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Ymir was a land more often than not covered in white snow. Even during Summer, the nights had a tendency to pile up some snow that wouldn’t melt during the day. Today however, things were not like they usually were. The bright and cloudy day had taken a sudden sudden turn for the worse as snow began to harshly blow across the forest. The fierce winds didn’t just burn their skins with the cold, but clouded their vision with the snow.
The scathing blizzard however, turned out to be the least of today’s problems.
“Elise get back!”
“▅▅▅!!!!!!!!!!” The monster growled as it’s wild eyes watched over its prey carefully. It’s eyes betrayed a hint of hunting intellect. The small weapon I kept to cut down firewood for Ymir’s residents and just in case, stray monsters didn’t seem like it would be very effective, but better it work as a deterrent in any way rather than not at all.
“R-Rean!”
I was trembling from more than just freezing cold. I’ve never felt danger in such overwhelming force until now. Dad taught me to hunt and how to defend myself in case of a monster attack, but something like this was completely new for Ymir. We should’ve heard word of it instead of coming across it like this. It’s aura was like that of a king of monsters. It was like I could see a blood red aura with a metallic scent hang over it. I wonder if it had scared away all the animals and monsters in the area.
I can’t do anything to it. The monster looked related to the Bracken Monkeys, but it was far worse, thicker, in muscle and in fur. It had horns that formed across its body. If the fairytale Sasquatch ever needed an appearance, this would fit it no doubt. It was tall. Broader than Dad too.
Elise held my hand weakly yet stiff. She had nearly fell down from fright if I hadn’t picked her up. I understood how she felt. I could hear my blood pumping hard.
“Elise....run straight back home and bring Father with help.”
“What? L-Leave?” She looked over at me, but I kept my eyes on the monster.
“I’m faster between the two of us, so I can stay safe long enough for dad to get here.”
“I-okay! I-I’ll try!” If possible, I would have smiled that she believed me so easily. I didn’t really think I’d actually last that long, but it gave Elise a better chance if she wasn’t anywhere near here. And while I couldn’t put up a fight, I was confident in my ability to not get hit until Dad could find her. We told our parents where we were going and always take the same route if we don’t have any adults with us, so it shouldn’t be any more dangerous than being stuck with this thing.
I pulled her with me and ran past some of the trees with an eye on the monster. It roared and the snow shot past us and froze the trees, thankfully missing us. “Elise go! Qui-“ I was interrupted by the monster as it rushed toward us and clawed its arm forward. Instinctively I pushed Elise back and maneuvered my body to the side.
“GAAAH!” Pain echoed though my body. It’s strike landed across my shoulder and chest. The blistering cold only made me feel as if needles were stabbing across all over me. A sinking pain deeper into my being.
My consciousness wavered and my sight blacked out for a second as I landed on the ground, the snow slightly covering my fall as I slid across the ground.
I...it hurt so much I didn’t want to move anymore. It was if I couldn’t move my body as I liked. Just sitting up took up more energy than I had. Ah, I get it. I was feeling numb.
“Rean! Are you okay?! Rean, you're bleeding!” Tears began to pour out from Elise as she ran over to me and clutched my arm. My vision was misty and it felt like I could fall sleep at any moment.
“Rean! No! Rean!”
“▅▅▅!!!!!!!!” It growled at me as it began to step forward again.
“No...”
I could feel the monster approach Elise, who shook in fear. Crunch. Crunch. The monster’s steps felt like the only other thing I could hear besides Elise’s cries. It was so close to Elise now....if only I was strong enough to fight it off....if I just didn’t get hit....
“No... Don't come any closer to us... Please...”
“Ugh...”
It felt like it’s been forever since it hit me. Elise’s weeping. The monster’s growling. It was so muffled and so clear. Right in my ear and so distant. My ears were ringing. It was like time had slowed to force me to watch this happen. [Ah. How irritating.] Elise clung to me tighter.
[I wanted to do something.] I have to do something. Anything. To save Elise. She shouldn’t have to get hurt like this. To die.
My chest started to ache like it was set on fire, and the snow, no, all the colors in the world dissipated into red. Every inch of my body tensed up like it became a wall. My heart beat even more erratically.
[Do I just have to watch? I want to kill this monster so badly. I have to keep Elise safe. I hate this powerlessness. Not again. NotagainNotagainnotagain! I want payback!]
Can’t someone save us? Goddess, dad, anyone. Please. Please. Pleasepleasepleasepleasepleaseplease-
If you aren’t going to do something then I will! Get out of my way so I can tear this thing to shreds!
Aggression. Rage. Malice. Bloodshed. Instinct. Powerthirst. It was as if it poured out of my skin. [The numbness, the pain, the lack of energy. I couldn’t feel any of them. No. It’s that they were no longer a problem.]
[It was like a dream.] My body stood up and pulled Elise back before picking up the hatchet. Power flowed through my veins. “Raaah!” He roared and shot straight into the monster. He reared back the tool in his hand and cleaved it straight into the monster’s skin. The beast let loose sounds of pain and it’s arms moved to stop him only to have them pierced and then cut off. It landed backwards with a hard thump as he jumped on it and helped slam it into the ground. Next, he moved to stab at its throat as if it were a stick to snow. “You think I’ll let you scream again!? Nothing’s keeping me from ripping you piece by piece!” [His voice reverberated and radiated disgust.]
His hair was whitening. Eyes red. His aura visible to the naked eye as his energy cloaked him like a shield and a weapon.
“Die here! Diediedie-!” He sliced through the creature like butter again and again even when it was clear it could not fight back. Eventually it’s blood coagulated on the small hatchet and turned it blunt. Each hit was now accompanied by a thumping and squishy smack. Every blow that landed gave a sense of satisfaction that was never felt before. So much vindication. Yes. [This was payback. I never wanted to kill a monster so much before.]
By the time it was over, he was breathing heavily with a glint in his eyes. See that My Other Self? That’s how you fight back. Not that I’m mad to take control even at a time like this.
I only felt a wave of disorientation. What was going on?
Ah. Geez. Now I’m tired. [You can take control again if you want. Remember to check on Elise]
‘Huh?’ Before I knew it, I was back to normal again. The pain was back, vision unclear. I looked down at the torn remains of the monster. How did I butcher it? What was that....power that’s becoming still within me?
“Re....an....?”
I wobbled as I turned around to look at Elise.
She had fallen down as her legs lost energy. She was tearing up still.
She was so terrified. I’ll never forget that face. [But]-
But at least she was safe.
I finally blacked out from the pain and lack of energy.
————————
Baron Schwarzer would not consider himself a particularly overprotective father. He was not much of a strict one either.
He found himself rather blessed to have his two children as they are, and no doubt he would feel even more blessed once they grew into themselves, even though one of them was arguably more ‘his’ son instead of Teo’s.
Both Rean and Elise were rather serious children. Sure, they would play with each other and the other kids and have silly ideas that only kids could have, but beneath all that they were rather strongly empathetic and thoughtful. Perhaps a bit too much so, at points. Truthfully he couldn’t really take that much credit in having passed down such humble and caring values.
His kids didn’t really have a habit of shocking him too badly up until now.
“Rean?”
His son’s hair was white like the snow that often covered Ymir. His eyes redder than the flames they used to warm themselves. The way he sat in his bed, leaning up on the pillows to talk to him, held a distinctly different body language than his son usually had.
If only his eyes and hair had just changed, Teo could have simply blamed it on the monster attack and the stress of power that Rean had unleashed to protect himself.
Unfortunately, that wasn’t the end of it. Since he was found, his hair had openly been changing between his bluish-black hair and shining white in front of Teo and the rescue party. He had no idea what he could say to them, but the relationship between the Schwarzer family and the residents of Ymir was incredibly close, so thankfully they were more worried for Rean than freaked out.
“Mhm. I’m awake now. Obviously.” His son said. There was a slight reverberation of his voice, but less so in comparison to his roaring that had lead them to his children’s’ location.
“...And...how are you feeling?” He was worried for his boy’s health, but something stopped him but acting as he normally would have.
“My body could be in better shape, but really, I’m better than ever. I can’t say I’m happy to let loose in a situation like that, but I can’t say I hate it either if this is the end result.” “Rean” shrugged and massaged his shoulder.
“That’s...that’s good.” Teo let himself sigh in relief. It was obvious that even if the danger passed that the complications haven’t, but he would rather his son live and deal with any new obstacles than anything else.
“Heh. Glad to see you care so much Dad. I wasn’t so sure if I could overpower that thing, but once I laid into it it turned out to be pretty weak.” He let go of his shoulder and began to stretch. He looked over to the side to a see a large round white object with red dots and green leaves sticking out on top. “A happiness hare huh? Elise must’ve been worried about what happened out there with how big this is.”
Teo hesitated. He wasn’t sure exactly how to word his next question of his son’s state, but he had to go ahead for his son’s sake. “Can you tell me anything about what happened? Thankfully, you kept yourself and Elise safe, but right now I’m worried about your current state.”
His son’s now blood red eyes turned to him and he settled down back into his bed. “Well, a monster showed up, then I killed it....but I guess that’s not what you’re hoping to talk about huh?” As he laid down on his pillow, he held his hand up and made a fist, as if testing something.
“....Yes. I want to make sure your current state isn’t harmful to you....and if possible, find out if you knew where it came from.”
He put his hand back down. “Well, I was actually hoping you or mom would know. Did mama or dad never bring something like this up before you two adopted me?”
The words in his mouth froze. Did Rean finally remember his past? Or did he never forget at all? No- there was no doubting that Rean’s confusion from his adoption was real. If he truly remembered what happened to his old family, the trauma he would have shown would have been deeper.
“Honestly I barely get what’s going on myself. Am I the Rean who nearly got killed before being adopted, and is the Rean you’ve been raising the result of that? Or am I just this power given personality with memories of the past...at the very least I’m pretty sure I’m not the same as the usual Rean you know currently sleeping in the back of my mind. I remember a past that before now I couldn’t. I feel like I’ve been around forever and also like I’ve been locked away.”
In other words, what was sure was that Rean as he lied in front of him remembered himself in his entirety.
He would not pretend to be an expert of the mind in any sense, but he did know that sometimes it had an odd way of protecting itself. Sometimes it was a case of denial and justification, other times it was a case of reversion.
Either way, the boy in front of him talked as if he were like another person entirely, with Rean currently asleep.
However, he referred to him as Dad still, and also spoke of Elise with affection. Whatever the situation is with Rean’s current memories, they didn’t take away the affection the boy had for his adopted family.
“Hm. That look on your face says you want to talk to your son and make sense of all this. First off, rude, and second, like I said, he’s napping away the stress from earlier...whenever earlier was...not sure why, considering I was the one who put in all the effort protecting Elise, but he should wake up sooner or later.”
“....Then, for the time being you should rest more as well. We can discuss this more when....both of you are rested.” The young boy in front of him held the same mannerisms he was used to, his son was clearly tired, but was trying to pretend he wasn’t.
“Feel free to tell Elise that everything’s fine. By the way, is that old master guy from the East still here?”
He was caught off guard by the random question. “You mean Master Ka-Fai? He is. He helped clear the path of monsters with the bracers when we were rushing to find you and Elise. She’s already thanked him, so make sure to do the same when you wake up. Why do you want to know?”
“Elise and I...I - got lucky this time around. Again in a way. And I know, I know, I’m a kid, so I can’t be expected to be a real bracer no matter what I do for Ymir during the mornings, but if not for me being-“ he waved his hands in front of his body, to his now weirdly strong skinny hands to his new hair and eyes. “-then that would have been the end of it. Just like what happened to mom and I, it would have been the end, and Elise would have joined this time.” A quick flash of grief for Rean’s true mother and fear for his kids overtook his heart, but he continued to look Rean in the eye and discern his emotions. “I want to be stronger Dad. No, I need power. Enough power so that I’ll never watch helplessly, but I can’t just have any teacher teaching me to just fight, no offense.” His son’s red eyes gleamed which sent another shiver down his spine. He understood his son’s worries well. He didn’t just want to be in a position to fight back, he wanted a teacher who could properly guide him down this path, because he didn’t just desire power, he craved it, but he also wanted to do it right and not get lost in it. Teo may have taught his children some Court Fencing and Hundred-form movements, but he wasn’t a swordsmaster by any means, and he highly doubted he could keep up with his son in this state if that monster’s corpse was anything to go by.
“I understand. I’ve invited Master Ka-Fai to eat over for his help so long as he stays. When you thank him, you can ask him yourself.” He forced himself to move and pat Rean’s head, his eyes fluttering as he began to feel sleepy.
He would support his son in his endeavors. That much would never change regardless of his past or his future.
————————
When Rean woke up, he was in front of a house that felt familiar yet he was sure he’d never seen it in his life. It was snowing behind him, with his home on that side as well, but it didn’t feel cold. The snow cut off where he stood, creating an autumn or spring season atmosphere surrounding this side and house.
He moved to walk inside, filled with curiosity and nostalgia, only to be stopped by a vibrating voice.
“You don’t want to go there. Even I don’t know what will happen if you do.”
“Huh?” Rean turned around and came across a mirror version of him sitting on a swing hung up a tree branch. Except this mirror version was wearing his demon king outfit and had ominous white hair and striking red eyes.
“Who-?” His voice partially trailed off in confusion, but his question was completed by the partially familiar voice.
“-are you? I’m you, and you’re me. But I guess we also aren’t.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Rean didn’t try to open the door yet, but he still wondered what he meant by those words.
“Well, let me put it this way, I remember all the things you remember, and even the things you don’t. Simple enough for you?”
His eyes widened as feelings were pushed into him. “So you remember-!”
“Our other Mom and Dad, yeah.”
“But how?”
“Dunno. But I figure our former home lookalike had something to do with it.” He nudged his head to the other house — their home.
“But if I go in there I can get my memories back right? So why can’t I go in?”
“Hmph. Your choice. Maybe you’ll be fine if you can’t see what I’m seeing. Just don’t say I didn’t warn you.” The other him continued to swing slightly, preferring the short motions to stillness.
Rean walked up to the home with a short breath. He was nervous, but desperate at the same time. He loved the Schwarzers as his own family, but the fact remained that he was adopted. That he had a whole blank spot in his memories, and he hated it. And he sometimes wished that he was still with his old family just so that his parents wouldn’t be going through troubles interacting with other Nobles.
Rean peeked into the house- He felt a deep pressure swallow him up as if being buried in snow. Training. Elise. DieDieDie! Aggression. Rage. Malice. Bloodshed. Instinct. Powerthirst. PAYBACK!
OhGoddessIfYou’reListening,hearmenowPleaseSaveThisChild-Flameslickedhisbody and a sharppaintoreintohischest as the sight of hismoth-
Rean forced the door close with a BAM and slid down it as he weakly felt tears crawl down his face. He coughed air as he tried to breathe, clutching his scarred chest. His chest burned and his eyes and hair tingled.
“W-wh-at was that?” His voice choked up in pain.
The other him stopped swinging solemnly. “Well, if what you experienced was anything like what I experienced going in there.” He nudged his head to the Schwarzer home. “It was my memories flowing into you. Which is weird since I don’t actually need to stand in the house to start getting any memories that you have. But it looks like our lives are stored in them both. I can take a look in yours pretty freely, like a playground, but I guess you really can’t for ‘our previous life’ huh?” He said rhetorically.
Rean stumbled away from the house, which he could now tell was made of a power like what had washed over him. “I-, were those-?” He shivered, unable to finish that sentence.
His other self nodded morosely. “So you did get a rush of memories to remember huh? Yeah, that was what I meant, besides that weird power the house is clouded in on the inside.”
“But....it doesn’t answer the question. Who are you and why are you- like, here or something?” Rean rubbed his tears away as he and his other self sat on an outside picnic table, his side clouded in snow, and the other’s a bluish shade.
“I don’t know. But does it matter?”
“Huh? Well, I guess not but it’s still....” worrying? Rean wondered as they sat between the two homes. After all, it was natural to be curious about things he didn’t know. Not to mention, he could instinctively tell that the pressure of his old home was dangerous, the power that let them crush that monster like it was nothing....he wasn’t sure if he liked that it dwelled within him.
“Well, I don’t exactly care to worry. If not for that power, I wouldn’t have been able to keep us and Elise alive.”
Rean closed his eyes as he felt the memories and feelings of himself, no, his other self, still within him. What happened with the monster, his talk with Dad, his request.
And also, his curiosity and annoyance with him, which he could feel leaking out from himself.
“I...I think it’s a great idea if the eastern swordmaster taught us.” However, he couldn’t hide the fact that their reasons, while the same, were more in number on his side.
“Hmph. I don’t see why you want to learn to control me. In case you’ve forgotten, I was the one who made up for you bringing the monster to Elise and us.”
“Huh? Hold on, I didn’t bring the monster!” Rean scowled and argued.
“Everything happened because you touched that weird thing out in the forest, so it technically is your fault.” The other him corrected.
“What thing?”
“You really didn’t notice?”
“Notice what?”
“You touched that strange stone and all of a sudden things started freezing over and the snow gradually got harder. I don’t know if it drew that monster in or what, but the blizzard definitely ended after I ended that monster’s life. So maybe that Stone is some sort of weird sepith that attracts monsters more than usual.”
To be honest, that didn’t make much sense to him. Even if it did attract monsters as some sort of sepith or sorts, why would touching it matter?
“Hey, I said maybe....not like I think that’s what it was anyways.”
Well, what matters was that Elise was safe. Oh, he should probably tell dad about that stone too.
Truthfully Rean felt like his head was spinning. His other self didn’t seem to really think much, but he could feel the emotions and implications behind his every word as if they were his thoughts. It was actually kind of weird to be hearing one thing and getting other things at the same time.
“So what now?”
“Well....I guess we wake up. Who knows who will be in control though.”
They both felt anxiousness. Reluctance. Worry. Neither felt comfortable with the thought of not being able to move on their own and leaving it to the other. For one he didn’t understand what it would feel like to not wake up as himself, for the other, he didn’t want to be in a state of semi-consciousness.
But both had the same plan. See Elise. See the Eastern Swordsman. Talk to dad. Hope things work out. They had the same plan, which meant there was no fighting for what they wanted, even if their ultimates goals were different.
Faith and prayer was all they had in the face of the unknown.