💫

The air leaves my lungs, my blood running cold as I lift my gaze before me. A piercing sharp pain radiates through my skull, images flickering fast than I can see them clearly, nearly causing me to fall over. I don't fall though, everything slipping around me clearly as I no longer look up at Dante's estate...

...it's the entryway of Acadia High School.

I can hear a bell ringing...

My heart beats fast, fear racing through my veins as I see high school kids running up and down the steps, some leaving for what looks to be lunch by the mid-day position of the sun, others are hurrying back from the staggered lunch times.

"I don't understand..." I murmur beneath my breath. The only differences I feel and see is the weight of something pressing down on my chest and the purplish hue which appears to be the filter of my life through a lens now.

I catch something moving quickly out of the corner of my eye, turning my attention fully onto the sidewalk. My muscle tense as Edith runs through my mind, taking off and running down the sidewalk off the main road. When I reach Grace Way, it's only a few minutes later than the house gains in the distance. My eyes flicker upward at the trees billowing in the wind, though a second later; they all fall from the branches.

Dashing through the leaves that fall in an airborne pile, I break through...

...only to stare at the entryway of Acadia High School.

I can hear a bell ringing...

Furrowing my brows, I glance around me, seeing the same students milling about where they need to go. Nothing has changed from the first moment I set eyes on this scene, my heart rate escalating with each passing second. I feel trapped, uneasy as I don't understand what is happening. Taking deep breaths, I attempt to remember everything from the time I spent in this pocket universe that mother created for Edith and me...saving us from Aeon.

I close my eyelids, feeling the air moving around me. My hands are a little bit away from the sides of my body, feeling the way the energy of this aura wraps around each extremity.

Why am I here?

Exhaling slowly, I open my eyelids, staring up at the steps before climbing them.

This universe has rules.

This universe is alive.

This universe...

...it is not an extension of my mother, but that of the goddess that is using her vessel in order to save our world...

Ekáti.

It doesn't want me to have free will to run to Edith, a set path leading me as I walk through the school, glancing around the halls. A flash of bright light forces me to lift my arms, shielding my face and eyes as I hear ringing in my ears. Seconds pass, lowering my arms as I slowly blink my eyelids open to see the same aura filling the air. Tilting my head to the side, I observe some students standing against the walls of the hallway, their gaze transfixed ahead of them, staring at nothing. Taking a few steps toward the closest student, the girl does not sway, standing like a statue.

I wave my hand in front of her face, but this does not break her trance. When I touch her skin, it's as cold as ice. Walking from student to student, it's the exact same, their stares haunting, their skin reflecting a deathlike state, a coldness settling in around me. When I reach the door leading to the library, I outstretch my hand, feeling slight warmth transferring from the handle to my hand.

I don't smell smoke.

It's not an unbearable heat, enough to sooth and draw me in. Opening the door, I step inside, taking a quick sweep of my surroundings as I observe the same with the few students who are here as the ones in the hallway. The librarian sits at her desk, her eyes at a black monitor screen. Her features distort when I halt at her desk, her eyes glancing to me as it's almost like her skin begins to melt and peel, burns, searing through flesh and muscle. Her mouth is wide open, her eyes hollow as his voice bleeds from her lips...

This will be your final resting place, killing Ekáti and her daughters will be the harmonious end to this world.

I shake my head, taking a step away as the librarian's face melts to the bone. Her body turns into a crumpled heap on the chair, my heart beating fast as I glance all around me, hearing Aeon...

I'll start anew, remaining aware and sculpting a world in my glory and perfection.

I'm trapped.

It wasn't mother that brought me here...

...they're falling.

Merle!

I rush around the library, looking through the aisles, searching the transfixed faces of the students...though I aim for one. I'm unable to find him though, panic rising until I reach the last aisle near the emergency exit, Merle's eyes staring through me as I come to a halt. Breathing out slowly, I walk carefully toward him, approaching with caution as I ask hesitantly, "Merle?"

His eyes remain forward, his muscles frozen in time.

Reaching out, lifting my hand, I brush my fingertips against his cheek. My eyes widen when I am greeted with warmth, the transfer instantaneous. Merle's eyelids rapidly blink, his muscles tensing for a moment as he takes a staggered step backward. When his eyes meet mine, looking at me for the first time since then...

...Merle exhales sharply, "Dot?" His eyes search over me before he hastily asks again, "Dot?!"

"Merle?" I ask though he reaches out, taking my hand with his. He cups my palm to his cheek, feeling the spark and warmth immediately trailing beneath my skin. My heart flutters, tears forming in my eyes as he nuzzles against my palm.

Merle brings my forehead to him, his eyes holding mine as he breathes out, "It feels like it's been a lifetime."

"Though we hardly know each other..." my voice trails off at the pain I hold in my heart. It was that day that I met him...the same day everything ended. I shake my head as the tears spill from my eyes and fall down my cheeks, whispering, "I'm so sorry...I'm so, so sorry..." everything floods my mind and it weighs heavily.

Merle replies gently, "Nothing is your fault," his eyes hold mine as he smiles softly, "I'm thankful you are free."

"What happens...to me...?" I ask, uneasy as it's the question that burns in my mind, engraving it through every thought.

Merle's eyes fill with tears as his irises shift to a golden hue, his lips lowering close to mine. He tells me, "We are worlds apart."

"Merle?" I ask, afraid that he-

"I don't know a future aside from the living nightmare we are sustained in," Merle's voice dips slightly as he says this, my heart skipping a beat.

I plead with him, "Please...can't I take you with me?"

"This isn't me," Merle's voice is pained, "merely a manifestation to carry out your mother's bidding."

I shake my head, choking back a sob as I state, "No...no, you're real. I feel you, you're real...this is you, please..."

"I'm sorry..." Merle's voice nearly breaks, "...this isn't me."

"Please..." I continue to beg, the air around us shifting as heaviness continues to press down on my chest. It feels almost like I'm drowning, afraid of which way is up or down, unsure that if I make the wrong move, everything will collapse.

Merle's lips gently brush mine, his words soft as he states, "You need to leave."

"I can't," his scent fills my senses, holding onto him with all that I have.

"Yes, you can," Merle continues, pulling back slowly from me.

"I don't want to," the words slip past my lips with ease, allowing everything else around me to slip away, the world I have solely between the two of us as we stand before one another. I lost him once before, I can't...I just...

Merle's voice alters slightly, his tone firmer, the clear as day Alpha tone coming forward, "If you do not leave, you will die."

A shiver travels down my spine, the hair on my arms standing on end as I stare back at him. Shaking my head, I take a step backward, his hand slipping away from my cheek as I reply, "Edith?"

"The moment you opened your eyes and were brought with Cormac to the past..." Merle's voice is uneven as he lowers his head, "...your father began to fade...falling, falling until there was nothing left of him to sustain this pocket universe with your mother."

My eyes widen at the realization that if someone exists at the point in the past that I'm in, they cease to exist in my future. We are rewriting the timeline, a different future ahead of us that we are working toward...so that means...

"Mother...she's sustaining this world by herself?" I ask, awaiting the confirmation I need.

Merle nods and finishes with, "Without your father, your mother can only sustain one individual in this world."

"Edith."

"Yes, your sister remains," Merle continues, lifting his chin, "though with your appearance here, it's throwing off the balance and she's weakening faster."

I understand now...

I ask him, my heart rate escalating, "What happens when my mother is born?"

He remains silent.

"Merle?" I ask, pressing him.

He shakes his head, glancing away.

"Merle!" I snap, fear spiking as I ask the question, I partially don't want to hear the answer to, "What happens to my sister? What happens to Edith?"

Merle's eyes meet with mine one last time as his honesty comes through, "I don't know."

Shaking my head, I take multiple steps back away, turning altogether and running back to the front of the library. Merle calls after me with urgency, "Dot?! Dot, you must leave! Please!"

"I can't! Not without my sister!" I call back to him, slamming into the door and breaking into the hallway.

Merle's voice is strained as he yells, "You will die!"

I'm not leaving without my sister.

I can't.

I won't leave her again!

My speed increases, heading through the halls of Acadia and straight out through the entryway. I glance in both directions down the street, finally taking off in the direction of home. The wind picks up around me, though I don't see the falling leaves this time, clenching my teeth as I push past my limits, moving faster than I ever have. Everything screams within me to stop before I weaken myself past the point of no return. That no amount of recovery will ever bring me back to the status I once was...

...but I won't leave her.

I won't abandon my sister.

I broke away from this universe, so I can bring her back with me. Merle might be a manifestation for my mother, but Edith is real.

Breathing out sharply, I reach the front door, not bothering to stop to knock. The moment I fling the door open, I call out, "Edith?!"

There is no response.

"Edith! Where are you?!" I call, searching through the living room, kitchen, taking to the bottom stair landing when I hear a small sound. Furrowing my brows while I steady my heart rate, I ask hesitantly, "Edith?"

I can't hear a heartbeat.

"Edith?" I call again, reaching the top landing while glancing down the hallway.

"H-He-He-l-"

It's like a jumbled mess, the sounds almost of a crackling show unable to come through. Walking toward her door, I come to a halt, raising my fist and knocking on the door. I receive a similar response, cut off words.

"Edith?" My eyes search over the door, swallowing the knot at the edge of my throat before I clear it and state, "I'm coming in."

Without another second to spare, I kick the door...

...yet it remains standing.

Furrow my brows in utter confusion, I kick again, my strength at full force. The door remains...anger courses through me as I scream, slamming my fist against the wooden door. Over and over, I slam my fist, my strength weakening, fading as I finally slide to my knees, tears falling.

I cry out, "Edith..."

A hinge creaks, my attention turning to what used to be my room. The door is slightly ajar, getting to my feet before I walk toward it. Just as I reach my hand out to the handle, the door slams shut. Breathing in and out slowly, I grasp the handle, afraid it will be locked.

It isn't though...for the second I open it inward, I fall to my knees. It isn't the carpet of my room that I fall to. My eyes are wide open, the air leaving my lungs as I lift my gaze from the grass.

It travels upward, my eyes beholding...

"Mother?"

⊰♥⊱To Be Continued⊰♥⊱