?”

  “No, no. I’m not.”

  We both let out a breath… heh, cute. Though I don’t know why I’m relieved.

  Sal turns and looks at me, looking me up and down in my sweater and sweats… making me blush and my heart race a little.

  Her voice is suddenly cold and cruel. “...not my type, though. I can’t handle so much heat, and she’s tall, harder to sneak around, and so clumsy too. Good for moving heavy things but that’s as far as a body like that is good.”

  My heart sinks and my eyes widen. “W-what?”

  Mira’s voice cuts through the air like a blade through fresh bread, an underlying threat to her tone. “Don’t be so mean to her! Her body is perfect!”

  Sal turns to her, raising an eyebrow with a small frown. “Oh yeah? How so?”

  Stomping up to Sal, Mira rapidly fires off words, as if she’s thought it all through before. “She’s strong, stronger than even you are! She’s also got such a pretty body, perfect to get anyone~ It’s got a fluffy tail to help warm up, but not too long to be a weakness that can’t be tucked into clothes, and ears for amazing hearing~ not to mention the night vision all cats have, and the unassuming look that people would take her for weak for, all perfect~”

  Suddenly, Salka grins. “Why yes, that is all true. Couldn’t have said it better myself.”

  “What?” Mira’s eyes look up at her in confusion, and so do I.

  ‘Wait… she called me an “it”, and those weren’t traits unique to me, those were all my physical traits. Almost as if she were sizing me up…’

  Feeling a shiver run down my spine, I take half a step back.

  “You described such general things even you have, why bother? Unless… you’re not really the neko they adopted.”

  “Hmph, you asked so I answered, and I’m talking to a non-cat anyways.”

  Smirking, she leans in close. “Well, I will admit that’s true… but, then there’s how you are with Lumi.”

  Mira looks ready to punch her, before Sal backs away calmly and walks next to me, standing and facing Mira before continuing.

  “See, I learned about you. That the others loved you, that you died and they were torn up inside. That it was Lumi who adopted you to begin with. And yet… you treat her like trash, you try to draw a divide between her and Yuna, denying her as your sister. So subtly I almost didn’t notice it. And even just seeing me mimic her motions set you on edge.”

  My eyes widen. She went that far, to mimic her to make her upset? She knows us that well?

  Salka turns to look at me. “Isn’t that right? Or am I just overthinking things?”

  Slowly, I nod. “...she was generally avoiding her subject… and talking me up but ignoring her… initially she said she couldn’t speak to her…”

  Smiling, Salka turns back to Mira. “Or, well, more likely it’s that she wasn’t a good enough host. Or as you would likely put it… She’s weak, with too long of a tail, a conventionally unnatractive body to gather new hosts, and no strength to speak of.”

  Mira glares at us, but I hold out hope we’re wrong. That she’s just protective of me as a little sister should, that the year apart caused this.

  But as she begins to laugh, my hopes are shattered. “Haha… hahaha…. Hahahahaha! Ohhh, you’re impressive.”

  My heart feels cold and held in a vice as I stare at her. “M-mira…”

  “Fine, I’ll admit it. I’m Revenant. You are sharper than a tack, that’s for sure. No wonder you managed to defeat Mordret and save my prey~”

  Smirking, Sal speaks. “Are you sure you should be saying his name so much? What if he appears?”

  As she grins, she slowly walks towards us, her head cocking back and forth as if mocking us. “Mordret, Mordret, Mordret.” Pausing, she grins wider. “See? Nothing happened. Because he doesn’t want to die.”

  Tears fall, even despite knowing it was fake, I can’t help but long for that bond to be real. “M-mira… why? Why would you do this…?”

  Smiling, she leans in close to me, suddenly her face right in my own and her feet floating off the floor. Even Salka is stunned, staggering back at the sudden closeness.

  “Why… because I wanted your body. Your consent. But… will you even give it to me now? I mean, it would make all of this better, make all the pain go away.”

  “N-no… I-i”

  “Even if I give you Salka? If I let you have her for one night, before I take control? Let you live one last time before you join me?”

  My body quivers and shakes, my heart racing… it feels like I’m facing a giant, my entire body screaming at me to give in. Knowing that running would never work in her world, nor would fighting back.

  ‘But… but… I promised them… I promised Salka… I promised Lumi… that I would make it back… that I would survive…’

  Slowly, I gain control of my limbs again. My hands twitch and move, my breath in my chest can be felt.

  And imagining how betrayed Salka would feel if I gave in…

  My heart beats with my love for them.

  “...no.”

  “...pardon me? What was that?”

  The weight is back on me, even worse than before. I can’t even feel my tongue, my entire being giving into her astronomical will.

  Is this what they mean, by the abyss staring back?

  Suddenly, a warm hand grabs my own. Sal, standing by my side and giving me her will.

  Fighting against this monster of my own creation.

  “...no, I refuse. We refuse to be part of your game… Revenant.”

  Mira stares at me amazed, before laughing and shaking her head. “Haha… oh, my oh my, what was it? What made you think you could even survive denying me so wholly? Well… no matter…”

  A sudden sense of foreboding fills my body, my fur standing on end… as something big is standing behind Mira.

  She speaks, but I can’t even hear it over the sheer primal terror in my bones, knowing there’s no chance of fighting that… thing.

  Not just big, but the house we’re on is only as big as its eye, and Mira is just a lure in front of it.

  “Such a shame… now I’ll tear your souls apart, and leave for new hosts. It was fun while it lasted, but oh well. Just know… Yuna…”

  As she leans in close, her lips don’t move, and the next words come from all around me. Not words… just guttural hymns, yet I understand them just the same.

  “It’s all your fault.”

  Suddenly, I feel a hand tear through my ribs and grab my heart, stilling it’s beating before crushing it, sending me through throes of pain and agony.

  But somehow, I’m not dead as I hit the floor. Instead, I see a shadow looming over me, before feeling something cut beneath my skin, beneath my flesh.

  Severing the skin in one slow, painful layer, as if trying to keep it preserved to tan.

  And cruelly, I don’t die.

  I’m flipped over, unable to scream, before she climbs atop me and moves the knife into my ribs.

  I wish I could die, I wish it would end already.

  But it doesn’t.

  My lungs are finally popped, I can’t breathe yet continue to live.

  She moves the blade to my face.

  I used to think there’s a point where no pain registers anymore… but no… no, pain keeps ramping.

  My entire mind is in pain.

  All I have left to hang onto is Salka, knowing she’s nearby and likely either dead or watching.

  Probably dead.

  And it’s my fault for not telling her. For all of this.

  As my eyes see the blade enter slowly behind one and pull it out, then the other, I recognize…

  Maybe I deserve this… for leading her to her death with me… and for letting Lumi down…

  ___

  …well, that just happened.

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